Places I remember...

[ Hiro Coffee Farm, Yanbaru Mountains, Okinawa ]

The second day of our stay at Okuma Beach resort on Okinawa Honto, the weather was not cooperating. So we took our Japanese mini-mini rental car out for a spin. Up the Cape Hedo, where one can see northern islands on a clear day. For us, the waves crashed forbodingly against the shore and the wind threatened to dash us into the jagged rocks.

Because we had nothing better to do, we decided to round the northern tip of the island and drive along the east coast until we found a road that would take us back west. But before we were even halfway, the sky had darkened and the weather was getting worse. We huddled inside the car, wishing we could be diving or sunning. I just wanted a pair of long pants.

We were a half mile past the sign that said 'Hiro Coffee Farm' before I made Justin stop the car and turn around. Something about it-- a coffee farm, a real coffee farm, there in Okinawa-- was simply irresistable. We pulled up in front of a small house and what appeared to be a shed. What does on DO at a coffee farm, I wondered. Drink coffee? Buy coffee? Look at live beans? As it turns out, at Hiro Coffee Farm, at least on blustery days like the one we visited on, customers are shepherded into the "shack," which is actually a comfortable little coffeehouse, and served warm, fresh, coffee with cookies.

We probably didn't need a pot each... no, we REALLY didn't need a pot each, but at $4 a pop, how were we to know better? The coffee was delicious and somehow took the edge off of the windstorm outside. The wind ripped on the coffeehouse-shed open and slammed it shut again no matter how tightly we fastened it, but we sat inside entranced by the little gem we had. And before we left, the owner and his daughter(?) insisted they take a picture of us in front of their sign, just as we took one of them.

To me, this was one of the most precious moments of my Spring Break journey during my ten months in Japan, probably because it was so unplanned and unique. And this is why I love the internet-- because I can now share this story with others and find that others have already shared their story of the same. I found that news article on Hiro Coffee Farm doing a random google search. And boy, did the memories ever come rushing back.