Today's discussion will be held again on Yonaguni Island. Mr. W's Seamen's club also owns a building here on Yonaguni Island and its living room was the place of our morning session.

The building was located on top of a precipice, making its living room like a terrace overlooking the East China Sea.

The topic of the discussion was the underwater site and the cultural exchange during the pre-historic era. The summary of Prof. Mozai's account is as follows;

1. The underwater site is man-made, but not completely so. It seems like its geographical features were utilized and processed to the shape of a temple.
2. Many rocks around Yonaguni Island feature property that can be easily peeled off at right angles. Ancient people must have made good use of such property.
3. Yonaguni Island is a mysterious island, well balanced in east-west direction. It is likely that it was suitable as the religious object to be worshipped by ancient people The island itself probably had some element of temple in antiquity.
4. Mimiiwa, worshipped by the people of Yonaguni may signify the Orion's belt. The Orion's belt, being of importance in designating the latitude of where one stands, were consecrated by the ancient maritime people for this reason.
5. It is known that some Hebrews, via India, landed in Izumo. There's no doubt that ancient people made voyages in between wide areas.
6. Roughly speaking, in Northern Pacific , currents flow clockwise. So, a ship riding on such current could easily reach the American continent from near Japan in about two months.
7. If one arrives on the American continent via the current flowing on the Pacific, the mainstream would detach itself shortly before reaching the equator. But then, the countercurrent will be born. Ecuador can be easily reached by riding on such countercurrent.
8. There are some common characteristics between cultures of Indonesia and that of Japan. The legend of Amano-hagoromo must be an account of witnessing some figure being drifted ashore from Indonesia or its vicinity, because the feather robe that appears in the legend resembles the traditional outfit of Indonesia.

On the recommendation of Prof. Mozai, we visited a shop handling dried Erabu sea snakes. I stepped in just to take a look. But to my surprise, almost every member is buying it!! For me, who is not fond of reptiles and insects, such act never occurred to me. The shop must have sold many snakes for they offered us a boxful of dragon fruits and pineapples before we headed for the hotel.

We returned to the Seamen's Club and had a gorgeous dinner at again chartered Josephine. The dishes were excellent but what excited us further was the splendid view of the stars. And one thing that surprised me was the connections of Prof. Mozai. The local leaders even came to greet him during dinner!

After dinner, I fixed my telescope to observe the stars. The moon made the night unsuitable for observation, but even under such situation, galaxies of Andromeda and of the Orion were visible.

Every member of Kitombo observed the stars that night. So ended our last night in Okinawa. Only our last session waits for us the next morning.

Translated by Rie Ishida