so this is amami oshima
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
At the hotel where I'm staying, I had a chat with an Australian named Matt who lives in the small village of Uken here on Amami Oshima. He made some detailed suggestions, and as a result I visited a ハブ (venemous snake) enclosure at the town hall for his village. I then drove up the hill to a secret waterfall that is not on the maps. It has some lovely tree-hugging plants. Then I did a modest hike in the woods at the top of the mountain. But I couldn't read the old signs, which were only in Japanese. And after 45 minutes I was growing increasingly convinced that I was lost and had gone faaar more than the estimated two kilometer distance. I have no idea why I thought that scrambling over that trail and stopping for frequent photos wouldn't add considerably to my time, but it's exhibit a) in my not being very bright. Exhibit b) is not being able to read the signage, of course.
I was ranting to myself about finally being able to place myself when I found a boardwalk -- way out along the ridge. My ranting was in earshot of two other hikers, one Japanese and one Italian. I explained how I got there at the advice of an Australian I'd met, and the Japanese fellow said, "Was the Australian a bald fellow? Was his name Matt? He's a friend of mine!"
We had a bit of a chat. I bid them farewell and -- with the wind somehow getting worse -- decided to scramble a bit on the way down, doing it in only half an hour.
I wasn't done with the Australian yet, however. After trying my luck at shore-fishing in a couple of places on the east side of the island, I returned to the city where I'm staying. I was determined to have a decent cup of coffee, not just combini coffee. So I found a café that was open. Part way through the story of meeting someone on the hike who knew the Australian who lives in Uken, the proprietor of the café asked if his name was "Matt". Everyone on the island seems to know each other!
I stayed there after the coffee, first talking with a lawyer who moved to Amami from Tokyo, then with a young lady friend of the lawyer, who stayed after he went to watch yakyu. Then with a singing instructor who has performed at a music festival north of Toronto, and who has driven from there to Calgary. My point is this: at the café, I spoke as much Japanese as I could, and they told me my pronunciation was very good. (They didn't say anything about 文法/単語.)
I suppose my secondary point is that Australian is one of those connector people you read about. Well done, sir.