27

Yesterday my friend from New Zealand and I took a walk around parts of Naha, meandering behind old market streets and pottery shops. We turned one corner and ran into a friend of my walking companion, a 40-something tattoo-covered, long-hair-donning Japanese designer/store owner. He was outside of his store closing for the night when he saw us and with a bright smile warmly greeted us. We chatted for a while, the two boys catching up while I introduced myself. The time came for the inevitable question that is always asked of me: How old are you? New Zealand and I immediately started laughing because it's become a common pattern with us: A Japanese person will ask my age, I ask them to guess, they always guess between 28-30. Oof. This time though it was a bit better at 27. Once the initial fits of giggles had subsided though, the shop owner told me something really interesting. He told me he guessed my age to be 27 because as New Zealand and I approached, he could "see" the number 27 near me.

Now, I know this sounds crazy. But I must say that contrary to what the reader may be thinking, this is not just some rando Okinawan dude projecting some strange after-effect of too much partying in his youth. This is something I have encountered with many Okinawans, the ability to see or sense spirits/energy. The shop owner told me he didn't know what "27" meant- he next asked if my boyfriend was 27 years old. Nope. Then he said that maybe I would get married at 27. I suggested a rather darker possibility, but he said that wasn't the case. Next he took my hands and began reading them, asking me to first show my palms and then to put them together like I was praying. He told me that I would get together with THE boyfriend when I was 25. (WHAT???/panic was my reaction haha.) I was so fascinated.

I began asking him about what it was he was "seeing", especially what he "saw" when he asked me about the number 27. He told me that he gets feelings or can "see" things through people's energy. With New Zealand, he could tell my friend was torn between Japan and home, his mind bouncing back and forth and not really being in any one place. I learned that NZ had recently become aware of some health issues a close member of his family was having, so this was more or less an accurate description of his state of mind.

Tattoo-man went on to say that he has the ability to sense and even see spirits. He said sometimes a group of people will invite him out to go drinking or get a meal, but he doesn't go with them because he can see an evil or upset spirit nearby. He said sometimes they have blue or white faces, are Okinawan or not, have parts of their legs missing, are crying, etc. He also said many of them are happy or nice and fill him with a sense of peace. I asked if he could see any spirits with New Zealand and me, but he said no (phew). I was truly fascinated by this conversation. I asked if this ability was relatively common among Okinawans and he replied that it was. I then asked why so many Okinawans had the ability to be open to these "spirits" but why Americans view this as absurd and strange. His reply was that it was simply because Okianwans are open to it and Americans are not.

This is not the first time I have had such a conversation. When I first came to Okinawa, a respected teacher at my school recounted the time he and his family saw ghosts in his house and explained how he gently coaxed the ghosts outside where they wouldn't scare his children. Another close friend of mine says she is very sensitive to the energy in places where people have been killed. When she visits some of the sites of the Battle of Okinawa or goes to Kyoto or other old cities she feels very shaky and weak and can feel the presence of the dead. The person who gave me my orchid told me that he could see people's auras and that mine was spotted and green which, according to him, meant that I was being open and truthful.

I honestly don't know what to make of many of these encounters. I am superficially really intrigued by these peoples' ability to sense the supernatural and like hearing about their experiences. As a good Catholic girl, I am also very skeptical of what it is they are seeing and feeling.

What does 27 mean? Who knows. Maybe it just meant that it was the 27th day of the month.