I love how random things are here. I had just gone upto the board of education to give my supervisor a form I had filled in and as I was about to leave the head of the BOE asked me if I was free, so I said 'sure' and he whisked me off to the Tomb of King Shoen's family (mother, father and brother). King Shoen was perhaps the most imporant Ryuku King, he united the three kingdoms and founded the longest Ryuku dynasty. And he was born on Izena! Bit of a local hero, his image is everywhere. We go up to the tomb with a bunch of non-islanders armed with many cameras etc. I assume they are tourists. So anyway they pray and offer sake and I kneel and try to appear respectful. And then alll of a sudden a chap takes out a couple of small rock hammers and starts chipping away at the mortor! I have no idea whats going on. It turns out to be an archeological dig, the first time the tomb has been opened, ever. Quite exiting! They only opened the East tomb, tommorrow they will open the West tomb which contains the remains of King Shoens family. I unfortunately only had my phone with me so apologies for the tiny pics.