Interesting Finds on Kariyushi Beach, Okinawa

[MarkTwa8n]

Last night I went hunting at Kariyushi Beach. *The tides were against me, but I hunt whenever I can, and if that means hunting the dry sand at high tide, I'll take it. *I called Bobbypins during the day, who grumbled about hunting at high-tide, but still had some interest in hunting that night. *But when 8:00PM rolled around, I couldn't reach him on his phone. *His family just came back from the States, so I understand that he has his hands full. *I just say this because I missed him. *It is never as much fun hunting alone as it is with a good hunting buddy.

My first few times hunting at Kariyushi beach were dismal. *The dry sand was packed rather hard since the clean up crews drive all over the beach. If anyone drops a ring on the beach it is like dropping it on cement. *It doesn't sink into the sand very well and it easy to find. *Having said that, the last time I hunted here with Bobbypins, I found a nice Platinum wedding band an inch down in the hard packed sand. Surely the water holds a lot of treasure, but it isn't easy to get to when you are hunting at high tide. Also this beach has about 100 aluminum beach chairs set up that sound loudly in my headphones whenever I get anywhere near them. *I didn't find much in the dry sand until I got the idea to move the chairs out of the way, search the spot beneath them, and then return the chairs. *Is this cheating? *It was a lot of work, but I managed to find 3,600 yen ($40) in Japanese clad and two tungsten rings. But it wasn't fun. *I felt more like a maid finding coins in the sofa cushions instead of a treasure hunter. *

Right next to the beach is a big rock, about the size of a three story building. *Everytime I came here, I only hunted around the swimming and Volleyball areas. *I never thought to hunt around the rock. in the image below, you can see the hotel on the hill, the beach and the huge rock.


I headed over there and nearly had a heart attack. *On a tree branch, just above my head, three giant fruit bats were hanging upside down. *As soon as I got close to them, they dropped and flew away, nearly knocking me over. *Imagine three pit bulls with wings coming at you. Once I regained the ability to breath, I hunted around the sandy areas of the rock. *Lots and lots of can slaw and condom wrappers everywhere. Then I got a 80 reading on my At Pro. *Usually 81 is a common Japanese 10 yen coin, so I was expecting that, but what I scooped up was a very old Japanese copper coin with a square hole. *I know that many of the hunters up on mainland Japan, find these often, and they are not worth anything, but still it was a huge thrill for me. *I searched around in the same area and found a 83 reading, and again I found another similar coin. *I haven't identified them yet. *I'll photograph and post more about them after I talk with the local coin dealer.

But what really made the night exciting was a few minutes later. *I got a very faint whisper of a high tone. *88 on the ATPro. * Nearly always that is a silver ring, so I scooped carefully. *It was pretty deep in the stony sand; about 9 inches down. *But it wasn't a ring. It was wrapped in some slimy material. Maybe originally leather? It smelled awful, but once I got it free I was delighted. Check it out, a small silver compass, which still works.

.

It isn't marked silver anywhere that I can see, but it was black when I found it and it polished like silver. What is incredible is the hand engraving. The Japanese kanji characters on the compass dial depict North, South, East, and West, which at least tells us that it is a Japanese artifact. I heard from the locals that this rock had a machine gun nest at the top during the war, but it was quickly cleaned up by the marines when they arrived in April of 1945. I wonder if one of those Japanese soldiers dropped it.....? *I am just guessing that the compass is from that time, but who knows. *The coins are probably far older, so probably not related, though it is interesting that the compass was much deeper in the sand than the coins.

In any case, it was a memorable hunt, and I bet Bobbypins is kicking himself for not picking up his phone.

[Thatsit]

Thats pretty cool stuff.....would be cool to check that place out for sure.

[demyansk1942]

That is one sweet find

[Crumble]

Better not melt it down...

Nice find!

[BWCA]

________ Super Cool _________

[snf101480]

Very cool compass find, nice job!

[zeemang]

Very cool find!

[dogbit]

I like that compass. I do believe I'd hammer that spot. I imagine that people have been climbing on that rock for a long time

[sandnut]

very cool looking!

[firstbigestmost]

Cool old find!

[boxing63]

WTG very nice find

[Brian33jersey]

I wouldent be surprised if the compass is worth something. I would send the pic to a ebay war memrobilia dealer and see what he thinks. Not actually putting on ebay mind you. Watch out there could still be some undetonated ordiance left on the beach bombs and what not.

And if you dont mind me asking do you see allot of japanese locals with detectors and if you do what kind of equipment are they using?

Is there anything we could learn from them?

[MarkTwa8n]

Originally Posted by Brian33jersey

I wouldent be surprised if the compass is worth something. I would send the pic to a ebay war memrobilia dealer and see what he thinks. Not actually putting on ebay mind you. Watch out there could still be some undetonated ordiance left on the beach bombs and what not.

And if you dont mind me asking do you see allot of japanese locals with detectors and if you do what kind of equipment are they using?

Is there anything we could learn from them?

Actually, I find ordinance nearly every time I hunt. Most of this 50 caliber shells, or simply fragments of them. Occasionally I find a whole unused shell. Fortunately most of these shells are deeply buried and I try avoid them as much as I can. often I have located a target that reads in the copper range, but it is too big to be a coin...i choose to leave these targets alone.

I know of 7 other metal detectionsts on Okinawa. 5 are military guys or SOFA employees. There is me, an American having lived in Japan for 25 years now, but not connected to the military. Only one hunter was Japanese, and he was a pro. By pro, I mean that all of his income came from metal detecting.

Back in March, I talked with him for a few minutes at Ginowan Tropical Beach. He was just arriving as I was leaving. He had an Ace 250, and a hand made scoop that looked like a plastic beer mug with holes drilled into it. He had a sling made for his detector, so he could carry it on his back because he traveled to the beaches by bicycle.

He said that he once worked for the Rizzan resort in the 90's, but when the economy started to sour, he was let go. He hadn't been able to find another job since. He used to make money by collecting aluminum cans, but he got beat up three times, and his cans were stolen by competitors. I see the can guys here on Okinawa all the time. Often I see them riding bicycles with huge bags of cans balanced on the back fender and on the handlebars. I never imagined how desperate these guys are and how ferociously they guard their can territories. This metal detectionist has a brother living in Hawaii who gave him the idea to make money by detecting and sent him the Ace.

He said that he makes about the same from detecting as he did from cans, but in much less time and without worry of having his cans stolen.

I have seen youtube videos made by a Japanese guy on Mainland Japan who hunts, but that is about it for Japanese metal detectonists. Metal detecting is a very obscure hobby here; so much so that most of the Japanese tourists that I meet on the beaches have no idea what it is that i am doing. One old couple who saw my metal detector thought that it was a satellite radio. Part of the reason is that the Japanese culture has a stigma about picking up anything that once belonged to someone else. They believe that with constant use or wearing, an inanimate object will acquire a soul..spirit...ghost...whatever... from the owner. If you pick up that lost ring in the sand, you could be inviting a lot of bad luck. My wife is Japanese...and just between us, she is a little crazy because she and all of her friends believe completely in ghosts, witches and curses. The more I talk with the local people, I see that most of them believe the same way. This works well for me, I don't need any more competition.

[epeele]

Beautiful old compass!! I love dialing in to see what you pick up in Japan. What's even more interesting is hearing your take on how many of the Japanese don't want to pick up stuff owned by others. With such little competition, I would think that guy making a living off of it would be able to do a little better than making scoops out of cans and trekking around on a bike (especially given some of the finds you've posted).

[Bobbypins]

What I find the most humorous about all of the fear of ghosts and spirits is the conflicting actions that the Japanese have towards them.

While they may be scared of ghosts (or claim to be), it's common ritual to go visit the tombs, leave a meal or whatever, and have a yearly ritual of inviting the dead relatives into their homes. Kinda weird to me, but who am I to judge.

I did my daily run the other day... ran by a house that had a small ceramic bowl on the front porch with salt in it.

Superstitions are alive and well here.

[gin&kin]

Originally Posted by MarkTwa8n

Japanese culture has a stigma about picking up anything that once belonged to someone else. They believe that with constant use or wearing, an inanimate object will acquire a soul..spirit...ghost...whatever... from the owner. If you pick up that lost ring in the sand, you could be inviting a lot of bad luck. My wife is Japanese...and just between us, she is a little crazy because she and all of her friends believe completely in ghosts, witches and curses. T

Couldn't have said it better myself. My Japanese wife is EXACTLY the same.

BTW, great finds and great story. Well done on the square hole and love the compass.