There was a temple of Zen Buddhism adjacent to the armory which I stepped into in all innocence. I asked our tour guide about this temple later, and a funny story came back. The Buddhist monk of the temple originally came from Kitami city which is located on the Okhotsk coast of Hokkaido. He visited his hometown apparently in winter and he told her that Kitami city wasn't suitable for human life. All of us laughed to hear that. It's natural for him, the inhabitant of Kauai island, to think so.
We had some time before lunch and our minivan headed for a coffee shop run by a local coffee farm. I happened to see a Tesla car passing by us on the way. I really want to have one now. The car was Model X, whose cost was about $120,000 and beyond my reach. To tell the truth, I test-drove it last year in Honolulu and I had been fascinated. It's very rare in my hometown, but I often see them in Honolulu. It's U.S.-made and my frequent encounter with them might be natural. I'm writing about the shop in the next entry.
そうとは知らず立ち入った武器庫の隣には曹洞宗のお寺があった。後でガイドに尋ねると、ここの住職は北海道の北見市出身で近頃一時帰国したらしい。たまたま真冬だったらしく、あそこは人の住む土地では無いと言っていたという。それを聞いて一同爆笑。確かにカウアイ島に住んでいたら北見市は地獄に近かったろう。
さて、ランチに行く前にすこし時間があるという。それで地元のコーヒー生産農家がやっているコーヒーショップへ寄ることになった。道中テスラを発見し撮影した。地元松山市では滅多に見ないのだが、ハワイでは時折見かける。アメリカ産だから当たり前か？。
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