Many, many, years ago, the good people of Okinawa were terrorized by the venomous Habu snake. There was only one way to fix the problem – bring on the Mongoose!
Today Mary and I ventured into Okinawa World in search of my long-torso brethren. The park features a Habu vs. Mongoose show, and I was pretty excited to check it out.
First we got familiar with the Habu. With only 12 inches of plexiglas and a few schoolchildren between myself and the snake, I was a little nervous.
But that was just the start – the trainer put the Habu in a cage and purposely made it mad! It was terrifying!
And if the Habu wasn’t scary enough – the next snake was a Cobra!
The Cobra hissing may haunt my dreams for the next few months.
Finally – out came the mongoose! Since actual Habu vs. Mongoose fights are considered inhumane, we got to witness a new type of battle – a swim race!
My picture isn’t the best (I was too busy cheering) but the Mongoose CRUSHED the snake in the swim! Woo hoo! Go Mongoose!
The winner got dinner!
The loser got made into sake!
Seeing all those ferocious creatures made me surprisingly hungry, so Mar and I grabbed a tropical fruit plate snack. And it was delicious!
We closed the day with traditional Japanese Bingata cloth painting. Mary was happy to paint with bright colors. I was happy there weren’t any snakes in the art studio. And we both appreciated taking our shoes off, sitting on tatami mats, listening to relaxing Japanese music and doing a little art project. Can’t wait to see how my tote bag turned out!
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I lived around kadena Circle back in 1972-1975. I was stationed at Torri Station-U.S. Army
I lived in Sukiran as an Army dependent and attended and graduated from Kubasaki High School in 1972.
I was stationed on Okinawa twice in the mid-60s. First at Camp Hansen then at Camp Schwartz, both USMC. While at Camp Hansen, the EM Club arranged for a Habu vs Mongoose fight and the Mongoose won. Very quick reactions On the Part of the Mongoose.
Stationed in Naha in mid 60s,,,Caged habu vs mongoose fights in town were interesting in a weird way. The mongoose was favored, and it often seemed that they got bitten but they usually won. However, on rare occasions, they would tangle with the habu and then retreat to a corner of the cage and just fall over, dead. Money changed hands.