Shikina-En Royal Gardens

Since we found ourselves in in Naha city anyway (after having dropped off Aaron & Masayo at the airport to embark upon their new adventures beyond Okinawa), we decided to make a day of it & explore some new sights. So we made our way around Hwy 329 (becoming 82 & then turning left onto 222) & we had soon arrived at the lovely & picturesque Shikina-En Royal Gardens:

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We were thoroughly impressed with the natural beauty of this very historically significant site. A blurb from Wikipedia (on the Shuri Castle page):
"Built in 1799, the royal gardens and villa were not only where the royals relaxed but was also used to host the investiture envoys who came from the Great Empire, China. The garden's circle layout resembles plans used in modern Japanese gardens, but the Villa itself with its red tile is uniquely Ryūkyūan, and pond and bridge to the miniature island is in the Chinese style. This is a rare, historically valuable example of Ryūkyūan landscape gardening, and Shikina-en is also registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, separate from Shuri Castle."

Photos of our excursion that day:

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More info & multimedia related to the gardens from other sites:
http://www.okinawaindex.com/index/?tid=3&cid=75&id=2
http://www.straycompass.com/video_page.php?recordID=75
http://okinawa.com/content/view/145/101/lang,en/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/denysokinawa/2554706113/

Naha Tsunahiki Tug-of-war Rope

After having bid farewell to Aaron & Masayo), we were on our way to find something fun to do in Naha (since we were there anyway). As we were driving away from the Naha Airport along the access road that runs along the military harbor towards the city center, we noticed a HUGE rope, mostly covered by tarp, in the usually empty paved lot of the military port facilities. Curious cats that we are, we quickly u-turned around to investigate the scene. And we were delighted to discover & behold the giant rope that was being prepared for use at the annual world-famous Naha tsunahiki tug-of-war (pitting eastern Okinawans vs westerners, for bragging rights & good fortune in the coming year), which we did not attend during either of our years in Okinawa (not being fans of how incredibly crowded Naha gets during such events). We enjoyed watching the workers preparing sections of the massive rope for several minutes before continuing on to Shikina-En.

Photos of the rope:

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More info & multimedia about the Tug of War event:
http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/public%20affairs%20info/Archive%20News%20Pages/2006/061013-naha.html
http://www.ocvb.or.jp/card/en/0600001264.html
http://www.japanupdate.com/?id=7138
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildvinephoto/3372062550/
http://okinawa.com/content/view/59/36/
http://www.okinawahai.com/my_weblog/2008/10/the-naha-tug-of.html
http://gillbertbu.blogspot.com/2007/10/o-tsunahiki-great-naha-tug-of-war.html

Southern Okinawa from 1000 feet

Betsy finally found time to deliver Josh's 31st birthday present (only 3 months late). We went flying over the southern half of Okinawa in a small aircraft, provided by Kadena's Aero Club. The 45-minute flight turned into about an hour & included Okinawa from Moon Beach in Onna-son down to the southern tip (both coasts). Josh got to sit up front with the pilot, Brian (who was great!) of the little 4-seater Cessna, which meant that Josh got to take over the controls (up/down & left/right) for about 5-10 min (over the Pacific near Tsuken & Kudaka Islands): Our friend Ana's brother Tito came along (visiting Okinawa & Asia for the first time). The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Aero Club pilot Brian touched the plane down as smoothly as silk on Kadena's runway just after an AV-8B Harrier did so on an adjacent runway: It was so nice we just might go again before we leave & check out the north!

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