Venturing north early on an overcast February weekend turned out to be a pretty good idea. We had the pleasant company of our good friends, Aaron & Masayo & their friend (now ours too) Yumiko. Our day in Motobu included some viewing of the blooming Taiwanese cherry trees on Yaedake. We walked around the festival-like row of booths & then the blossom lined streets, enjoying a few local snacks in the meantime. That was followed by a visit to Expo Park (Aaron & Masayo's first, I believe) where we checked out the Oceanic Culture Museum (our first time also, since it's only recently been opened after a long period of renovation) & the free Dolphin Show (I believe this was my 6th time to see it, I'm a seasoned critic now). At the museum we were treated to an unexpected performance of Indonesian (Bali-style) traditional musicians & dancers. It was pretty cultural looking. The final & most tasty part of the day was a yummy pizza & salad meal at Pizza Cafe Kajinho (aka "Pizza In The Sky"; yes, we've stopped counting the number of times we've been & number of friends we've introduced it to). Highlighted in our photographic memoirs are some performances by an Indonesian dance & music group inside the Oceanic Culture Museum, as well as just a few more shots at Kajinho.
&Sunday, February 03, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Tokyo: After the gals left us
To drown our depression when our wives headed back to Okinawa without us, Rick & I checked out the "electric" neigborhood of Akihabara (where basically any product that uses electronic circuitry or electricity can be purchased). Our mission was to locate cheap SD memory cards for our cameras. Mission was accomplished at about the 5th huge store that we checked out in a 2-block radius - a 2GB card for $16 & a 1GB for $7.50!
We spent the next lovely day in the eastern area of Tokyo, first strolling from the subway station to the Museam of Contemporary Art (in Miyoshi, Koto-ku). After investigating its works, we photographed our way thru Kiba Park before eventually finding ourselves on a blue bridge spanning the Sumida-gawa [river] which offered some wonderful city views around dusk, at which point we strolled our way to the brightly-lit Ginza district. We found some yummy ramen & gyoza for dinner not far from Shinbashi station. We awoke to a very snowy winter's morning on Wed (& I was already starting to miss Okinawa's balmy weather), but it didn't really seem that much colder (thankfully). We set out by subway to the National Art Center just north of Roppongi Hills for our first stop. We were thrilled by its very intriguing architecture & intrigued by its method of hosting changing exhibitions in its multiple gallery areas. None really piqued our interest, although we did briefly stroll through what seemed to be a cooperative show, crammed full of pieces showcasing myriad themes, artists & mediums. So we spent most of our time just marveling & photographing around the building's public spaces. After that we decided to walk in the snow (which soon turned into drizzly rain) rather than jump on the subway again (a rookie mistake, by my calculation). I snapped a few shots in the very scenic cemetery near the art center. Our eventual destination (after a weather reprieve at Starbucks & a delicious lunch of Kaiten-zushi on Omotesandō Street) was the Meiji Jingu shrine located alongide Yoyogi Park near Harajuku station. The weather ruined quite a few photos, but it did not keep us from marveling at this very impressive Shinto site. Thursday turned out to be quite clear so we made our way to the East Gardens (Higashi Gyoen) of the Imperial Palace. Despite the day's brightness & the gardens' beauty, my camera battery did not recharge itself overnight for this visit, so it wasn't a huge ordeal for me when we only really inspected half of it thoroughly, before heading off to the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art. After checking out of the hostel on Friday, backpacks in tow, we made our way (after a souvenir stop at the gift shop of the Edo-Tokyo Museum) to Odaiba for some stunning views towards Tokyo, especially from the suspended Rainbow Bridge stretching across Tokyo Bay, which we walked across on separate sides (Rick got the city side & I took the harbor view) to let our combined photos tell the full story, as our limited time mandated. It was not fun being separated for 4 days but Tokyo definitely impressed us both. As far as cities of that size that we've seen (i.e. New York, Chicago, London, Hong Kong, Seoul, etc.) it seemed to be the cleanest & least congested. It really seemed quite livable (unlike our opinion of the rest). Perhaps we'll find ourselves spending more time there someday! ;-)Monday, January 21, 2008
Tokyo: It only took us a year to get there!!
So only 1 year after moving to Japan, we finally got around to checking out that one city that most of the rest of the world thinks about when they think of Japan. That's correct. We finally checked out Tokyo!! I'm not sure that we INTENTIONALLY put it off for so long, but we did. So we were thrilled to finally get there for a long holiday (MLK Jr Day) weekend (which turned into a full week for the one of us whose time is somewhat more flexible than the other's). We found nicely timed & inexpensive flights via the only Japanese discount carrier that serves Okinawa, Skymark Airlines. And then we convinced our friends Rick & Denise to join us. And then we found the lovely inexpensive hostel Toukaisou with availability in a 4-person room in the northeastern neighborhood of Asakusa. And that's where the adventure began!
We discovered after making our plans that our newly returned friends, Aaron & Masayo, were also going to be spending the same weekend in Tokyo, so we arranged a dinner rendezvous with them & Anne-Line, whom we'd met at their wedding last April. We thoroughly enjoyed a delicious & delightful meal at an Indonesian (Bali-style) restaurant in a huge skyscraper at Roppongi Hills. The highlight of our visit was a day of sumo spectating at the major January tournament (1 of only 3 major honbasho tournaments per year in Tokyo, 3 others occur in other major Japanese cities) at the huge stadium Ryōgoku Kokugikan. We purchased tickets ahead of time to ensure we could get in on Saturday, Day 4 of 15, which was wise since tickets sold out first thing that morning only a few minutes after the box office opened. So since we spent a bit more than we could have per ticket, we decided to make an event out of it & we arrived around noon, in time to see the junior divisions compete (without all the posturing & delays that happen with the upper divisions). So along with hearty bowls of chankonabe (for only 200 yen each!) in our bellies, we were quite prepared to really get into the spirit of fandom once the stadium began to fill up around 3pm, the enthusiasm increasing steadily until the final 2 matches involving the currently active yokozuna, both from Mongolia, just after 5:30pm. It was quite an experience, a sport we can truly appreciate now that we've really seen what these men have to do to win. The gals' last full day included a lovely day in & around Ueno Park, including a visit to the Tokyo National Museum. The evening was spent admiring the fashions on display along Takeshita Street in the Harajuku area before grabbing some tasty Thai cuisine on Omotesandō. We arose quite early (4:20 am) on Monday morning to catch the first subway train of the day (5:08 am) so we could experience the glory & wonders at Tsukiji's Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market where feeding one of the planet's largest cities is the main priority. It was quite fascinating to see so many edible aquatic species, styrofoam boxes & especially the auctioneers selling row upon row of huge frozen tuna. And that was before the sun came up! Once we'd taken in all we could, we found the nearby food stall (I hesitate to use the word "restaurant") alley & decided upon one that, while not having actual descriptions in English, allowed gaijin to patron & had obvious enough photos on their walls for us to indicate our dining desires (using a laser pointer; ingenious idea on their part). We thoroughly savored the freshest sashimi on rice (perhaps it was more properly chirashi-zushi) that we'll probably ever taste & arrived back at the hostel around 8:15am to begin our day with Rick & Denise. The final highlight for our foursome in Tokyo included a visit to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku. After checking out the North Tower's impressive observatory lookout, we were perusing the tourist office on the first floor when a volunteer guide offered us a free tour of the premises. She was a delightful woman, who had lived for several years in New Orleans (while her husband was a professor at Tulane). She showed us all around the buildings & passed on some very interesting information about Tokyo, before showing us the South Tower's equally impressive views of the rest of the city. That concluded the excursions & time in Tokyo for the hard-working gals, but the boys had decided to stay for the rest of the week & see a few more things. So early that afternoon we headed to Haneda Airport & got the gals back on a plane to Okinawa.Friday, January 18, 2008
Engrish sighting: Shikwasa Cake!
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| From Engrish |
Spotted in one of the large Okinawa airport souvenir shops on the 2nd level, same as the boarding gates. Shikwasa is sometimes called Okinawa Lime, although it's not as sour & larger. It's a very tasty citrus fruit with green skin & yellow meat.
"Shikwasa Cake - It is the cake which used the fresh shikwasa in plenty and the craftsman roasted thoroughly sincerely. Please taste with relish. We send one time which feels relieved to you."
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Exploring Naha (Fukushu-en, Naminoue & Kinjocho)
One of our first adventures in 2008 was to head south to Naha city (the capital & largest city, by population, of both the island & prefecture). We had heard about several attractions that sounded like excellent places to relax & sight-see. So we spent a lovely first Saturday of 2008 exploring first the west side of Naha. Since we had not brought our real camera along for the ride (hey, it happens to the best intentioned adventurer, right?), all of our photos were taken with our Toshiba camera phones, which thankfully sport a CMOS 3MP sensor for decent sized (& reasonable quality) shots.
Our first stop was the lovely Fukushu-en Garden. This garden was officially opened to the public in 1992 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of international friendship ties between Naha City and Fuzhou City in China. This genuine Chinese garden was built using materials from Fuzhou and with techniques unique to that city.
From there we walked to the nearby Naminoue-gu Shrine, which is adjacent to (well, overlooking really) Naminoue Beach. The beach is located on the west side of the Wakasa Seaside Park, and is the only beach in Naha City. Former head of the Eight Shrines of Okinawa, the shrine is located on top of a precipice. An old shrine dedicated to the Buddha incarnate of the three shrines of Kumano, it had a devout following during the Ryukyu kingdom era. Rebuilt after being reduced to ash in the war, this shrine was reconstructed in 1998. We were privileged to witness the first shrine visit of the year for many locals (a very special occasion, on the level of Christmas festivities for Christian westerners). After that we drove around to the east side to find the old Kinjo-cho stone pavement, a 300m long road that leads to Shuri Castle from the southwest.Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Christmas Day festivities in Okinawa? Snorkelling!!
Was Christmas any different in Okinawa than what we're used to in our previous western hemisphere previous holidays? A lot of the SOFA community focuses on the warmth, which is definitely hard to find in North America, but since our childhoods were more tropical, the warmth is only so-so here. Yes, the boys (John, Jordan & Josh) went outside to frolick in the sunshine with new toys after waking up to see what Santa brought us, while the awesome gals (Jane, Jessica & Betsy) slaved away on an awesome Christmas dinner. After that things got a little less typical for us. Early in the afternoon we loaded up the van & headed up to the Maeda Point (Maeda-misaki) in search of some good diving or snorkelling. Unfortunately, the winds & surf weren't cooperating with diving conditions that day. So we spent the gorgeous afternoon doing some fantastic snorkelling at nearby Maeda Flats. It was a bit reminiscent of the Murphy members' childhood Christmas days in the Caribbean, but this time we had an underwater camera & wetsuits (to keep us from shivering). All 6 of us got into the action (even Jordan) & saw lots of colorful underwater life. Then after that, right around sunset, we checked out nearby Cape Zampa (Zanpa-misaki) & the very photogenic lighthouse, walking trail & lookout point nearby. That part (traipsing around a lighthouse in shorts & flip-flops) was a new Christmas activity for all of us. ;-) It was indeed a merry Christmas!
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Diving off the Sunabe Junkyard
For their 2nd ocean dive ever (the day after their first), Jane & John were introduced to the other end of the Sunabe sea wall, near the junkyard. The tide was pretty low (read: below comfort level) so the snorkel out was semi-exhausting (thanks, John, for safely transporting the camera for us). But after that intro was completed, the only bad thing was that the camera battery hadn't been recharged from the previous day's diving, so very few shots were captured of the area's lush coral scenery. The exit was actually even tougher since the tide was even lower so we actually did more coral walking (with very heavy gear in tow) than snorkelling. :-(
Friday, December 21, 2007
Jane & John's First Ocean Dive
On my siblings' 2nd full day of their 2-week visit over the Christmas holidays, we took them on their first ever SCUBA dive in salt water! That's right, no more frigid fresh-water North American rock quarry. ;-) Having been recently certified in Birmingham, Alabama (at our suggestion) before coming to visit us here in the coral-reef-diving wonderland that is Okinawa, Jane & John were ready to see what they'd been missing. We chose the very novice-friendly & nearby Sunabe Water Treatment Plant location (at the southern end of that section of the sea wall) as the first destination. Unfortunately, it was fairly overcast (the day before having been absolutely spectacular, of course) & the visibility down under wasn't the finest, but the newbies had a great first dive (unlike the photographer, Josh, whose "new" but very used BCD just refused to hold onto his tank). Things were really fine with the dive until a surface brought us to the realization that conditions below were better than above, where we left Brittany & Jordan, who had become miserable once the rains started & our misplaced van keys were nowhere to be found. Before John & Josh thoroughly demolished the driver door trying to break in, the astute neighbor who received our misplaced keys in her bag returned them to us, having seen our plight from her nearby apartment. And before too much longer the ordeal was done & we made a few adjustments in our future planning (so as not to repeat such potential disaster). Sorry again, Jordan & Brittany!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Couchsurfers, Part II (Checking out Ie Jima & enjoying "Pizza In The Sky")
Our couchsurfing friends, Jo & Brendan, returned to stay with us for a few more days, after a few weeks in mainland Japan & before heading back to Taiwan for several more weeks. And we were able to spend another lovely day showing them around our beautiful island home a bit more.
So we took them to a place we've been wanting to check out ourselves for quite some time, Ie Jima, a small island just west of Okinawa, off of Motobu Peninsula. After the short ferry ride over, we had a lovely time exploring by bicycle (which we rented for 1000 yen for the day). We were surprised to find that our 4.5 hrs (between ferries) did not afford enough time to see quite every sight that we wanted to.
We first found the Monument of Hokon & its adjacent park. It was a welcome first "catch-our-breath" break, being at the top of a rather steep hill. Then we made our way to the base of the prominent Mount Gusuku (shaped like a volcano), where we parked our bicycles & began climbing stairs. We first arrived at the mid observation deck & gift shop building. After a few minutes looking around, we made the hike to the top, which was only about 15 minutes of stair climbing. The views from atop the peak were wonderful. By the time we descended we were ready for some lunch, so we rode our bikes back into the town. Finding a COOP grocery store & a Hot Spar convenience store, we purchased some tasty food & settled down at a table in a little park nearby to enjoy it. Next, we decided to bike along the southern coast in search of the Niya-thiya Cave, where 1000 local people sought refuge during WWII bombings. We passed the Ernie Pyle Memorial park & inspected the monument to the US war correspondent who was killed there during WWII. Then we stopping along GI Beach, where we thought the cave should be. We explored several smaller caves & crevasses before deciding that we must not have gone quite far enough. And true to that suspicion, about 100 meters further on down the road, we found the very well-marked stairs leading down to the entrance of the large cave & it's legendary stone of power (which legend holds will assist a woman in becoming pregnant, if she lifts it; none in our group were allowed to attempt the lifting). Then, with only had a few minutes to play with before needing to be back at the port to return the bikes & board the ferry, we rode to Nishizaki fishing port nearby & stared down from the piers into the crystal clear waters at the sea life below. We did capture a few photos & video of some interesting fish out of water on a concrete pylon. And then it was a speedy bike ride back along the coast to Ie Port for the last returning ferry of the day at 4pm.
Once safely back on Okinawa around 4:30pm, we made our way to our favorite pizza joint, Cafe Kajinho (or "Pizza In The Sky," as the ex-pat community here fondly refers to it). There we had some wonderful views of the sunset skies & of course, some delicious pizza, salad & drinks.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
SCUBA Diving Just Got Even Better!
We love getting to delight in one of our favorite parts about living where we currently do - SCUBA diving!! It's especially fun when we try a new location or see new sights or have new toys to play with. So for our first experience aboard Captain Mark's "Sea Lady IV", we were delighted with several new things. A new place was introduced in the way of the very vibrant corals at "Ammo" (aka "Mark's") Reef, not far out from the western shore of Okinawa, about halfway between Kadena Marina & Araha Beach (straight out from Sunabe "Junkyard," sort of). The name is derived from the WWII ammunitions still seen from time-to-time in the area (hopefully never handled in any way by divers that see them) or from one of the few boat captains that knows about it (if you prefer the latter of the names presented). It was indeed pristine (relative to the popular spots right up against the same shore that we've frequented over the past year). It was also our first dive with our new dive camera (SeaLife DC500 with an external flash) which isn't actually new to the ocean but it's new to US! We purchased it from one of Betsy's coworkers that is moving back Stateside in a few short weeks. We went a little nuts taking photos in our 50-min dive (these are all from the first of our 2 dives of the day, because we exhausted the battery & about 2/3 of the memory card in that short time span). But we got some fantastic shots (& some half-decent that I probably should have deleted but didn't)!!
Our second (unphotographed) dive of the day turned out to be our first night dive. We did not plan it that way but fortunately at least 1 diver decided not to go down so he loaned us his awesome UK HID dive light (costs over $200 which is a lot for a flashlight, y'all!). So yeah, we're now officially spoiled for life on choice of lights, but boy, was night-diving cool. I bogarted the light so poor Betsy just held my hand & had to either look where I was aiming it or stare into darkness. It was so cool to see the same reef area before & after dark. You can really concentrate on the details at night. We saw an awesome pink stonefish & bright red shrimp (under a ledge) & multi-colored eel (medium sized) protruding with his mouth agape. We're definitely looking forward to getting our Advanced certification (probably soon after we buy much cheaper dive lights) & maybe a few free specialty certs!P.S. Thanks to Kadena Marina's free specialty course of the month promotion (sponsored by PADI), Betsy & I are now also enriched air (aka nitrox) certified. It happened just 2 days after this day of diving, so we're anxious to get out & try a new gas! Yippeee!!!
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