Lots of Fish

Thursday 11/8/2007

Today we started out by heading North to Nago and the large aquarium theme park they have there. The aquarium is one of the biggest in the world and has some HUGE fish. Take a look at some of the awesome pictures on Flickr. We all agreed it was the greatest aquarium we had ever seen. The walls of the aquarium were 2 feet thick clear acrylic. The park also had a neat Ryukyu island style village with Okinawa style houses. At one of the houses they had three old ladies dressed in Okinawan kimonos. They offered us refreshments and we chatted a bit about Okinawan ancestor worship. One of the ladies was showing some girls from mainland how to play the Okinawan shamisen that is like a 3 string guitar.

When we were finished in Nago we headed toward Yomitan and its famous look out spot. When we got there we immediately saw the giant lighthouse. The view was cool and we saw some ppeople surfing. The shore looked treacherous with dried sharp coral but no one appeared to get hurt. We drove a little ways into Okinawa city and Amber had Wendy's for dinner. I decided on the beef bowl from the Japanese fast food place next door. Afterwards, we walked down Gate 2 street and then headed back to the hotel. This was to be our last night in Onna village.

Beach and Barbecue

Wednesday 11/7/2007

Today we started the day out with a mostly Japanese style breakfast. Amber was glad she preate some cereal in the room. We went for a short walk along the beach and then decided it was time to do some laundry. For the most part the Japanese washers did a good job but the driers were not as up to the job. We had to dry must things twice. While the machines did most of the work we sat on the cloud covered beach and alternated between watching the waves, reading, and looking at the Japanese riding jet skis. I couldn't convince Amber to rent a jet ski. I guess I scarred her for life in Utah when I dumped us in the lake after promising her she wouldn't get wet.

After finishing the laundry we drove through Yomitan village where I had lived and had lunch at Shakey's all you can eat and drink pizza buffet. We spent the afternoon on the cloudy beach. The water was warm and the wind didn't blow much until after we finished swimming. I really enjoyed the day and I'm pretty determined to go to the beach sometime when its sunny. We concluded our day with a tour of Okinawa City. We finished at the all you can eat Ghengis Kahn restaurant where one gets all you can eat style Mongolian barbecue. It was fabulous.

There and back again

Tuesday 11/6/2007

We started the day by checking out of our hotel in Shuri. We drove up the east side of Okinawa using the back roads. We stopped briefly at the Nakagusku castle ruins where one can see the Pacific Ocean on the right and the China Sea on the left. Our trip up the island took us from sandy coastal beaches through tiny mountain passes and back again. We eventually arrived at point Hedo. This tip-top northern most point of the island has amazing cliffs and gorgeous, violent surf. Even though we were hundreds of feet above the water, we could feel the icey, salty spray as the waves dashed into the bottom of the cliffs. We enjoyed a lunch of Okinawan soba with a little rack of ribs on top.

We then drove down the west side of Okinawa until we reached our hotels in Onna village. I was really impressed with the gorgeous ocean view from our hotel room. Amber was less impressed with the tiny roach n the bathroom. The room ended up being o.k. and we didn't see any more of Mr. Roaches freinds. The room was part western and part japanese. Amber and I even tried on the kimono like yugata (sleeping robes).

We concluded the evening with a great Chinese meal of fried rice, peppers and beef, spring rolls, pot stickers, and stir fried vegetables with shrimp and noodles. It was a fun day, but we spent too much time in the car. The Okinawans always say driving that much (2 hours each way) requires several breaks for rest and snacks. I guess they could never drive 10 hours to Gillette.

A Descent Into Okinawan Culture

Monday 11/5/2007

We started out by visiting Shuri castle. I once saw Japan's two grand champion sumo wrestlers do a kind of exhibition at Shuri castle. Today, the only sumo like visitors were Ian and I. The castle was the capital of the independent kingdom of the Ryukyu islands until it was taken over by the Japanese in the late 19th century. We then traveled to the Souther most parts of Okinawa, driving on the left hand side of the road (most of the time). We visited Gokusendo a large underground cave about a quarter of a mile long. There were stalagtites wider than me and stalagmites taller than Amber. We visited several exhibitions of Okinawan arts and crafts. Glass blowing, sugar making, beer brewing, fruit growing, and pot kilning were all viewable. We tried a sample of the many fruits of Okinawa including starfruit, dragon fruit, oranges, pineapple, mango, passion fruit, and bananas. We did not sample, however, the strong liquor with snake venom additives.

The last exhibition was a snake museum with a focus on Okinawa's world renowned venomous snake, the Habu. In on demonstration the presenter bumped a Habu with a balloon filled with cold water. It did not react. When he bumped it next with a balloon with warm water, it struck it fast and the balloon popped. Amber jumped! The snakes speed was impressive.

We finished of our souther sight seeing with a visit to peace memorial park and war museum. The grounds were beautiful and the marble slabs with the names of civilians and military mebers that gave there lives lent a somber note to the air. The ocean view was spectacular.
We went to dinner at CoCo Curry a restaurant both Ian and I had enjoyed while missionaries. The food was better than the memory. Amber was a new CoCo Curry convert. The mission is over, but the work continues.

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

Sunday 11/4/2007

We woke up just before the crack of dawn to prepare to get to our flight on time. We have been staying in Kyoto. Our Flight from the US flew into Osaka, and we need to be in Kobe, Japan by 9:30 A.M. for our flight to Okinawa. We planned everything out and it looked doable, but the timing was tight. We woke up at 5:30, checked out of our hotel, and caught the shinkaisetsu, or rapid train, to the Kobe Sanomiya station. We took ab above ground “portline” monorail to the Kobe Airport. We arrived about 8:30 A.M. And the airport was empty. It took some time getting checked in as the airport staff weren't familiar with the necessary steps to get their computer to acknowledge United's ticketless travel.

Security was a breeze compared to the US. No shoe removal, clear bag for liquids, or long tedious waits were necessary. Security was frindly and appeared, at least, happy to be there. We sat down to wait to board and by 9:00 A.M there were about 4 people including us waiting for the plane. By 9:15 there were over a 100 people. The Japanese clearly do not arrive an hour ahead of time. The flight to Okinawa was smooth but the island was mostly cloud covered.
When we deplaned the humidity and temperature increase was immediately noticeable. We took a cab to our hotel and I got my first sight of Okinawa in over ten years. There were a lot of changes but as we went from the airport through two of my old areas I saw some apartments the doors of which I remember knocking. The Miyako hotel is where my parents stayed when they picked me up ten years ago. Nothing has been changed since and its feeling its age a bit.

We went down to the international street called Kokusai Dori and had makudonarudo for lunch. Amber thought it tasted the same in Japan as it does in the U.S. We wondered the markets a bit and saw everything for sale from tourists trinkets to pig heads, to blue lobsters, to skinned fish. We met Ian at the hotel at 6 P.M. We walked the Shuri area looking for an Okinawa noodle shop i remembered. We couldn't find it, and ended up taking the monorail back down to Kokusai Dori and ate at a taco rice shop.

When we were in the market a shopkeeper lady asked if we ate pig's ears in America. I said I didn't think so, and she laughed exclaiming, “Hah, all you probably eat in America is steak.” I hope you all enjoy your steak tonight!

15

Saturday 11/3/2007

Today we woke up before the dawn and enjoyed watching the sun rise over Kyoto. Amber really wanted some cornflakes, so we decided to try the hotels buffet breakfast. They had great American style eggs, toast, sausage, bacon, fruit, and....CEREAL. They also had some Japanese breakfast, but I couldn't tell you how that tasted. Not even the Japanese were eating it. Everything was great but the fruit was REALLY great. I've never had melon that tasted so good. Amber didn't think she ate quite twenty-five dollars worth of cereal, but close enough. The view was from our hotels 15th floor and it was spectacular.

We started our sight seeing at Nijo castle. It had a tall stone wall, parapets, and even a mote. In the castles garden they were having a large gathering for the tea ceremony. It was fun to see all of the people in their traditional garb, including kimono. Inside the castle was a “nightingale” floor. It was so named because it chirps like a bird when people walk on it. This allowed the shogun (ruler of Japan) or his comrades to hear any intruders or assassins before they reached the royal rooms. Next we took a taxi to Kinkaku-ji, the temple of the golden pavilion, where we were impressed by the golden exterior and its pretty location in the middle of a zen pond and garden. On our way out we saw some delicious looking soft serve ice cream, but had to pass on it when we found out it was green tea and vanilla swirl. We decided to walk to the next temple. It was quite a little trek.

Ryoan-ji was next on the list. It is a world famous zen rock garden contained inside a temple and flanked by a sitting area on one side, and walls on the others. There are fifteen large rocks amidst a sea of tiny pebbles. From any spot looking into the garden one can see only 14 rocks. It is only with a view from above that one would be able to see all 15 rocks. In Buddhism the number 15 signifies completeness. The garden seems to be a metaphor indicating that, in this life, one may never fully see the meaning of all things. The rocks were all slightly different in color and texture. The tiny pebbles were raked in perfect rows from one side to the other. It had a very meditative atmosphere. We were happy to be able to sit down for a little while. We finished off our sight seeing by walking to Ninna-ji, a temple with a five story pagoda. By this time, we were all more than a little tired and templed-out.

We left the ancient world for the modern, returning to our hotel. We spend some time exploring the train station, shopping center, public gathering space, and restaurants located in the 15 stories below our hotel and comprising the train station area. We decided on ramen for dinner. More than just one, we had an entire floor dedicated to ramen-yas to choose from. The menu was also a vending machine. One inserted money, pressed the picture of the food desired, and gave the jettisoned ticket to the counter girl before being sat to wait for ones supper. The ramen noodles included slices of pork, Japanese pickles called tskemono, and vegetables. For soda refills we had to exit the eating area and repurchase a new ticket from the electric menu.

We finished the day by trying to play Japanese pachinko. One buys several hundred little silver balls and tries to shoot them into the right spots with a machine: think pinball on steroids. If one gets enough balls into the right spot they can win even more balls. Eventually these can be traded for extra cash. In essence it is Japan's main form of legalized gambling. When we entered the pachinko parlor the noise was deafening. Our ears actually hurt when we left 5 minutes later, and 1000 yen poorer.

Reconnected

As you may have noticed we have had some trouble connecting to the internet but our new hotel is outfitted with a very nice ethernet connection. Enjoy the last few days we have been recording off line. All the new pictures will appear on Flickr as well.

Communications Down

Ｗｅ　ｈａｖｅ　ｎｏｔ　ｈａｄ　ｉｎｔｅｒｎｅｔ　ａｃｃｅｓｓ　ｓｉｎｃｅ　ａｒｒｉｖｉｎｇ　ｉｎ　Ｏｋｉｎａｗａ．　　Ｗｅ　ｗｉｌｌ　ｔｒｙ　ａｎｄ　ｐｏｓｔ　ａｌｌ　ｏｕｒ　ｐｉｃｔｕｒｅｓ　ａｎｄ　ｎｏｔｅｓ　ａ．ｓ．ａ．ｐ．　

Sit back and Relax

Imperial Mountain Retreat

Today we woke up and headed out for a quick breakfast at a boulangerie in the bus stop by our hotel. The Japanese bread was cheap and tasty. Amber had some chocolate bread and I had a little cream filled pastry. We then met up with Ian and headed off for our first site of the day, Ginkaku-ji. The temple of the silver pavilion was on beautiful grounds butting up to the mountains of Kyoto. It dates form the 1400s and we really enjoyed the sand garden. On flickr you can see a picture of a Cohn by a cone. Japan is amazing in that you can be in a high rise downtown train station hotel one minute and the next a zen mountain temple retreat. Chion-in was next. Its giant gate entry and imposing steps made for a winded climb unless you were a 4 year old Japanese kid. Check out the picture of the kids running up the steps. Chion-in's bell was made in the 1600s and is the largest bell in Japan.

After Chion-in we grabbed some lunch at a little store. I had the shrimp and rice bowl. Amber had the chicken bowl. We then walked around the Gion area where one can see real life Geisha's preparing for their evening of entertainment. Then we went to Shoren-in, a temple with a neat house where one could sit on the tatami and listen to the trickle of a small stream feed into the picturesque pool. We saw a grove of bamboo, some tall, some small, and some cut down and curing for next fall. From the top of the hill we could see a large orange gate. We headed that direction and discovered Heian Jingu, an 1890s ¾ replica of the imperial palace built over a 100 years ago to celebrate the 1100th anniversary of Kyoto: and I used to be impressed by Nebraska's sesquicentennial.

We concluded our sight seeing at the huge Kiyomizudera or clean, beautiful, water temple. The giant wood truss supported temple is built on the side of a mountain. Tradition has it that drinking the water from the stream at its base will make one healthy, wise, and rich. Naturally, we all stood in line to get a drink. Amber was drinking for two. We went for dinner and had shabushabu, a meal one cooks themselves in a boiling pot with prepared vegetables and beef. The waitress had some costumes for tourists to wear for pictures. How did she know we were tourists? My accent must have given it away. A minor in Japanese isn't worth what it used to be. We took the subway back to the hotel, ending our first day in Kyoto. In the spirit of our host country, let us end with a haiku.

Cool grey breezy day
Mountainous Kyoto Shrines
Feeling natures peace

Kyoto made, Dekta!

We made it! The airplane travel was great. Amber and I had three seats to ourselves all the way from San Francisco to Kansai in Japan. The food on the plane wasn't the best, but it was fine. Amber was mostly nausea free. After landing, we bought train tickets and took the 75 minute direct from Kansai/Osaka to Kyoto. Our hotel is the Granvia and it is literally on top of the Kyoto train station. Our room is very nice and has a high tech “Darth Vader” style Japanese toilet seat. It warms, washes, oscillates, dries, deodorizes, and practically powders you when your finished. Check out the pictures of it on flickr.

On the Road Again

We hit the road and after only 25 hours of travel and flying half-way around the world we mad it to Japan. This picture was taken, however, in the first class lounge of the San Francisco airport. More pictures and info to come. It is 8:30 A.M. here and we're ready to take off for the day.