Okinawa

I'm going to have to apologize for this late update. So I went to Okinawa on the 11th of Nov until the 13th. It was a 3 days 2 nights travel. It was sooo beautiful. And I don't mean the just scenery. I meant the culture.

So there were some complications with this trip. We initially wanted to visit Okinawa on the 16th-19th. But because our President from SJU wanted to visit us, the four (Kia, Song, Pisenny and I) from the 12 of us kindly changed our flight to the week before because we were scheduled to visit NHK of that weekend anyways. Thus our tickets came to a total of $400 round trip including changing flight fee. It originally was $140... :(
 So I booked a room for the four of us on Expedia which came to a total of $160 for two nights between the four of us. It was a guest house. We chose to stay in a traditional Tatami style room. At first when we arrived, we were a bit intimidated because of the shadiness to the place. However, it was awesome once we got to meet the housekeeper. His name is Matsuyama. He was originally from Sapporo, Hokkaido. Fun guy. We stayed right on Kokusai dori. It is known for self owned business tours attraction spot. Very convenient. So check out the pictures below as I describe this lovely relaxing journey.

Because our flight was scheduled to depart from Narita Airport at 6am, we needed to be at the airport before then. It takes more than an hour to get to Narita from Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo. And trains only run at 5am at the earliest. We were in deep sh**. So we decided to just camp at the airport and this is where the security put us! A-ZONE! It is amazing how helpful the officers here in Japan are. They were so nice too. But I figured they were probably bored from their over night shift. >.<

Our gate to the plane. Air Asia!

 

I always love looking out the window. Song had the window seat though. -.-

When we got to Okinawa, Yuri, a CSB graduate, came to pick us up at the airport! Throughout this trip, we are so thankful for her. But right away, I wanted to eat, so Yuri took us to eat soba! One of the sensei from the 2nd level Japanese class told Song, Kia, Pisenny that they must try Orion beer because it is only sold in Okinawa. Soooo, we got a bottle and Song and I tried it. It was so good! 

My bowl of SOKI SOBA. A MUST TRY food in Okinawa. You will not be able to find
this is Tokyo. At least not this kind of meat. Usually Tokyo only have bacon. But this is something else.

<---The Americanized part of Okinawa...

After eating we went to Ryukyu Mura. This is a tour attraction. The name Ryukyu Mura was what Okinawa was called before the WWII. Here we got to see lots of traditional arts performed and even got to dance with the performers! So fun and interesting. I even got a snake wrapped around my neck! As well as ate snake powder and drank Snake sake! So much exploring in one day. Loved it though.

<--The map of Ryukyu Mura

Picture with a performer. She's so pretty!

The performances. Listen to the unique music. Loved it. I think this is what makes Okinawa unique.

The performing crew.

The Snake show!

Got a snake wrapped around my neck! The man said that since next year will be snake year, I will have lots of luck. :) Tasted the snake sake and powder. (The powder tastes a bit like fried pork skin ;) )

We also went to the Peace Memorial Museum. The cliff here is where many Okinawans committed suicide when the US won WWII. Called Battle of Okinawa, it was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II.

A little background from wiki:

Mass suicides

With the impending victory of American troops, civilians often committed mass suicide, urged on by the Japanese soldiers who told locals that victorious American soldiers would go on a rampage of killing and raping. Ryukyu Shimpo, one of the two major Okinawan newspapers, wrote in 2007: "There are many Okinawans who have testified that the Japanese Army directed them to commit suicide. There are also people who have testified that they were handed grenades by Japanese soldiers" to blow themselves up.^[36] Some of the civilians, having been induced by Japanese propaganda to believe that U.S. soldiers were barbarians who committed horrible atrocities, killed their families and themselves to avoid capture. Some of them threw themselves and their family members from the cliffs where the Peace Museum now resides.

Our lovely tour guides as well as former Bennies! Yuri and Shizuka!

The Cliff where many committed suicide.

Right before we were about to leave, this man called us over and started
showing us magic tricks! It was so cool and adorable. We found out that he  is a
veteran who owns and been running a clinic for 30 years now. I believe we was a doctor
in the war. He showed us his card. At first I thought he was trying to scam us... lol. He also played the flute for us.
It was a very warming opportunity to be able to meet him.
Oh and can you guess what his hobby was? ;)

We ate lunch at the beach. Sea grapes! Must try.

At Shurijo Castle!

Stopped for tea! Was only 300 Yen. ^ ^

The view from Shurijo Castle. We meant to watch the sunset but
missed it because we got carried away with trying to stamp our pamphlets. :(

At Monzomon Cliff! Tours attraction spot. It was so beautiful. The color of the sea a deep rich blue even on a cloudy day like this. This is located way up north of Okinawa. Thanks to Yuri we could visit this place as well as Churaumi aquarium and Kourijima (an island connected by bridge) further down.

The bridge to Kourijima

We found a dead blow fish (I think)

From Kourijima island view

BISE Tree ROAD! Full of beautiful trees!

Riding bike along side the sea as well.

Cafe we chose to dine in by the ocean side. This is their back door. We couldn't find
the entrance so we just crossed over the chain gate. ^ ^

Also ate lunch beside the ocean again! If you go to OKINAWA,
try their soba! SO GOOD!

Cafe name.

Here we can see Shizika's HOMETOWN!

TICKET FOR CHARAUMI AQUARIUM!

Charaumi! Behind us is the WhaleShark! Endangered specie!

When we came back, it took about 2hours getting back to Naha airport from North Okinawa. By the time we got there, we had to do late check in so it costed us 1000yen each for late check-in fee :(

But as long as we got on the flight right? Anyhow, when we left, I realized I left my high school soccer sweater on the Airasia terminal BUS! I freaked out and even cried a little. LUCKILY, Yuri was going to come to Tokyo anyway 2 weeks after our trip. So she picked up my sweater in the lost and found and I am once again reunited with my sweater. Thank goodness it has my name on the back of it. So much memories with that sweater because it's much more than just a normal sweater. Anyone who plays a team sport knows ;)

Overall, this trip has been the most awesome trip because it didn't run on a planned organized tight schedule. Loved how we were able to stop for tea at Shurijo Castle and just admire the castle and garden. I saw many people who were with a tour group and they looked so sad having to pass up the tea shop. Many of the trips planned for my Study Abroad group feels like that. That we couldn't get anytime to look around because our trips were always so packed with activities. We couldn't have time to appreciate the existence of the attraction. So when we left, I was very sad. I want to bring my parents here for a vacation. I think they'll love it. Thought of them the every time I was at the ocean shore.