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Okinawa ABCs (M-Z)

Mellow margarine
From the moment we stepped off of the plane, Okinawa was noticeably more laid-back and casual than the rest of Japan. Men were wearing aloha shirts instead of suits and Crocs seemed to be the footwear of choice for everyone (bonus points if the whole family was wearing the same color.) Even the condiments weren’t as serious.

Not so good beer
After a long day in the hot sun, what would be better than a nice cold beer? Not much, which is why the sub-sub-par quality of “Orion” was such a complete disappointment. Take the cheapest, weakest beer you can think of and add water following a 1-1 ratio. Now put it in a can with some stars on it, and you have “Orion.” On the bright side, it made the other Japanese beers which are normally just so-so (Asahi, Kirrin Light) taste practically gourmet.

The picture makes it look a lot better than it was thanks to the juicy, American-sized, blue cheese burger. A cheese other than the Japanese equivalent of Kraft singles? Heaven on earth! [Side note: My Japanese skills are improving and I can read some food labels, although maybe I don’t really want to know. I recently discovered that Japanese cheese comes in two types: hot for melting, and cold for cold sandwiches or serving with crackers. Does anyone else find this a little disturbing? Shouldn’t one cheese be able to do both?]

Okinawan soba
Maybe initially, hot noodle soup isn’t exactly the most appetizing meal on a warm day. But there’s a reason why it’s famous, and that would be because it is good. Instead of the thin, buckwheat noodles commonly called soba, Okinawa soba uses thicker, almost udon-like, white noodles. The noodles aren’t as starchy as udon though. Served in broth with some fish cake (better than it sounds, I promise) and a slice of sweet, marinated pork (with lots of fat) and some pickled ginger, it makes an excellent lunch or dinner. Perhaps the real reason I liked it was that I always had room for some beni-imo soft cream afterwards.

Purikura In an uncharacteristically slow Jamie, Allison, and Wendy fashion, it took us a whole day to find a purikura machine in Okinawa. Once we found one though, we found a whole “purikura house” and got to try out several machines, including a special Okinawa version that had Okinawa themed backgrounds and stamps. Fabulous!!

Quiet garden
On our last day in Okinawa, we took our time getting ready in the morning and checked out of our hostel, stashing our bags in a locker at the monorail station. We had some delicious breakfast sets at an Italian café (and the best part, soooooo cheap! Mine was 450 yen.) Then we said good-bye to Kokusai-dori and headed towards the Fukushu-en Chinese Garden. The garden was free, unless you wanted to feed the fish, and was a beautiful, relaxing spot to spend part of our last day of vacation.
Rope van
We saw this as we were waiting for the ferry to take us to Tokashiki Island for the day. Where does the driver sit?

Shisa
You can read all about the guardian dog/lions of the Ryukus here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shisa

You can look at the different varieties here:

In front of a house.

Many mini ones for sale along Kokusai-dori.

Recycyled roof tile shisa.
Tiny bathroom guardian shisa. It did its job; this was one of the cleanest public restrooms of the trip!

And, last but not least, Mexican luchador shisa!

Ta-ko-ra-i-su
Another “Okinawan” tradition that I took advantage of 3 of the 5 days I was there. Taco rice is basically ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese topped with salsa served on top of a plate of rice. It tasted amazing, probably because it was so different from anything I have eaten in the last 9 months. I now have a use for the taco seasoning my mommy kindly sends me. Mmmmmmmm.

Umi
Technically, umi means ocean, which we saw a lot of, but this part is going to be more about the beach. Beach was a requirement for Allison and me when we set out to plan our Golden Week vacation. Initially, we wanted to go to Thailand, but when the cost of airplane tickets more than doubled overnight, we had to set our sights a little closer to Fukuoka. Okinawa turned out to be a pretty good place to be, and we got in 2.25 beach days.

Our best beach day was the one we spent on Tokashiki Island. The beach there had lovely, clear turquoise waters and white sand.

The second beach we went to was Emerald Beach (see “E”) which wasn’t exactly ideal, but way better than anything we have in Kurume (ha ha, nothing!) The last “beach” we went to can hardly be called such, and we didn’t even touch the sand for fear of disease.

Naminoue Beach is right in Naha city, and is little more than some sand dumped at the edge of the water below a highway overpass. Like Emerald Beach, the whole place was roped off with blue buoys, and the water inside of them looked a bit stagnant. We perched ourselves on a concrete wall to people watch instead and were treated to some highly entertaining “shows.” Off to our left, was a group of two guys who resourcefully used an empty chip bag to bring water up to their sand castle, which they built almost entirely with their feet. It also didn’t change shape or appear to get any bigger in the 30 we were watching, even though they worked on it the whole time. In front of us on the right were 6 guys who succeed in burying one of their friends so deep that he couldn’t get out without help. Later, a different group of guys about the same age (junior high or so) showed up in their baggy shorts and tight Under Armor shirts and not so subtly proceeded to check out the girls in the water. And the best performance of the day award goes to a “metabolic” (that’s how the Japanese refer to you if you are fat) boy who conducted solo synchronized swimming routines in the water, complete with dramatic hand gestures and splashes. When he tired himself out, we decided it was time to pack up, grab some lunch and head to the airport with all of the other tourists who chose Okinawa as their ideal vacation spot for Golden Week.

Vending machines
It makes sense that Okinawa would have even more vending machines than the rest of Japan because it is hot and sunny most of the year. Even so, isn’t this a bit of over kill?
Okinawa is probably the only place with protected vending machines.

Whale shark

(See "A" if you need more of an explanation.)

X-rated displays

[Allison has these pictures, and she is currently on another vacation]

Okinawans were a horny bunch. Or at least a lot more comfortable with the facts of life than the rest of Japan. In the carbon copy tourist shops along Kokusai-dori, there was a plethora of Okinawa themed condoms in various flavors; and the aquarium seemed to take a special pleasure in discussing every part in the life cycle of a sea organism. The tickets, which featured one of the whale sharks in cartoon form, had a rather detailed drawing of the whale's underside.

At the sea turtle pool, the ramp leading to the underwater viewing windows had been stenciled with the life cycle of a sea turtle. They started out very small and cute on the beach and made their way to the ocean where they grew larger and started humping.

The "Shark Lab" as it was called, also had a detailed display about shark reproductive practices. I actually did learn something though: there are two methods by which sharks can reproduce. One kind produces the egg sacks that you can sometimes see on the beach; while the other type has a womb where 6 or so babies are produced. The strongest two eat the rest. Talk about indigestion.

Yui Rail
Yui Rail is the official name of the monorail that runs through Naha from the airport to the castle. We rode it a few times; it was faster than the bus and provided nice vistas of the city. Our hostel was about a 3 minute walk, plus a 1 minute of stair climb from one of the stations.

Zamami
The island we didn’t get to go to. All of the boats were booked because it was Golden Week. The lady behind the counter brightly told us that there were openings on Monday to get out to the island, but no return boats. Kind of a problem for people leaving on Tuesday.

Okinawa ABC's (A-L)

Aquarium
“Come see the world’s best and many world firsts!” is the claim on the front of the English language brochure handed out at Okinawa’s Churaumi Aquarium. Thanks for the sound bite, but we had already made the 3 hour trek from Naha (see “L”) by the time we received the pamphlets and weren’t about to get back on the stuffy bus without seeing all the aquarium had to offer. The pamphlet could have said pretty much anything and we would have gone.

The main attraction at the Okinawa Aquarium is one of the largest fish tanks in the world, which is wrapped in “the world’s best” acrylic panel (22.5 meters wide, 8.2 meters high and 60 cm thick). It was even featured on the Discovery Channel. For all of its claims to fame, it was quite impressive. Inside the tank were 2 (or was it 3?) whale sharks, the largest in captivity, dozens of smaller sharks and manta rays, all swimming around peacefully while hundreds, if not thousands of Japanese tourists (and the random gaijin like myself) snapped pictures with digital cameras and cell phones. Cleaning time!

In addition to the large tank, there were many smaller tanks and displays very similar to the exhibits at every other aquarium. The touch pool was so crowded with small children that it was impossible to get close enough to touch any of the poor organisms inside. One smart starfish with an uncanny resemblance to Patrick of the Spongebob fame, had lodged himself in between the rocks out of everyone’s reach.

Beni-imo soft cream
So good I ate it all 5 days; Jamie, Allison and I became regulars at the Blue Seal ice cream shop on Kokusai-dori. The purple sweet potato flavor went perfectly with vanilla; memories of the sublime combination continue to haunt me. Upon returning to my apartment, I thought the linoleum in my kitchen kind of looked like a beni-imo ba-ni-ra mikusu cone.

I should know by now that pictures of me stuffing my face are bound to be unflattering.

Castle
Shuri-jo castle in Naha is an impressive labyrinth of big stone walls broken up by even larger gates. The castle itself isn’t too large, but what it lacks in size it makes up for by being painted a bright red.

Dragon Boats
Every year in early May, Naha hosts Dragon Boat races. I am not too up on the history of the event, but we were lucky enough to catch the last race while we were there. Three boats full of strong armed men line up and then must paddle quickly out to a flag, turn around and come back again. We watched the blue, black and yellow teams (their official names, I am sure). The blue boat started off with a bang (probably because they were the only team who could hear the pitifully quiet starter’s gun,) but were a bit too powerful, overshooting the flag and having a difficult time turning around. The black team paced themselves better, and had their turning technique down pat, which allowed them to finish first. The poor yellow team was a bit out to sea the whole time.

Emerald Beach
A short walk from the Aquarium is Emerald Beach. The name and the pictures in the brochures had us expecting a glorious stretch of white sand and turquoise-green waters. Alas when we got there, we only found a weird shaped (most likely man-made) peninsula, covered with small children, speakers blaring one of the worst beach soundtracks ever (think uncensored Eminem and Avirl Lavigne) and a ring of blue buoys around the whole thing, severely limiting the inflow of fresh sea water. But the sun was shining, and after the 3 hour bus ride we weren’t about to pass up a beach opportunity.

Farmer’s tan
Allison is genetically blessed and tans almost instantly without burning. Jamie and I were a little more worried about the harmful effects the sun’s rays would have on our skin and took care to apply lots of sun block. The sun screen did its job…sort of. Most parts of our bodies hardly changed color at all (still pasty!) but our hands and forearms are now noticeably browner. Not really sure this is an improvement, since the disparity will just continue to worsen as it gets warmer and we ride our bikes around.

Goya Galore
One of Okinawa’s claims to fame is an odd looking fruit called a goya (or bitter melon in English.) As the English name suggests, it is incredibly bitter. I like it in small doses. One day for lunch I ordered a set that came with goya champaru, and had to leave some behind on my plate because it was a little too much. Much better than the fruit itself are all the goya-themed products it has spawned—plush toys, t-shirts, fans, public benches…

That's Mr. Goya on the left, with his Okinawan friends Ms. Pineapple and Mr. Beni-imo.

It's hard to read, but the naked Kewpie is saying "Okinawa is too hot!" and has stepped out of her goya outfit.

The coolest way to keep cool.

Hibiscus
What can I say? They were everywhere. And I took pictures of a lot of them as if I had never seen such a thing before (not true.) Flowers do make such great subjects though.

Ick
Remember my very first blog post? The one about the snake in a bottle I found while cleaning my apartment after I moved in? Well, now I know were to get more, should I so desire. And much bigger ones too (for the bargain price of almost $700)!!

Another food specialty of Okinawa is pork, and when they say pork, they really mean the whole entire pig. Face, feet and everything in between. We saw it all at the open market. Mmmm mmmm good.

Jacks
I think Japan has maybe one or two rivers that still run wild with out dams or concrete channels, and I think there are an equal number of beaches without massive concrete jacks placed along the shoreline or out in the water a bit to prevent erosion. On the 3 hour bus ride to the aquarium and back (see “L”) we drove past some dock yards where they were made in giant molds. Seeing them really makes me think about scale (so much concrete, and they’re all over Japan) and the impact humans have on the environment.

Kakigori
Overall, Okinawa felt much more like Hawaii than it felt like a part of Japan. But, if they really hope to become the true Hawaii of Japan (maybe that’s not their goal, what do I know) they really need to improve the quality of their kakigori (shave ice.) All of the kakigori I saw and ate was the crunchy state fair variety, a far cry from the soft powdery versions from Waiola or Matsumoto’s shave ice on Oahu. And while I don’t need an overwhelming number of flavors to choose from, I would appreciate a few more than “strawberry” and “remon.” Jamie ran into another problem with the Okinawan variety. At home in Hawaii, she is used to being able to order her shave ice with ice cream on the bottom. In Okinawa, this is not a standard menu item. After giving a detailed explanation of what she wanted, she was usually able to get what she asked for, except that instead of being inside the mound of ice, the ice cream was left on top, making the whole thing very messy.

Long bus ride
Since we didn’t rent a car and were not part of a tour group, the only way for us to get from our hostel in Naha to the Aquarium north of Nago was to take a bus—a city bus, and then transfer to the direct bus at the Nago Bus Terminal. We boarded the city bus rather early in the morning with a bunch of old people. Luckily, we got on at only the second stop and had seats for the interminable trip towards Nago. Being a local city bus, it stopped many times…the board at the front of the bus displaying the fares was almost full by the time we reached Nago. Having boarded early on in the route, we racked up quite the fare as well--almost 2000 yen (not quite $20), but when we reached the front, we could only pay in coins!! We disembarked at the bustling Nago terminal, and were disappointed to find…nothing. Because we had left rather early, we were planning on grabbing some breakfast at a coffee shop or bakery at the Nago Bus Terminal; the name at least makes is sound important enough to contain all the amenities I have come to associate with public transportation hubs. A bit hungry, we crammed onto the express bus to the Aquarium, which thankfully didn’t stop until it reached the Aquarium’s parking lot. We disembarked, thankful for the fresh air after the 3 hour bus adventure, and went straight to the closest snack stand which sold nutritious breakfast items like corn dogs and iced coffee.