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.