Back to our Okinawa stay.  One day we spent exploring the local glass and pottery crafters in Yomitan Village about a 45 minute drive north of us.

This is an interesting old village of potters and a glass making site.  One thing the village is known for is this old style “climbing kiln” or Noborigama.

Here are a couple of Shisa or spirit guards protecting some pottery.  (The shisa are believed to be protectors.  The female shisa, always placed on the left, has her mouth almost closed to keep the good spirits within the home or building.  The male shisa, on the right, has his mouth open to scare away the bad spirits.)

But our favorite spot was watching the glass making process

especially this fascinating fellow who appeared to be the master craftsman.

From here we drove over to the west coast to have a look and came upon this beach

but we couldn’t get down to it so we continued up the road and found this lovely spot with easy access.

Then it was back to our room just in time to catch the inn’s shuttle van that took us to American Village.  We’d heard about it so we thought we’d check it out.  This picture’s for Jeffy, my little brother, although I doubt he reads my blog.

and this one’s for our son Justin and wife Lauren (and the whole Sargent clan) who just spent Christmas in Cuba.

We had to make a stop here because they had 24 beers on tap including two from Coronado Brewing Co, as well as Stone, Alpine, Pizza Port, and lots more.

Then a walk along the sea wall

and finally dinner at Bisono’s Brazilian BBQ.  Six different kinds of bbq’d meats and an amazing rum and sugar cane drink.

And finally it was time for our nice walk back to Westpac for the night.

 

One of the most stunning sites we visited in Okinawa was the Peace Memorial Park whose theme is “Conveying our Hearts of Peace to the World.”  The Cornerstone of Peace was erected on July 23, 1995 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa during the Pacific War.

Okinawa was the site of the only land battle in Japan during World War II. Its residents were caught in the fighting, resulting in massive loss of precious lives and cultural assets. These wartime experiences must not be forgotten.  The names of all 240,000 people who lost their lives in the Battle of Okinawa, military and civilian alike regardless of nationality, are inscribed on the Cornerstone of Peace as a prayer for eternal world peace.

The Flame of Peace is located at the center of the plaza. This flame is composed of flames from three other places: from Akajima Island in Zamami Village, the first landing site of U.S. forces in Okinawa; and from the Flame of Peace in Hiroshima and the Flame of Peace in Nagasaki, the sites of the two atomic bombings. The flame, which has been burning since 1991, was transferred to the Peace Plaza in 1995 on Irei-no-hi (Okinawa Memorial Day), June 23.

All the walkways meet at the Peace Plaza, an open area for people to gather. This location provides a spectacular view of the precipitous cliffs and the shoreline.

 

The Cornerstone of Peace passes on the lessons learned from the tragedy of War to future generations and serves as a place for us to appreciate the peace in which we live today, and pray for everlasting world peace.

Today we set out to explore Shurijo Castle originally constructed in the 14th century.  Although it was heavily damaged in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa, it’s been beautifully restored.  We enter through the Kankaimon Gate, named as a way of welcome to the visitors of the castle.

Inside is the Surijo Castle Seiden which was the royal seat of the Ryukyu Kingdom for 500 years  It served as the Kingdom’s political, economic and cultural core.  The architecture is strongly influenced by both the Japanese and the Chinese cultures.

The horizontal red and white lines mark where the troops would sit, as seen in this scale model.

Here is the king’s seat where he conducted his political affairs and ceremonies.

This is a replica of the bell that hung in the castle in 1458.  It is famous for its inscription emphasizing the spirit of trade and friendship upon which the prosperity of the Ryukyu Kingdom was based.

A view of the outer walls on the right and the inner walls on the left.  These walls are 3 meters thick!

The view from up here is impressive.  The place we’re staying is near the sea in the center of this picture.

And here’s a side gate used mostly by women.

This spring provided water for the castle.

Back to our lodge for a nap.  Then we headed out on foot to explore and look for dinner.  This looked like a men’s clothing store.

We got down to the water’s edge

and found just what Chris was looking for.

And the end to another day.

Since both Chris and I were in the midst of some pretty bad colds, we spent a lot of time just laying low and reading books.  But we did get out a bit.  We had a list of Okinawa foods we wanted to try, one of which was “taco rice.”  Not knowing what this was we set off to find the place with the best taco rice.  And that’s where King Tacos comes in.

We walked to this tiny restaurant and had to wait for a table as the place was packed.  All three tables.  Pretty soon the place cleared out and we had it all to ourselves for a little while.

And this is what the famous taco rice looks like.

Not exactly the great Mexican food we were used to in southern California.  What was great at King Tacos was the “collections” lining the walls of this tiny place.

I especially liked the Bob’s Big Boys displayed in the Juke Box.

Then it was back to the Westpac Lodge for more rest.  Here’s an image  from the front door of the lodge.  Very tropical looking.

Chris and I are off on a week’s R&R in Okinawa, the Hawaii of Japan.  Okinawa is a two hour flight south from Iwakuni.  We went Space Available on the Patriot Express.  This is a plane that just flies Seattle-Tokyo-Iwakuni-Okinawa-Iwakuni-Tokyo-Seattle.  So we hopped on in Iwakuni, hopped off in Okinawa, and assuming there will be “space available” we’ll hop back on in Okinawa next Saturday and hop off in Iwakuni.

Okinawa is about 45 miles long and about 5 miles wide.  Here’s a glimpse at its narrowest.

And some small islands off shore.

We flew in to Kadena Air Force Base and are staying next door at the Westpac Lodge on the Marine Corp Base Camp Foster.  Here’s the view from our room.

This week is expected to be mostly cloudy but yesterday was beautiful so we drove north a couple hours to the famous Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium.  We started the day with breakfast at the Rose Garden Cafe off base, a very American style breakfast spot packed with Japanese folks.  Highway 58 took us north along the west coast of Okinawa, very beautiful views of the East China Sea

and a popular cycling route.

The Aquarium was a wonderful place to spend the day.

The whale sharks were impressive

as was this character

and this amazingly huge lobster.

Here’s a view of the aquarium from the other side.  Very impressive structure.

As we moved on to outdoor exhibits we just happened to be just in time for the dolphin show.  Check out the view.

The whole show reminded me of the Sea World dolphin shows of the ’60’s.

And the finale!

And when that was over we were just in time for another dolphin show.  This one we think was about how they train the dolphins.

And then, you guessed it, another dolphin show.  The best part was when the MC had this little boy from the audience stand on a box and give hand signals to the dolphins for them to do tricks.  He took this responsibility very seriously.

An all around great day!

A few nights ago we went out to dinner with some of Chris’ office staff to welcome “the new guy” who just arrived from Alabama.  People ordered various items to share – like this for example.  The picture on the menu looked good and this looks just like the picture on the menu.

After we ate it we learned it wasn’t beef or pork – can you guess what it was?  Turns out it was WHALE!!!  Can you believe it?  What a shocker.  Apparently whale is very controversial here in Japan nowadays.  “The International Whaling Commission has banned commercial whale hunting since 1986, making an exception for scientific research.  Japan obeys the letter, if not exactly spirit, of the ban by saying the 333 whales it plans to kill each year are purely for research.”  So I guess this was just on the menu in the name of research.     ~ ~ ~ hmmmmm ~ ~ ~

Continuing on with our dining experience, Chris, who will try anything once, had the pleasure of trying  –  HORSE!  –  sashimi style (very fresh raw meat or fish sliced into thin pieces).  (In foreground.)

Can you believe it?  What a night!

Thank goodness for Sake!

Back on the home front, I just thought I’d give you a glimpse of a little issue we’re dealing with right now.  For some reason, our shower isn’t getting as hot as it used to.  You’d think we could figure that one out but here’s the problem.

We just can’t quite figure out what these buttons mean since the up arrow is not doing the trick.  I called the Housing Office who sent out a guy from the gas company (not sure why).  He came over and chattered in Japanese the whole time.  The shower seemed to work great after he left  –  for about a day  – and then back to where we started.  I’ve just gone through the whole process again so we’ll see how that goes.

And, I’m also open to any suggestions on how to get our clothes dry in less than 2+ hours.  Similar problem.

Of course the Japanese hang everything outside.

Enough of that.  Check out this tiny shrine we just happened upon.  It’s right across the street from the grocery store we usually go to and we’d never noticed it before.  It’s tucked in between two tall “modern” buildings.

And finally, here’s a little Japanese happiness to share with you all.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

It’s Valentine’s Day and a short drive to our next destination Yufuin, about 25 km from our last stay.  Yufuin is known as a “spa town” because of all the hot springs.  You can see steam rising from some of them up in the hills.

We spent the day wandering around the town.  Here are some eggs cooking in the hot geothermal ground water outside a store by the sidewalk.

Then there was this zen-like laundromat.

And a few doors down – a restaurant maybe?

Speaking of food, it’s time for lunch and there just happens to be a brewery in town.

The food was buffet style, many many choices.  Just grab a tray, a bowl or two and a dish.  These dishes are great for folks who like to keep their food separated.  This was my first pass at the buffet.

Back out on the street we came upon other interesting sites, like a chopstick shop

and a beautiful ikebana stand

and a restaurant that specializes in Snoopy?

There was also this sign to give you some perspective.

And this beautiful paving.

And speaking of pavement . . . since we’d spent all day walking around town we headed back to our ryokan (like an onsen but in a hotel).  On the way back we stopped to rest at this lovely foot bath.

Ahhh

where we shared this bottle of local honey Mead that we’d purchased on our wanderings.

Then a hot bath and off to dinner.  Tonight’s meal . . . in case you want to follow along.

First course – beautiful isn’t it?

Second course – cook your own meat and vegees, just the way you like ’em.

Third course

Fourth course – salad with raw salmon

Last course – the rice, miso soup, a little more vegees, and green tea.

Then back to the room for a night cap to go with our Valentine’s Day chocolate.

So now here’s our room before dinner and here it is after dinner.

In the morning we head up to breakfast and thank goodness Tracy knows what’s going on.  She’s fluent in Japanese and our amazing guide/translator on all these adventures.

Breakfast – preset and ready to eat.  Very typical Japanese breakfast.

Then it was back in the car for the long drive home, quite content with many happy memories.