The start of May was Golden Week and what a golden week it was. Rather than staying in Mito like I did last year, I was itching to get away this year. My itch took me and my friend to Okinawa! What a beautiful place! Beautiful beaches and amazing food, is it too soon to go back? There’s a lot of American influences (fashion, some food, and shoes), but most of the influences were Chinese (old music, dragons etc). In a way, Okinawa reminded me of Hawaii. Except replace the American tourists with Chinese and Koreans and cheapen the prices and you’ve got Okinawa.
My trip was split in half. The first half, I rented a car and spent time in the middle/northern part of the island. The first day, I went scuba diving for the first time. This probably makes the top ten in best things I’ve ever done. Since I’m not licensed, I had a guide the entire time and didn’t go very deep. There were lots of fish (duh) and sea cucumbers and urchins. I learned sea cucumbers don’t have organs and they filter water (basically). I wish I could have taken pictures with my phone (waterproof case) but they didn’t allow it. But they were nice enough to take pictures and send them to me! I also went to Ryukyu village which was a museum park of what life was like before Americans took over. It reminded me much of the Polynesian culture center except this was just about Ryukyu. Lots of Chinese influences. I learned that Ryukyu people were very short. Apparently, I’m the height of a male back then. If I’m a height of a male, how short were the women??
The second day, I took a ferry to Le Island. It’s a small island about 30 minutes away fro Okinawa. There’s a campsite, beach, hiking and farms. My friend and I rented bikes and went to the beach. Despite getting severe sunburn, this was probably the day with the nicest weather. Honestly, people who burn how do you handle it? It’s so painful! My friends who tan, Okinawa sun is no joke! Wear sun screen! Anyways, we didn’t stay very long on Le island because our returning ferry was early (later ferries were full), but we found a nice beach when we got back so it all worked out. And, talk about a small world, we met people from Mito at the second beach! A group of guys who I’m convinced are teachers but my friend thinks they’re still in high school. Why can’t Asians ever look their age? After the island, we went to American Village for dinner. American Village is literally the American version of Chinatown. They even had gluten free pizza so of course I ate there. It’s no Lou’s but it was good enough for me! The best part about that place was the view. It was right on the beach so the sun set was beautiful! I mean, Okinawa’s sunsets were always beautiful so I guess that doesn’t say much.
Days three, four and five of my trip were in the Naha area (the capitol of Okinawa). Naha was nice but the northern part of the island was definitely better. It could have gone a lot better if it hadn’t rained! But, that’s my fault for going at the beginning of rainy season. Naha didn’t really have any beaches so being there after the north part was a little bit of a downer. But it was still fun. We mostly shopped but we did go to Shuri castle! It took me the entire castle tour to realize that we weren’t in the actual castle (it was destroyed in the war) and that they had rebuilt a replica. It wasn’t until they showed us that the replica was built above the castle ruins, that I figured it out. Which makes seeing an outlet halfway through the tour so much sense! Go ahead, roll your eyes. I did too.
This trip, I saw a lot, did a lot and ate a lot! Okinawa has so much good food! Much of the food was Japanese with an Okinawan twist. For example, sob! In Japan, it’s buckwheat noodles. However, in Okinawa the noodles are closer to udon noodles. There’s also taco rice (literally the inside of a taco on top of rice), goya (bitter melon stir fried with egg and pork), and sushi (there’s no difference).. Excuse me while I go wipe up my drool. I really wish I could have eaten more foods but time was short. I did get to see a pile of butter that reminded me of the Washington monument. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to go back.. darn…
It’ll be awhile before I can go on another adventure like that.. Only because I don’t have any days off until July ?. But what last year has taught me is that July will be here soon enough. I better start planning!
Everything in Mito is the same. Back to the same old same old. Not that I’m complaining. It’s officially cool biz season so no suits for me until October! Yayyyyyyy!
I’m a little bit at a loss of what to write about next so if there’s anything specific please let me know 🙂
