Akasaka Hotel Okinawa

... into that here. I will say though that, although the bases no doubt serve an important purpose for U.S. interests in the Far East, they are a contemporary expression of the military tragedies of the past that have befallen this beautiful island. If you want to get a more graphic and political view of the impact of these bases, read "Sorrows of Empire" by Chalmers Johnson. <br><br>Our first stop was at a re-creation of a traditional Ryukyu village. Ryukyu (if I didn't ...

... yourself in a sub-tropical paradise surrounded by beautiful trees, beaches, and ocean. Yet, nearly 70 years on, the history of World War 2 and the horrendous events that happened in this place still weigh heavy on the minds and consciousness of the people here. When one considers the scale of what occurred during the Battle of Okinawa (around 13,000 Americans killed and over 200,000 Japanese killed), how can it not? It is mind boggling to consider the scale of ...

... this though, I probably would not have noticed this at all -- the signs that this prefecture is a bit behind others are subtle. A shabby building here, some litter in a river there -- things that one tends not to see to such a degree in other parts of the country. Nonetheless, this is quite a nice place and definitely a sub-tropical paradise.<br><br>We will definitely see a lot more of rural Okinawa over ...

... a walk to the playground in her extreme stroller. She and another very little girl played on the slides as we and the girl's parents raced around trying to keep them from falling. It was actually not a very toddler-friendly playground, as we had to scale a hill to get up there and navigate the stroller down a staircase to leave. Back at the house, we packed up everything, getting ready to say goodbye to Okinawa in the morning.

... we saw how Okinawans lived in the past (obviously). The Okinawans lived in squat wooden houses on shelly lawns. What's interesting about this island is that it was not always a part of Japan- that only happened in the last century. It had its own special Ryukuan culture, as evidenced by many things around the island that are different from Japan's other islands. One of Okinawa's most special features is the shisa dog. Shisa dogs are ...

... came out for an extra long weekend. She came out to step in to be Trevor's Godmother for his conversion to Catholic. We were able to get out and see some new things and a repeat of some things like Shurji Castle and Jack's (our favorite place to eat!). Shortly after Easter we had to ...

... blast. Our next adventure was the Aquarium. We also invited our new friends the Willis family for the ride. They got to go different places like the zoo , Okinawa World, The Japanese Naval Underground Headquarters and Shurji Castle . My parents got to experience Japanese sushi, Japanese alcohol and riding on the left side of the road. I ...

Noah and I have been really busy, or just keeping ourselves that way. Its pretty hard not having Jonathon here with us but we get to talk to him everyday on the web cam. At the end of the conversation, Noah will say "Ok daddy go to work now" because we told him dad has to go to work for a long time. He is doing pretty good with it tho. Of course he misses him alot and so do I. My laundry seems so much easier to keep done, and my house ...

We have been in our house for a month now and we are still waiting for our stuff. It is really bad since we keep going out and trying to fill in some of the space! We really don't have the space since we moved from a 4 bedroom with a garage to a 3 bedroom without one. Oh well, I guess Good Will will get some donations, LOL. We had a ...

... Tuomon käteen oikean bussin numeron ja milloin se menee. No ni, nyt alkoi toimimaan! :-) Päästiin siis lopulta Ocean Parkille asti, mikä oli melko huikea homma ja allas kaiketi yksi maailman suurimmista, siis aivan mieletön! Paljon nähtiin kaikkia ihme kaloja ja muita merenolioita, joiden olemassaolosta ei minulla ennen tätä päivää ollut hajuakaan. Muutenkin hyvin antoisa visiitti delfiiniesityksineen kaikkineen, joten voin suositella lämpimästi. Takaisinpäin Kariyushille ...