Akasaka Hotel Okinawa

... the one hand, this is a very beautiful place with friendly people and very nice, warm weather. The culture here is indeed more laid-back and is noticeably different from the mainland. People just act different here yet it is still Japan. On the other hand, this is a somewhat sad place where the weight of history and the hideous events of nearly a century ago still linger in the hearts and minds of the inhabitants. In addition, the resentment over the continued U.S ...

... of the Japanese Navy's main command posts during World War 2. What an interesting and spooky place this turned out to be. Two things really struck us. First of all, these tunnels were dug from the rock by hand using pick axes -- there are thousands of metres of tunnels here. Secondly, many military officers committed suicide here after it became apparent that the battle with the U.S. was lost. The scars from exploding hand grenades can still be seen in some of ...

... next couple of days as we go on two guided tours. One will be up to the north end of the island to an aquarium and a pineapple farm. I am sure that once we get outside of Naha City that we will see the true tropical paradise aspects of this island. We will also be spending some time outside of the city on the south of the island. There is a lot of World War Two history here as this south end of the island is ...

... did all of our shopping in fast forward. On our way home, we stopped at the military exchange, the small American-style mall on base. My mom and I went inside to buy silk robes, like the one Julia gave me for Christmas. We also got books for our respective plane rides, and then went to dinner at Macaroni Grill nearby. It was absolutely delicious, and Riley was very funny. While Julia packed at home, my mom and I took Riley ...

... from the Chinese Fu dogs. They are a pair or lion-like dogs that sit on top of houses or in front of them. The one on the left, the female, has its mouth shut to keep in all of the good things. The one on the right, the male, is roaring to scare away the bad. Shisa dogs are everywhere; many of my souvenirs are shisa-themed.

After walking through the village, we made a pitstop at the Oceanic Cultures Museum, which ...

... 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 ...