Aoshima Grand Hotel Miyazaki

... I've been to a couple of other aquariums (most notably the Vancouver Aquarium and the New England Aquarium in Boston) but this place definitely took the cake. Not only was there a good dolphin and whale show but the massive shark/ray/tuna/whatever-else-kind-of-fi sh-you-can-imagine tank was unbelievable. Apparently the main viewing area houses one of the largest single panes of plexi-glass in the world. There are a couple of pictures that I've posted here that should ...

... been conscripted to work as nurses for the military hid in caves during the U.S. assault on the island. Unfortunately, these young girls were told by the Japanese military at the time that they should be wary of surrendering to the U.S. forces. The girls would not come out of their cave hiding place and the U.S. soldiers were unfortunately forced to gas them out, killing them.<br><br>Taking a tour like this is a very sobering experience. On the one hand, you ...

... 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 stunningly hot day and the indoor area was air conditioned. After Shuri Castle, we went to Kokusai street in Naha City. This is a palm-lined street with tons of small souvenir shops, with a surfer atmosphere. I picked up quite a few gifts here! My favorite purchase was a red coral necklace for myself. The store's owner was so happy to see me for some reason that she gave me free shisa keychain. Riley was getting restless, so ...

... other fish was definitely a favorite. There was a diver in scuba gear cleaning the inside of the glass, so that was funny. Riley did not particularly care for the exhibits, but she did like running around.<br><br>Outside, we visited the turtle pools and the manatees, which were interesting because they were spacious and had cartoon character mascots (like most Japanese advertisements!) Our next stop was the native Okinawan village ...

... but we did snag some Anpanman gummies.<br><br>When we got home, it was definitely Riley's bedtime, but then Mom, Julia, and I watched UP!, which I got for about 90 cents in Beijing. It worked, but since it is such a new movie, of course it was bootlegged and thus had a laugh track from the movie theater and also some of the writing was in Russian. It was still a good movie though. Afterwards, I fell asleep in about a second, despite this really not very action-packed day.<br>

... restaurant). We sat on low benches with our shoes off. I had chicken yakatori with rice, and I tried edamame. You will be shocked to know that I enjoyed it and would potentially order it again.<br><br>After dinner we headed back to Julia and Stu's house on the base, which is very nice. I more or less collapsed onto my bed (the couch). It was very nice knowing that my fast-paced travel schedule would be slowing down a bit in Okinawa.<br>

... down the street. I got a glimps of a Peace Rally that the locals were having around the base. It was interesting, I just wish I knew what they were saying, or maybe not. Ava and I did a girls day, well just a couple of hours, and got our toes done at the infamous CoCo's. Don't they look nice! We tried to go to a water park, but come to find out they are only open on the weekends. Luckily it is inside of a huge park called ...

... there to be a camping area, so confidence in having a destination increases. Across rolling hills, getting very dark, and of course, the question of whether the camp site is really open. 5.5km later we find the turn (we can read the Kanji for camping now at least), and apparently, judging by the very interesting signs, there is a bug zoo / farm between us and the camp site. lovely. Lots of really big pictures of really big bugs. Japan hasn't had many bugs so far ...

... t complain about my school at all. There are a few classes that are a little noisier than I would like at times and it tries my patience (which you all know doesn `t take much- for some reason I didn`t get that gene from my mother!) Anyway, I really enjoy the third year students because some of them can actually make jokes, and I can pick on them and they get it- so those classes are fun. I teach with seven different JTE`s (Japanese English Teachers). I have 11 ...