Fukiya Unzen

Since this island is so small, we decided to do it again and this time go on a tour of the north today. This was a much less sobering tour than the one that we did yesterday given that it was more contemporary and less focused on the tragic past of Okinawa. Our stops today included of all things a pineapple farm and the world's second largest aquarium - apparently second in size only to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.

The bus ride today was a longer one as we had to ...

... 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.

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.

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 ...

... handled this very gracefully and eventually ended up running back and forth through it in her diaper screaming. If only we'd just skipped all the museum stuff and brought her right to the fountain!

FOr dinner we tried Obbligato, a Mexican restaurant as imagined by the Japanese. It was pretty good; I got chimichangas for the first time and they reminded me of eggrolls. We also had a pitcher of margaritas, so a good time was had.

... to the car, it stopped raining, of course. Obviously after all of that I needed a nap, so I took one up in the guest room. When I woke up, we had an excellent dinner of pasta and root beer floats before heading to the mall. The Okinawan mall was different than other malls I've seen, with a more open floor plan while still having sort of individual shops. Right as we walked in there was a cartoon animal to ride on, which Riley saw and immediately wanted, so we had problems ...

... 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.

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.

... Park, so we played on the playgrounds there and worked up a sweat. After that we headed over to Araha beach to cool off and end our fun day by eating Ramen at the beach. We had fun even though it didn't work out how we planned. Other than that we hung out and have sent a few emails to Trevor. We get to talk to him on the computer here and there, but mostly it is just me that gets to talk to him unless he gets a day off. I hope you enjoy!

... eyesight, but the route was easy and bright enough to walk along and especially after she got used to the darkness, there was no problem and even she walked much faster than me. By the way, the park had another attraction, Eisa. To tell the truth, we had seen it in Ryukyu Mura, but this time it was better than that with more performers, a spacious stage, a lion dance, and a huge drum placed on the stage. Unfortunately, we were forbidden to ...

... up. Sit for one minute. Now turn the car on, and turn the heat up as high as it can go. That is how hot it is in Okinawa. Really. Even with the air conditioner on in my apartment when the sun is up, I am sweating. I am sweating all the time. It is very hot in Okinawa. Teacher`s Room Romance! So Japanese opposite sex relationships are weird, really weird. I still don`t think I understand them. Nobody ever really talks about their boyfriend or girlfriend or husband, whatever ...