Hotel JAL City Naha

... 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.

Our first stop was at a re-creation of a traditional Ryukyu village. Ryukyu (if I didn't ...

... rooms. It was fascinating to be walking through an area that was central to major World War 2 battles nearly 70 years ago.

We also took in Shurijyo Castle which is a reconstruction of the primary castle that served as the main administrative centre when Okinawa was still a feudal fiefdom under the Tokugawa Shogunate. The castle had been destroyed several times, the latest of which was during the Battle of Okinawa during World War 2. This latest ...

... 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 ...

On Sunday, we woke up early again to drive to Shuri Castle, down in Naha. Shuri Castle today is a recreation from memory of the 14th century castle that was destroyed during the battle of Okinawa. Chinese envoys used to come to the castle to crown the Ryukuan king, and there are many portraits and artifacts from these kings inside. You have to take off your shoes to walk around in the museum. We were happy to do so, since it ...

... 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.

... of my still-tender toe, but I just pointed to it and tried to explain, and so the lady doing my feet avoided it except to paint it. It was extremely relaxing- the little girl across from us completely conked out. I chose jasmine oil to help me recover from my fatigue, and opted for some nail art to try to blend in more in Asia.

Unfortunately when we left the nail salon, it was pouring, so we slipped along the road in our massage oil-covered flip flops. Then when we ...

... 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.

... 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 ...

... routes in the forest were paved with stones and surrounded by attractive tropical trees, but some parts of the routes were slippery and it is better to use a cane sometimes which you can borrow for free at the starting point. In the most important site, two large rocks were naturally put together to make a route to the altar, where we can see the Pacific Sea through the bush. Seifa-Utaki had less visitors than the other attractions in ...

... tezje ga je ohranjati zanimivega. Kot sem ze omenila v dezeli vzhajajocega sonca imam velikokrat obcutek, da sonce sploh ne vzide, da hlad in neoseben stik prevladujeta. In ce je govora o razvitem svetu - ja, sej so razviti - v nekaterih pogedih, po drugi strani pa ene stvari preprosti trajajo PREDOLGO - tko da je se latinska amerika hitrejsa. So tud zelo samozadostni - kar na dolgi rok iz izkusenj vemo, da nikol ni dobr ;). Nekdo se bo npr. specializiral, da ...