Takakura Fukuoka

... 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 ...

... 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 ...

On Saturday, I managed to wake up a bit earlier, which is good because we had to be out of the house and on the road to get to the aquarium. Okinawa's aquarium is located near Nago, on the north tip of the island, and is the seconds largest aquarium in the world after the one in Georgia. It also has the largest sheet of plexiglass in the world for its main tank, which holds three whale sharks. We were very excited to see this, even ...

... pied, nous sommes allés manger dans un restaurant   un peu plus cher qu'ailleurs, sur la rue principale. Mais bon, leur Katsudon était TRÈS bon! Ensuite, pour faire passer le tout, nous sommes partis à la recherche de petits temples cachés ici et là dans la ville. Il s'agissait de suivre la ligne rouge-orange sur la carte (que je vais ajouter) et il y en avait plusieurs. Nous sommes allés voir le Hie Shrine et ensuite le Temple Bouddhiste Kaidanin. (sur la carte, ces endroits sont ...

... bullet train) which takes about 6 hours to Tokyo but instead take 11 different trains with a journey time of 27 hours. The day ended with a 4 hour stopover in a train station car park waiting for the station to open again, the following morning.

... dinner we had some strange tofu-sesame thing which was so hard to eat, imagine trying to pick up big lumps of jelly with chopsticks and you're getting close! We had a good explore around Koya which is pretty small and walked through the graveyard. It's huge, hidden away in the forests on the side of the mountain, the path way through leads to more temples and shrines. When we reached ...

... us and got my e-mail address before going on his way. It is always nice to meet such gregarious and outgoing people, though I don't think I could match their style and do what they do. On the train ride back to Seoul another main character died in the Dark Tower. We got back to our apartment complex late and said our goodnights. The whole time we were heading back I got a rising sense of uneasiness and dread in the pit of my stomach. I don't know what exactly causes that to happen when I ...

... because the family consisted of a 36 year old man, a 32 year old woman, with three small children. Given the city centre location of the accomodation, I did not think of it being anything else than cramped. A horid thought prior to my arrival. But, oh, what a surprise. It was a modern two storey stand alone house, with at least 8 rooms, 2 bath rooms and a tiny kitchen. I was allocated to a 25 sqm room which I had to myself ...