Yorontou Kankou Hotel Yoron-cho

... the snake-like journey up to the northern part of the island. This could have been a boring experience but it turned out to be quite an enlightening one as the tour guide provided a lot of commentary that provided context on all of the places that we were about to visit. Of interest during the journey was passing by (and through) the large U.S. military bases that still cover the landscape of Okinawa. I could comment on this in a politically sensitive manner but I will not ...

Today we decided to do something that I don't normally like to do -- go on a guided tour with a bunch of other people and get caught up on a commercial racket. Given that neither of us have ever been to Okinawa and don't know our way around, we decided to go on a bus tour and are we ever glad that we did.<br><br>The tour took us to a number of historical and interesting spots, most notable of which was the old Imperial Navy Underground Headquarters that served as ...

Today we arrived at Naha City in Okinawa. We flew from Tokyo in an ANA 747. It has bee a really long time since I've flown in a 747 and (other than landing which I hate with a passion) it was a pleasure. The service on ANA is impeccable and the 747 (despite Airbus' development of the A380) is still the granddaddy of all airplanes. It was a pleasure to once again be on a 747.<br><br>Upon disembarking from the ...

... 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!<br><br>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. <br>

... that. But she still let us shop for a nice long time, during which I got to experience the Japanese toy section (full of bizarre toys such as Anpanman, the superhero with bread for a head, Mameshiba, the puppy-faced edamame bean, and various other sad-faced adorable animals). I also perused the candy section but was disappointed- isn't it supposed to be shiny and colorful? There wasn't even a good selection of Haribo- not even fizzy colas! There weren't a whole lot of exciting ...

... through the sports section, through a giant kids section, and into a cruise terminal, without finding the place we first explored the day before. We had to leave the mall and walk around the exterior to get our bearings, and by that time I had about 20 minutes to shop before I had to head home. Nat and I said our goodbyes, and I hit the road. It instantaneously started raining when I stepped outside, and I managed to get good ...

... a blast. Aaron and Estaban, students of mine, helped me out a few times watching the kids and keep them close. On Mother's Day I also ran into a few spouses at a brunch that was held at one of the clubs on base. They invited me to eat with them and then to a new park, Round 1. It was a really neat place with, I believe, 3 floors of fun stuff for the kids to do. They had a blast! We had our usual hangouts with the neighbors and our ...

It was late here when our flight arrived. I was sad because I really wanted to see the island from above. Kurts new boss meet us at the luggage claim, he is super nice. He remindes me of this guy I knew in Seattle, patrik. Really nice guy.<br>Kids were AMAZING on both flights and it went by a lot faster than I thought it would. Our Hotel is really cool! It's a japanese style hotel and it's also an apartment style hotel as well. It has three bedrooms, a ...

... Kiotoon, ja oikeestaan yhta vahan tietoa on sen paikan hotellista, ku tasta nykysestakin... tai noh... ehka jopa vahemman. Silla mitaan hajua ei ole, onko siella nettia saatavilla, onko tama viimeinen raportti Japanian maalta vai ei! Kaikki tama selviaa ensi jaksossa... ehka. ps. Onko suvussamme taipumusta ihosyopaan? T: Lassi (elaka aiti huolestu, tama oli sita finnish humouria, jonka arvoisa Pertti "Spede" Pasanen aikoinaan loi.)