Yorontoupa^ku Hotel Yoron-cho

Hi Everyone,
This morning we arrived in Okinawa and as we had not been here before we were anxious to get out and explore.
The tour was booked so after breakfast we got our passes and off the ship and boarded the coach.
The coaches here were the best we have had , very modern & plenty room.
The guide welcomed us and told us h...

18th Feb – At sea. Went line dancing then back to Carol's for a coffee & chat. Left there lunchtime. I tried to send my blog but no signal. Apparently there will be no signal while in Japanese waters. I arranged to meet Carol in the Gym at 2.30 pm. We were there for just over an hour. I went back to my cabin and watched TV (a film call...

Wow! I cannot believe that we are already halfway through October. Getting back on Island was interesting to say the least. We had to do a lot of running around to get ready for the new school year and prepare for Trevor's return from the desert. We made posters and had dinner with 2 other families from Trevor's work who were also awaiting their...

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 aq...

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.

The tour took us to a number of...

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 pleas...

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 t...

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 f...

On Friday, I woke up on the couch at around 6 am when Riley woke up, but was way too tired to get up, so I went back to sleep. My mom tried to rouse me to watch Riley's last swim lesson, and later to go work out, but it was impossible. When I finally did wake up, the sky had turned ominous, but it didn't matter because our only scheduled event w...

Our hotel, Onna Marine View Palace, was close to the Onna beach. We arrived there about 8, although we left the aquarium before dusk, because we were caught in a traffic jam and paid a visit to the Confectionary Palace, which was a gift shop and restaurant located on the way to the hotel. We had champloos, traditional Okinawan dishes, and they w...