Ostriches in Okinawa? Who would've thought!
Trip Start
Jun 27, 2009
1
32
47
Trip End
Jun 25, 2011
Okinawa,
Japan
Friday, October 12, 2007
When we got to our gate we read the electronic board and it said Flight 925 'May return due to typhoon' - MAY RETURN?? what does that mean?! Turns out after Tony translated the announcement, that it meant if the winds were too strong the plane would actually turn around mid-flight and return to Osaka! Was it even worth getting on the plane if this was going to happen? Would we be refunded a plane ticket? I started to think of other options for the weekend, as I had taken 2 additional days off as well
okinawa, southern most islands in japan
! Despite the approaching typhoon we boarded the plane as usual (my impressions are that most Japanese people aren't even phased by typhoons because they happen so often), and thankfully had no problems throughout the flight! It was noticeably hotter and more humid when we landed, as we were very far south. The total length the country of Japan stretches is over 3,000km (or 900 miles) Incredibly long..
Immediately I noticed everyone was wearing Aloha shirts! I felt like I was in Hawaii again, and it was a very nice change from the hustle and bustle of cities on Honshu (the main island of Japan where I live). We boarded the new monorail in the capital city of Naha, and headed to our hostel. We were shown around our hostel by the nice woman who owns the place, shown the common room and kitchen, and given beds in the 6 person dorm room. We quickly showered and set out for the night!
We walked about 5 minutes down to the main drag in Naha called "Kokusai Dori" or International Street.We found a traditional Okinawan style restaurant and sat down for dinner and drinks. We ordered so much delicoius food (the Okinawan specialities include pork soba, tofu, Orion beer and awamori liquor) and just soaked up the atmosphere inside the restaurant. People were wearing flip flops and shorts (something that really doesnt happen up here where I live) and seemed more laid back..Afterall this is the beach resort area of Japan...(so I'm assuming a lot of these people were on vacation too). Afterwards we headed for a bar run by Canadians and Americans, enjoyed some foreign beers and conversation with the other foreigners in the bar
yellow = US military bases on the island
. After a while some military guys came and we started hanging out with them, two guys in the Army, and one in the Marines. There's a large American presence on the island (which is highly debated, and not liked by many Japanese people) of Okinawa as there are many bases throughout the island. Everyone was really friendly and it was fun to hang out with some new people. They kept refering to our part of Japan as 'the mainland' which we got a kick out of. The next day we were planning on taking a ferry to a nearby smaller island to relax and go snorkeling, but the typhoon winds caused all the ferries to stop running. We were so sad! Not wanting to waste any time though, we decided to make the best of the situation and do everything there was to do on the main island. First stop, the Shuri Castle. Below is some information from the website about the palace and the islands of Okinawa (formerly known as the Ryuku's) "This large palace was the former headquarteres of the Kingdom of the Ryukyus, which reigned over Japan's southwestern islands for approximately 450 years from 1429 to 1879. Through trade and diplomatic ties with China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, the Ryukyus developed as an ocean faring country, with Shurijo Castle as its political, economic and cultural center."
"The dynasty that reigned over the Ryukus lasted 400 years from the time of its first king to its 19th king. In 1609, the Japanese invaded the Ryukyus with a force of 3,000 men to seize Shurijo Castle. For the following 270 years, the Kingdom of the Ryukyus maintained tributary relationship with China on the surface, while in reality was controlled by the Japanese
our flight was the 2nd down
. In 1879, the new Japanese government dispatched troops to oust the Ryuku King from Shurijo Castle, declaring the official establishment of Okinawa Prefecture. Thus the Kingdom of the Ryukyus ceased to exist."Overall Shuri Castle was pretty much your standard castle, with the exception of the heavy Chinese influence on the art and architecture inside and surrounding the castle. There was a lot more color (specifically, red) and dragons. I enjoyed that part the best.
After that, on our walk back to the monorail station we stumbled upon an abandoned building with some of the craziest statues I've ever seen out front..we had so much fun taking pictures then were on our way again. That evening we explored the markets in central Naha, which have a totally different feel than the rest of Japan. Once again I could really tell how Okinawa's position in the sea (between the Pacific Ocean and the East China Sea) and proximity to China and other Southeast Asian countries have influenced it even to this day. There were t-shirt shops, souvenier shops galore, liquor shops selling bottles with cobra snakes inside, frog-shaped purses made out of real frogs, Hello Kitty everything, and tons of fruit smoothie places. We wandered around popping in and out of shops and decided to call it an early night
orion beer, okinawan specialty!
. Afterall we had gotten in at 6:00am the night before!For our second full day we decided to rent a car and get out of Naha. The ferries STILL weren't running! Stupid typhoon! The lady who ran the hostel told us this typhoon was slower than most, and she didn't know when it would pass. We rented a Nissan something or other and hit the main road up the coast of the island. It took us about an hour and a half to reach the Northwest part of the island and our first stop was Pineapple Park!
Japan tends to Disney-land-ify many things, and the Pineapple Park was no exception. We boarded a golf cart with a huge pineapple on top and were guided around the fields of pineapple with an (thank god) english tour recording. Afterwards we went inside and sampled 5 different types of pineapple wine and an amazing array of pineapple sweets (cakes, pies, cookies, chocolate, etc..) Did I mention there was all you can eat fresh pineapple everywhere, too?
Next we stopped at the fabulous aquarium Churaumi (means beautiful ocean in okinawan dialect) Aquarium, which claims to have the largest tank in the world (at least at the moment) -housing numerous manta rays, sharks and 3 huge Whale Sharks! We ate lunch at a cafe at the base of the tank and had a great view of feeding time.
Next on the list...the Ostrich Farm!!! Yes, I said Ostrich Farm. I saw it on the map and decided we had to go - who has actually seen an real ostrich up close before, anyways? and none the less an ostrich in JAPAN
my dinner the first night, fish and tofu YUM
! We arrived to find a shack like building with no sign of any ostriches, but boy were we surprised after we walked into the entry way, paid our 500 yen ($5) and headed towards the 'backyard' area to find TONS of ostrich just walking around inlarge fenced in areas. We started hysterically laughing at where we were and what we were doing, who would've thought a visit to Japan's most tropical island would find us hanging out and feeding ostriches! The ostriches were so tall, neck and all I'd say close to 7 feet. They were eager to eat the plants we were holding and stuck their long necks out over the fence and chomped away! They're the coolest looking animal though, this long rope-like neck that can move in any direction, a huge body with soft gray or black feathers, then the skinniest most bony legs, and dinosaur looking feet with 2 huge toes!
We hung out for a while, making our way to all the cages, all the while being escorted by the strange man that runs the place. He was dressed in two different colors of camo, wore a crazy old man fishing hat, and boots. He explained to us that he has the ostrich farm because "kids in Tokyo dont know what ostriches look like, and they like to see them" ..riiight, because that makes sense. He also told us that his daughter lives in New York and hasn't been back to visit since she moved there 3 years ago - I wonder why!? Maybe she's had enough of living with her dad and 20 ostriches? The best part was when the man let me 'ride' (really just sit on top of, i supported my own weight) one of the younger ostriches
walking around Naha
! Her name was Hana (means flower) and she's 4 years old. Lily took some funny pictures of me with Hana, and kept saying 'Don't hold onto her neck you look like your strangling her!' haha, but I didn't know where else to hold because her neck was so long! We ended our day by visiting "Fruit Land," touring a huge green house type thing full of huge trees of Dragon Fruit, Mango, Banana, Pineapple, Star Fruit, Lychee and Papaya. After returning the rental car we headed out for dinner at another Okinawan restaurant and were treated to live music by a man playing the traditional Okinawan instrument called the sanshin (the precursor of the Japanese shamisen. often likened to a banjo, it consists of a snakeskin-covered body, neck and three strings)
The last full day for me on the island was spent at the beach! The ferries were finally up and running, so Lily and Tony headed out to a nearby island. Unfortunately with the timing of my flight I wasn't able to make the trip out there with them. I took the bus to the southern part of the island, went on a glass bottom boat tour, then relaxed on the white sand beach for the rest of the day. The time passed quickly on the bus ride back because of a friendly Canadian guy I happened to meet at the bus stop. He has been teaching in Japan for 8 years (woah, long time) We exchanged stories, travel advice, and talking about teaching English and life in Japan.
I spent my last night walking around Naha, doing last minute shopping, and randomly bumped into a friend from Japanese school this summer!! (She's a fellow JET, but lives really far north in Japan) I went out to eat with her and her friend, drank some delicious mango beers and just enjoyed each others company
okinawa is famous for its pig, lily was sad
. Next morning I was up early to catch my flight back to 'the mainland'..well-fed, rested and a little sunburnt from my weekend in Japan's southern paradise. Now it's back to the realities of teaching English and life in Nachi.-----------------------
It's been a while since I've posted quotes from daily life at school, and I know you all enjoy them, so here it goes:
These first few are from my friends that teach at Junior Highschools. Their students have to write journal entries, and they often send e-mails out with their favorite quotes.
"I played tennis with Ayaka and Ayaka's father, master.
Ayaka is many short ball a great. It day very cold.
But, play enjoy, tennis soon warmer. To happy day. Not, tired."
*then my friend Katherine wrote "...a journal entry from my 8th grader. I am such a good teacher."*
"My One Day: I'm at 7:30 wake up. I eat breakfast. I face wash. I chang. I tooth polish. I'm go clud. I'm go back home."
"I play with my girlfriend. I and Masami love each other."
"I'm bad at steaking English." (get it? bad at SPEAKING english)
The next few are quotes that have been said to me, or during my classes
US money = OK!
.5th grade teacher to secretary: "Please shoot us!"
ummm what did he just say? I was wondering if school violence had finally hitting japan? No, turns out he just wanted her to take pictures of us teaching. of course.
"I went to Korea"
"Gorilla?"
"No, Korea"
The infamous vice principal I work with that asked me if we have McDonalds in America...last week asked me, "Do you have homework in America? Can children smoke at school?" It's like he thinks we're savages or something..
I'm teaching the phrase 'My birthday is ______' and one 5th grader got it a little mixed up and said "My happy birthday is October 10" I thought it was funny, but at least he understands what he's trying to say! he was just a little off.
These 2nd graders think my name Katherine sounds like Caramel for some reason, so now instead of Katherine Clute, now they're calling me Caramel Fruit
tropical fruit for sale
!6th grade teacher said this to me in english after our first ever meeting together:
"Oh Katherine, you make my brain hurt! I am very confused."
(said in Japanese)
"I don't speak Japanese."-me
"If you don't understand Japanese, what DO you understand!"-1st grade boy
"English!"-me
"Ehhhh? What's that?"-1st grade boy
*I love how little kids have no concept of anything outside of their own town. It's so interesting/funny*
(said in Japanese) "Your nose is very long. You are very big!"-3rd grade girl
I called a boys name and he answered me "Yes, master"
the kids pick up and retain the funniest English sayings from watching TV.
"Waistie, nan centi?" (How many centimeters is your waist?) -3rd grade girl
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OK that's all from Japan for now...
This weekend I'm headed up to Osaka (I haven't been since July when Kim was here) to celebrate my Australian friend Joe's birthday and go to the International Beer Festival.
Talk to you all soon,
Love Kate
