Okinawa

It's about time

08.11.2010 74 °F

Okinawa!! This week of the trip is one I have been looking forward to since I moved back to America from living in Japan. I lived on this Island for 14 months and made a number of really good friends. (The 2 best friend are both out of the country, one in the states, the other in London, but that didn't stop me.) The moment I got home I dreamt about the trip I would take back here to Okinawa. Hence the diving, snokeling, the trip out to Kume-jima, etc.

So far it's been a blast. I've been able to meet up with some old friends and go see some old favorite spots. And of course there is the amazing island food like Soki soba, Shikuwasha drinks, and Blue Seal ice cream =) I took a walk down Heiwa dori that afternoon and decided to get lost wandering the various back alleys and shops. I found a small seafood and meat market tucked in the back of a small warehouse. It was the coolest thing I'd seen in a while. All sorts of live crustaceans and fish laying out on ice.　You pick what you want, they took it up to the 2nd floor and prepared it for you. I got some blowfish and a parrot fish. Half of each as sushi, the rest fried up. It was sooooo good. The fried blow fish had a texture more like chicken then fish. It was different than I thought it would be.

I got a room using my Travel Agent discount at a hotel right on Kokusai dori for the first night I was here. Went to a club that had some live entertainment and ate dinner. Soki soba. (Noodles with a few slices of the most buttery, fatty, roasted pig you can imagine) The band was a local band playing some old fashion Okinawan Eisa as well as some more modern stuff using the shamisen. (An Japanese instrument. Sounds kind of like a banjo. The Okinawan version is wrapped with a snake skin.) They closed their act with Hisai Ojiisan which has got to be one of most popular Okinawan songs there is. After that I took a walk down Kokusai dori. I forgot how big alcohol is to the Okinawans. Especially their awamori. It's sold in almost every shop. It's a type of shochu with a poisonous snake in it.

The next day I headed north, up near Kadena Air Force base. There are a number of dive shops up around that area. I was able to rent some gear from Scuba Locker, at Kadena Marina, just outside Gate 1. Even though it was cloudy as could be with a constant rain, the reef was still this beautiful turquoise blue. I had 2 parrot fish that wouldn't leave me alone. I brought my camera with me and was able to get some good video of the fish. None of the pictures really turned out though. Except for a couple I took of a little hermit crab about the size of my thumb nail. I then rented a car and drove around the island for the rest of the day for some real nostalgic moments as I hunted down my old apartments, favorite restaurants, and memorable viewpoints.