Tropical Paradise (Okinawa Part I)

I love planes. You could put me on a plane and just fly me in a circle and I would be thrilled. But - put a tropical island on the other end of that flight...and you get my weekend vacation.

I slept in - it was marvellous. I rarely sleep in, really. Then I met Keith and Alex at Osaka Station for some ice cream, before heading to Kansai Airport. We got some more icecream (mmm Black Sesame), met up with Thomas, and boarded the plane... Keith, Alex and I were in one row, and Thomas was a bit further up in the plane. The 2 hour flight passed quickly...at one point, the left window was completely dark, and the right window seemed perfectly light. I turned my head left-and-right-and-left-and-right until my neck started to hurt. Thomas captured a beautiful picture of the approaching night...

Then there the spoon episode. Alex decided to see if flicking me with a spoon would hurt. It did. A lot. Imprint-of-a-spoon-on-my-arm-a-lot. This was followed by me trying to flick him back and inflict an equal amount of pain, and him flicking himself with the same intent. Needless to say, this entertained us for a portion of the flight. But I did have an imprint of a spoon on my arm.

We arrived in Naha, Okinawa at around 9pm. The bus we thought we were going to take didn't exist, so we took a taxi. Keith had made reservations at the City Front Harumi Hostel, so we checked in and found our rooms. Ojisan (as we came to call him; meaning Grandpa or a respectful title for an older man) was very friendly and helpful in getting us settled and oriented in Naha.



The guys shared a room, and I (being a female and all) was in a different room. My room was shared with an older lady and a younger Down's Syndrome lady. They were very friendly and I had a short conversation with them before meeting the guys to go find some dinner. This proved more difficult than we thought, as most places were closed. But we wandered the busy highway a bit and found a family-style restaurant for some good eats. By that time, it was late, and we hit the bunkbeds for some sleep.

The next morning, I woke up feeling wonderful. I did enjoy my night at Miyajima, but I have to admit that sleeping in a real bed does top the great outdoors. The older lady in my room gave me some pretty little flowers, which I promptly put in my hair - they made me feel very tropical. We picked up some breakfast at the convenience store, and waited for our bus. A taxi driver offered to drive us up to our destination, for 1000Yen each. The bus was going to be about 900Yen each, so we took him up on his offer. And I'm so glad we did...

He was hilarious. He talked (loudly and animatedly) in broken English, for the majority of the ride. He told us about his family, and his 104 year old Mother and 108 year old Father (apparently the oldest couple in Japan), his large family, and his capabilities. He informed us that he had 8 licenses (later it was 9), and could build houses, drive cranes, scuba drive, drive motorbikes.... an all-around handy guy to know. When we asked him questions, he often paused and then went off on a tangent about something completely unrelated. My questions, he just ignored (I think he just didn't hear me...). We spent most of the trip giggling and keeping him talking - to our great amusement. When we disembarked the taxi, I asked him for a picture - he was definitely a character to remember!



When we got to our destination (a bit early), we explored a bit. We saw a sign for a steakhouse, and went 'a wandering to see if we could find it (which we couldn't).

Our destination? Snorkelling! We dressed in wetsuits and flippers and snorkelling gear, and crammed into a mini-minivan (not a Canadian sized mini-van), for a hot drive to the beach. When I say hot, I do not mean warm. I mean hot, hot, HOT! Sweat-dripping-down-your-face hot. We got stuck in traffic for a bit, and I had a short nap - that was all I could do; I couldn't move, and I was much too hot. But we finally arrived! It was a fun adventure, following our guide around the reef and the cave. We were even given some fish food and got to feed them!



After our snorkelling adventure, we decided that it was essential to find the steakhouse. It turned out to be a Movie House Steakhouse! The exterior and interior were decorated with movie posters of all genres. It was great fun to wander and look at the posters, and the steak was delicious!




In finding the steak house, we had found a small resort area, and explored it after lunch. Feeling extra tropical, I added to my hair bouquet some larger (okay, huge) flowers that I had found.



We wandered up the highway, trying to find a nice beach. We didn't find a beach, but we did find ice cream!



It was hot (did I mention that?), so we finally went back to the sort-of beach near the steakhouse. We tiptoed our way our towards the water, through the warm puddles, sharp shells, and broken coral. Getting to the water was difficult enough. Swimming in it proved even harder.

The water wasn't very shallow, but it was filled with all kinds of sea anemones and cucumbers and other mysterious sea creatures. We tiptoed and floated our way to slightly deeper water, and decided (for safety reasons) not to try and go further. I laid out like a starfish and floated...the blue sky and the clouds, the warm salty water...it was definitely a tropical paradise. Until I tried to stop floating, and stepped on a sea anemone. Ouch. But my foot didn't go numb and my head didn't explode, so I figured I would survive. After quite a while, we realized that the tide was coming in...right towards our shoes. So we started heading back - Thomas got back first, and discovered that Keith's hiking boots were floating, and my sandal had lost it's hubby. That made for an interesting trip back to the sand - tip toeing and jumping up when I stepped on sharp points. But we made it. I ventured to a beach house and purchased a new set of flipflops, and we headed for the bus top. A taxi stopped again and offered us the same deal. Unfortunately, this driver was not near as entertaining as the last one, and we mostly kept the conversation to ourselves.

After a cool shower to rid ourselves of the sweat, sand, and salt of the day, hung out for a few minutes in the hostel's common room. Alex played the guitar a bit (as he did anytime we were around the common room), and we enjoyed the AC for a bit. I borrowed a needle from Ojisan to remove the leftover sea anemone from my still-painful foot. The piece left in me was actually quite large and painful to get out, and brought a lot of blood with it! Ojisan's wife (Obasan) gave me a bit of cleaner and a bandaid to fix it up, and we took off for another evening of adventure...to Kokusaidori - Naha's international street.

We explored the shops, had some Okinawan-style Udon, and found a guitar shop (which entertained Alex for quite a while). Alex and I shared some dragonfruit and passionfruit - neither of which I had ever eaten (yummy!). There may have been some ice cream in there too...hehe.



Temples & Shrines all over Japan are often guarded by Shishi - lionlike protectors that are said to have magical powers to ward off evil. They guard in pairs; one female, one male; one open-mouthed, one closed; one symbolizing the beginning of time, the other the end. We also found them all over Okinawa - and they are a popular tourist souvenir. Every souvenir shop has them in all kinds of colors and styles, some funny, some scary. My favorite shop was filled with these - in every shape, size, and color - but they were handmade. (The other shops were mass manufactured.) The man who made them was selling them, and was midway through painting one when we were there. I bought two gorgeous statues - quite large, actually - for only $40! I was thrilled (still am) with my purchase... a reasonable price, authentically culturally Japanese, and not made in China!

When the street and shops started to close down, we visited a Canadian-run place for some snacks and a drink. We also tried Okinawa's snake wine.


It tasted surprisingly good, but it was still a little strange to drink... after some laughs and relaxation, we headed back to the hostel for the night.

More Pictures...
A Friend's Flckr Pictures...

Part Two coming soon...

Footwear Status: Critical

I've written before about how Japanese shoes don't fit me. Extra large is a centimeter too small for my feet. I'm generalizing a little bit, because I did buy a pair of running shoes when I got here, and they fit me well. But in most shoes - to wear on a daily basis, or high heels, Japanese shoes don't fit me. And my feet aren't that big, by North American standards. I'm a women's 8.5. Not small, but not way large, either.

Why am I talking about shoes again? With 51 days left in Japan, I am in the initial stages of a footwear crisis . I (generally wear my black and pink skate shoes. They still function relatively fine - if the ground is dry. However, due to the four large holes in the bottom, if the ground is at all wet, my shoes become foot soak tubs. It's like walking with my feet submerged in small swimming pools. For business occasions, I generally wear my low black heels or my black flats. The faithful heels are completely decimated. All that remains of the end of the heel is the inner metal post. Not all that stable, and definitely not good for the floor I'm walking on. No problem - just wear the black flats, right? Unfortunately, my favorite black flats have been reduced to sewage. Well, not really. But they got wet (due to rain) and didn't dry properly (my fault - I put them in my shoe locker when I should have left them out in the open). So now they smell like rotting pond scum.

Fortunately, I do still have some low sandal heels (not really business appropriate, but would work in a pinch), a pair of sandals, a pair of flipflops, and hiking shoes. I don't think the situation will reach the crisis stage in the 51 days, but it is most certainly in the commencement stages.

Fancy Dinner & Successful (albeit hilarious) Shopping

Have I mentioned I love eating out for work, here?

Yesterday I went to Kyoto Industrial University with Takemori-San to take a look at a potential project for Osaka Gas. The professor and his sidekick students have been developing the projection of images onto mist...which is relevant to Osaka Gas because, well, they developed, produce, and sell the mist sauna. So we went to have a look.

Considering the fact that I caught and understood about 1% of the conversation, I don't really know - but it seemed a little underdeveloped to me. The image was projected onto the far wall of the mist sauna - and you could see bits of it in the mist. I was sort of expecting something like they have on Bones - the 3D reconstruction system.

I decided yesterday that I didn't care if I was a giant, I was going to wear my high heels, darn it!! So I did. And yes, I am already 5'8", and yes, that put me up to almost 6'. And yes, I was rather tall. It just so happened - too - that there was an unusually short woman on the train beside me. Her forehead was at my bellybutton. I'm not exaggerating. However - I discovered that after not wearing heels for 5 months, wearing them for a 14 hour day is a bad plan. Suffice to say my feet were very angry with me by the end of the day.

After seeing the demonstration of the mist pictures, we went out to dinner - as we usually do when there are meetings in the afternoon. We went Italian.

Oh my goodness. First of all - this place was fancy, which was kinda fun. Second of all, everyone (being the professor, another Osaka Gas guy, and Takemori-San) decided to order the 'course'...so of course I did, too. The course consisted of an appetizer, a pasta or risotto, a main dish, and a drink. The dishes all had fancy names with Italian bits, and all sounded divine. I chose seasonal vegetables for my appetizer, a Porcini mushroom sauce pasta dish, roasted lamb, and tea. I was right - it was divine. It came out in little bits on large white plates, and both looked and tasted incredible. Since I didn't understand most of the conversation anyways, I focussed on my food, and I savored every - little - bit. Heavenly.

And of course, because we're in Japan, we had alcoholic beverages. I generally have beer...well, everyone generally starts with beer...but I decided to have a Shirley Temple instead. As far as Japanese drinking customs go (as my Mother can attest), once your glass is almost empty, you get another one. We all moved onto our second drinks, and I ordered a Screwdriver. Mostly because I know what it is, and I didn't know what a lot of the other ones were. Well - apparently, this was hilarious. They alll 'eugghh??!?!'d and started laughing and chattering in Japanese. Of course, I have no idea why this is funny. A couple minutes later, it came up again, with another round of laughing. I don't like to be laughed at. Usually. And to be honest, it was bugging me. So I asked - "Why is it so funny that I ordered a screwdriver?" Takemori-San said, "It is famous to be a strong drink." Uh...okay. I told them I was an Engineer and Engineers could handle their beer and liquor. I also told them that some people thought women couldn't drink - but I think they are wrong. When I got the drink, they all watched out of the corners of their eyes - I suppose to see if I was going to spit out this very strong drink or make a face when I realized just how strong it was. I didn't. It was good. My third drink was a Red Eye. I asked for a recommendation, and no one knew what any of the drinks were, but the Professor was having a Red Eye - tomato juice and beer. My first instincts were a) eww and b) what a waste of beer! But I had to try it. It was surprisingly good.

Wow, that turned into a long paragraph. Anyways. Guess how much the meal cost? I'm going to guess $244 (4 x $40 course, 3 drink x 4 people x $7). Note that nobody blinked and the other Osaka Gas guy grabbed the cheque. Have I mentioned I love attending work-related dinners?

Today - I tried really really hard to be Japanese. I decided that I was going to buy a Japanese shirt. One very popular style of shirt is adorable on the Japanese women, but I can't picture it on me. Well, I can, but it makes me giggle. But I decided that I was going to get one. So I went to the mall.

First I had to find a shirt that I could stomach the thought of wearing more than once. Secondly, I decided that if I was going to do this, it wasn't going to be white, it had to be patterned or colored. Because the patterns look like something from several decades ago in Canada. But they're very popular here. So I tried on several shirts from several stores. But each time I got into the changeroom and put it on, straightened up and looked in the mirror, a strange thing happened. I laughed. I laughed so hard that I had to cover my mouth so they wouldn't wonder what was wrong with me - and at the end of the shopping trip, my abs hurt. Don't get me wrong - the style looks adorable and great on the Japanese women. But it just doesn't suit me, and seeing it on me.... was a little hilarious. But - I was successful! I found a shirt that fit my criteria that actually looked decent on me, and I would be willing to wear. I'll post a picture when I get one.

And that was yesterday and today. The End.

Mmmm Pizza!

Saturday morning, I met several coop students for another 'Going Away' party. Some students are gone, but there were a few who couldn't make it to the first dinner - and why not have another? We met at Namba for lunch at an authentic Italian restaurant - certified by an Italian organization to have authentic Italian pizza. It - was - amazing. I rarely eat cheese here (and I thought cheese was expensive in Canada! More later...), so the cheese on the pizza was like heaven - and the pizza overall was like heaven x 10. It was very well priced, too - I will definitely be going back there!



After pizza, we split up to do some errands and shopping. Keith and I went on a mission to get his phone charged, and find shoes. I discovered, once and for all, that I will not find shoes that fit me, here. The Japanese 'LL' size is the equivalent of 24.5 centimeters. My feet fit a 25.5. I did find one small rack of shoes labelled 'Model Size' that were 25, $250, and not attractive. I have officially given up on finding shoes.

We all met up again for dinner - Okonomiyaki and Yakisoba, and then went for some Perfect Parfait dessert...so yummy. I headed home after that. Keith, Thomas, and I planned to go to Kyoto the next day...

Rain, Plant Life, & Shoes!

Note: I wrote this a couple days ago, and thought I had posted it - but evidently I hit the wrong button and only saved it. Sorry! Cherry blossom picture to make up for it...


Shoes, shoes, shoes...
I love heels. I love shoes, in general, but I have discovered I especially love heels. At Yao station, near my dormitory, there is a Shoe Outlet store. It always has a sale on, and has some awesome & amazing shoes for around $20. Unfortunately, I am a giant. Well, not really. Their LL shoes generally are a little too large for me, though. How depressing is that?! It's frustrating, because I often see shoes that I really like, during my Osaka travels (which is often, because Japan is all about the footwear & footclothing), but they rarely fit. I've almost stopped trying them on, now. Sigh. Wish I could find a pair of heels here that would fit me.

My rainy adventure...
Yesterday I biked to the gym after work to swim. I've been in Japan for a couple months now, and you would think I would have learned - but I didn't bring an umbrella. When I came out of the gym, the first thing I saw was wet - everywhere. I though, "Oh - it's been raining!" Then I stepped off the sidewalk and out from under the cover.... it was pouring rain.

20 minute bike ride + pouring rain - umbrella = absolutely soaking wet

My dorm manager laughed a little when I came in, and I told him that it was pouring rain and I hadn't brought an umbrella! Oh well...it was fun?

Plant Life
I stopped by the dollar store (when I don't want to go to the gym, I stop at the dollar store first to procrastinate). They had plants! I'm a fan of little cute plants and of pseudo-bamboo plants, so I bought 3. I figured it would be nice to have a little more life and color in my room! Meet my plants. I haven't named them yet, but I will.




Speaking of plant life...I bought a daikon last weekend - daikon are of the same family of radishes, and are usually about the size of 2 large carrots combined. However. This one was HUGE! I couldn't believe how big it was, so I took a picture.



And on another random note - I dropped a glass tube at work today and broke it. Good job, me. Fortunately, my boss just wanted to know that I was alright, and said we'd order another one.