It was a few days in to my time in Japan that we took our scheduled trip to Okinawa, a fascinating place that's borrowed an aesthetic touch from both Chinese and Japanese cultures. We spent four days there learning some of the history of the place, and I'll get to that but first I'm going to talk about snorkeling and tropical beaches.
We left from Tokyo's Haneda Airport which I'm told is the busiest in the World (followed closely by London's Heathrow Airport) with flights landing and taking off every fifteen minutes. During the drive to the airport I realized that in some situations having a GPS system is absolutely essential. Driving in Tokyo is one such situation. Thankfully I wasn't driving though, that task was left to my Father-in-law. Anyhow, one thing led to another and eventually we were on our plane to Okinawa. The view was as you would expect it to be from 30,000 feet but I never get tired of looking down from my ovular window and daydreaming that I am the Grand Puppeteer!
When we arrived in Okinawa it was already getting rather late into the evening so we did our whole check-in routine and then headed out to try and catch the Sunset. We were too late, however, but I really enjoyed the solitary feeling that came with being one of the only people on the white, sandy beach.
The next day was dedicated to a place affectionately known as Croissant Island, Aptly named as you can see.
This was to be my first real experience of a picturesque, tropical beach and it was the perfect place to set the hypothetical ball rolling. This beach was home to about 40 people, and the nature of its shape makes it an attractive spot to Snorkle about because of the wrap-around coral reef which attracts all kinds of colourful creatures. We got ourselves outfitted with the oh-so-necessary floatation devices and then it was off to discover the Wild Blue Yonder.
Due to Legal reason for the tour company we weren't allowed to dive or anything like that so we basically just skimmed about on the surface and played with whatver strange creatures our guide brought up from the ocean floor. I know that Sea Cucumbers are a delicacy and all, but when you wrap your digits around one that's been freshly removed from its natural habitat and it's just sitting there in your hand being all slimy and gross, I don't really see the appeal.
After we were done snorkeling out around the coral reef we spent some time at the beach and did some more snorkeling in shallower waters. We had some bread with us that we had pilfered from our Hotel's continental breakfast buffet that morning which we used to feed the fish. I tried my damndest to at least touch one of them but they're not all that willing to be touched in the first place. We were able to dive and rummage about this time because the only people we were liable to were ourselves. I had a lot of fun singling out certain fish and just following them around, but for some reason I got tired a lot faster than they did. It's almost like they're built for living in the water.
Once we were tired of that we walked around to check out the island a little bit. Getting away from the tropical forefront you get to see that the island is a really modest little place with quirks all its own.
Everywhere you go in Okinawa you'll see two "Shisaa" , Lion-like creatures guarding the front entrances of buildings from evil forces. One has its mouth open wide to ward off evil spirits and the other has its mouth closed to keep good spirits in. It's also believed that one is male and one is female. Most of the Shisaa look relatively the same but there are some alternating styles and interpretations which I came across.
Anyway, that was day one in Okinawa. I also just realized that I forgot to post anything about Kawagoe, where I'm staying. It's my fiance's hometown and it's been a fun place to check out so I'm going to jump backwards in time with the next post perhaps.
~Chris
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