Last weekend my friend took me to go see a Kyudo competition. Kyudo is traditional Japanese archery, and actually very different than modern archery. It seems a lot more difficult as the motions and steps before each shot are very slow and deliberate. I would love to try myself and see just how different it is, but first I need the cool clothes they wear.
If you were not aware, a popular Japanese Christmas tradition is to eat cake and go to Kentucky Fried Chicken. It seems that this is true especially in Okinawa. I was told that you have to actually make reservations to get into KFC on Christmas. Anyway, Merry Christmas… brought to you by Colonel Santa.
Anyone in need of some used libido?
For day 3 we traveled around the southern part of Okinawa. The first stop was Seifa-utaki which is a shrine with a very interesting natural rock structure. After that we went to Gyokusendo, also known as Okinawa World. There we explored the cave, actually like before explore would not be the correct word, more like walked the artificiall well lit path through the cave. There were other things to see as well like a fruit tree field, glass blowing, crafts and so on. After a lunch of Okinawa Soba we went to Peace Memorial Park. We walked through the park and looked at all the memorials, and there were a lot (1 from every prefecture), hopped another roped off pathway to another section, and timed how many seconds it would take to hit the ocean if one jumped off the cliff (3 seconds). We also stopped at the Himeyuri memorial, famous for where over 100 high school girls working as nurses for the Japanese army were either killed or committed suicide due to propaganda that the American army will torture and rape them. Lastly we went back to Kokusai street for a dinner of traditional Okinawaｎ food and live music.
The next day we headed up to Nago. On the way up we stopped at Manzamo for a while to take in the view. We also wanted to hike to Hiji falls, but when we got there it was closed off for construction. Yet mere ropes and signs wont stop me. We hopped the chain and took the hike… as far as we could along the under construction walkway before we came to some construction workers and the path completely disappeared. We didn’t get to the falls, but it was still a great nature hike. Afterwards, we got some Okinawa Soba and went to the Churaumi Aquarium. Misako refused to touch the sea cucumbers, but still seemed to be impressed by all the fish. In the evening Ken took us to some American food on base (Chili’s) and to a music club where the band played nothing but classic rock and 80s.
Last weekend my friend Misako from Tokyo came for a short visit. We tried to see and do as much as possible in the three days she was here. Being winter, we didn’t go to the beach or swim in the ocean, but we did get to all the major tourist places.
On Friday when she got here, we went straight for Shuri castle. After exploring the castle, we walked the old stone road to Shikinaen gardens. Both places I had been to before, but the second time was still just as interesting. We then took a walk up Kokusai Street, ate Okinawa Soba, and headed out to meet Ken. Ken escorted us onto base to see a special Christmas concert by the Marine band. It was great to hear all the Christmas music, as well as see all the Americans in the Christmas spirit. There was even free Christmas cookies.
Last weekend I went to the Okinawa Prefectural Museum. It is a good museum and had some really nice exhibits. I learned all about Okinawa, its nature, history, geography, people, and surrounding islands. There was even a kids play room where I could make origami, play the shamisen and drums, solve puzzles and try all sorts of things.
I played baseball for the first time in …. many years. My company held an anual baseball game and I decided to join in. The owner of the entire company was pitching for the oposite team, and my first at bat I hit the ball way into left field. 
I guess going to the batting center pays off. However, after that I popped up once and grounded twice. Luckily due to a error on the opposite team, I was on base for one of the ground balls. Watching baseball on TV is incredibly boring, but I almost forgot how fun it is to actually play the game again.
I recently went to a co-workers/basketball friend’s wedding party. It was interesting, as the last time I remember going to a wedding was when my uncle got married back when I was a kid. There were lots of people at this wedding, at least 300, but I was told that is standard for Okinawan weddings. The married couple entered and exited 3 times each time wearing a different outfit. There were the usual speeches, a deluxe meal, the cutting of the cake, the tossing of the groom in the air, and performances of various acts from friends of the married couple. It was very different from what I remember when I was a kid, but was nevertheless a good time.
