Another fun weekend in Okinawa.
This time we went to Ryukyu Glass Village to make our own Okinawan glass cups, tried stand up paddle surfing, went to a very nice cafe up north, and of course ate lots of Okinawa Soba.

Tebichi Soba on the way to the glass village.

At the glass village.

Shaping my cup. It should be a green color when it is finished.

Overlooking Niraikanai bridge.

At ‘Garamanjyaku’ cafe. Some of absolute best food and atmosphere in Okinawa.

Moon beach. This is where we tried stand up paddle surfing. It was a bit windy so there were a lot of waves to contend with but we still had a good time. It was interesting to be able to stand up and look down into the clear water below.

More Okinawa Soba before I left and headed back to Yokohama.

It had been almost a year since I last met with Mr. Hara. I am always excited to see what interesting places and foods he introduces to me next. This time he took me to a place called Shibamata, the focal point of the movie series referred to as ‘Tora-san‘. We went to ‘Taishaku-ten’ temple to view the elaborate wood carvings and Japanese garden. He also took to me a famous restaurant in the area that specializes in serving Carp. To sum it up we crossed the Edo river and took a walk to a very famous 400 year old cherry tree.

At Shibamata station in front of a statue of Atsumi Kiyoshi, the actor that played Tora-san.

Before lunch we had a snack of the famous sweets of the area: kusa-mochi.

Washing the parts of the statue heals and protects those parts on your own body.

Taishaku-ten

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The view of sakura and a sunset from the park very close to my friend’s house.

Because of the earthquake most people did not celebrate hanami as they usually would. There was not much to celebrate this year so most hanami parties were canceled or toned down. However, it is still very nice to go out and enjoy the spring season….

I went with some friend to Sankeien to do just that, walk around and enjoy the sakura.

We also met up with some friends from Indonesia who took us out to some great Indonesian food.

My friend Jeff is visiting from The States for about 3 months. He and I both enjoy playing badminton, so the first thing we did when we met up again was play badminton. We both were rusty and the Japanese people we played against were quite above our level.
The following day he and I went to a hanami hosted by his Tokyo badminton group. I met a lot of new people and had a good time eating and playing Frisbee with some new friends.
Afterward, I asked Jeff what kind of Japanese food he liked. When he said ‘tonkatsu’ I immediately took him to Maisen, one of the absolute best places for tonkatsu in Tokyo.

You can see the excitement…