This year for Golden Week…. I went to work.

Now that I work for an American company, I only get American holidays off work.

For the Japanese Golden Week holiday this year, I went back to Okinawa, yet again.

My friend wanted to go to another hidden waterfall in Okinawa called "Tanaga-gumui”. On the way there we stopped at Hedo Misaki, the most northern point of Okinawa. To get to the hidden waterfall we had to climb down a very steep and slippery hill, but it was still not as difficult to get to as the previous one we went to. The water in the basin was quite deep and cold, but there was also a great rope swing that sent you flying into the water. It was extremely cold, but hurt if you entered the water the wrong way.

We also went to supposedly the only Italian style pizza place in Okinawa that used an old fashioned wood oven.

Also for the duration of Golden Week my friend Suzuna came back to visit
The most exiting thing we did was go white water rafting in Gunma… thanks to my friend Tatsuya, his car, and special cheap highway fares. I have gone rafting before many times in the states, but this was the first time to go rafting in Japan. Besides being a bit expensive, it was still a lot of fun. The water was cold so we all wore wetsuits. Everyone, except me, also rented water shoes. I decided to use my ‘uwabaki‘ shoes that I used when I was teaching at the elementary schools. Unfortunately, my feet were really cold as the shoes do not have insulation and when we went in the river for a swim one of my shoes fell off and sank to the bottom of the river.

This time of year in Gunma was also great for flowers. The apple tree flowers were in bloom, and the sakura flowers were starting to fall. On the way back we also stopped at a ski slope turned into a Suisen garden.

At BigWave rafting!

Me holding my one remaining uwabaki shoe.

Lunch was at a cafe that specialized in cheese topped curry.

Apple blossom

Suisen flowers…

Golden Week 2009.
The first thing we did was have a tempura party at my guest house. The reason we made tempura is because my Thai friend likes tempura.. and she will be going back to Thailand the next day.

On Tuesday, the weather was beautiful and clear. So I went out and did what I had done every Golden Week before I went to Okinawa… climb Mt. Takao. The climb up was great, and from the top I could see the tip of Mt. Fuji. No matter how many times I climb Mt. Takao, I always enjoy it.

Since I started teaching on the 1st and 2nd, I only had 4 days off for Golden Week this year - Saturday through Tuesday.

On Saturday I met a friend from the Japanese school 2 years ago. She is Korean but we both speak pretty fluent Japanese so there were no problems communicating. We walked around Shinjuku, ate lunch, and walked further south to Shibuya through Meji Jingu. It was great too see someone from school again.

As always, when I go to Meji Jingu there was a wedding.

After going to the botanical gardens, I decided to go see the dam that was also close by. The area slightly stank of the adjacent landfill, but had a fairly nice view. The area where the water came out was turned into a play area and it seems that a lot of kids and families were out for a good time during golden week.

Like the past two years, this year for golden week I had to visit a botanical gardens. Like previously as well, I took a long bike ride to get there. But unlike previous years and since this is Okinawa, the gardens had much more tropical flowers and plants.

Only for Golden Week the gardens lets people go fishing in the pond. I saw lots of kids fishing and it looked fun, and of course there is no way I was going to pass this opportunity up. The was really only 1 kind of fish in the pond called ‘terepia’, which reminded me a lot of perch, but if you got lucky you could also pull in a nice big carp. With the one piece of bread they gave me as bait I pulled in 9 terepias and 1 carp. All the little kids around me were amazed that I got so many fish, and wondered why I was so good at fishing. I also took it upon myself to help the people around me get fish off hooks and so on. To bad its only one week a year, but I also realize that I am surronded by the ocean with lots of fish in it as well.

Every year during Golden Week there is a festival in Naha called the Nara Hari festival. A Hari is like a giant canoe, and teams race them down to one end of the port and back. One person in the front hits a gong to keap everyone in beat. I guess I am lucky, because I got to actually participate in the race.

The festival is big and contains a lot more than just the races. Live music, food, games, rides, and even sumo. This was a competition of the local high schools. Even though I have seen professional sumo, I was also quite impressed with these, large, high school students as well.

Some of my team members.

The competition. The group in white is an all female group from one of the military bases, and they looked strong.

Heading towards the finish. We got second with a time of 4:00:12

Golden Week 2007. I decided to bike around Kadena Air Base which in total is about 20 km. Its not all that far but I really enjoy stopping at anything interesting along the way… like this park with interesting slides throughout. I am not a kid anymore, but that wont stop me from going down each and every slide I came across.