japan

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Okinawa: Love to Hate It

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The view from my 5th floor balcony: Crazy skies over the village of Uruma

I have such mixed feelings about Okinawa.

It is beautiful and exotic, but heavily peppered with ugly and distracting architecture.

The skies are striking and waver between extremes at the blink of an eye, but the congested island itself simmers and festers in its own oppressively hot and sticky steam… featuring smells you can’t quite eliminate from your walls, linens, and furniture.

You step outside and even if you are perfectly still, you will quite literally melt within 30 seconds – glistening wet on every square inch of your surface. It’s unlike any humidity I experienced in the American south, and there’s simply no escaping it…

… But the water is blue, placid, and refreshing. There’s always, always that 🙂

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Courtney Beach

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Typhoon Neoguri Pays Oki a Visit

Chuck and I experienced our first typhoon this week!

Typhoon Neoguri (neoguri means “raccoon”, by the way) came with a lot of hype and it certainly delivered, albeit not to the extreme that was originally predicted. Sunday we stocked up on supplies, Monday we went to work, and by Monday night/early Tuesday morning, we were officially under Neoguri’s attack – continually receiving the well-intended but decidedly unhelpful emergency alerts to our phones like the one below:

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Our particular corner of the apartment building was mostly sheltered, so the wind and rain didn’t seem all that bad at first. Getting quite antsy, I decided to go out in it… twice! I captured some great video footage of Chuck braving the powerful winds. The chaos at the end is me getting tumbled around. I almost hit a wall, but managed to stop myself just in time. I blame my slippery flip flops… Kids, don’t try this one at home!

Here is a selfie of me before venturing into the typhoon, and one after. Wearing glasses and a bun in my hair were not the smartest moves! It was truly exhilarating, though, and definitely more powerful than we realized, once we left the concrete shelter of our apartment building…

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We lost electricity after the storm actually peaked. I was in the middle of cooking Italian sausage spaghetti, which was a crying shame, because of course I had to dispose of the sausages in the end. We resorted to sandwiches, wine, and Cards Against Humanity by candlelight with some equally bored neighbors. The night was warm and sticky without a working AC and dehumidifier. The wind continued to howl and the rain poured with more monsoon-like fury than before. We didn’t get power back until the next afternoon.

Luckily, our particular area in Okinawa is on high ground, so our neighborhood suffered very little damage. Other areas, however, were not so fortunate. Cars were overturned, trees were down, and flooding was rampant.

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Next time, I’m taking a page out of the Locals’ book. For everyone who thought I was crazy for going on in the typhoon in Chuck’s camo rain jacket, check out these Okinawans who ventured out for foot races… stark naked! 🙂

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Asian Food Porn 3.0

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Featuring Saturday night dinner with friends at Sushi Zen in Yomitan: the Zen Roll! Most of the rolls I ordered (especially the Typhoon Roll) were decadent and way too large to eat without cutting up or taking bites.

Sushi Zen is Japanese-owned but for American customers only – no Japanese allowed unless they have a membership. Totally odd concept to me… But it was yummy!

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Osaka & Nara: First Trip to the Mainland

One of my good friends from the U.S. is half Japanese. Much of her family still resides in Japan, so she had long planned to spend a couple of weeks this May and June visiting the country. Luckily, I was able to meet her and her husband for a weekend in Osaka. It was off to a great start when I realized that my airplane was pink:

Peach Airlines, you're adorable

Peach Airlines, you’re adorable

We spent Friday night and Saturday mostly in the Shinsaibashi district. It is very much as you would imagine a large Asian city – lots of bright colors, large signs, trendy indoor shops, and gaudy figures. We ate a lot of yakitori (fried meat on skewers) and I even tried chicken heart (off someone else’s plate, of course… I am not brave enough to order that on my own!) Honestly, it wasn’t half bad. The one food that I did not try and should have was the Osakan specialty takoyaki, which is basically a round, fried octopus fritter. Yum? Anyway, I do apologize for the lack of food porn photos!

Shinsaibashi by night!
Shinsaibashi
Shinsekai

Saturday evening we visited Osaka Castle, which was one of my favorite attractions. It played a major role in the unification of Japan in the 16th century. During World War II, the arsenal became one of the largest military armories, employing 60,000 workers. Bombing raids targeting the arsenal damaged the main castle tower and killed 382 people. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go in, but I found it to be strikingly beautiful. I also loved that the grounds were populated with fat lazy cats 🙂

Osaka Castle peering from the trees
I blend right in!
Osaka Castle looking grand

Following our excursion to the Castle, Alisa and I enjoyed a night out with some of her friends. We enjoyed peach shisha, mojitos, and mostly American music (which I found interesting) at a Shinsaibashi lounge known to be a social hub for the international community. Many nationalities were represented there, though I was certainly the only white American girl in the building!

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The next day was logistically interesting, but quite memorable. We rode the train for an hour before arriving in picturesque, ancient Nara, the land of temples, shrines, and Bambi’s. There were deer everywhere – in parks, on temple grounds, in busy shopping areas – just waiting to be fed with a pack of biscuits you could purchase for less than 200 yen. As an avid animal lover, I was completely delighted by this.

Want a biscuit?
Of course she wants a biscuit!
BFFs

Then of course, there were the temples. We only had time for two, but I feel like they were the main two. First we visited Kofuku-ji Temple, established in 669 by a wife wishing for her husband’s recovery from illness. It was an important center for Buddhism and retained influence over the imperial government, even by “aggressive means” in some cases.  The second was Todaiji Temple, which is dated back to 729 and serves as the Japanese headquarters of the Kegon school of Buddhism. It currently houses the world’s largest bronze statue of Buddha.

Kofuku-ji Temple
World’s largest Buddha
Golden Hall & Pagoda – Kofuku-ji Temple
Todai-ji Temple
Todaiji Temple

It was sweltering outside, and since we had checked out of the hotel already, we had to tote all of our belongings with us, but the sites (and the deer!) were completely worth it. All in all, a wonderful weekend in Osaka!

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Memorial Day Adventuring: Fukushuen Gardens & Katsuren Castle

Not everything about this past weekend was depressing. During the “up” times, Chuck and I ventured out twice to explore some local Okinawan attractions. The first was Fukushuen Gardens in Naha, which is actually a Chinese-style garden established to honor the relationship between China and the Ryukyu Islands (of which Okinawa is a part.) The relationship goes back over 600 years, and as I have noted in previous posts, there is quite a bit of Chinese influence here. ImageThe gardens were lovely and expansive, even if the water was rather sickly green. I particularly enjoyed the large waterfall, the numerous turtles and fish, and the gazebo-like structures scattered about for relaxation and shade. Of course, there could always be more flowers! I told Chuck that when we are older and richer we can have a garden like that… so long as we get a professional landscaper to do all the work, since I have a brown thumb! 🙂

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The second trip took us to nearby Katsuren Castle, which is only 25 minutes from where we live. In fact, we could see our Tower from the top of the Castle! Now, when I say castle, I actually mean ruins. There isn’t much to the place, but it makes for a fun excursion nonetheless. It dates back to the 15th-century, when a lord named Amawari reveled in its golden era. It is perched on a magnificent hill with a simply stunning view of the ocean and the village below.

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Side note: it’s really interesting to see how the Japanese manage their tourist attractions. There were quite a few occasions where I thought to myself, “This would NEVER fly in the U.S.!” Case in point, the fact that there is no railing on the top of the castle (note the lower left corner photo of me standing on the ledge in the above collage.) There were a number of high-risk areas in the Fukushuen Gardens, as well – gaps in walkways over water, slippery stones, etc. Not that I mind. I actually really like that there is no added hindrance to the beauty of the sites. But in my American mind, I could only think of the lawsuits that could come out of places like these. The accidents! The children! Oy vey.

Anyway, here are some more shots of Katsuren Castle and its surroundings. I kinda want to go back for a romantic late-night picnic someday. It was completely unsupervised 😉

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the Rose Garden Tea Room

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While browsing recommended restaurants on the America-focused website Okinawa Hai, I stumbled across a little spot in Uruma called the Rose Garden Tea Room. Decorated with flowers, dolls, and sculptures, it looked like one of those garden-like establishments that would only be suitable for a girls’ lunch. I needed a way to get to know some of the girls I’ve met in the Tower better anyway, so I rallied a few who I knew weren’t currently working and planned a visit.

It was…interesting. Kinda pretty, but mildly creepy, especially considering it was dead silent when we walked in, overwhelming in terms of sights, smell, and temperature, and off-putting when a rather disgruntled and shaggy looking employee eventually did emerge from some unseen back room to clumsily hand us a menu. I don’t think he cracked a smile the entire time.

The food was good but not great (it seemed unsure of if it wanted to be Japanese or American), but the tea and coffee were fun and the place itself was memorable, if nothing else. I’m glad I went, but I probably wouldn’t go again!

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My Accidental Japanese Dessert

On Friday, before Chuck left on his work trip, I made a reservation at a cute little restaurant on a quiet, picturesque street that I found on one of my wanderings. I perused the drinks section of the menu and determined to try something different and local. I spotted
“milk zenzai” and suddenly realized I had been craving bubble tea. I speculated that perhaps the milk zenzai would be similar to the milk tapioca tea that I so loved at the Asian restaurants back home, and ordered a glass with my meal.

When my dinner came without the milk zenzai, I tried to ask our waitress about it. Of course, my lack of Japanese language skills made this extraordinarily difficult, and while she understood that I was asking about milk zenzai, neither of us could communicate my specific issue. I only ended up confusing her and embarrassing myself by the time I gestured “never mind” and demonstrated happy satisfaction with my glass of water.

Moments after we finished our meal, the waitress brought me this:

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“Milk zenzai!” she chirped. Chuck and I looked at each other and grinned. Of course milk zenzai isn’t a beverage – it’s a dessert! I must have confused the sections on the menu (no real surprise there.) Feeling foolish, we gave it a try. It did have the sweet tea flavor, and there were tapioca balls submerged in the milky liquid, so I like to think I wasn’t too far off. However, I was mystified by the presence of kidney beans in a dessert. The pastry-like piece in the middle of the bowl was a sort of baked bean-puff as well, that made for a most unique flavor. I enjoyed the sweet milk, but jury is still out on the bean-pastry. It was yummy and different to be sure, but I mean – it’s no chocolate lava cake 🙂 Chuck, on the other hand, thought every bit of it was delightful.

I’m really glad I made the mistake, because I tried something new that I otherwise may not have gone for, had I known what it was. Here are some pictures of the rest of the meal… just because 🙂

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