The Closer Castle

During Matt's long weekend over Easter we decided to go castle-ing with our friends! If you have never heard of castle-ing before, then there might not be very many castles where you live. That is certainly not the case on Okinawa! According to Wikipedia there are twenty-one different castle ruins on our island and we gotta see them all! Therefore, we go castle-ing for fun. 

The term here for a castle or fortress is gusuku. Most are in ruins with only the stone walls and some foundation stones remaining. I had previously visited Nakijin castle when exploring some sights in northern Okinawa, but this day we did not have to travel far from our home to enjoy time at Katsuren castle. 

We headed up some steep paths and then up some even steeper stairs. This castle was well-fortified with steep slopes on every side. Each stair was at a downward angle so I had to hold onto the hand rail in order to not slide all the way back down. After the steep climb up stairs, the view at the top was stunning. You could see the ocean in every direction!

The day was cloudy, but I could make out our home in the distance. It is a tan building with an identical tower beside it on the very left edge of the frame.

Can you see it?

It is so neat to live on an island with such interesting and beautiful sights EVERYWHERE! Stay tuned for our next castle-ing adventure!

The outside walls.

They had a cave for refuge during battles.

Lily season on the island

The Street for Shopping

Kokusai Street is known throughout the island as the place to go shopping. A few months ago (yeah, I am behind on this post!) Matt and I decided to check it out. We drove down to Naha, the capital and largest city of Okinawa, and found public parking. There is the main street with stores and restaurants, but there are also several streets that branch off. They slope downward and are covered from the elements by a glass roof. These side streets are filled with small booths that are stuffed with local goods. There was a whole store with painted chopsticks, another with pink coral jewelry, and others with candy. That is where we bought purple sweet potato kit-kats! 

The most interesting sight was the famous habu sake. The habu snake is a venomous local snake that lives in tall grass. All of the grass is kept very short on base, so don't worry! Sake is the Japanese alcohol of choice. The habu sake has a real snake preserved inside the bottle. A small amount of venom permeates into the alcohol. It is very expensive and not something I want to taste. 

The stores only take cash in yen, and we ended up spending most of the yen we had with us. I walked away with two shirts, candy, and coral earrings, and Matt purchased a shirt and some very old coins to add to his collection. Unfortunately, the local ATMs do not recognize our cards and we both got really hungry for dinner! While Kokusai Street has many restaurants, the only option for us was McDonalds. We were able to gather enough change in yen to buy two combo meals. I ordered the teriyaki burger (not available in the states), and it was so tasty after walking all day. We will definitely be going back to Kokusai Street for some serious Christmas shopping. 

The Cat Cafe

I did not find this place on my own. My neighbor and guest blogger Beverly invited our tower friends to visit Neco Cat Cafe. Surprisingly (or not) only the cat owners on our floor decided to make the trip. It seemed like such a foreign experience - I had to try it! Cat cafes are more popular in mainland Japan where small living spaces mean fewer house pets resulting in a kind of pet rental business. Neco Cat Cafe is the only one I have heard of on the island of Okinawa, but the business model is the same. You pay a cover charge to spend time surrounded by happy cats.

When you open the door to the cafe you are in a small vestibule with shelves for your shoes. You must wear the slippers provided by the cafe when inside. Inside the cafe you are greeted by the owner with a spray bottle. Your hands are sprayed with a disinfectant before you can touch any of the cats. She also explains the rules (do not feed the cats, do not pick up the cats) and asks for you drink orders. We paid around ten dollars for an hour in the cafe with a drink included. Our neighbor who got lost and joined us later paid for a thirty minute session with no drink instead. After you make your drink selection you are free to wander around a tiny cat paradise.

There was a solid wall of windows so there were plenty of sunny napping spots. There were cat beds and baby cradles made into cat beds. All of the food bowls and litter boxes were kept out of sight. My favorite part had to be the cat transportation system along the ceiling where cats could walk over our heads.

Our drinks were delivered with cat-themed covers so that the kitties could not steal our drinks if we walked away from the table. I ordered a mango juice, and I was glad for the ice. The whole cafe was sunny and very warm.

At every table there was a list of the "cat staff" so we could call them by name. I believe that some of the cats were available for adoption, but I know that the cover charge we paid was used to care for all of them. There were some more exotic breeds among the "staff," the scottish fold, ragdoll, and munchkin to name a few. We spent our time petting the cats (even if they were aloof) and watching one of the kitties attack all of his sleeping coworkers. While I don't feel the need to frequent this cafe since I have a pet of my own, I was glad I got to experience another culture that also appreciates the simple pleasure of spending time with cats.

The Weddings

If you have been wondering why I have not been writing about my life in Okinawa, then you should know that I have not been in Okinawa for the past few weeks. Matt and I were able to travel to Georgia for the weddings of my sister to her wonderful new husband David as well as our friends Mike and Michelle.

Allie and David had their ceremony and reception in Forsyth, Georgia. I was so happy to be part of their day. They had personal touches everywhere! The wedding party was in TOMS shoes in order to support a good cause and be able to dance more easily at their art gallery reception. Allie and David showed off their swing dancing experience at their reception with a touching first dance to Ingrid Michaelson's "The Way I Am." There were cupcakes, orchids, and a beautiful tree painting for the guests to sign that Allie created herself. The day was just lovely.

The following weekend Matt and I headed down to Savannah for our friends' wedding. They were married in a small chapel surrounded by oak trees dripping in Spanish moss. They had a choral group to sing at the ceremony and a string duo to play at the reception. The day was filled with music and friends that had come from all over the country (and world!) to see the two wed.

In the time between the weddings I had time to see friends and family as well as enjoy the comforts of home that I had been missing. I shopped at Target and drank Chick-fil-a sweet tea to my heart's content. I went thrift shopping with my mom and met friends for Mexican food. I had a wonderful time!

As much as I miss my home in the states when I am in Okinawa, I also began to miss my home in Okinawa when I was in the states. I missed the warm sunny days and ocean views and the feeling that somewhere new to discover is just around the corner. And especially the people. It was such a relief when we left the American airports where you are herded like cattle to the Japanese airports where you are given slippers if the agents politely request you remove your shoes for the metal detector and the flight attendants bow and smile at you as you arrive at the airplane. There is so much more respect for each other that I believe Americans could use a bit more of!

The Whales

One popular activity on the little island we call home is whale watching. It is only during the months of February and March that humpback whales migrate past Okinawa after the mating season. The whale moms are taking care of their new whale babies, and as a result they stay near the surface of the ocean as they travel. We booked a tour through the marina on base, and set off to see some whales!

I was so nervous. I had heard stories of people getting seasick from the combination of rough water and  a tiny boat, and then they were stuck for hours on the ocean! I took dramamine beforehand, and I purchased ginger candy to snack on while out on the water. I had heard that ginger reduces motion sickness. Fortunately not one person on our boat got sick - not even me!

The captain drove (steered? piloted?) the boat out for about an hour to a spot where whales had been sighted before. Everyone on the boat looked in different directions. If we saw a sign of a whale such as a flipper or a whale spout we would yell and the captain would take off in that direction. There were several other boats in the vicinity, and we would all start racing in the same direction. We only saw one baby and one adult whale over a four hour tour, but it was still exciting rushing from one spot to another in a tiny boat. Matt was even able to snap a picture when the adult whale surfaced. 

Posing for the paparazzi like a superstar. 

The Not-Yet-Beetle

Amanda: Matt has a new pet. We do not have a new pet because I refuse to let it live in our apartment. It is to be strictly a work pet (although it is still sitting in Matt's home office much to my dismay).

Matt: He is not such a bad pet because he is just going to sit there for three months! And he grows on you...a little bit. He's a beetle. Or... he will be one day. Right now he is just a larva. He is rather squishy.

Amanda: Matt dragged me to the local pet store and spent a long time agonizing over which species of beetle to purchase. He had only cups of dirt with a Japanese label to reference. He had to compare the label in Japanese to a map on the wall with pictures of the different kinds of beetle and their country of origin. He did not actually see his new pet until the cashier dumped out the dirt to prove their was a larva inside. She laughed at my unhappy face.

Matt: I originally wanted a Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle called a Kabuto Mushi. It literally means "Samurai helmet bug." I asked the sales lady (in Japanese) when they would be available, and she told me "roku tsuki" which means the sixth month because it is currently too cold in mainland Japan for larvae. I had to either wait for months, or pick one from a more temperate part of the world. I recognized a picture of one from South America from one of my books as a kid, and it was the Hercules Beetle. I used my phone for research, and I discovered that it is the strongest animal in the world. It can lift 850 times its own body weight! That would be the equivalent of me lifting 157,000 pounds. That is three bulldozers at once! I decided that it would do. If all else fails it could be my gym buddy.

Amanda: Matt just informed me that due to its strength the Hercules Beetle is able to escape from cages with metal bars (it can bend them) or lids that don't snap shut (it can lift it). Great. Of course Matt had to purchase all the necessary accessories as well to keep his new pet alive. Right now it just needs specialty dirt, but eventually it will need protein jelly to grow extra big. Yay.

Matt: Beetles are a huge part of Japanese culture. I had a pen pal as a kid, and he wrote to me about his beetles. They make them sumo wrestle each other. I consider this part of assimilating into the culture.

Amanda: Tilly is jealous. While Matt was changing out the dirt in its container, Tilly jumped on the desk and pushed the container off the desk. The larva rolled out, to the edge of the desk, and Matt had to catch it before it hit the floor. Tilly was then banished from the office, so she cried outside the closed door for a long, long time.

Matt: It is an easy pet to take care of. It lives in a tupperware container in a desk drawer!

What he looks like now.

What he will grow up to be. 

The Cherry Blossoms

Blossoming cherry trees are a big deal in Japan. They were the symbol of Japan's friendship with America back in 1914 when the Japanese cherry trees were planted in D.C. along the Potomac River. Matt and I missed the cherry blossoms when we lived in Virginia by mere days. We had to wait until the weekend last April, and due to some strong storms by the time we arrived pink petals littered the ground next to bare trees. We were determined not to miss the short season this year!

Cherry blossoms (sakura in Japanese) bloom only about one week. The warm island of Okinawa has the first blooms in Japan. In this country they represent the beginning of spring. Yep, our spring starts in January according to the trees. Is it ever winter here? There are huge festivals with parades and food vendors at the beginning of the season. Matt and I avoided the crowds and traveled to the city of Nago on the Friday after the major festivals. 

We arrived at Nakijin castle ruins in the late afternoon. I was so glad Matt had a day off after he was in the field for a few weeks. Especially since we could travel on a weekday. We were able to tour the grounds and snap our pictures right before the tour buses arrived with hundreds of people wanting to view the pink flowers. 

I really enjoy that the Okinawans love to take pictures as much as Matt and I do. They all had their camera phones (like me!) and expensive cameras (like Matt) trained on the trees. We were able to make deals with people - we would take a picture of a family and then they would take a picture of us. We ended up with some beautiful shots.

I love the pink blossoms and the turquoise sea in the background.