Menso-re Okinawa 3

March 12th, 2007, cloudy

We did not get up really early today because there was only one destination-Shuri castle 首里城.

The constuction of the castle is believed to date back as early as 13th century. The most recent history of residence of this castle was by the king of Ryukyu 琉球 during the 1900s. The palace and castle were almost completely destoryed during World War II. The area was then restored in 1992. This is why the colours of the castle in the picture below are so vibrant.


Okinawa during Ryukyu kingdom had close connection with China (I mean, most of Asia at the time did... Chinese rock). You can see there was heavy Chinese influence in the design of the interior of the castle. I even saw a stone with KangXi's 康熙 writing installed by the gate!!


Shikian Garden was a villa where the royals went on their own for relaxation. (picture above and below) It was also used to house important guests from China (ok, did I mention Chinese rock?) Anyways, I actually like the looks of this area better because more of the original state was kept and I can see a good mixture of Japanese and Chinese garden design. In fact, this was my favour area in the palace!


After a long day of walk around the palace, we were all very very hungry. Thanks to Chie's sister Kayoko, we only had to make one phone call, and authentic Okinawan cuisine was all prepared for us!

Here is an interesting event that happened before dinner at the wonderful Okinawan restaurant that day. Matt, I, SueJean, and Javi were so hungry; we had a simmering, silent fight while trying to find Kayoko's restaurant. That restaurant closes between 4-6pm everyday for dinner preparation. So, we decided to find Kayoko's restaurant first then go somewhere for afternoon snack before dinner because we were all quite hungry at the time. For some strange reason, all of the restaurants around the areas of Shuri castle were all closed. We spent about a hour walking around trying to find food. I kept quiet the entire time because I did not want to worsen the situation by adding my opinion. Matt tried frantically finding a restaurant that was open, but failed, and was yelling. Javi kept suggesting calling a taxi to get us out of the area, while SueJean went in every single store along the streets to ask about Kayoko's restaurant. But now that's all past, and we enjoyed some delicious dishes. So, I forgot all about it (yeah right)

Besides fickle weather and the unplesant event mentioned above, I really really enjoyed my trip to Okinawa. The entire trip was really well planned, thanks to ME.

Menso-re Okinawa 2

March 11th, 2007, rainy

Matt and I got up bright and early to head to the only aquarium with the biggest fish in the world in captivity- Churaumi Aquarium 美ら海水族館. Because it was a Sunday, there were not very many buses. So, it took us more than 3 hours to finally get to the aquarium.

Beside the aquarium, there is a marine park with these cute plant sculpture of sea creatures. You can see me my 'w' victory clamp.

I would like to note something interesting about Japanese when they have their pictures taken. (Or many just Asian in general?) If you ever have a chance, go through a Japanese school yearbook or just some random Japanese's photo album. you will notice that everyone likes to put up their hands and have the 'v' victory sign by either their face or each others. So, I purposefully had 'w' victory sign in this picture to manifest how annoyed I am sometimes by that. But, as you can see, the hand is not very clear against the pink clamp in the background. Oh well.

Like I said, after more than 3 hours of bus ride, we finally arrived at the aquarium. I would say the experience was worth the long ride.

This is a picture of world's largest fish, whale shark. If you enlarge this pictures, you can see that this whale shark is about 4-5 times bigger than the shark in the front. A whale shark is about 11-12 metres in length and weighs about 20 tons. I have attached here a link from wikipedia with more information on whale sharks:　http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark

Here is another picture with visitors by the tank to compare its size.

A picture of another amazing marine animal- Manta Ray, or Devil Ray. Manta rays are also very big. They are about 7 metres across their wing-like fins, and weigh about 3000 kg. It was this kind that killed Steven Erwin. I know they don't seem much compared to whale sharks, but they are still the size of 5 Tinas tall, and 60 Tinas heavy!! Can you figure out how many Tinas is one whale shark then?

After seeing some amazing fish, Matt and I discovered a traditional Okinawan style house inside the marine park. There were people teaching visitors play sanshin (三線-a string instrument made of snake skin. a traditinal Okinawan instrument).

Here is a picture of me and Matt playing the old favourite, twinkle, twinkle, little star!

We got back to your hotel about 8 o'clock at night that day, and met up with a friend, who had just arrived Okinawa that day to join our trip.

Menso-re Okinawa 1

March 10th, 2007, cloudy

Menso-re, as seen in the photo, means welcome on Okinawan dialect. Yup, I have left mainland Japan and ran into the arms of tropical Okinawa from March 10th-13th. As soon as Matt and I got off the plane, we could feel heat coming from outside. Ah, how I miss warm and humid weather!

Since we arrived in late afternoon, it was too late to go to the sightseeing spots we planned. We decided to just hang around Naha city central. (Naha is the capital of Okinawa, southern part).

There is a street called International Route in central Naha city. You can buy all sorts of interesting souvenirs and see many local performances. It was right there I met the infamous Hello Shisa and Goya Pi.

Here is a picture of me and the infamous Hello Kitty. You wonder what she is wearing? Shisa しさ is a mystical animal in Okinawa believed to be the guardian of every household. It is basically the same thing as the stone lions at the gates of important places in Taiwan and China. The big difference is I don't think there is a gender in these shisas.

Another thing people of Okinawa are very proud of is the produce bitter melon. They call it Goya ゴヤ. I have no idea why it is not possible to grow bitter melon on main islands of Japan. People here are so proud, there are all kinds of cuisine with bitter melon, even ice cream!


Some of you may be familiar with bitter melon, but I don't know how many of you know who Kyu Pi is. Kyu Pi is the mascot for a big mayonnise brand in Japan. It is an image of a naked baby girl. Like Hello Kitty, Kyu Pi is often dressed up in many different costumes for advertisement. So, here is a picture of me and Goya Pi. Cute eh?

Nagasaki trip 2

Continued from the last post, after A-bomb museum, Matt and I headed to Chinatown for the lantern festival. Maybe I am just spoiled by the wonderful childhood memeories of the annual lantern festivals in Taiwan, but I was quite disappointed at the lantern festival in Nagasaki. But I am sure those who have been to the lantern festival in Taiwan can understand what I mean.

Well, Matt has been crazy about Chinese history lately, and he knows Zhuge Liang was the greatest tactician in the history of feudal China. So, here he is, happy to take a picture with this buddy, Zhuge Liang.


Can you see me? Am I back in ancient China? no, this is present Japan. Even though the lantern festival was a let down, nevertheless, I still enjoyed the crowd.

Did I mention the food also sucked at the lantern festival? Yeah, Matt and I couldn't find anything decent Chinese food to eat. We ended up snacking on anything we could find for dinner. I was so looking forward to getting bubble tea and Chinese burger, but.... I bought canned oten instead (お天=關東煮). Honestly, it was disgusting, way too salty, and not hot enough.

So, don't be fooled by my happy face, I would not recommend oten when you are hungry.