Welcome to Okinawa

August 6, 2015 - Okinawa Day 1

Today was an early start. We woke up pretty early to all get to the airport for our 10 a.m. flight. Everyone would be going to Okinawa except for Jack. He was on a budget so decided to sit out and explore Kansai while we were gone. The flight was not so long but with flying a budget airline the level of comfort is not so good. When we got there one of the first things we had to do was get our rental car! All of the islands on Okinawa have public transportation but no trains like the main land of Japan. So having a rental car was nearly crucial for our time here. I was actually really worried about my brother driving. Even though I feel more comfortable with him driving then me, everything still would be opposite and I wasn't sure how fast we would get it.

Once we got to the car rental place, we saw that we had a small four door for our transport for the next few days. Pulling out of the car rental shop was slow but I just kept praying that we would be safe!

Since the airport was south of Honto Island and our lodging would be on the northern half, I decided we should slowly make our way north passing by Koksai Dori and American Village. Koksai Dori means International Street. On this street there were many different shops selling souvenirs, food, t-shirts and other Okinawan goods. Okinawa is in Japan but their culture is much different. Okinawa is described as the Hawaii of Japan with their beautiful beaches and relaxed feel. Even the Japanese people of Okinawa look different than the main landers! On Koksai Dori we got lunch which was taco rice. I have had taco rice before but I heard that it was made in Okinawa. It is basically a taco, without the shell, on a bed of white rice. It's good!! After lunch we went to walk around the shops to buy gifts or just browse.

By this time in the day it was already past 3 p.m. and the weather was really questionable with heavy clouds and strong winds. I wanted to hopefully get to a beach but all the beaches I researched had a closing time around 5 p.m. and we were still a distance from most of them. So instead I figured we could go to American Village which had Sunset Beach near it. American Village is what you think it would be. A place full of shops and restaurants to mimic the West. It was interesting to see and experience but I could live without places like this. I understand the want to be like the West though. Also it seems fitting because Okinawa is a large military base for the U.S. so having things that would remind people living here of home would be appropriate.

We wanted to stay at Sunset Beach to watch the sunset, but with the clouds and possible rain to come, we decided maybe it would be better to head to our lodging. So wit a little over an hour, we were at our new guest house, this time there was AC! Each of us got settled into our rooms and got pretty excited about the strong AC and space!

After resting for a bit, we decided it would be time to search for some food! The guest house owner recommended a few places. Andrews didn't want to get back into the car so we decided to walk around and just find a good place. Luckily for us, there was a place super close with bright red lanterns around the entrance. I couldn't really read the kanji but we figured if it had food then we should try it out. The food place turned out to be really nice! It was a small shop ran only by two people, probably a husband and wife. The menu was written on wooden plates tacked on the board. I could only read some of them but had to guess at others. Luckily the woman asked me what things we liked and just started to make things based on my broken Japanese. Being the leader of a group in Japan where no one else speaks Japanese is a real test to my studies and I'm terrible!! But dinner was not! We had different plates of sashimi, fried oysters, udon, egg and spam, and even chicken wings! Dinner was really delicious and it felt nice to get some beers in too.

Today was a bit stressful and really long but I'm thankful God got us here safely and has given us another day to enjoy. Now praying for good weather tomorrow!!


xx
t