My paradise

After being made to work on a Saturday – the school’s open day on which we attempt to lure students to the school –I decided to take the day back and turn it into a long weekend. As there was a public holiday on the 3rd I managed to wrangle a 4-day weekend and decided to join my friend Ann on her trip to Okinawa.

Day 1 – 31 October
Unlike my trip to Osaka, my train left at a reasonable hour for Fukuoka, where we would then catch the plane to Naha, Okinawa. SO once again I found myself on board my favourite Sonic Limited Express, with its comfy seats and relatively fancy interior. Sooooo much better than the Shinkansen, which may be faster, but is nowhere near as luxurious (in train standards of course).

I had heard from many people that Fukuoka is a really wonderful city and that they would have loved to have been placed there. After 10 minutes I felt the same. It could just have been the fact that it was a beautiful autumn day, that the sun was shining and that I was in the city park surrounded by the lake, trees and ducks.

I had 2 hours before I had to meet Ann so I spent the morning walking around Ohori Park and basking in the last of the summer sun. Within the park are various sports grounds and the ruins of Fukuoka castle. The park area reminded me a bit of Italy for some reason – I think it must have been the combination of the park and castle ruins. The climb to the top of the castle provided me with a wonderful view of the city and the park grounds. Unfortunately as they are ruins there is not much to see of the castle.

I then headed back to Hakata to meet Ann. We took the bus to Canal City, a rather large and well-known shopping mall In Fukuoka city, where we grabbed some lunch before filling our time window shopping. I didn’t spend anything as it was mostly clothing stores and the clothing wasn’t really in my style or price range – I will continue rather to make use of Uniclo (the Japanese Giodano).

The flight over was rather uneventful – asides from being stuck right in the middle of the plane with absolutely no view whatsoever. I had the same vile seats on the way back so I have no clue as to what Okinawa looks like from the air. In fact the best part of the trip was getting off the plane and being greeted by the warmth of a tropical paradise.

Due to the American base on Okinawa and the close “ties” to America (though the new government is doing their best to kick them out) – there was a lot of American influence about. I especially enjoyed the Hawaiian shirts. It felt like I was in a whole new tropical country, after leaving the rapidly cooling Japanese mainland.

Naha has a fantastic monorail system that runs through the city (the same of which can not be said for the buses) and only goes in 1 direction so it is rather easy to navigate and all the interesting city sites seem to be within easy walking distance. The sites outside of the city are also another story all together.

After dumping our things at the hotel we made our way to one of the bigger shopping malls in Naha for supper and did check out the chopping we had been told so much about. It was then that we made our most exciting discovery – deodorant. Everyone warns you when you are coming to live here that toothpaste and deodorant is a problem, as the Japanese versions just do not work. So this was a joyous discovery, though not surprising due to the American Military personal stationed in Okinawa.

Day 2 – 1 November
We decided that Sunday we would go to the Okinawa Ocean Expo Park, which has been strategically placed 1 ½ hours from Naha. The park has a number of attractions and you could easily spend an entire day there, though our reason for going was the aquarium.  It is considered to be the best one in Japan and is the second largest in the world. The only pain is getting there.

*I would just like to say at this point that if you are planning a trip to Okinawa I would highly recommend you rent a car.  It will make your life infinitely easier and it will be less likely you get arrested for destruction of bus network property.

We were urged by the lady at the airport information desk to join a tour group rather than attempt the 3-hour bus ride on the public transport – and it was well worth it. We chose one of the basic tours that included our tickets for the aquarium as well as the Pineapple Park, but also afforded us the longest time at the aquarium.

Our tour guide was amazing – this tiny lady in her pristine, pink Chanel suite and white high heels. She spent the entire ride telling the passengers – in Japanese – about the area (English tours were about 1 ½ times the price) and would randomly break into song.

I didn’t see a single rice paddy on the way to the aquarium and instead the scenery reminded me of a cross between Natal and the Wild coast. So it was almost like being home only slightly more tropical. The buildings however, are not as Japanese. Mostly flat roofs without the detail. More like the Maldives. The weather was also fantastic – sunny and warm – the best kind. 

When we finally got to the aquarium we were given free reign to do what we wanted for the 3 hours – and we could have easily used more. The aquarium is huge, and consists mainly of larger tanks than lots of smaller ones. The tanks are also naturally lit where possible to give you a more authentic experience. The highlight though was the main tank. It is huge. Two Oceans Aquarium – while prettier – had nothing on this main tank. The glass/acrylic used is 60cm thick and is home to 3 whale sharks, which are part of the breeding programme. The Aquariums café is next to the tank and we managed to get perfect seats right next to the tank so that we were eating lunch 6 feet from a whale shark. It really was the most amazing and indescribable experience that photographs just could not capture.

There were many other fascinating displays, including a hall of things that can kill you – reminding me why I am the only person in my family without a diving license (though my biggest fear still remains the octopus).  The shark hall included a model of the jaws of a prehistoric shark, which provided endless photo opportunities. I also saw my first giant squid, manatee and a selection of deep-sea marine life. Though sadly once again my sunfish dreams were squelched like a beached blue bottle.

Next on the tour was the Pineapple farm, which we were told, was a fun visit just for the WTF (just google it) factor. Sadly we only had 40min there so I wasn’t able to experience all the joys of the pineapple picking but I was able to sort out my omiyage for school. They also make wine and champagne, which was rather interesting, and very pineappley. Part of the tour was the all you can drink and eat section, they just don’t tell you that you can drink as much as you like from the provided thimble cups. I had to resist the urge to buy pineapple pie, pineapple cake, pineapple biscuits and pineapple chocolate – which, as a result of numerous samplings – was really, really good.

After a long bus ride back we went had supper at an American-Okinawan restaurant where part of my meal consisted of fried goya rings. Goya is a speciality in Okinawa – along with pineapple and sweet potato. Not many people like it as it is quite bitter. I thought it was a type of cucumber at first with its seeds removed so I don’t mind it too much. Though the fact that I eat it is still a mystery to some of my students.

Day 3 – 2 November
After having a bit more of a relaxed start to the day we caught the monorail to the end of the line and Shurijo castle. Shurijo castle was built around the 14th century, but unfortunately due to recent historical events it was completely destroyed. In 1992 they began to rebuild the castle to commemorate Okinawa’s inclusion in Japan. Historically it was the royal seat and which, through trade with China and other Asian cultures, helped develop Okinawa’s rich art trades. It must have been spectacular during its time.

We then decided to brave the 2-hour bus ride to Okinawa World – yet another attraction in the middle of no where without the comforts of train travel. I am beginning to hate the buses and this one needed new suspension badly. In the end it was well worth the pain of the ride. 

Okinawa world is basically designed to get you to spend money on the local crafts. The huge stores sell all the locally made specialties such as pottery, glass, weaving, lacquer ware and beer from the brewery. As well as sweet potato soft serve which was bright purple and completely delicious, and being a vegetable it could only be good for you.

Though despite it being a money trap it does have some other wonderful attractions. The craft area was a great way of getting to learn about the traditional arts and in case par take in the creation of glasses or pots. I really enjoyed the habu museum, which is really a reptile park providing information on the snakes that bear its name. The habu is one of the poisonous locals of Okinawa and the many varieties occur on almost all the islands. Mongooses were introduced to curb the snake population but as usual ended up doing more harm than good. The best part was getting to hold a python and watch a mongoose race a sea snake. And surprisingly the mongoose won, though I think this was due to the fact the snake had no desire to leave the water or get to the end of the tunnel.

The highlight however, was the Gyokusendo caves. The limestone caves run under the park and were only discovered in 1967. They are the largest in Japan. The tour path runs for about 900m through a constructed tunnel. This sadly means that many of the stalactites and stalagmites had to be broken to create the path, but I suppose that the sacrifice had to be made so that we could really appreciate the vast network of the caves. It is nice to see that the caves are fighting back though and reforming the broken bits, even if it is only slowly.

After another painful ride on the bus it was time for dinner at the akachochin and to do our final shopping before we headed back the next day.

Day 4 – 3 November
For our final morning we walked around the streets near the hotel and went to one last local craft centre. During our travels I am happy to report that I found fluoride toothpaste - yet another great discovery. Though I did also buy some more traditional glass wear too.

Of course we also ran into some hippies. So they also exist in Japan. They had come to the craft centre and were playing music and dancing in the strangest, and certainly not traditional, costumes.

Sadly from there it was back to the airport, where yet again we had the worst possible seats in the world. But thanks to my newly acquired sleeping skills I spent most of the trip asleep.

I knew it would be colder when we landed but I was not prepared for how cold – it was like the temperature had dropped a couple of hundred degrees since we left and I was longing for my down jacket that I had purchased recently. I found out later that while we had been gone there was an unusual cold spell on Kyushu – something usually reserved for December.

All in all it was a wonderful trip and I plan to go back, but this time for longer and to explore the islands and beaches. It was still nice to get a taste of another part of Japan – even if it was just to buy toothpaste and deodorant.