Snorkeling at Maeda Point

I just got these photos, so I'm throwing them on here a bit out of sequence. One of the other interesting things I had the chance to do out in Okinawa is snorkel. Being an island, snorkeling and scuba diving are popular activities of course. And luckily you need no certification or real experience in order to snorkel and Okinawa has some amazing spots to see all kinds of fish. Maeda Point is unquestionably the most popular and well-known dive spot in Okinawa. You park your car in the dirt lot on the top of this cliff, grab your gear, and climb down a steep set of stairs straight into the water. It's essentially a drop off right into a network of coral below, which makes it very easy to get up close to all types of fish.



Here are just a couple of the fish we got pretty decent photos of. Sometimes they blend so well with the coral you have to concentrate in order to see them. The fish below (with the 'spines' sticking out) is a beautifully striped fish but also one of the most venomous fish out there. Their stings aren't fatal but they can be painful









And that's it for Okinawa, everyone. As I write this, I'm sitting in France and I'll keep you up-to-date on how things are going here in western Europe. Talk to you soon!

Final stop: Tokyo

Sorry for the delay in blogging, people. It's been a busy past week and internet connection has been haphazard at times. I just spent a rather tortuous time in Shanghai airport on my way to France (as you can tell, my traveling track record has been less than stellar), but I'm back on track and ready to introduce you to Tokyo!

Angie and I stayed at the New Sanno, which is quite possibly the BEST hotel I've ever been to. It's the military hotel in downtown Tokyo and offers really affordable hotel stays for all military people and their families. But this is no Best Western -- they've got a mini pachinko (casino) in their lobby, beautiful restaurants, a little shopping center, pool and sauna...you name it. Funny part came during check in: I was sitting with the suitcases while Angie went up to the counter to check in, and the concierge hesitated slightly as looked at us and said, "We don't allow two people of the same sex to occupy a room together here...can I get you another room for the weekend?" It took us a couple minutes to realize that she thought we were a COUPLE. I guess it goes with not looking at all related, but she only backed down after we said NO absolutely not, we're sisters.
I think it's a military thing.


Tokyo's weather was perfect, so we decided to hop on the Sumida River boat cruise. The boats are called suijo-bus, and they look kinda like school buses on boats.


Besides being on the water and having the chance to see the city on both sides of the banks, this cruise is also neat because you pass underneath 12 unique bridges as you wind your way up north from Hinode Pier to Asakusa. They are a mixture of old and new architecture, painted a variety of colors that remind me of Crayola crayons.

Loading deck at Hinode Pier

Sitting on the cruise deck
About 45 minutes later, we docked at Asakusa port where we headed to the famous Asahi Beer Hall (also known as the Flamme d'Or, or jokingly the "Golden Turd"). It's one of the buildings of the Asahi Breweries headquarters, and was designed by the French designer Philippe Starck. Its inverted pyramid shape is designed to mimic a beer glass, and compliments the neighboring golden beer mug-shaped building housing the Asahi Breweries offices.
The famous 'Asahi Flame' is supposed to represent both the 'burning heart of Asahi beer' and a frothy head

Across the beer hall on the other side of the river, is the immensely popular Buddhist Sensō-ji Temple. Legend has it that in the year 628, two brothers fished a statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, out of the Sumida River. And although they tried to put the statue back into the river, it always returned to them. The chief of their village recognized the sanctity of the statue and enshrined it by remodeling his own house into a small temple so that the villagers could worship the Kannon. Construction was finished in 645, making it Tokyo's oldest temple. It is crowded with tourists and devoted locals year round, and the entrance to the place is lined with food and souvenir shops.







Tsukiji Fish Market is, quite simply, amazing. I love food markets, and this one is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood markets in the world. It handles over 2,000 metric tons of fish a day, ranging from little sardines to humongous tuna. It's a real auction in which fishermen bring in their fresh catches of the day and shoppers vie in a massive bidding for all the goods. Used to be that tourists could come in and watch the auctions when they started at 5:00am, but as of a couple years ago you can no longer watch unless you get a special permit beforehand. Evidently they were bothering the proceedings of the auction so they kicked the meddlesome tourists out. But you can go at a more reasonable hour and see the fish in the market stalls and get sushi for breakfast.


We weren't doing the 5am wake up call, but we did get to Tsukiji around 7 in time to catch the busy market. The sushi we had was some of the best I've ever tasted



Last stop was famous Tokyo Imperial Palace and the Higashi Gyoen (Eastern Gardens). Most of the residences are no longer open to the public, but you can walk around the gardens inside. The East Gardens of the Imperial Palace are on the former site of Edo Castle, but the only things left today are two guardhouses and a defense house. The other buildings were destroyed by fires in the 17th and 19th centuries. So while we could take some neat pictures from outside the garden walls, there wasn't much else to see besides the expansive garden. It gets much prettier when all the cherry blossoms are in bloom, but I missed that showing by a couple months.

It's amazing to see these ancient buildings in the middle of huge modern skyscrapers

Poem of the day

A thoughtful poem that a friend sent to me the other day:

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.

Constantine P. Cavafy (1911)

It's Doctor Fish time

I don't know about you, but a couple of the first things that came to my mind when thinking of Japan are spas...massages...thermal baths...hmmm. Sure enough, there is this amazing spa house down the way from our apartment, just a half hour walk along the beach to its spot on Sunset Beach.

There is a long, rectangular hot tub outside the baths where you can stop and rest your feet for a while. Day or night, there are always people sitting here and it's a really nice way to relax whether coming from the beach, market, or work.

Terme Villa Chula-U is a whole spa complex with indoor hot baths (male and female ones, since evidently they're strictly nudie places...haven't ventured into those ones, honestly), outdoor cold and hot pools, and this interesting type of 'massage' called Doctor Fish. I've never heard of this before, but for your entrance fee into Chula-U you also get 10 minutes with Doctor Fish. Their real scientific name is Garra Rufa, also commonly known as 'nibble fish,' and they hail originally from Kangal, Turkey, where locals have used them to treat numerous varieties of skin disorders (like psoriasis, eczema, acne, etc.) for centuries. It's also reported that Cleopatra frequently used these fish to enhance her legendary beauty. The Garra Rufa are unique in that they gently nibble away your outer layer of dead skin cells, leaving a fresh layer of new skin cells underneath. So NO, they don't have teeth, but rather little suckers for mouths to pull off the dead skin. While nibbling away, the fish produce an enzyme that aids new skin cell growth and also helps the skin feel softer and healthier.

Come 'n get it!
Now you know why it looks a little scary at first...they look like they're attacking my feet
Kinda cool, huh? It's actually a slightly scary first encounter. You sit down, place your feet into the Doctor Fish pond, and wait as the little guys swarm your feet and begin nibbling away. If I didn't know any better, I would swear they were going to attack my feet instead of help them...but everybody else seemed pretty calm so I figured nothing bad would happen. Sure enough, after 5 minutes my feet felt cleaner and better than before.

Beauty salons all over the world have started employing these fish as natural cosmetic and therapeutic procedures, although Turkey legally guards the commercial exploitation of the Garra Rufa. These spas are commonplace in Europe and Asia, and finally reached the US when the first doctor fish pedicure spa was opened in Virginia in 2008. A few states have banned the use of Doctor Fish treatments, claiming sanitation reasons (although there haven't been any reported health issues from their use). Just make sure you go to a reputable spa!

A Day in Osaka

We probably would have been happy to spend our entire time in Kyoto, but our flight back home was out of Osaka so we figured we might as well make a day of it in another city. Osaka is more of a modern city than Kyoto as it is a huge port and remains one of the biggest commercial cities of Japan. It's the third largest city in population size behind Tokyo and Yokohama, and is also referred to as the 'nation's kitchen' in reference to its culinary prowess. Unfortunately, we only had half a day to see the city so we weren't able to take advantage of the culinary scene :( but we did get to see some pretty neat historical sights.

Osaka Castle: this is one of the most beautiful castles I've seen thus far. You step off the subway and immediately run into an enormous baseball field and convention center, and you begin to think you got off at the wrong stop. But walk just a little further around the bend, however, and you can see the castle rising in the distance above the high stone walls. You have to cross not one but two moats that guard the castle as well, until you can reach the plateau at the top of the hill.


In front of the first moat and wall at the base of Osaka Castle

First constructed as a monastic residence in 1496, it became a large temple known as Osaka Honganji. It was burned to the ground in 1580 during a political struggle, and rebuilt by Hideyoshi Toyotomi as his residence as ruler of Japan. Toyotomi is memorialized as a kind of 'self-made man' because he was born into a peasant warrior class, and subsequently rose from servant status to become one of the great rulers of Japan. His residence, the Osaka Castle, remained a seat of power until the Summer War in Osaka in 1615. There are six stories in the Main Tower of the castle here, with each floor containing historical artifacts, full scale models of original rooms, pieces of armor, battle depictions, etc. Really fascinating historical exhibits.


Look at the view from the top of the Main Tower! You can see the castle gardens right below, and then the bustling commercial city center in the distance.

They had a sort of open clearing around the castle at the top, with the ever-present snow cone and noodle stands, souvenir shops, and then a couple of wandering artists at the base of a large tree. At least one of them was the artist, and I'm not sure if the other fellow was a friend or just bumming some shade for himself and his iguana. I was looking at the paintings when his giant iguana came waddling out. It completely freaked me out, and I think his owner had so much fun laughing at my reaction that he wanted me to hold his pet.
Angie bought a picture from the artist and he was happy to take a photo with his artwork. He was so friendly, and he insisted on wearing his little crown and holding up the peace sign for the photo

Just like New York's Empire State Building and Chicago's Sears Tower (now Willis Tower), Osaka has its own skyscraper building -- the Floating Garden Observatory. This massive structure has a 360 degree view of Osaka from 173 m above ground, and although we couldn't be there for sunset, the view was still pretty impressive during the day. It takes its name from man's continual quest for reaching 'higher and higher,' with the belief that man conceptualizes the air as a garden. Think of the Hanging Gardens of Babylons crossed with the Tower of Babel...





Escalator ride going straight up to the 40th floor where the observatory deck is located

View from the top, 173 meters above the ground

The Old Imperial Capital: Kyoto City

After 2 weeks on the island, I just took my first trip to mainland Japan and realized that THIS is what I came to see. It's such a beautiful city, with ancient temples and monuments that contrast so sharply to the 'old' buildings at home. Their restorations alone are older than our original buildings. It's a humbling experience.

We rented bikes for the two days we were in Kyoto and I'm still in the process of calculating the miles we covered, but I'd say it's easily around 40-50 miles total. Not counting all the hills we climbed without the bikes just to get to the mountaintops. Amazing experience, but I'll probably spend a couple days just sitting down to recuperate.

Anyway, it seemed that literally every street and neighborhood had a temple or castle, and it wasn't unusual for us to arrive at our destination only to realize we had stumbled upon yet another Buddhist temple instead. Our first stop was Nijo Castle, which ended up being practically next door to the hostel we were staying at. Nijo Castle is different than many of the other castles we saw because it has unusually ornate interiors and the famous "nightingale floors." The architects built the floors in such a way that the nails in the floorboards would rub against each other when walked upon and make bird-like squeaking sounds (purpose being to warn against possible intruders). All the tatami mat rooms were lined with beautiful life-sized paintings of pine tree forests, lions, peacocks and flowers. I wish I could have gotten pictures of these wall paintings to show you, but the guards were pretty strict about their no photo policy. I got yelled at for taking my shoes off on the wrong part of the mat, so I wasn't about to take any forbidden photos on that trip.

You can get a glimpse of the ornate decorations of this place just by the carvings on the Karamon Gate here. Check out the gilded peacocks and flowers on this gate!
Angie and I in front of the inner gate, less ornate and imposing than the Karamon Gate before it

As we were riding along to find the Philosopher's Walk, we suddenly stumbled onto Nazen-ji Temple, which literally rises out of the forest as this massive ancient building. This Zen temple has been around since the 1300s and is surrounded by pine trees, waterfalls and gardens. The pictures here don't do it justice, but the size of this Sanmon (entrance gateway) of Nanzen-ji can only be compared to the redwoods of California.


Hopefully you can see how puny I look in comparison to this gateway
One of my favorite places we stopped at was the Rokuon-ji Temple, although everyone knows it by its more popular name, the Golden Pavilion. Like most the temples and fortresses today, the present building is a restored replica after having been burnt down by several fires. There's actually an interesting story around this one: in 1950, a young monk burned it to the ground because, apparently, he believed that the aesthetic beauty of the pavilion detracted from religious concentration...or maybe he was just obsessed with the temple itself. Regardless, his arsonist act spawned a famous book by Mishima Yukio called The Golden Pavilion, and a movie as well.
This temple is breathtaking because it's completely covered in gold and it shines iridescently regardless of sun or clouds. If you've ever seen that golden dome of Notre Dame shining, you'll know what I mean...

I can see how this might get a little distracting. There are over 105 pounds of gold coating this temple!



Last stop of our day: Kiyomizu-dera Temple. Over 1,000 years old, and an absolutely massive complex. Climbing all the way to the main pagoda gives great views of Kyoto.


In front of the main gate leading to Kiyomizu-dera main hall (left); Main gate guarded by the ubiquitous shisa, a lion/dog talisman that wards off evil spirits (right)

View from main hall. Know the popular expression "just take the plunge"? It comes from the Japanese epression "to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu." This refers to a tradition that said if you were to survive a 13m jump from the stage, your wish would be granted. Believe it or not, 234 jumps were recorded in the Edo period (from 1603 to 1868). Even more surprising, 85% survived. Thankfully, the practice is now prohibited.
Funny part about this temple: the Jishu Shrine on the side of the pagoda is a shrine dedicated to Okuninushi no mikoto, the god of love and good matches. Thousands of pilgrims write their love wishes on wooden plaques called 'ema' and then tie them to the wall by the shrine in the hopes that their wishes are granted.


Love requests written and hung on the shrine (left); And what's up with the rabbit?? Well, in ancient history, when a rabbit gained what it wanted by deceiving others, it was forced to peel off its skin. Okuninushi was a nice god, however, and healed it and made it mend its ways. So that's why the rabbit statue is here...and I guess it doesn't hurt to whisper your requests to the rabbit as well (right)


ANDDDDD next post: Osaka!

We could use some of these back home

For all the entrepreneurial types out there, there are a couple things out here that would do great back home:

1) Coffee vending machines. We've got the standard soda/candy machines, but the Okinawans have really mastered the vending machines out here. They are literally everywhere - main streets, side streets, deserted mountainside roads, you name it. Makes me wonder how many people are employed to solely make the rounds and restock the thousands of machines scattered around this island. But anyway, what makes these amazing is the fact that you can get so much more than just soda. You've got ice cream sandwiches, a variety of sodas, juices, teas, and enough coffee options to put you on a perpetual caffeine kick. The best thing is that they offer both hot AND cold coffees from the SAME machine! You can get cafe mochas, cafe au laits, regular coffees, iced coffees, espressos...Why these haven't reached the US yet, I don't know.


These little guys are my favorite. The red button below it means it's the hot option, so I can decide if I want a cold au lait or a hot one

2) Cocos Curry houses. Besides the fact that yes, the Japanese have the ubiquitous Starbucks and McD's out here, they've also got these amazing fast-food curry joints. It was one of the first restaurants I tried, and the Japanese curries are sweeter than their Indian counterparts. Doesn't mean they're not as spicy either, but it's just a different taste.
This curry chain is scattered all over Japan and they're simply awesome -- they're cheap, easy, quick, and you can get any combination you can think of. Whether it's veggie or chicken, steak or fish, they've got it all and a bunch of toppings and spiciness levels to choose from, too. (Or maybe they're in the States already, and if you've seen them then you're ahead of me) but they are sooo goood.








My last curry selection: Level 1 spiciness + red curry + steak and veggies.
I think I'll venture to Level 3 spicy next time, although I've heard the average person cries from just eating a Level 5.




And this isn't a new idea, but I thought these were the funkiest things. It's the traveling Boogie Bagie Boxes! You wouldn't know it by the name, but they're hot dog trucks with little attached canopies on the side that function as a bar. The names out here crack me up.