７月２５日（土）

Today was the boys’ last full day in Japan, so we wanted to have some fun and go to the beach. Before that we shopped around 国際通り (kokusai doori, International Street), a street stretching for quite a way that has many types of shops selling Okinawa specialties, souvenirs, and various items appealing to tourists. There we got some better beach shoes for Lane. We had talked about smashing a watermelon on the beach, which is a bit of a Japan beach tradition/game.

The deal with the watermelon smash game is you and your friends make 2 teams. One person on one team is blindfolded and spun in circles by the other team, and then the blindfolded player’s other team members try to direct their teammate verbally as he gets one swing to smash the watermelon. If the first team doesn’t do appropriate damage or hit, the other team gets a chance. The game keeps going as team members take turns being blindfolded, until the watermelon s damaged enough to tear apart with hands and eat.

We found small watermelons at the supermarket but not big ones, and since we were worried the beaches might be closed due to a typhoon warning anyway, we decided to forego the watermelon. Since the weather was simply windy and didn’t seem at all a problem to be out in, we tried going to the beach but when we asked a lifeguard he told us the beach was closed due to the typhoon after all.

To make up for the beach disappointment we rode the monorail to 首里城 (shuri-jyou, Shuri Castle), a rebuilt structure based on the original castle of the independent Ryukyu Kingdom, which was destroyed in the Battle of Okinawa (the final battle of WWII).

off to Shuri

あしもとちゅうい (ashimoto chuui, watch your step)

monorail line

monorail car

rooftop garden we saw from the monorail

view from the hill behind the castle (we sort of approached from the back)

 

nice view

 

more views

 

snails we found up there

this is a standard seating area, I don't usually see these types of large seats meant for many to gather around in the US

 

long, winding walls

the boys, unawares

the boys, awares

 

entrance to the castle area

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throne of King of the Ryukyus (not the original, but a reproduction)

I got a picture with it, yay!

king's crown

fascinating, Chinese-influence

The symbol of the Ryukyu Kingdom, 左三つ巴 (hidari mitsudomoe) was all over the museum within the castle. Lane informed me that he had seen the symbol on standards at a festival in Kyoto, but I'm not sure why it was there. While trying to figure out why that was, I at least found some more information on Okinawan symbols here.

 we met some friendly, rather pushy ducks

 

sunset at the monorail station

wow

ooo

aaah

 After the museum we had some ramen and then ice cream from the Okinawan creamery Blue Seal. Nick got Blue Wave flavor, Kitty got ベンモ (benimo, purple sweet potato) flavor, and I got 塩ちんすこう (shio chinsukou, salt biscuit) flavor.

ice cream NOM

Speaking of benimo and shio chinsukou there are many Okinawan specialties. I will explain 4 of the most famous ones now.

1. Benimo are Okinawan purple sweet potatoes. They are often used to make sweet cakes sold in omiyage boxes (souvenir boxes) and ice cream.

2. Shio chinsukou are often sold in souvenir boxes like benimo cakes. They are simply small biscuits/cookies, they may have a very subtle savory taste but they are not unpleasantly salty. They come in a variety of flavors themselves, including benimo.

3. ゴーヤ (gouya) is a bitter gourd grown in Okinawa. It is usually found chopped up in ゴーヤチャンプルー (gouya chanpuruu), a stir fry with other vegetables, tofu, and meat or fish. In the line of pleasing tourists, however, many things such as shio chinsukou have come to be gouya flavored as well.

4. 海ぶどう (umi budou, sea grapes) is a seaweed that has many small spheres of liquid on it. The taste is very subtle but the texture is a little slimy, perhaps comparable to okra.

We took another turn around International Street while it was bustling on a Saturday night. Many of the shops are very much alike, and there are strange things sold. There are many dead ハブ (habu, vipers) preserved in jars of 泡盛 (awamori, Okinawan rice liquer). The vipers are known for their vitality and sexual practices, so drinking the awamori the snake is submerged in is supposed to supplement energy and have an intensifying effect on male sex drive.

 

just some...

International Street fun...

and the dragonballz

While shopping in Okinawa we found root beer regularly, which is usually not found in mainland Japan. The Swedish boy staying at our hostel said he had never tried it, so Kitty bought a can for him. That’s one of the cool things that can come out of staying at a hostel, getting new experiences through new friendships.

Kitty and I found some beers from local breweries Orion and Helios, and decided to try a few. Two were relatively ok, but one was just horrible. The one not pictured was brewed with gouya. It was my favorite of the 3.

completely uninteresting but it is indeed a beer

this is an abomination, we poured it down the sink to save ourselves

In the table with the stars L to R: bitterness, scent, body

 I thought the rating system for the beer's bitterness, scent, and body was kind of a nice touch.

Overall it was a great day, but I wish the boys could stick around longer.