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).
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| off to Shuri |
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| あしもとちゅうい (ashimoto chuui, watch your step) |
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| monorail line |
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| monorail car |
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| rooftop garden we saw from the monorail |
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| view from the hill behind the castle (we sort of approached from the back) |
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| nice view |
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| more views |
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| snails we found up there |
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| 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 |
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| long, winding walls |
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| the boys, unawares |
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| the boys, awares |
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| entrance to the castle area |
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| Add caption |
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| throne of King of the Ryukyus (not the original, but a reproduction) |
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| I got a picture with it, yay! |
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| king's crown |
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| 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
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| sunset at the monorail station |
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| wow |
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| ooo |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| just some... |
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| International Street fun... |
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| 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.
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| completely uninteresting but it is indeed a beer |
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| this is an abomination, we poured it down the sink to save ourselves |
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| 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.
