Nagannu Island, Okinawa

Hi Everyone! I know it's been a while since Oki and I have made an appearance. We have been busy starting our own little business, called Whimsical Wood Decor! It will be up and running soon and we are so excited to share our custom-designed wood decor with you - be sure to check Facebook soon for our business page!

Anyways, a while back Oki and I took an adventure with our friend Laura to Nagannu Island. It is an uninhabited island a short ferry ride away from Naha port. People visit the island for a quick little get away and to enjoy the beach. We were lucky enough to stay overnight in one of their cabins!

Nagannu Island from the ferry!

 The beach. Definitely an uninhabited island!

The uninhabited beach chairs

Laura enjoying the secluded beach!

 Chillin' beach-side 

Oki insisted that we try these delicious Japanese "beers" 

There were hermit crabs everywhere! I nicknamed the beach "hermit crab island." These guys are in a hermit huddle.

Big and small, hermit crabs were everywhere! 

Oki made a friend more her size, his name was Hermie. 

Sunset

More sunset!

Our little cabin

Oki found a giant shell she can perch on! She likes to stand on tall things, it makes her feel taller. 

The island turned very different at night. We felt as if we were the invaders on the hermit crabs' territory. They came out in full force at night and were very active. It was pretty cool to see, although I did have fears that I was going to dream of talking hermit crabs! Good times :)

Pizza in the Sky and Nago Pineapple Park with Oki

Guess what???!!! We finally had a chance to spend a day with Oki!!! Although we have seen Oki a few times since we arrived on island, we had not yet had the chance to spend time together. When we first met Oki, much to our surprise, Oki was a girl! Ooops. I guess the language barrier got the best of us. Good thing I'm taking Japanese classes, so mistakes like that will happen less often ;) Anyways, Oki recently took us to the northern part of the island, which we had yet to explore. It's one of the major cities here in Okinawa, called Nago.

When Mike and I first arrived to Okinawa, one of the places that was most talked about was this supposedly amazing pizza place called Pizza in the Sky. Since Oki wanted to take us to Nago area, we thought this would be the perfect time to try this famous pizza place. And, our friends Eddie and Michelle were able to come along too - we had a full car! So we headed out on the hour and a half drive. When we arrived we put our name on the list. Using our hour and a half wait time wisely, we walked around the property and took some photos.

The restaurant is partly inside and partly outside

The view (hence the name…in the Sky)

For some reason, that I still must figure out, Oki loves taking photos with all the Shisa (lion dogs used to protect against evil spirits) around Okinawa. Here she is with one of the Shisas at the restaurant. She particularly liked the ocean view in the photo.

The menu is written on a fan. How cute is that? Your options are small pizza or large. One kind of pizza, complete with corn. And, if you want a salad…again, only one kind. 

Our juice drinks - Mike went for the mango and I went with the acerola (wild berry, similar to a cherry)

We ordered the salad

And the large pizza

In case you didn't know…When in Japan, you must use chopsticks, even for pizza (not really, but everyone else was, so why not?!). It was actually quite convenient, especially since this pizza was loaded with cheese that kept sliding all over :)

After lunch, we headed down one of the main roads north of Nago - the 84. We decided to stop at the sweet potato shop. Sweet potato shops can randomly be found all around Okinawa. This happened to be the first one we saw, so we popped in! Okinawan sweet potatoes, or Beni-imo, are purple in color and delicious. They are a little less sweet than the sweet potato that us Americans are used to, but that seems to be the theme in Okinawa in general. Everything is less sweet, but still really good. Actually, my favorite ice cream flavor in Okinawa is Beni-imo.

Not sure what the birds are for, but they were featured at the front.

Inside the shop - definitely great for tourists! There are samples everywhere too :)

Continuing down the road back toward Nago, Oki took us to the famous Nago Pineapple Park! The pineapple park is considered a small amusement park, featuring, well, pineapples ;) They take you on a golf cart "ride" through the park, where you can witness the different types of pineapple and how they grow. Then by foot you make your way through to the pineapple wine tasting and, of course, samples of the pineapple! Just like any ride in any amusement park, they had a shop where tourists thrived on buying all sorts of fun pineapple products - juice, wine, cake, other desserts, little souvenirs with the characters, and pineapple.

Nago Pineapple Park

Eddie, Michelle, me, and Mike

Map of the park. 

I love the Japanese characters!

Little signs like this were all over, telling you which variety of pineapple you will be viewing next. 

If you look closely, you will see the tiny pineapples (about 3 inches). 

They are growing and they were so cute!

Entering another variety of pineapple in the park

A view of the pineapple fields

Oki likes to be sneaky. I didn't know where she was, until I saw her sitting on this sign! She was trying to tell us to hurry up and get to the pineapple wine tasting!

Oki with a pineapple. She loves the pineapple park!

And so our day trip to Nago and beyond comes to an end. We make the trek back home. Check out the car we saw on the expressway. 

Convertible smart car!

I'm glad Oki is finally free to show us around. She likes to go on lots of adventures, even beyond Okinawa. So, I'm sure Oki will be able to take us to other parts of Asia. Our first trip is actually booked!! Oki suggested we do a few days in Taiwan over American Thanksgiving break. So…we booked our flights. Stay tuned for adventures with Oki…beyond Okinawa :)

10,000 Eisa Dance Parade

The summer in Okinawa is known for its matsuri (Japanese word for festival). There are tons of them; in fact, the same weekend we went to the 10,000 Eisa Dance Parade, there were six others around the island! Eisa is a traditional Okinawan dance that sets itself apart from the customs of mainland Japan. Eisa is performed mostly by young people to pay respects to the culture, customs, and, well, old people of Okinawa. The dance consists of groups of people playing taiko drums and moving to the sound of the drums. Often times there are Eisa competitions, to see which group has the "best" dance.

The guys in purple/white were competing against the guys in black (pic below)

This team had a very young kid playing drums; I would guess around 7 years old ;)

Walking into Kokusai street (main street in downtown Naha) there is a huge Shisa (Japanese lion-dog thought to protect against evil spirits). We took a pic with him :)

The 10,000 Eisa parade worked like a parade we would see at home - The groups would perform in one area then walk about 100 yards or so, stop, and begin their performance again. That way, people did not have to walk around to see them perform. The performers came to you! Of course, us antsy Americans had to keep walking around to find something new to entertain us.

Here is one group performing. The men played the drums and dance, while the women danced.

This picture has nothing to do with the parade, but I thought it was cute. Haha.

View of the street and the performers

It's buildings like this that make it hit me, "Wow, I live in Japan."

Oh, and don't forget the frog purses on sale. Yes…REAL frogs (or toads?).

More Eisa performers

We got side tracked by the fish market

This guy in the cage is 1. Alive and 2. For sale at the fish market. Yes…To eat. 

Turtle soup, anyone?!

We also got side-tracked by Blue Seal ice cream. So good!

For lunch we stopped and ate at a restaurant on Kokusai street during the parade. The restaurant will be featured in the next post about the food and restaurants here on Okinawa!

Exploring Naha area - Where did we end up?

Part of the fun of living in a new country is driving around (on the "wrong" side of the road and car), getting lost (ok, only kind of fun), and finding things you never thought you would find! So there we were, driving around the south end of Okinawa island, known as Naha. This is where the airport is, where to go for downtown shopping, where city hall and public transportation thrive, and apparently where to go for an adventure!

As we were driving along a road, which I presume to be the 58 that runs up the coast of the island, with the East China Sea to our left, I see this to our right. We immediately turned, and headed toward the structure. 

We pull into the parking lot of where we think this wonderful structure is located, the arm to the lot lifted as a machine spoke Japanese to us. We came upon a map located in the parking lot. Since we couldn't read it, we just ventured along. I think the scariest thing is thinking that your car might get towed if you parked in the wrong spot, or the park is going to close and you will be trapped inside the parking lot, or that you will not have enough Yen to pay the parking fees, etc. You know, the important things that you may miss because you don't speak the language. Things like this make adventures truly, well, adventurous.

Despite our concerns, we just kept walking along the path. We came to a small beach. People were laying out in the blazing hot sun (no exaggeration needed) and were swimming right underneath the overpass in the middle of Naha, one of Okinawa's major cities. To us it was kind of weird; could you imagine doing this in California?! You would probably come out with black feet from toxic water. Haha. But, it was like a miniature beach to them, complete with food and drink vendors and people renting out swim equipment. 

This sign was on the beach. We have no idea what it says, besides what the little pictures depict: "no dogs, alcohol, fireworks, etc." We were a little confused about the picture with the two people and swim equipment… "No swimming"???

There is a beautiful cliff over the beach where people were swimming. But, I really liked this picture because of the palm tree that lost his head. I promise I did not photoshop his head out!

Passing the beach and continuing to our true destination (the authentic structure we saw from the 58), we walked up this random dirt area that looked like it was used for nothingness, rounded the corner, and found this…Apparently a Shrine!!

We did not know what this "watering hole" was for (pic below) until we saw a few locals take the ladles, scoop out some water, and rinse off their hands. We didn't know if anything was "sacred" here, so we opted out. You never know whose toes you may step on because you're doing something wrong. 

I have no idea who this guy is, but he must be important. I'm sure the locals know…Guess I need to do more research on Okinawan history.

This was what we saw from the road, the Shrine!! People were praying here so we did not want to get too close, but it was really cool to find, while we were out exploring the city. According to a local Okinawan, the Shrine we happened upon is called Naminoue-gu Shrine. Side note: Every time we meet someone that speaks relatively good English, I make them look through my random photos and tell me what these things are. This girl was so excited when I showed her these photos and exclaimed that she used to live very close to this Shrine.

Where they prayed.

A simple google search of Naminoue-gu Shrine revealed that it is a Shinto (the indigenous religion of Japan) Shrine also known as "Above the Waves Shrine." It has been destroyed and rebuilt several times, since the 1300's! Its most recent addition is a smaller shrine located on the grounds, which was built in 1993. People have used the Shrine for various purposes over the many years, but it was mainly used as a place to pray for safe journeys in the seas (when trade between the Asian countries increased) and to house Shinto objects of worship. Naminoue-gu Shrine is on the list of most popular Shrines around the world…Who would have thought we just happened upon this piece of history while driving around!

We left the main Shrine area and found these beautiful steps and pathways. It was so serene here; the only other person we saw was an old Okinawan man sitting on a bench and enjoying the ocean view. I love this photo - the pathway of stone steps that look like they lead to Heaven.

There were smaller statues and areas for praying all around the main Shrine. This one is a carving of a woman holding a baby.

Again, my lack of knowledge of Okinawan culture lets me down. I wish I knew what this statue was; there were many steps leading up to it and it sat in the center of several pathway directions.

After walking around the Shrine for a few hours, we decided to look for a place to eat lunch. We left the parking lot, with the parking machine again speaking Japanese as we pulled away. We happened upon a restaurant that looked good, because it had a window display of food. Haha. You can tell when you are in an area that not many Americans venture when the older Okinawan people stop to stare at you. It's kind of disconcerting because you are not sure if they are angry with American military or if they are just curious. Uh well, continue forward.

The restaurant - I later asked the local that spoke good English and she said it's called Akebono Ramen.

The food window - sorry the pic is not good.

This is the inside of the restaurant. They did not speak ANY English and their menu is written in Kanji!  The menu is displayed all over the walls and even from the ceiling. Great, how do we order…? You get creative. We stood up, walked the server outside to the food display window, and pointed to something that looked good. Haha! Success. Forget you, language barrier!

Our food! I ordered Yakisoba (sautéed noodles) and Mike ordered the fried chicken. They were both delicious!

More of the menu (and me drinking soup). I wish we could read Kanji, because there are TONS of food options. We were limited by the outdoor food window display. All of the food that people at other tables had ordered was not in the window display. Next time, I think I'll just point to one of the banners behind me, or point to someone's food at another table! Haha!