We took a trip from Saga to Okinawa, and spent 5 days swimming, hiking, snorkeling, meeting friends, cooking, eating, and drinking.
We arrived during Obon, a festival that celebrates the annual return of the spirits of deceased relatives, which is held earlier on mainland Japan, so we got to see a lot of festivals, dancing, and live music.
The weather was great the whole time we were there, so we got to do pretty much EVERYTHING that was on our list.
In the video you can see Hiji Ootaki, a gorgeous waterfall, some DOUBLE RAINBOW action, sugar cane fields, mangroves, and tons of incredible beaches, including Moon Beach.
We also met former Jvlogger and Okinawa photographer Anya, who took some fantastic pictures for us, and introduced us to her wonderful family. Anya's work is definitely worth checking out, so please do so here:
http://anyaeblog.com/
We went snorkeling at Maeda-misaki, which is, apparently, a very popular spot for it.
Once the food and drink section starts, check out pictures of Habu-shu, liquor made with a very poisonous Okinawan snake inside. Nihede Beer, a cleverly named local brew ("Nihede BIRU" means "Thank You" in Okinawa-ben), Orion, made in Okinawa, Goya drink, Shikuasa juice, Abura-miso onigiri, Umi-budo (ocean grapes), a fish called Gurukun, Soki Soba, dragonfruit, and sata-andagi, the Okinawan donut.
We cooked Goya Champloo
(vid linked here)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLQgh3PxFWg
as well as Spam Egg and Cheese with Toast for breakfast, Shrimp with Spicy Scallop Sauce, and Beef Bulgogi Donburi.
The Beef Bulgogi recipe is available on my blog here:
http://ameblo.jp/bobbyjudo/entry-10649316280.html
Because of the long history of American military presence on Okinawa, there are a lot of American style restaurants and stores there. The burgers and Mexican food were fantastic.
In the stores, you can see many kinds of Shisa, which are decorative lions that Okinawans place on their homes and buildings to ward off bad stuff. We bought some small ones for our place.
And Ryuukyuu-mura is where you can see what Okinawa was like way back before it became part of Japan.
I highly recommend ALL of these places. Go check em out if you get the chance.
