Sakura Season 2014

Long before this year's cherry blossoms were to bloom, I'd been aware that my planned Okinawa trip would likely coincide with the sakura season in Aomori. I felt a little disappointed by this, but hoped to at least catch a few days of it upon my return. Either way, I thought I would still have to miss the full bloom (manekai, 満開) this year. My prime destination was Hirosaki Castle, one of the most beautiful and famous hanami (cherry blossom viewing) spots in Japan. So to give myself the best chance for a good sakura viewing, I skipped Aomori City on my return from Okinawa and rode a bus directly to Hirosaki.

Hirosaki Castle Park

Hirosaki Castle is famous for it's cherry blossoms

I arrived early, while the skies were still dark and the sun just peeking above the horizon. I was tired and groggy, and totted a heavy bag full of dirty clothes and omiyage (obligatory gifts for my bosses and coworkers). The air was misty and as I walked towards the castle grounds the clouds started to trickle down rain too. I keep walking and soon I entered the park. I was thrilled to see the sakura still looking full and beautiful; it was only the rainy, dark skies that wouldn’t let me enjoy it completely. But as it happens sometimes in Aomori the weather rapidly changed and the clouds dissipated to reveal bright blue skies! So feeling gracious and high-spirited, I strolled around and happily snapped some nice pictures, then sat down and enjoyed the atmosphere for awhile. After I had enjoyed a wonderful day there, I finally returned to Aomori.

It was nice and quiet in the morning, very few people

Fallen sakura pedals float beautifully in the castle moat 

Gappo Park, Aomori City

Walking paths are present throughout Gappo Park

In addition to Hirosaki, I also had a pretty good chance to see cherry blossoms a few days later right in Aomori City as well. One of the best places to see it is at Gappo Park, on the east side of the city. There are plenty of sakura trees there, but it’s also one of my favorite places in Aomori in general with a nice beach, walking paths, and great spots for barbecues with friends.

Cherry blossoms blowing in a gentle breeze 

Aomori Spring Festival

Aomori Spring Festival in front of ASPAM (tourism building)

Just as the hanami (cherry blossom viewing) season finishes up, Aomori City shifts from its relaxed spring mode into a more bit more of a upbeat, energetic spring feeling. By pure chance, I came across the Aomori Spring Festival event this year and I’m glad I did because it was quite a lot of fun to see. I can’t say what activities may or may not have been held earlier in the day, but when I arrived in the early evening, I saw many coordinated dance routines by yokasoi groups, belly dancers, and others.

Girl holding a sign with matsuri (祭, "festival") written on it

Yosakoi (よさこい) is growing in popularity over the years

With the end of the cherry blossom season and spring festivals commencing, Aomori comes increasingly closer to it's famous summer Nebuta festivals. Now a special energy begins to bloom in the region. People here know, summer is coming!

Okinawa Adventure: Part 2

I'm going to back-date this post, but in reality it's been three months since my last update. During these few months, a lot has happened and I'm really eager to catch up here. I've felt uncomfortable neglecting my blog for so long but I had many priorities to focus on. In particular, as I finished up my contract in Aomori City I had to quickly find a new job and take care of everything that comes with it. The entire process was intense and stressful, but eventually I secured a good job in Tokyo, found a nice place to live, updated my working visa, and took care of a whole slew of other matters. I will surely do a writeup on this experience later when I eventually get my blog up to date.

Now in regards to this specific post, I'm going to finally finish my Okinawa writeup (part 2). In Part 1 I talked about the first few days of my trip to Okinawa in which I went to the famous Churaumi Aquarium and had a beach day at the tiny Minna Jima island. Now, I'll detail the next few days of my trip including my experience in Naha City, scuba diving, and Shuri Castle.

Naha City 

After the beach day we had to grab a bus back to Naha City, which would be our base for the second half of our trip. Traffic was terrible, and we didn't arrive until a bit late into the evening. Still, we wanted to check out the main street, Kokusai-dōri, and get something to eat before settling in.

Kokusai Street is a lively strip of shops, restaurants, and bars

Scuba Diving

The next day Patrick and I did a full-day scuba trip with a company called Dive Shop Blue Field. Since neither of us were certified, we elected to a beginner's course called "discover scuba." Previously I had done scuba diving, but it was Pat's very first time. I was really happy with the company, as they took care of everything for us, including pick-up from our hotel and drop-off at the end of the day. We left early in the morning and returned by evening, and the entire thing cost us around 16,000 yen ($160).

On Blue Field's boat going to our first dive spot

It took a while to get the company's dive shop, but once there the boat was quickly loaded up with all gear and we were on our way. There were about a dozen other people with us on the boat, but Pat and I were the only foreigners so a bilingual scuba instructor stayed with us for the whole day. Initially, we had planned to go around the Kerama Islands, a really beautiful area for scuba diving, we heard. Unfortunately, bad weather prevented us from going there and instead we explored three different spots around the main island.

Scuba Diving near Zanpa-zaki

Both Pat and I really enjoyed our scuba experience. The first dive went well. Despite the cloudy day and relatively few fish swimming around, it was good to get in the water and get used to doing scuba again after so many years. Pat had no problems during his first dive ever, but the instructor stayed very close to him the whole time while giving me a little more freedom. The only bad luck I had was during the safety briefing after we first jumped in--I accidentally swallowed a mouthful of seawater which later made me feel nauseous. As a result, when we got to the second dive spot I elected to chill out on boat for a while while Pat and the instructor just did some snorkeling. Quickly, it was lunch time so we all headed back to the dive shop to eat. An hour later, we jumped back on the boat and went to the third dive spot. We were thrilled to see the boat approaching Zanpa Coast, because it's one of the places we wanted to see on our trip but thought there would be no time during the trip to do so. Lucky us! By this time I felt fine to dive again, so we all hopped in the water and swam down to the coral and fish. There were many interesting things to see down there, lots of valleys, crevices, neat rock formations, and of course, colorful fish of all shapes and sizes.

After finishing the dive, we showered and changed clothes on the boat, and then returned once again to the dive shop. From there, the staff drove us back to the hotel and our scuba diving day had come to an end. We were exhausted, yet we made sure to eat a full slate of local Okinawan food (if I have time, I will update this aspect later with details!)

Streets of Naha City

Shuri Castle

The following day we took a short train ride to Shuri Castle (Shuri-jō, 首里城). The weather was lousy, grey and rainy. It wasn't a big deal for us though, and there was much to see inside the castle anyway.

Shuri Castle, Okinawa

The castle was built in the 14th century and was the palace of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, which ruled the area of islands called the Ryukyu's from the 14th to 19th century. The area consists of a number of Japanese islands spreading from Kyushu to Taiwan, with Okinawa being the largest. For over 400 years, it was the central point for trade, politics, and culture in the region. In the late 1800's, Japan seized the Ryūkyū Kingdom and took control of the castle. The Japanese military used the site for its headquarters for some time during World War II, then later established the University of the Ryūkyūs in its place for several decades. In the 1990s the main building of the castle and the Shureimon Gate we reconstructed and today it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Here are a few pictures of the castle and surrounding area. One of the really interesting aspects of the Shuri Castle is the Chinese influences that can be seen.

The Throne Room

Just outside the main castle building

Shureimon Gate - and another thumbs up for Okinawa!

Outside the Castle Grounds

Besides the castle and the castle grounds, Pat and I walked around for awhile and enjoyed the surroundings.

At a pond near the castle

Came across this cute scene in a tunnel near the pond

Okinawan statues called Shisa can be found everywhere

Okinawa is also full of many beautiful flowers, even tiny ones like this

After our day at Shuri Castle and exploring the area, our Okinawa trip had just about come to a close. We enjoyed many great places and fun activities, and I hope to go back again someday (hopefully when the weather is better, too).

Okinawa Adventure: Part 1

Updating my blog has really been on the back of my mind for several weeks now so I'm relieved to finally get back to it! Over the past month, life has been pretty hectic. I have all sorts of stuff I could write about but the main things that have been distracting me from writing posts are my job hunt, and to a lesser extent studying Japanese. Since I'll be finishing my contract with JET in late July, it's crunch time for figuring out where I'm going next. That might end up being the Kanto region of Japan, but I can't say anything for sure yet. Nevertheless, I have a lot to write about here and first will be about my recent trip to Okinawa, Japan.

Mensōre - Welcome to Okinawa

Life as a JET participant has some serious advantages, including generous vacation time. So as the spring of my last year approached, I knew I wanted to take advantage of it and travel somewhere awesome, but had to do so on a budget. During the same time last year, I went to South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines and seriously loved every moment. Unfortunately, international travel can be a little expensive. Thus, I opted to stay in Japan this year but still go somewhere I've always wanted to go. Welcome to Okinawa!

Arriving at Naha Airport, "Welcome to Okinawa" in the local dialect

Along with my friend Patrick, we managed to get all round trip travel costs from Aomori to Okinawa for about $240. For accommodations, we stayed a variety of places to spread those costs out to about $160 for 5 nights (each). Not bad, right?

We arrived in Naha City, Okinawa, on an awfully dreary, rainy evening. Patrick's nerves were tested during the bumpy landing, but we made it just the same and the weather didn't matter at that point anyway. Yet after taking a 9-hour night bus from Aomori to Tokyo, and then flying to Naha City through turbulent skies, we had to take another long 2-hour bus ride to Motobu in the north. We planned it this way so we could start the next day with ease instead of wasting time traveling in the morning.

Churaumi Aquarium and Ocean Expo Park

A must-see destination in Okinawa is Churaumi Aquarium (沖縄美ら海水族館), part of the Ocean Expo Park located in Motobu. We had stayed the night the nearest hotel in the area so getting there was nice and convenient in the morning. I woke up before Pat and briefly explored a Emerald Beach, part of the Ocean Park grounds. A bit later we met up and strolled over to the aquarium shortly after it opened.

Standing outside of Churaumi Aquarium

Upon entering the aquarium, I was immediately impressed by the huge variation of sizes, colors, and shapes of sea life presented. It boasts a huge array of tropical fish, sharks, deep sea life, and coral. For me, it was the first time to see many of the fish and sea creatures present so I really enjoyed watching them.

The main attraction at the aquarium is called the Kuroshio Sea, an enormous tank featuring large whale sharks, manta rays, and other large fish. It's one of the only aquariums in the world capable of holding whale sharks in captivity, and the incredibly large glass panel that let's visitors get such spectacular views is also one-of-a-kind. The size of the tank is a staggering 35 meters (115 ft) long, 27 meters (89 ft) wide and 10 meters (33 ft) deep. Also, it holds 7,500 cubic meters (nearly 2 million gallons) of water.

The Kuroshio Sea tank is stunningly beautiful

We spent a lot of time at the aquarium. The layout and viewing spaces around the main tank are very well thought-out; there's even has a a nice seating area where you can relax and watch all the fish and whale sharks for awhile. One of my personal favorite things we did there was eat lunch at a cafe right next to the tank.

After the aquarium, we went back to Emerald Beach and have a fun time despite the cloudy weather. Although there were very few people there, we did meet a group of Taiwanese university students and played a couple games of volleyball with them.

As evening came, we checked into the next hotel and then walked to a restaurant nearby. We got our first taste of Okinawan food (kind of); I ate a taco rice dish and Patrick had Okinawa soba (Japanese noodles). It was good, but truthfully we saved our Okinawan food experiences for the second half of our trip when we were in Naha City, so I'll come back to that later.

The hotel was actually a condominium building that apparently was later turned into the hotel it is now. As such, it was by far my favorite accommodation during the trip. It was spacious and clean; it had a full kitchen, laundry, internet; and a nice balcony with table, chairs, and amazing view of the sea. Since we had a kitchen, we bought eggs, bread, and some other breakfast stuff for the next day.

The simplest things are often the most memorable 

I woke up early the next morning just as the sun was coming up. I excitedly jumped out of bed and went out to the balcony while Patrick was still snoozing (I learned that he's not exactly a 'morning person'). Eventually he also woke up and together we ate a delicious home-cooked breakfast while enjoying great views of the sea.

Minna Jima Island

After a lovely morning, we departed the hotel and made our way to Toguchi Port, several kilometers away. From there we would take a ferry to a small island called Minna Jima. After two days of ugly weather, it was now a beautiful Saturday and I was worried that the seldom-departing ferry would be booked full unless we got there early. Patrick was less concerned and when we arrived an hour early, he proved to be right. We were the first people there and it clearly was not a busy day. But as the common expression goes, "better safe than sorry!"

The ferry is actually a very fast boat

We got on the ferry with maybe two dozen more other people and a quick 20 minutes later we arrived at the tiny island. I had read many glowing reviews from previous travelers and was grateful to have wonderful weather on our planned beach day.

I'm not exaggerating when I say the island is tiny. You could easily walk around the perimeter if the beach wasn't blocked by sharp coral in a few places. Surprisingly it is inhabited--there's even a small elementary/junior high school--but on our visit is seemed completely deserted. We walked along a main path that went into the center of the island and passed by some weather-beaten houses and food stands. We walked by an old lady doing some gardening and then to the school. It was very quiet and nothing was going on, so we retreated back to the beach. But the beach was indeed our main reason for going anyway, so the lack of anything particularly interesting wasn't such a big deal to me.

We spent most of our time strolling around, sitting on the beach, going into the water, and collecting seashells and pretty stones. The sun was intense, but the temperature was moderate and the winds were fairly strong. So although it wasn't hot enough to really swim in the water too much, it was certainly hot enough to spend the day with our shirts off. Why do I mention this somewhat obvious point? Well, earlier I had attempted to adequately put sunscreen on myself. Attempted, but failed. At the end of the day my back was like a splotchy abstract canvas of burnt-red skin and white hand prints. Yeah, I was too stubborn to ask my friend to put sunscreen on my back and I paid for it. In his case, he just didn't bother trying to do his back so at least his sunburn was uniform.

One of the amazing things about the sea around Okinawa is just how green it is in many areas. This is due to accumulation of algae particles in the water near coral reefs and creates some stunning views.

Near the boat dock on Minna Jima were a few rental stands where visitors could rent out beach stuff like parasols, snorkeling gear, etc. There were also jet skis available for rent but they we felt like prices were unreasonable and from what we saw of other visitors, it looked like they were jet ski rides, as in you could sit in the back while one of the workers drove it around (really!?). So to close out our day on the island we walked back onto the main path and found a small shack and nice old lady that cooked a late lunch for us. We showered at the public facilities and got back on the last ferry leaving at four o'clock (if you plan to go here, note that ferry times change depending on the season).

Once back on the main island, we hopped on a bus bound for Naha City, where we would spend stay for the following three nights. In part two of this writeup, I'll talk about our scuba diving trip, Shuri Castle, Okinawan food, and the rest of our adventure.