Winter Vacation in Okinawa

My winter vacation started out from the evening of Christmas day.  After spending the day at work, I headed out to catch a bus to go to Osaka where I was going to stay the night before catching my plane the next morning.  The bus ride was very quiet as there was maybe only 3 or so other people riding it, but after arriving in Osaka, there were people EVERYWHERE!! Who knew so many people would be out and about on Christmas night?!

On the morning of Boxing Day, I caught my flight to Naha, Okinawa.  I flew via PeachAir, as it is relatively inexpensive, however I was very surprised by a couple things -- such as they didn't check my id at all and they didn't start boarding people until the time the flight was supposed to be leaving -- so as a result, we ended up arriving slightly later than anticipated.  After arriving, I got myself to my hotel, and then tried to get myself orientated a bit about where exactly I was and what things were around -- you know, all those usual things that you end up doing when you go to a new place. Although I have to say, somehow Naha wasn't quite what I was expecting (although I can't really say what exactly I was expecting)

Beach in Naha a relatively short walk from my hotel

The next day, I met up with Narumi, who I work together with and was coincidentally also in Okinawa some of the same days I was.  After meeting up, we took a stroll down Kokusai-dori, a main shopping/eating area in Naha.  While we were there, we ate some Okinawan doughnuts and Narumi challenged me to try drinking Goya juice (Goya is a Japanese bitter melon).  It wasn't so bad, until after you stopped drinking!  We ended up doing it together!  The two of us also got ambushed by a lady trying to convince people to buy things from the shop that she works at.  She had a LOT to say!  I was kind of amused because she was talking so quickly and really trying to be convincing, and so every so often, she'd lightly smack me with the papers she was holding and tell me not to laugh.  She also told Narumi to talk to me about what she was saying -- in "Canada-go" -- which would mean Canada language.  That definitely got a laugh out of us.  But it seemed like she honestly didn't know that Canadians speak English, not our own unique language.

After spending some time in Kokusai-dori, we decided to go and check out Shuri-jo (Shuri castle).  Once we got out of the station, we were ambushed yet again!  This time by a man working for a taxi company, and he was telling us about a nice beach where we could go on a glass bottom boat, and then the driver would bring us back to Shuri-jo afterwards.  Narumi wanted to go, and so I figured, why not? It's not like I would've done it on my own, so it was nice to do it together with someone.  The ride out there was quite nice -- we went through this rural area where they were growing all kinds of sugarcane and we also passed by some banana groves as well.  Our driver was quite talkative and told us many things about the area and what foods are good to eat in Okinawa -- things like that.  When we arrived at the beach, it was indeed beautiful! 

We got our tickets to go on the boat and took a nice ride to a few different locations where we saw many colorful and different fish.  I have to say, it was also one of the nicest glass bottom boats that I've been on as they had both sides of the glass SUPER clean so it was really easy to see into the water (often times the outside is scummy making it difficult to see...but not this time!) 

Afterwards we took a few pictures of the beach and then our driver took us to a local restaurant that served the Okinawan soba that Narumi wanted to try.  It was good! 

After that, our driver took us back to Shuri-jo, and we wandered around through there for a while.  After going through the castle, it was already starting to get dark and Narumi's boyfriend had finished work for the day, so we headed back to where we started so she could meet up with her boyfriend, and I could head back to my hotel for the night.  All in all, it was a really fun day, and so nice to spend time together with someone else too!!

Shuri-jo

The next day, I hopped onto a ferry and went to Zamami Island -- which had a really nice beach, but I didn't get to spend so much time there because the ferry was about 2 hours to get there, and then I had about 2 hours for the beach and then had to get back on the last ferry to go back.  That small amount of time was a little disappointing, but because it was actually raining on either side of my time on the beach, I'd say it actually worked out not too bad.

View from the ferry

The beach on Zamami Island where I hung out

Following that, I wanted to take a little bus tour to go out to an aquarium, the pineapple park and a couple of pretty viewpoints, but unfortunately, there was no space.  Well, no problem, I'd just do it on my own instead.  Except....I didn't realize quite how far away it was.  It took about 3 hours just to get to the bus terminal, and then the local bus that was supposed to take me to the next place I wanted to go was very rare and wouldn't show up for another hour after I arrived.  So, I opted to walk 30 minutes out to the pineapple park on my own.  At the pineapple park, you get to ride in these pineapple cars (which are fully automated) and have commentary as you go through the area.  It was interesting, but I really wanted to get out and walk through on my own and have a closer look at some of the plants.  No such luck though. 

Pineapples, pineapples, everywhere

The pineapple car

After that quick little tour, you get to go through a shell museum, which had thousands of different shells inside, big and small, and every color and shape you could think of.  That led into the pineapple product shop where you got to sample all kinds of yummy things!! Pineapple wines, juices, cookies, chocolates, pineapple itself, cakes and more!  I have to say, that part was pretty awesome! I may have even picked up a few products to take back with me!

After the pineapple park I thought about going out to some of the other areas that would've been hit on the bus tour, but because they were at least another 30 minutes away (by bus, not guaranteeing the bus would be there when I was too) and I'd have to walk back to the bus terminal as well, I decided I'd probably be better off to just have enjoyed what I did, so I made a little late afternoon snack stop at a fruit café and then headed back to Naha, arriving mid-evening.

The next day, which was my final full day in Okinawa, had absolutely beautiful weather, so I decided I'd head out for a day to spend on the beach.  I went back to Zamami island, but this time I was smarter about it -- I took the high speed boat, which not only took half the time of the normal ferry, but also it left earlier in the morning and later in the afternoon, giving me much more time out there.  Not to mention, it was a much more fun ride -- more up and down jumps rather than the boring straight motion of the ferry.  So, that day when I arrived, I took a little hike out to the viewpoint on the island, and then spent the rest of my time relaxing on the beach.  That evening, after getting back to Okinawa, I took another stroll down Kokusai-dori, checking out all of the pretty things in the various silver shops along the way.

View from Zamami Island

Pretty view from the boat

Sunset at Naha ferry terminal

The day that I was leaving Okinawa, had (of course) the nicest weather since I'd been there.  Since I didn't leave til after lunch, I took a quick little trip to a Chinese garden that was kind of near my hotel (and had free admission!) and spent some time strolling around in there.  I followed that up with a quick trip into a silver shop to buy a pretty little ring that I'd had my eye on.  Then it was back to Osaka (when I got there it felt really cold! It was windy and a little rainy, so I cancelled my plans to try out the non-ice skating rink and just headed into Kobe after eating supper).

New Year's morning was spent wandering around in Kobe and taking a nice stroll down "Flower Road" which amazingly had all kinds of pretty annual type flowers growing! I had to check to make sure that it was in fact January! 

And that, was my winter vacation this year.

For more pictures from this vacation, click here.

Update Time!

Since I've been really quiet on the blog front recently other than that post on Kobe, I thought I should do a bit of an update about what I've been up to the past couple months for those curious souls wondering if I've been erased or not.

Right, well when did this moratorium start? September right?  Well, hmm let me see...September the weather was still wonderfully warm, so of course I spent many weekends at the beach.

There was also the much anticipated live in Takamatsu from ヨシダヒロキ, where I had an AMAZINGLY AWESOME time!!! It was a little difficult for me to find the live house, but after asking a few clueless citizens, I finally found one who knew where it was at!  When I went in, I think the thing that struck me most was how small it was.  There were maybe a dozen chairs, and they were all filled up (with me too) but I think that made it even better.  Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  That night I also bought his new CD, and he signed it for me.  Possibly the best evening in September?!

I also did a workshop through the international center here in Takamatsu where a small group of foreigners made wasanbon together (a Japanese sweet) and then we also went and made some origami as well.  Getting my culture in!



The wasanbon I made

Many kinds of origami!

Also, in the evenings throughout August and September, the night was always filled with the sounds of drums from the shishimai (Japanese lion dance) practice that was going on in the shrine behind my apartment.  We were also lucky enough to have some shishimai dancers (including one of my students!) come to our school one morning as well.  I finally got to see what all the noise was about!

Moving on to October...at the beginning of the month, my weekends were still spent enjoying the lovely weather at the beach.  At school we had our sports festival, which we'd been practicing for since September.  My duties included being MC along with the other native teachers, leading my rainbow class in marching, leading them in dancing and helping out with parent-student games.  It was really busy, but definitely fun.  The weekend of the sports festival was the weekend I went to Kobe (see the previous blog post or click here).

After visiting Kobe, I spent the next weekend hiking up Yashima, a mountain here in Takamatsu.  While I was up there, I met this pair who was dressed up in some interesting old traditional clothes, and they taught me about kawaranage, which are these little clay discs that you try to throw through hoops that they have set up -- if you get it through, whatever wish or dream you were thinking about is supposed to come true.  They gave me one to try.  I missed.



Views from the top of Yashima

My pictures from Yashima are included in this album of random photos from around Takamatsu.

The weekend following my trip to Yashima I spent my Sunday volunteering at a Halloween parade/party in Marugame-machi, with my fellow teachers.  Basically we had to dress up, get our students who had registered set up with their packages, give out treats to kids, help out in a haunted house, participate in a parade, and then clean up the whole haunted house area.  It went all day long.

Me and one of our teachers at the Marugame-machi Halloween party

 Following that, it was of course actually Halloween, which was a rather busy day for me.  In the morning, I got to see all of our students in their adorable costumes, and we of course took class photos.  Then there was the haunted house for our older students.  Myself and another native teacher took turns leading small groups of students through it.  Some of the groups were only slightly scared and worried about it although they all required a little bit of pushing to get through the rooms with the 'monsters', but I also had one group who started crying and hanging on to me before we even started!  That particular group was actually probably the most fun because they were so scared.  When we went through and the 'monsters' came out some of literally jumped on my and started climbing up me to try to get away.  Who would've thought it would be so much fun to scare little kids? 
That was followed by clean-up and then I had to rush off as I was heading out to Tokyo to meet my parents who were going to be visiting Japan for a few weeks.

The weather in Tokyo that weekend wasn't so great -- it rained the entire time, which was kind of disappointing, however, I was able to take my parents to Asakusa on Saturday, where they went on a rickshaw ride, visited the Kaminarimon temple, and then we went over to SkyTree town (we didn't go up because it was so cloudy, we wouldn't have been able to see anything anyway).  While we were wandering around in that area, we came across a pair of jugglers who were doing a live performance and stopped to watch that for a while -- it was funny!

Sunday, I took them out to Mt. Mitake (one of my favorite mountains to hike!)  Again the weather wasn't so pleasant, but at least it was only foggy not actually raining.  Regardless of the weather, it was still absolutely beautiful out there!

The river outside of Mitake station -- so pretty!

Shrine at the top of Mt Mitake

    

Cute bench end

Such bright red leaves!

The fog made for some cool pictures



At the rock garden section of the hike



Yes, I took this picture...yes, this is real

To see some more pictures from Mt. Mitake, click here.

That weekend was also conveniently a 3-day weekend, so I was able to take the Monday to go back to Takamatsu, (although it took longer than anticipated as many of the buses from Osaka were fully booked and I had to wait for a later bus).  Not to worry though, that just meant I had time to play in Osaka and listen to a couple street lives that were happening that evening.

The next weekend, I met up with my parents in Osaka.  On Saturday, I took them on a whirlwind tour of Nara, and finished the day up with watching  ヨシダヒロキ do a street live at Grand Front.  (Yes, I may love listening to his music too much!)  Mom and Dad didn't stay for the whole thing, as they were cold and had had a long day, but I did, and as usual, had a nice little chat with him afterwards.

At Nara Park

Can't go to Nara without taking pictures of the deer!

Pretty colors in a garden

ヨシダヒロキ street live

 That Sunday, the weather was again disappointingly rainy, but we went to the Umeda Sky Building, which I think they found interesting (even if they didn't really like the height of it!)

The following weekend, my parents came to Takamatsu for the final leg of their trip.  We visited Ritsurin garden, and my apartment on the Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday, I took them hiking up Yashima and we visited Sunport afterwards.  On the Monday afternoon, they came to my school and met some of my students.

Ritsurin

Sunset view at Takamatsu Sunport

Later that week, I ended up getting myself ridiculously ill, and had to take a day off of work as a result.  But let's not talk about that.  Instead let's talk about my next adventure -- which was a trip out to Shodoshima, an island about an hour away by ferry.  I went to go see some fall leaves, as I hadn't had much of a chance to do so yet being busy with other things.  It was absolutely lovely, although I didn't stay out there long as I still wasn't feeling 100% yet.  I ended that particular day by getting a haircut (first time in Japan!), which surprisingly enough made me feel a lot better.

View on Shodoshima

Pretty maple leaves!

Amazing colors on Shodoshima!

If you are interested in seeing more photos from my adventures in November, click here.

And now, onto December.  After the past extremely busy months, I've been trying to relax a bit more and not do so many things.  Not to mention, it's rather busy at school at the moment as we're ramping up for our Christmas performance day (I'm kind of looking after both Rainbow and Sun classes' plays and teaching Rainbow class their dance, and everyone has to practice singing "Let it go"), plus there are report cards to deal with as well.

The first Sunday in December, was absolutely BRILLIANT!! (any guesses about what went on?) That's right -- ヨシダヒロキ came back to Takamatsu to do another live, just as he told me he was going to!!!  I can't even describe how much fun I have at his lives.  It's just one of my favorite things to do!  Not to mention, he's incredibly sweet -- the day before the live, he sent me an e-mail reminding me he was coming to Takamatsu and checking if I was coming.  I think part of the reason why I enjoy his lives so much is not only because of his music, but because he's just a really nice person too, and is always ready and willing to talk to the people who were listening to him afterwards.

And that brings us up to this weekend -- nothing too exciting happened, I went out and found the movie theatre in Takamatsu and watched the final part of the Hobbit, which I enjoyed as well.

Next weekend it's work on Saturday to prepare for the Christmas performance which is on the 23rd.  Christmas Day I'll be working and then I'll be heading out for my winter vacation -- going to Okinawa!  (Which is only slightly ironic as I've been saying how much I want to go skiing...)

Update complete!

Livin' it up: Kobe style

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, I really enjoyed my time in Kobe. Going out there was a gamble (since there was the looming threat of the arrival of a super typhoon), but it certainly paid off as I thouroughly enjoyed my time there.

When I first arrived, my first stop was the Shin-Kobe ropeway which took me up to the Nunobiki Herb Garden, which was quite pretty and had many different kinds of flowers (and of course, herbs) to see. Many people were even sampling some of the different herbs that they had growing there.

At the top of the ropeway -- cafes, shops, etc.

 



View of Kobe

 Following that, I decided to head back down to Shin-Kobe, stopping at the dual Nunobiki waterfalls along the way.

The Nunobiki Waterfalls

I could have visited the European village they have there, (apparently it has many different styles of European houses),but I wasn't so interested in doing that, so...

Instead, I headed back into the more central area of Kobe and wandered my way down to Chinatown. At that point it was already getting dark, but Chinatown in Kobe is really vibrant- it has tons of lanterns along the streets and many different vendors out on the street selling all different kinds of food, and there are people everywhere: sitting down, hanging with friends and wandering around. It's a pretty cool place.

                               

Next, I made my way down to the harbour area since I was considering going up into Kobe Tower.

Kobe Tower

But instead, on my way there, I could hear some really loud music coming from the other side of the road, so I decided to check that out instead.  Turns out that there was a big Indian festival going on! The music had been coming from the stage where there were many belly dancing performances going on! I stopped and watched for a while, and then wandered around to check out the various food stalls and shopping stalls that were set up, eventually circling back to the stage to watch more of the dancing. Pretty cool event to run into!

This was when the audience started dancing along with the people on the stage

If this video doesn't work, click here to watch.

But that wasn't the end of my night! Oh no, not the end at all! As I was walking back towards my hotel through a fancy kind of shopping area, I came across a small crowd of people who were clapping for an event that had just finished. Disappointing, right? Nope, not at all, because they announced that they would start again in about 15 minutes, and being curious, I stuck around and waited it out (while I was waiting a slightly drunk man wandered by a couple times telling everyone how cool and interesting this event was :P). Anyway, it was definitely worth the wait, as it was indeed a pretty cool event. It was what I'll call a live street painting event. So, the guy started out with two large black canvases/walls and started adding one color at a time to each of them. When he was finished he had two scenes of Kobe. One of the harbor area, and the other of downtown Kobe of the streets near where we were.  It was awesome!

The painting of Kobe's harbor area

Scene of downtown Kobe

If this video doesn't work, click here to watch.

My night didn't even end there! I made one more stop and the Kobe Government Building to go up and take a look at the night scenery of Kobe. It was also quite nice although difficult to take pictures of because of the reflection on the glass from the lights inside. One really cool thing though was that on the mountains they had some lights set up in different shapes, but because it was dark you couldn't see the mountains, just the lights, so it looked like they were floating in the middle of the air!


The next day, I headed out to Harborland, as I wanted to see the monument to the 1994 earthquake that they have there (there's also a section of the port that they left as the earthquake made it).

 

Anyway down at the harbor I also found a big event -- Radio Kansai was holding a music festival! (And coincidentally as I was reading through the list of artists performing, my favourite, ヨシダ ヒロキ was also going to be there, although not until later in the day). So, since it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, I hung out there for most of the day wandering between the different stages they had set up, listening and watching different performances, going through the food stalls and also taking a stroll through the surrounding shopping areas when there were no artists that interested me.
An excellent way to spend a day, if I don't say so myself!

Kobe's pretty Harborland



One of the groups performing at the music festival

A pretty street in the shopping area of Harborland

Yes, there's a ferris wheel here too

 

  

I took the bus back to Takamatsu that evening and got back to the wind and rain that was the typhoon just starting to hit us. The next day (Monday) which was also a holiday had probably the worst of the typhoon with very strong winds and rain all day long.  But overall, it was an amazing weekend!

To see more of my photos from Kobe, click here.