Naha, Okinawa Japan

Naha is the capitol city of Okinawa, located on the southern west coast of the island and boasting a population of just over three-hundred thousand. The colorful figures above are the modern comical versions of Shisa - guardians of the city. Japanese mythology states that the Shisa come in a male / female pair. The female has her mouth closed to keep in good spirits, while the male has his mouth open to ward off the bad spirits. Shisa were everywhere on the island, usually placed on rooftops or in front of houses.

Naha city was named after a large mushroom-shaped stone (Naba) found within its borders. The stone eventually wore away and became buried and the cities pronunciation slowly changed to Naha. Very interesting. Here's a view of all three hundred thousand people's homes.

In the heart of the city lies Kokusai street. The street is about a mile long with a multitude of shops, bars, and restaurants spanning either side.

Typical Kokusai Street shop complete with Buzz Lightyear and T-rex

The street is closed off to commercial traffic on Sunday afternoons and performances like this are common up and down the street.

If you look closely you'll notice these bottles are filled with the local poisonous snake - the Habu Pit Viper. Approximately every 2 out of 1000 people are bitten by this snake annually. What better way to put it to use than stick it in a bottle of alcohol and take shots? The venom of the snake inhibits the liver from processing alcohol for a short time...meaning you'll get completely drunk all of a sudden. The funny thing about this drink, "Habu Sake", is that none of the locals drink it. It also costs about six hundred dollars for a large bottle.

This is the most expensive Korean BBQ restaurant I have ever eaten at.

A friendly bartender working at a bar along the street. Her teeth are not the best.

This is the famous Heiwa-dori Shopping Arcade. This covered tunnel eventually branches off in three or four directions and finding a way out becomes a challenge. This shop owner stares in dismay as a man walks into a cart.

Somewhere inside the Shopping maze is the Makishi Public Market with its array of animal parts strewn about. Similar to the Itoman City Fish Market, this market also has ridiculously cheap Sashimi for sale.

Away from the craziness of downtown, I took a tour of the secret Japanese underground headquarters used during World War II. The temperature in these tunnels was a welcome change from the horribleness outside.

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This was the most interesting room of the entire tour.

This is the famous Shuri Castle that served as the palace for the Ryukyu Kingdom centuries ago. According to records, the castle burned down several times throughout its history. The entire castle was completely destroyed again during World War II and finally rebuilt in 1992 based on photographs and drawings.

The Seiden, or Main Hall of the Castle

And lastly, I also visited what was referred to as "The New Jersey of Japanese Gardens". This is the backyard of a rich person's home which is now a museum.

Itoman City, Okinawa Japan

Itoman City is located in the southernmost section of Okinawa approximately twenty-five miles from Kadena Air Base. Time spent here involved a visit to the Peace Park with it's suicide cliffs, a fish market, Bibi Beach, the Gushikawa Castle Ruins, and local deserted beaches.

This is the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum. It houses ample amounts of World War II artifacts and historical recounts, most of which are written in Japanese. Unexploded bombs are on display below the see-through floorboards.

Down the hill from the museum are hundreds of these stone tablets most likely listing the names of those who died during the war. The multiple rows are arranged in a semi-circle around this:

This is the Cornerstone of Peace - a tribute to the dead.

Wandering around the park further, I came across an old staircase that led to an outdoor corridor lined with strange monuments like the one above, below, and the first picture of this post. My friend's and I couldn't figure out what they were commemorating and eventually headed back to the museum. About a month later when I was trying to find the infamous suicide cliffs, all the google searches kept pointing to the Peace Park. Then I realized I had already seen the cliffs and these monuments were in memory of the families that jumped during the war.

The Suicide Cliffs (not pictured because they are actually behind these monuments) are where entire families ended their lives during World War II. Terrifying rumors ran rampant about what the Americans would do once occupation of the island was won and rather than find out if these rumors were true or not, the Japanese chose to commit suicide.

Away from the more depressing aspects of Itoman City and on a separate day, I visited the Itoman City Fish Market.

Tuna head and tuna insides for sale.

The best thing I have ever seen. These plates of sashimi cost a little more than twelve U.S. dollars each.

The local seaweed. Eating this tasted exactly like drinking the ocean. Yum.

After a visit to the fish market my friend and I stopped at Bibi beach. At this point in the day it was about 85 degrees with 4000% humidity...which made it feel closer to 110 degrees. Stepping out of the car's AC boundary led to profuse sweating.

Note the beach's emptiness save for the hordes of people gathered in the small blue square. These roped off sections of water are common at all the frequented beaches and are designed to keep away a tiny animal - the Box Jellyfish. This creature is approximately a centimeter in length and transparent, making it nearly impossible to spot in the open ocean. A sting from this jellyfish almost always goes unnoticed. If left untreated, it can induce a heart attack in as little as twenty minutes earning it the reputation for most venomous creature in the world. Go Japan!

The next destination was stumbled upon by accident while trying to find a quieter beach. Pictured above are the unmaintained ruins of Gushikawa Castle. Located on a cliff, these ruins overlook the southern shores of Okinawa Island and are overgrown with grass and various plants that house spiders as big as your face.

A view of the coral reefs from the castle ruins where a man wishes he had brought shoes.

After getting lost several times, my friend and I finally found a tiny road which led to a beach devoid of screaming children and square sections of swimming area. This is Nashiro Beach, I think, and was empty except for two kids trying to catch things in the water. I decided to snorkel for an hour or so and found nothing in the water except for sea slugs. The ridge in the background of the picture below led to a deserted beach shrine littered with ridiculously odd conch shells.

Itoman City's various attractions were a welcome change from everything in the Kadena area of Japan. Here no one spoke English and almost everything was written in Japanese. I finally felt like I was in Japan.

Kadena, Okinawa Japan

My three months in Japan were mostly spent on Kadena Air Base located on Okinawa Island. Okinawa is the largest island in the Ryukyu Island chain which is comprised of nearly one thousand smaller islands, none of which I had a chance to see. There are over a dozen U.S. military bases scattered throughout the main island. Together they make up over twenty-five percent of the entire island's population - making it very difficult to get away from anything military-related. Right before I arrived, the Okinawan citizens held a massive protest demanding the Americans withdraw and give them their island back. I don't blame them, what with the annoyingly loud car exhausts and people talking on cell phones while their waitresses wait to take orders.

Before we decided to rent a car, going out was limited to how absurd the cost of a taxi would be. The closest decent place to base was American Village with its gigantic ferris wheel you could see sixty miles away when flying back to base at night. The funny thing is I never once saw anyone ride the wheel in the three months I was here. American Village was basically how it sounds - American. Signs were all in English and advertising was aimed at the Americans.

Also somewhat close to base and in a much more discreet location is this cave you can see in the far left of the picture. The tour guide, an Okinawa native, hid with her family in this exact cave during World War II. The rainbow-colored lines are millions of paper cranes. The man in the middle of the picture contemplates what he will have for dinner.

Here is a picture of what was inside the strange altar at the cave entrance.

This is White Beach located on the eastern-most side of Okinawa City on a military base. In all honesty, this was by far the saddest beach I saw the entire time I was in Japan. This picture somewhat captures the sadness. That's not sand, its dirt. The small sign says "Go Someplace Nicer". Just kidding. It talks about all the hazardous wildlife you may encounter if you decide to go swimming. I did go swimming but found no wildlife at all.

Here's a view of the Western side of the island a few blocks from Kadena Air Base. In the distance is Okinawa's capitol city, Naha.

This is Kobe Beef and an 8 oz. steak ran about forty dollars. It was well worth the money. It tasted like a steak made entirely of fat - salty, seasoned, amazing fat.

The view from a hole-in-the-wall restaurant outside American Village. Orion is the only local beer brewed in Okinawa and is comparable to a very fresh Coors.

For your Happy Time!

The sunset with our rental car in the foreground.

The last thing worth mentioning in the Kadena - Okinawa City area of Okinawa is an amazing sushi bar known as Yoshi Hachi's. Pictured above is beef sashimi. Nothing fancy, just a giant bowl of raw meat soaking in blood. Tasty. The restaurant also served a few more exotic things not found in the states including Blowfish and Shark. My friends and I probably ate here at least seven times a month...often enough to where the waitresses knew us all by name. When we told them we were leaving for good they almost started crying.

The Kadena area of Okinawa was decent but I soon found myself dying to get away from anything having to do with the military or Americans. This involved going to the southern and northern parts of the island which I will write about later.

Misawa, Honshu Japan

Misawa is located towards the northernmost point of mainland (Honshu) Japan. The city itself is rather small and surrounded by miles and miles of farmland. Misawa boasts a population of approximately 43,000, although after walking around the city I would have expected closer to 100.

A perpetual fog stuck around for about four of the five days I was here, barely covering the tops of buildings during the day and making finding my way impossible at night...not to mention landing a plane exciting. The city was also surprisingly quiet. Except for the occasional car, there were no sounds at all.

As you can see, there are no people. One car though. All the streets looked this way - residential buildings mixed with the occasional hole-in-the-wall restaurant, most of which looked very appealing and smelled amazing. Unfortunately they probably would not let Americans enter.

The fog would linger until about eleven or noon each day and lift for a few hours before engulfing the buildings during late afternoon. This combined with the absence of people and sounds made Misawa seem like something out of a zombie horror film. A few times I would look back and half expect to see a rotting hand popping out of the ground.

This is a local ramen restaurant known only as the place with the big yellow sign...which did not bode well with the taxi driver.

It was well worth the effort it took to find.



A local sushi bar I ate at during the last night in town.



Goodbye northern Japanese zombie town.