Okinawa-ken Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

In March 08 I had to go to Yokosuka on business, but the trip also afforded opportunities to visit Tokyo and join Jenny for leave in Jenny's birthplace--Okinawa. My objective in Tokyo was to ride the biggest Ferris Wheel in the city (Japanese: 展覧車 (tenransha) or 大観覧車 (daikanransha) or (kanransh) at Kasai Rinkai Park. Our time in Okinawa was magical, with good weather, beautiful scenery/sunsets/beaches, and reunions with many friends from our time stationed there 2003-05.

Today I went to the end-of-year performance (Happyokai) at one of the schools Laura teaches english at.  The kids range in age from 1-5 and they perform music numbers, dances and demonstrate their english skills.  It was amazing.  The video I've posted is one I took of the five year olds playing Mozart.  The threes and fours also did music numbers the were equally impressive for their age.  They put my high school band to shame. 

This is a painfully long response letter i wrote to a gntleman considering okinawa as a destination in part of his trip to asia. But I thought some folks may find it interesting.... It is just hard for me to shut up when talking about my former home! Hey great questions! Firstly~you don't wanna miss out on Seoul! The shopping is too good~ haha, but anyway. It would really be worth your time to check out just one of the nearby ones while you are in the area. Miyako Island is one tha...

I was dreaming about going to Okinawa for so long. I was trying to go there with friends but we couldn't get the same time off so I decided to go there by myself.  I could have gone there years ago but going to Seoul or China is way cheaper than going to Okinawa!! I know it's weird that I've never flown anywhere Japan but this was my first time using a domestic line!! I thought it's small but I was surprised that it was the same size as I flew to Seoul, South Korea!!!  It was 2hr ...

This was　a great stop but we had very little time here.  Japan requires a temperature check before we can get off the boat as part of immigration and health rules.  This couldn't start until the boat docked which was at 11am.   The check itself wasn't bad, it was the waiting that sucked.  The cruise staff had a plan that they put out the night before however the majority of the ship's passengers cannot follow directions.  The line was emmense.&nb...

When Jenny was born in Okinawa, it was still a US Territory following WWII.  This is the house in the Kishaba Terrace development of Camp Foster Marine Corps Base where she spent the first 8 months of her life before they moved all the Army families back to America when the 173rd Airborne Division jumped into Vietnam in May 1965.  Interesting side note:  There was an Okinawan woman married to a US Marine living in the same house during our visit who turned out to be the ex...

I have a favorite little spot on Okinawa that I love to go to!  It is straight out the main Lester gate, pass Starbucks, the baseball stadium, and then turn left at the end of the road into this little spa.  The name of it is Sea Side Refle.  It is right on the beach and next to a very large hotel.  The guests at the hotel have spa access and it is fun to watch all the families visiting here from mainland Japan.  The cost to go in and use the facilities is 1300 yen fo...

Our first introduction to Japan was not great. We arrived in Okinawa around 11 a.m. to discover that the Japanese wanted to "quarantine" our boat and they insisted that everyone be scanned before we could disembark. We were told that they were going to take everyone's temperature and they gave us assigned times for this...but since nobody on this boat can follow basic directions, everyone lined up at the same time, resulting in a mile long line snaking through the boat covering three floors. ...

around the world

Had a great time in Thailand!

Well....I just wanted to take photos just to do it. MANY are really crazy. Enjoy :)

I'm going to introduce a weird country called Japan.

One of my many work trips... in fact this one is many in itself. Ive been out to Okinawa 3 times and have spent about 4 months there.

Well, landed in okinawa, specifically Naha City which is the main city in Okinawa prefecture and sort of far away from the US military bases that have caused so much controversey over the past 10 yrs. Actually, I was expecting a fair number of servicemen around but there weren`t any. in fact, there were almost no caucasians in general (or non-japanese tourists in general, for that matter) throughout my islands trip.  The weather was a lot worse than I was expecting - from talking to peop...

Visit to Okinawa during typhoon!