Well I promised to post some pictures when something exciting happened to me and out of the blue an opportunity to take a trip to a couple must see spots on Okinawa opened up. This is Shaikinaen, an Inn where royalty would house and entertain their guests.
This is one of the main rooms in the Inn. It looks pretty cool but the walls are paper-thin! HA!!
Outside I found Yertle the Turtle of Solla-ma-sond. I'm not quite sure if he is king of this pond!
In true Japanese, I'm sorry, Okinawan' style(the people of Okinawa do not consider themselves Japanese), shoes must be removed before going inside. I should have worn my flip-flops. Yes honey, my new socks already have holes in them!! :-).
I was fortunate enough to be there at the same time a wedding party was showing up. The bride and groom were gracious enough to allow me to take a picture. American tourists...man!
Before our next stop we had lunch at the mall. This my friends is fast food Okinawa style! Delicious noodles and beef with sprouts and ginger cooked up on the grill before my very eyes. The dish on the left is octopus balls. Now let's keep it G-rated gang! This dish has nothing in common with Rocky Mountain Oysters! Oh, and the drink is Green Tea Soda.
Shurijo Castle...perhaps the most rebuilt structure on the island. This structure has been burned down and rebuilt four times! Not to mention it was reduced to rubble when the Japanese invaded and again during WWII. What you are seeing here is what was rebuilt after WWII. It is an important symbol to the Okinawans' and is considered a national treasure. With this kind of history I'll bet it is real hard to keep an insurance company...maybe they should switch to Geico!
So my buddy Jeremy and I noticed that every time the locals take pictures of each other they flash the peace sign. So we thought we would blend in a little...Oh yeah, that's the King's throne in the background!
Hey! Who is that guy? I don't know but his face sure rings a bell! This bell is called Tomoya or the "Bridge to the Nations Bell".
This guy is the local sheriff in town keepin' law an order in these parts. He guards the Kobiki gate to ensure tourists strictly adhere to the law of the land.
Afterwards we went to the AC/DC concert and totally rocked out!! No these guys aren't AC/DC, they were the opening band, "Boys to Men";-). Alright, that's not true either. This was a little production of Japanese theater, don't ask me what it's called...I don't know, but it was pretty cool and I got to hang out back stage with the band after the show...right!
I can neither confirm nor deny allegations of impersonating a lion statue outside the Zuisen gate. I don't know what the definition "is" is and I refuse to comment further.
How to win friends and influence peo...well...water foul?? "Hey mister ducky you sure do have a nice bill!" Well, its a start anyway. So if you like to go sit in the park and feed the birds, who do you feed when the birds decide to sit with you? All in all it was a great day. I have been deployed to this area three times and this is the first time I ventured out to absorb this much culture. There is a lot of history here and I highly recommend it if you are ever in the area.
Well I promised to post some pictures when something exciting happened to me and out of the blue an opportunity to take a trip to a couple must see spots on Okinawa opened up. This is Shaikinaen, an Inn where royalty would house and entertain their guests. 
This is one of the main rooms in the Inn. It looks pretty cool but the walls are paper-thin! HA!!
Outside I found Yertle the Turtle of Solla-ma-sond. I'm not quite sure if he is king of this pond!
In true Japanese, I'm sorry, Okinawan' style(the people of Okinawa do not consider themselves Japanese), shoes must be removed before going inside. I should have worn my flip-flops. Yes honey, my new socks already have holes in them!! :-).
I was fortunate enough to be there at the same time a wedding party was showing up. The bride and groom were gracious enough to allow me to take a picture. American tourists...man! 
Before our next stop we had lunch at the mall. This my friends is fast food Okinawa style! Delicious noodles and beef with sprouts and ginger cooked up on the grill before my very eyes. The dish on the left is octopus balls. Now let's keep it G-rated gang! This dish has nothing in common with Rocky Mountain Oysters! Oh, and the drink is Green Tea Soda.
Shurijo Castle...perhaps the most rebuilt structure on the island. This structure has been burned down and rebuilt four times! Not to mention it was reduced to rubble when the Japanese invaded and again during WWII. What you are seeing here is what was rebuilt after WWII. It is an important symbol to the Okinawans' and is considered a national treasure. With this kind of history I'll bet it is real hard to keep an insurance company...maybe they should switch to Geico!
So my buddy Jeremy and I noticed that every time the locals take pictures of each other they flash the peace sign. So we thought we would blend in a little...Oh yeah, that's the King's throne in the background!
Hey! Who is that guy? I don't know but his face sure rings a bell! This bell is called Tomoya or the "Bridge to the Nations Bell".
This guy is the local sheriff in town keepin' law an order in these parts. He guards the Kobiki gate to ensure tourists strictly adhere to the law of the land.
Afterwards we went to the AC/DC concert and totally rocked out!! No these guys aren't AC/DC, they were the opening band, "Boys to Men";-). Alright, that's not true either. This was a little production of Japanese theater, don't ask me what it's called...I don't know, but it was pretty cool and I got to hang out back stage with the band after the show...right!
I can neither confirm nor deny allegations of impersonating a lion statue outside the Zuisen gate. I don't know what the definition "is" is and I refuse to comment further. 
How to win friends and influence peo...well...water foul?? "Hey mister ducky you sure do have a nice bill!" Well, its a start anyway. So if you like to go sit in the park and feed the birds, who do you feed when the birds decide to sit with you? All in all it was a great day. I have been deployed to this area three times and this is the first time I ventured out to absorb this much culture. There is a lot of history here and I highly recommend it if you are ever in the area.
9 comments:
that was supercalafagalisticexpialidocious!
that bird was weird looking. thanks for taking all of those sweet pictures.
love, torrey
dear dad,
those pictures were funny. i can't wait until you come back. i think that you're the bestest dad i ever had in the whole entire world.
from: emma
to: dad
wow! you took a lot of pics! cool. i think that's the most culture you've seen in 5 deployments. i'm glad you got to go.
i love you!
Yeah yeah yeah...i know...trying to convince us you are working there??? Maybe when you get out of the Navy you can have a career as a stand up comic??
Those pics are great...good job with the journaling too :)
Hi Stan, I popped on here from Noel's blog. I think she is amazing and have lurked on her blog for a while. My husband and I were stationed at Camp Kinser in Oki for 3 years and Shurijo Castle was one of my favorite spots! When I was pg with our oldest, my husband made me walk up and down the steps at the Castle to push me into labor. If you haven't been yet, y'all should go to Sam's Anchor Inn and also The Peacock Restaurant (between Foster and Kinser). They are both great. Take care!
Sarah
sweet pictures--i like the impersonation of the lion--did you do one of buddah too?
I so love all those pictures! You know, I am Okinawan. A lot of the time when people say, oh, japanese? I say, no Okinawan. Glad you get it.
What a great time you're look like you're having!
Sooooo, exactly what part of the octopus do the balls come from?
You know Josh...it's part of their tentacles!!!
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