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Published: June 16th 2010
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We were on a boat for 10 hours to the first island Amami. When we got off the boat at 5am we noticed a few people from Switzerland. Their plan was to head to the airport and rent a car, we decided to follow. Once at the airport we hitched a ride in their car and headed to the closest beach. When we got there we were greeted with a sign that said "beware of the many poisonus snakes near by", eek!
Once down at the beach we very quickly realised we were going to be the only ones on the beach. We hung out for a while and then decided to hit up another beach. Again the same thing we were the only 4 on the beach, and then just when we were about to drift off to sleep on the sand a whole group of people showed up with drinks, food, a jet ski, wake boards and a bananna boat...time to have fun!
We rode around on the bananna boat, ate some food, did a bit of gymnastics and laughing on the beach and when it came time for us to leave and get dinner they were
even nice enough to reccomend a place. The resturant was very close to our Roykan we were staying in. The place served "island food", which basically ment I didn't know what was on the table at any time, time to dig in!
After many courses of strange food and people laughing at our reactions, one guy got up and started playing a Shamisen while someone else played a taiko drum, pretty soon thereafter we had everyone in the room singing, dancing and playing instruments, it was awesome. Strangely enough Brad and I had a desire to pick one of these instruments up so we inquired as to where to get one and decided to stay 1 extra day just to seek it out.
The next morning we woke up with a map scribbled with Japanese in search of a Shamisen. The first place we found was a man who spoke 0 english and wasn't too helpful so we kept looking. We eventually came across the place the family in the returant had reccomended. It was a very nice guy who hand made them and used to be a diving teacher. He was kind enough to show us how
to play the Amami scale and how to string and care for the instruments. Even though we didn't speak the same language we were able to talk with music it was pretty awesome.
The rest of the day was spent playing our new toys, tomorrow we will wake up at 5am to hop back on the A Line Ferry to Okinawa.
Ferry Booking Info:
A-Line Ferry * 26,000 Yen round trip
* Sleep on tatami mats in large room or reserve private room
* You have 7 days to get to Okinawa which means you can stop off at all islands along the way (go to info desk on boat, must fill out paperwork to do so)
* You have 7 days to return to Kagoshima so you can do the same on the way back
* I didn't feel crammed into the boat as the link above says, wasn't full at all so I doubled up on mats and it was a comfortable stay
* Make sure you bring snacks and a meal to eat the restaurant is only open for like 1 hour at lunch and 1 hour at dinner with no english announcements to
indicate that
* They have a store with snacks and water/drinks and vending machines and hot water for ramen
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