Blogs from Camp Kinser, Okinawa, Japan, Asia - page 3

Facts about Clownfish..aka Nemo Taxonomy The clown anemonefish was first described by Cuvier (1830) as Amphiprion ocellaris. The genus name Amphiprion is derived from the Greek word "amphi" which means on both sides and the Greek word "prion" which means saw. Other synonyms used in previous scientific literature include Amphiprion melanurus Cuvier 1830 and Amphiprion bicolor Castelnau 1873. Common Names The clown anemonefish is referred to as an anemonefish due to its symbiotic relationship with sea anemones. Other English language common names include common clownfish, false-clown anemonefish, nemo, and western clownfish. Other common names are almindelig klovnfisk (Danish); kakure-kumanomi (Japanese); bombin, gombing, inggu (Malay); and obyknovennaya rybka-kloun (Russian). Geographical Distribution The clown anemonefish lives in the warmer ... read more

Scuba - Advanced Open Water Course I've began to take my advanced open water class for scuba this weekend. After passing the course, I'll be more familiar with underwater navigation, I'll be able to dive to deeper depths, I'll be more familiar with boat dives, recognize more marine life, learn about underwater photography, etc...overall, just improve upon the skills I already have. Friday evening was a night dive and I saw a few cool things. First off, when it's night time the fish are much more calm. When you shine your light on them, they either freeze or swim right at you. One puffer fish got so excited about someones light, he crashed right into it face first. Haha. Fish are so dumb. At night the sea anenome in the water sting and paralyse their prey, ... read more

Is the evil blowfish - also known as puffer, globefish, or swellfish - in danger of extinction? In Japan, eating the honorable fugu (blowfish) is the ideal of gourmet dining-and the cooking version of Russian roulette. According to Japan Economic newswire, a Japanese wholesaler exported the first 90 kg of vacuum-packed fugu to Hong Kong in October 1995. Hong Kong is the second market to import fugu from Japan. New York, which started importing the fish in 1989, currently sells about 1 tons of fugu every year, according to the wholesaler. Fugu's trade volume is rising because of people's curiosity in eating such fish. In Japanese, the word fugu is a general name for fish of the family Tetraodontidae, class Osteichthyes, order Tetraodontiformes, but it is also used more broadly, like the English word globefish, to ... read more

Heiwa-Dori Heiwa-Dori (meaning "Peace Street") and Ichiba-hon Dori are two narrow, covered pedestrian streets that branch off from Kokusai Street. Robin and I decided to bike from Camp Kinser down to these streets to do a bit of exploring for the afternoon. Unfortunately for us, the weather didn't want to cooperate with our plans. Right as we arrived at Kokusai Street, it started to pour. Because we were soaking wet by the time we arrived, we decided to continue on our trip. The Okinawans who were protected from the rain by overhangs looked at the two of us as if we were crazy. Then again, we were the only ones out in the rain so I suppose it was an odd site. Kokusai Street was shut down to traffic for the afternoon so we slowly biked ... read more

Sushi-Go-Round Within Chatan Town there is a section called Mihama, and located inside Mihama is American Village. American Village offers a few shops and restaurants that are like those in the United States but also has several stores featuring Japanese culture and cusinine. This evening a friend and I decided to avoid the Americanized places and check out a sushi-go-round. At kaiten-zushi (conveyor-belt sushi or sushi-go-round) restaurants, small plates of sushi move past customers’ tables on a conveyor belt, and customers take the ones they want to eat. At a kaiten-zushi restaurant, each plate usually ranges from about ¥100 (less than $1) to ¥500 (about $4), while in a traditional sushi restaurant you must spend at least ¥1,000 ($8) just for a set menu and much more if you order a la carte. Sushi-go-rounds are ... read more