Blogs from Okinawa, Japan, Asia - page 9

Okinawa Peace Memorial Park After visiting the Ryukyu Glass Village, James and I headed a bit further south to see the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park. Located on Mabuni Hill, where the last battles took place on Okinawa, the park is dedicated to the 200,000 people that died in the fighting for control of the island. Of theses 200,000 people, 100,000 were Okinawan civilians caught in the crossfire. James and I went to a lookout point first where we had a wonderful view of the ocean. With such a serence view it was hard to imagine such a fierce battle happening here in 1945. We then walked through the stone monuments inscribed with the names of all those who died during the "Typhoon of Steal". There were 148,289 Okinawans, 75,219 Japanese from other prefectures, 14,006 Americans, ... read more

MOS Burger James and I decided to sample MOS Burger on Friday and Saturday this week. Neither us had ever been to a restaurant like this before so we weren't really sure what to expect. Wow...these burgers were simple yet extremely tasty! Additionally, the servings weren't "biggie sized" so neither of us left the restaurant feeling like a total fatty. haha! Presentation points were high...the burgers were brought out individually wrapped, french fries are served on a plate, and soda was brought to us in actual glasses. This is a really upscale "fast food" restaurant. McDonald's doesn't even come close... On Friday I sampled the Veggie Burger with small french fries and James had a Teriyaki Burger and Veggie Burger. The Veggie Burger has lettuce, tomato, a beef patty, and thousand island dressing on it. The ... read more

Snorkeling at Zampa Beach James and I went snorkeling at Zampa Beach this afternoon to test out our new wetsuits and enjoy God's creation. James' wetsuit fit him perfectly and it was neoprene free so he didn't experience an allergic reaction to it. Last time James went swimming he had a pretty severe allergic reaction to the neoprene boots and gloves he was wearing so he had to order a specially made wetsuit from Fourth Element that was neoprene free. There are certain chemicals used to cured and harden the natural rubber in neoprene wetsuits and when the wetsuit is used, these chemicals leach out from it. From the research James did online, he told me it's actually a fairly common allergic reaction. Anyways, his wetsuit was really awesome! It had a fleece-like lining making it ... read more

Getting Dirty at Typhoon Motors Today James taught me how to change the oil in my car at Typhoon Motors on Camp Hansen. I'm the kind of person who has always paid someone to do it for me so this was a whole new experience for me. All that oil, grease, crawling under the car...yeah...not really my thing...but James made this a lot of fun. I was a bit hesitant to get involved since I really had no idea what I was doing but James pointed everything out and showed me what to do. We also ended up changing the oil filters on both our cars, pumping up and rotating our tires, and changing the transmission fluid on James's car. By the time we were done our hands were greasy but our cars were running much ... read more

Host mom had some guests over last night, a man and woman from Okinawa and it made me remember how different Okinawa was from Tokyo. Everything they did contrasted with the proper Japanese conservative of this city. The guy, big, round faced, chubby, guy walks in with a bright hawaiian shirt and shorts. They don't wear those in this city. Shorts are pretty rare although its plenty hot. The woman has her hair cut short and spiky and just kind of crows this excited greeting to everyone, not afraid to call people by first names, and immediately starts going on about how tokyo girls diet too much and are too thin and asked me if I liked girls like that or girls with "pillows." I am a pillow guy and that made her happy. Okinawa is ... read more