Japan!

It's my third day here in Japan and everything's going great! I still haven't able to shake off the jet lag yet but it's starting to wear away. The only downside to traveling are the long plane rides and the jet lag that accompanies it.

We left on a Monday evening and got to Okinawa Wednesday morning. Missing a whole day really screws up your body. I was so out of it the day we got here. It's difficult because you want to do everything but your body wants rest.

We did manage to go to Amber and John's favorite park which I think it's called the Sports Park. I'm sure there's a more official title to that. There's a map on the desk and I think it's called the Koza Sport Stadium. There are basketball courts, an indoor soccer field, and a cycling track just to name a few. There was this really cool spider web looking thing made out of ropes that you can climb on. I don't think I took a picture but maybe we can go back so I can.

That park is huge! Oh, there was also a large pond with koi fish in it. I took some video of the huge fish. It was good to see people walking around being active. There were surprisingly a lot of elderly people there. I've read that Okinawa has one of the largest percentage of oldest living people in the world or something. Diet and exercise are some of the contributing factors.

After the park, we stopped by the base. Nothing too exciting there except that we did see a (I think) local woman trying to get gasoline. The attendant had to help her because she didn't know how to pump gas. She probably never gets gasoline on base because off base there are gas attendants that provide full service. Fill up your tank, check your fluids, wash your windows, etc. But it was still weird seeing an adult no knowing how to fill up.

We had dinner at a place called Coco Curry. Which I hear the Americans go crazy for. It's a local chain here that serves rice with curry where you can add different toppings. The toppings ranged from tofu and okra (which I got) to sliced pork and cheese (which Will got). It was decent and different. I might have gone too spicy and didn't fully enjoy the food. I don't think it helped that there was this American woman who had out of control children. The woman had to go spank one of her kids because the little girl spit on someone. It happened in the bathroom where we were sitting next to. Sometimes, kids do need a good spanking because that girl was good to go after that.

The next day we stopped by Amber's work where they had a potluck. It was good meeting all of her co-workers and see where she works. It's nice for us that Amber gets off early because it feels like she works a half day.

We all drove to the Katsuren Castle Ruins. That place was pretty cool with awesome views of the island. It was crazy to see that you could walk right up to the edge of the castle and there are no railings. I'm sure you could die if you fell off the edge, it was pretty steep.

We next hit up American Village which I am assuming caters to all the soldiers living nearby. It was an interesting place. The whole area felt like a boardwalk type place with shops, restaurants, a movie theater, and even a Starbucks. There was a shop called American Depot that felt like a more funky Urban Outfitters. There were a lot of cute clothes that were a bit on the pricey side. There was a another store that sold a bunch of t-shirts that had Engrish sayings on them that didn't make sense. American Village was right by the beach so we walked down there along the boardwalk. There was a bunch of graffiti on the walls that were pretty cool. There were also some swastikas on some of the graffiti, too. That was a little weird.

For dinner, we ate some taco rice. I guess it's big here. It's basically rice with taco meat and American cheese on top and comes with Pace-type salsa. Um, it pretty much tastes like how I described it. I can't wait to try some sushi, soba, and other more Japanese foods.

Well, I think that pretty much sums up the last few days. I will post some pictures when I get around to it.