The title of this post means 'thank you' in the dialect of Okinawa - it sounds nothing like the standard Japanese 'arigato'. In the same sense, Okinawa itself didn't really feel like Japan at all. The buildings/houses were different, the food was unique (there seemed to be an inordinate number of steak restaurants), and it seemed pretty run down in general. It felt a lot like south east asia. Darin and I both liked it a lot. We were only there for four days but it felt like weeks (we were very relaxed). We didn't visit any islands and spent most of our time in the northern town of Nago (pop. 50,000) as we were there to attend a friend's wedding. We stayed at the Kise Beach Palace. We visited the Churaumi Aquarium and the wedding was at Busena Terrace. I recommend all of these places. I posted all of our photos on Flickr, but here are a few of my favourites:
kise beach palace
Ocean Expo Park
one of the millions of lucky shisas concreted on to walls and buildings all over okinawa
cute squid at the Churaumi Aquarium
happy feet
the wedding party - Kyoko wore the most elegant wedding dress and that hat was total class!!!
here's how kyoko spends her nights!!
rock on girls and it was great to see you all in Okinawa!
love that you included the shot of your pal's evening work... so alters the perception from previous wedding photo (where she looks lovely, but not a rock girl!).
Posted by: jess | March 14, 2006 at 09:59 PM
Ditto. Love the bride rockin' out.
Funny last photo, too. Has that hand gesture really made it over there like that?
Simply GORGEOUS water. How about a picture of Tokyo for comparison, yeah? I hear hanami is going to near the end of this month. Yay!
Posted by: freecia | March 15, 2006 at 06:03 AM
what great fun! look at all that tropical goodness :) a nice change of pace from dreary old march.
was the dress you wore to the wedding one of the dresses you got on your shopping trip recently?
Posted by: gleek | March 15, 2006 at 12:18 PM
Hey, your house butterfly was probably an Asian Swallowtail (Papilio xuthus) also called Citrus Swallowtail. Strange time of year to be flying...
Posted by: DoryO | March 17, 2006 at 05:27 PM
It looks like fun - the squid photo is ace!
Posted by: jen | March 19, 2006 at 01:16 AM
I love the pics! I can't wait to go to Okinawa, even if it takes forever on the plane! You and the hubby are too cute :D
Posted by: empress | March 19, 2006 at 02:24 AM