05/19/2019
After work on Friday, Alex and I went to Shintanabe so that he could meet Becky, and her daughter Meg. It was a really nice evening! We had some Japanese vegetables, egg tofu, and rice for dinner and discussed a lot about how they started life in Japan and Alex's life in the USA. Afterwards, I took Alex to Lawson's (essentially a speedway but with better food and no gas, maybe closer to CVS idk). He tried some chicken, which he really enjoyed and I had some sweet potato chips. I returned home to pack for Okinawa, as we had to meet up by 7:20 so that we could walk to the bus stop, where the limousine bus would shuttle us to the airport. Once we met up in the morning, we figured out that Alex had booked the bus tickets for Sunday, instead of Saturday. Luckily, the bus still came (it only comes if someone reserves a seat) and we were able to purchase new tickets. We arrived in Okinawa around 3 pm, and we shuttled to a rental car business where we found out that Alex's reservation had not gone through properly through the website that he tried. The man working there was nice enough to make a new reservation for us so we were able to rent a car from them with no issues. I am really impressed with Alex's driving abilities, I think we only ended up on the wrong side of the road twice. In Japan, cars are driven on the left side of the road and the most common issue with foreigners driving are opposite side of the road accidents. We were blessed to not have that problem, but it was pretty nerve wracking for me every time we were in the car. Alex is a great driver, but the roads are extremely narrow and the Japanese are a little more risky when it comes to switching lanes and going through yellow/red lights. Most of the streets we drove on were an acceptable size, but I was still nervous. We decided to check in to the hotel, and go to the American Village. Alex is so sweet and wanted me to feel more at home so he suggested that we eat there. I decided to get American Style pizza, so we had a Margarita Pizza with garlic knots and it was SO GOOD.
Afterwards, we walked around the beach area for 20-30 minutes. On the way back to the hotel, I mentioned I wanted to see Hacksaw Ridge, which is where one of the battles of Okinawa took place during WWII. There is a movie called 'Hacksaw Ridge' that I watched right before leaving about a Christian soldier that helps save 75 soldiers' lives by helping them down the ridge to safety from the Japanese. We made it just before dusk and got a few pictures. I am not 100% sure if it is really open to foreigners because it was at the top of a huge Japanese graveyard, but we didn't get yelled at as we entered so we just decided to keep going. Alex was a little nervous because we couldn't completely confirm what all the outside signs were saying, but I am pretty sure it was just telling you that there could be a fine and prison charges if you litter in the graveyard. We got a little lost on the way down due to rushing, but we eventually found our way. After all that excitement, we decided to go check into the hotel. My room was really nice! The bathroom was split up in the traditional Japanese way, with the toilet being separate from the wash room. I suggested that we go on a walk and eat ice cream before turning in for the night. We walked a few blocks near a port to the ocean and through a park. It was a beautiful night!
On Sunday morning, we left early to go to the Okinawa Peace Museum to learn about the history of the island and how they were affected by WWII. The museum was very well done, but it seemed that the whole museum was created by the Okinawan people, not the Japanese. The whole museum made sure there was a distinction between the Japanese and Okinawan people, it appeared that the Japanese didn't really want to be affiliated with the war or take responsibility for any of the tragedy that happened there. It was incredibly sad. I had no idea that the Okinawan people had their own island and language prior to Japanese extortion. I could tell they were slightly difference than the Japanese mainland people because they look more pacific, but they still speak perfect Japanese. The island was fairly Americanized, due to the base on site, but it also in general seemed less Japanese than the main island of Japan. Apparently, the Okinawan people were told that the United States soldiers would rape and kill them, which is why so many Japanese (also because it was honorable to die for the Japanese emperor) and Okinawan people committed mass suicides during the war. There were many pictures of the island during and after WWII, along with some memorabilia (hats, weapons, broken dishes, shoes, debris), wax figures, and videos that all did a great job at conveying the absolute destruction that occurred on the island. After walking through the museum, we walked through the rest of the campus. There were monuments commemorating all the soldiers who died on the island during the war regardless of which country they came from. There were also monuments for each prefecture in Japan, but unfortunately I didn't find the Kyoto Prefecture monument (the prefecture I live in). It was close to 100 degrees and I was overheating and sunburnt so I didn't feel like walking around to search for it. As we were walking along the path, we found a cave with an old photograph in it. Apparently, during the war 400 boys were hidden out in the cave, but 200 committed suicide when they heard the foreign soldiers would rape and kill them. It was really sad. The path led us to this small beach/wading pool that was really pretty! There was a lot of trash that washed up on shore, but you could see fish and crabs in the water. After spending about 20 minutes on the beach area, we hiked back to find water.
Next, we headed to see castle ruins where Alex heard you could see old WWII bunkers. Unfortunately, we didn't see any. We thought we did, but the lady at the ticket office told us it was a grave. The castle was pretty cool, although it was mostly just walls as most of it crumbled years ago (even though they said it was the best in shape ancient castle in Okinawa). Parched once again, we looked for water and drove to a beach. I was freaked out because the beach Alex chose was in the backyard of a ritzy hotel. We had to park in the hotel parking lot and walk through the hotel to get to the beach. I was fairly against it because I was scared I didn't belong there because I was not paying to stay there. Apparently, it is a normal thing that I just didn't know about. The pool was for hotel residents but they can't legally own the beach, so outside visitors can use the beach area as well. The water was warm, a few degrees cooler than Thailand. I personally thought that the beaches in Thailand were a lot prettier due to the clarity of the water and the beautiful blue color. We stayed for about an hour and a half, leaving due to my awful sunburn. LUCKILY, I had extra aloe from Thailand to use. We went to the American Village again to get dinner. We settled for burgers (don't worry, I had a veggie burger). It was SO GOOD. It came with french fries and I ordered mango juice too! The whole meal was absolutely delicious. My mouth is watering from reminiscing about it. We ended the evening with a walk near the hotel to see what was around that area. It was mostly just restaurants and small shops.Â
On Monday morning I woke up early and met up with Alex to check out of the hotel. We tried to coffee on the way out...and immediately threw it away. It was pouring rain outside, but I was prepared with my umbrella (everyone uses umbrellas here, rain coats are less popular). Alex drove us to our final WWII historical site, which were old Japanese naval tunnels. It was where the battle of Okinawa ended, with the naval leader committing suicide in the tunnels with hundreds of others. It was really sad, as there were leftover grenade damage from a group of people committing suicide as the Americans closed in.
The tunnels weren't really in the best shape, as there was still water running through them which caused mold on the walls. However, it was really cool to be able to see where the Japanese leaders were strategizing. It was also very impressive that all of the tunnels were carved with pick axes because there weren't any other tools for the Okinawan people to use. A lot of the tunnels still haven't been uncovered from when the war ended. They actually didn't start pulling bodies out until 1953 and were still finding them as late as 1977. There were many photos to look at from the war, but I don't think any of them were taken by the Japanese. A lot of them showed the total destruction of the island and the wounds that many civilians suffered from.
Again, it seemed like the Okinawans specifically were trying to preserve the tunnels, as they clearly distinguished that they were the ones who suffered from the tragedy of war on their island the most (there were more civilian deaths than military). It was still raining when we left. We tried to go to an outdoor shopping mall to kill some time, but it was SUPER touristy and we were cutting closer to our time limit that initially anticipated. We drove back to return the rental car and were mini-bused to the airport. I bought some cookies special to Okinawa for my colleagues, as it is a Japanese tradition to bring a small gift back when you go far away. Everyone at work seemed to like them! Once we finally got back to Kizugawa (the limousine bus took close to two hours), we ate dinner at the noodle shop that we went to for my birthday. I wanted Alex to try the tempura (fried meat, vegetables, etc.) Japan has THE BEST fried food and he loved it. It was a nice end to a busy weekend!
