Category: LOVE Okinawa

The All American Food

For those of you who do not live in Japan, you probably don’t understand why every one heads to A&W when in Okinawa. That is because we don’t have A&W stores outside of Okinawa, which has a total of 26 stores throughout the island. This island has a lot of influence from all the U.S. bases located here.
Root beer is actually not the most popular drink in Japan. I think half of the people think “Hey this isn’t beer!” and the other half are like “Yuck, this tastes like medicine!” Well, it kind of does taste like medicine. But I love root beer floats. They make the world a better place. As do those curly fries…yum!!!
So this is my sister, our high school friend, and I hanging out at the A&W they have at Naha Airport. It’s funny because we all live in the greater Tokyo area but we ended up catching up in Okinawa 😀
A&W Naha Airport
Naha Airport Bldg 3rd floor
150 Kagamizu
Naha-shi, Okinawa
098-857-1691
Hours: 6:30am-8:00pm

Later we went downtown to Kokusai-dori, which is a major tourist spot in Naha City. I’d actually never been there before because every time we’re in Okinawa, we go straight to my grandma’s place and with so many relatives to see and say hi to, we ended up spending most out time with family and end up missing all the touristy places. Which is totally fine, since that’s what we come here for.
But I have to say, I was curious what Kokusai-dori was all about.
It ended up being just a whole bunch of souvenir shops and restaurants. But it was fun to see everything. Also, they had the scary looking Shiisa statues at the entrance. They are like the koma-inu that guard temples and shrines. Pretty much every house in my grandma’s neighborhood had these shiisa statues. They are usually places at the entrance of the property wall or the driveway to ward off evil.
Don’t you love how fierce they look?

The Yard Full of Flowers

The morning after I got to my grandma’s house, I ventured outside to check out the yard. Because when you’re a single girl living in the city, a yard is a luxury.
My grandpa passed away a year and a half ago but he loved orchids. And he loved growing them in the yard. I don’t know much about orchids but I’ve heard that some orchids are very difficult to grow. You could say he had a green thumb for orchids. And now my grandma is taking care of them. With the way the pretty orchids are starting to bloom, I think my grandma has a green thumb, too!
These were some of my favorite plants I found around the yard.

My favorite orchid in the whole yard…love the yellow and fuchsia pink!

Another pink purple-ish orchid…doesn’t it look kind of like a face?

Nago-ran (名護蘭), another favorite, is a tiny orchid named after Nago City in Okinawa.

Sennenboku (千年木) has the prettiest leaves. Gorgeous fuchsia, don’t you think?
I forgot what this was called but I liked how delicate the flowers were.
Love how beautiful this hibiscus is. Hibiscus tea, not so much…but I love the flower!

The Cellphone Pictures of Okinawa

I know. I am really awesome at being lazy. Some may even say I excel at it.
Actually in my defense, I have been kind of busy lately. But I wanted to get these pictures up here all of a sudden when I went to get some of them developed during my lunch break today. My grandma has been looking forward to the pictures and since she doesn’t have a computer, I developed them at Bic Camera (Did you know it’s not “Big” Camera but “Bic” Camera? What does that even mean?). I also got a really cute photo album to put the pictures in.
How often do we do that lately? I know I don’t as often as I used to.
Anyways, I still haven’t gone through my pictures from my camera but I’m putting some up from my cellphone. Makes me want to head back down there. It was a really great trip!
Look forward to more Okinawa spam coming up later this week! 😀
Bus rides in Okinawa are super expensive!
The only place in Japan where you can get root beer…yum!

We met up with our high school friend for lunch!
Sheesa at the entrance of the main street where all the tourists are, Kokusai-dori.

Love snack pineapples and Okinawan glass is so pretty!
We stumbled upon this shop where my friend sells his Nenrin brand interior goods!
Ginowan Seaside Park is a great place to relax and make flower bracelets!
We took a walk around the park before dinner on a warm and windy day.

My grandma’s yard had so many tropical flowers…and I took a picture of most of them.
My grandpa used to always get us sweets at Jimmy’s…this time we got a german cake!

We stopped by Shuri Castle before seeing my sister off at the aiport!
The restored Shuri Castle was gorgeous.
Grandma and I in the yard…isn’t she lovely?
Even bus stops have the traditional Okinawan tiles.
My parents both came to see me off 😀

Forever an ANA girl…whoop whoop!
Morning flight out of Okinawa…so sad to go.

And headed straight to work with a pineapple sticking out of my bag. haha.

The Post Golden Week

Hi there!
Did I mention I went on a family vacation? I think I may have been a little bit too hasty to get out of Tokyo to remember to post about it.
Can you even believe how quickly April was over? I remember at the start of April my every other thought was “I can’t WAIT for Golden Week!” and then work just swept away my sense of time and before I knew it, May was right there before my eyes. Amazing how time keeps on playing tricks on me like that.
So yes, I am back from my family vacation. And I feel great.
My baby sister is still in boarding school so she couldn’t come with us this time but the rest of us all met up in Okinawa, which is where I am originally from.
Well, kind of. My mother’s side of the family is Okinawan, my parents met and got married there, and both my sister and I were born there. And while we did move away when I was four years old, I still consider myself “from” Okinawa, as that is where my roots lie. So going back to Okinawa is always a treat because a part of me feels like I’m going home but another part of me feels like an explorer! (And we all love being an explorer, am I right?)
I haven’t exactly had the post vacation blues but I’ve been having the post vacation laziness. But I’m going through my pictures so hope to have them up soon!
Wishing you all a happy weekend! x

The Day of Reminiscing

I’ve been looking through my pictures from Okinawa lately.
The last few days have been sort of emotional.
Receiving news of people that have passed away.
It’s so hard to hear news like this.
Then receiving news of a new baby girl joining our world.
And news of a friend who just got married to her love.
It’s always a joy to hear news like this.
I’ve been looking through my pictures of Okinawa
both before and after my grandpa passed away.
I have such great memories with him.
Even though we lived apart.
Across an ocean even.
It made the time we had together all the more special.
And I feel blessed to have had that time with him.
I guess all the recent news and the reminiscing has
reminded me not to take life for granted.
Life is precious.

That Goodbye to Grandpa in Okinawa

My sweet handsome grandpa.
I can still hear his voice saying
“Ah Kaori-chan?”
every time I would call.
We knew he wasn’t doing well
but it still came as a surprise to me.
I flew to Okinawa
to say goodbye to my grandpa.
Grandpa’s family grave had a beautiful view from above the hill.
My grandma said that he’ll rest peacefully here.
I agree.

The yard that grandpa always took good care of
was lush with green leaves.
As if he were still there.

Grandma looked so lonely.
And strong at the same time.
She told us over and over again
“thank you for coming.”
That night
we all gathered around the table for dinner.
Grandma sat there quietly eating,
listening to everyone still reminiscing about grandpa.
So many stories.
So much love.
My eyes went to my grandma.
Still quietly eating, still listening.
But every once in awhile
her face would relax into a soft smile.

That A&W at the Naha Airport

Hello Okinawa!
It’s been awhile
this prefecture I was born in
and yet know almost nothing about.
While waiting for the rest of the family to land from Osaka
I was drinking a root beer float at A&W.
At the counter they mentioned
that there are free refills for all the drinks.
It felt very Okinawan.
Or at least definitely foreign.
Hoping I can reconnect with this motherland of mine.

That Family Dinner in Okinawa

I love dinner with the family!
Especially when they include the whole extended family.
Not that anyone is sexist
but when the family gets together
we all naturally divide into women and men.
The men will sit in the living room
discussing various issues.
The women gather in the kitchen
preparing dinner and chatting.
I kind of like this tradition though.
This time with grandma, mom, aunts and cousins
the kitchen was pretty crowded.
But grandma look happy
saying, “it’s nice and lively.”
It’s been awhile since my mom and her brothers
were all under one roof so dinner was definitely a lively affair.
It was so much fun.
We were missing my sister, since she’s in Michigan
but it was great halving most of the family together like this.