A couple days after my parents returned to the US, I went to Okinawa with a couple of friends. Okinawa is the southernmost series of islands in Japan. The islands are famous for their shiisa—pairs of guardian dog statues. We stayed one day in Naha, a big city on the main island of Okinawa that gave the impression of a tropical version of Tokyo.
To get more of an island experience, we went to Miyakojima, a smaller island with beautiful beaches. Over four days we saw all of the sites on the little island. Oddly enough, the island has close ties with Germany, since more than a century ago when German sailors shipwrecked near the island. They were rescued by people from the island and invited to stay until they could get safe passage home. All over the island, there are memorials of this event, hence Ueno German Culture Village. The only low point of the trip was the botanical garden, which were under construction and not well-kept. There was a large rooster wandering around the garden that didn’t take too kindly to our visit and tried to attack my friend. She managed to fend it off, but her scream was blood-curdling.
What I remember from Kyoto is that the people did indeed seem friendlier than Tokyo residents. Since it was during spring break for most of the high schools, most of the popular temples were packed. My parents and I skipped the “must-see” temples. We went to Fushimi-inari jinja instead on the first day, a fox-themed temple with hundreds or possibly thousands of torii. Torii are the gates to sacred spaces.
The most memorable day of the trip, it was pouring rain, and we didn’t visit any temples at all. We went to see a very nice botanical garden, which was very beautiful despite the fact that we were too early for cherry blossoms. We found (after much searching) an organic, vegetarian-friendly Japanese restaurant for lunch and then went to the Nishiki market to buy plenty of souvenirs. There was a cat-themed shop we particularly liked, and since the market was covered, it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.
We also spent a day in Osaka to see the impressive aquarium and take a look at the castle. There was a lovely Mexican restaurant on one of the upper floors of Osaka station. We headed back to Saitama the next day on the shinkansen, which was much smoother and more spacious than an airplane. I’m really going to miss the shinkansen.
