1 post tagged “okinawa”

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.