Okinawa

The V-Team welcomed Andrea and I to Okinawa with this sign. They were excellent hosts and it was so great to visit them! On our first full day on the island, we went to the Okinawa cultural park.
There were all kinds of photo ops for us at the park, where we also learned a lot about Okinawa's culture and history.

After our kimono photo shoot, we caught a traditional Okinawa performance.

Olivia was not too excited about getting an up close view of the performance, as you may see in this video:

Later in the evening, we had dinner to celebrate Benny's 30th birthday and then went out for karaoke in a private room.

The following day, we went to an Asa drumming festival. We saw many groups of various ages performing all down the street, which was really cool.

But the best part about being in Okinawa was spending time with Benny, Michelle and Olivia and getting a taste of what life in Japan is like for them. Olivia is just too cute, and running around all over the place. It's a bummer we don't get to see them more often, but what a great experience they've had living in Japan the last couple of years.

Thanks V-Team for being awesome hosts, and Andrea for joining me on this trip! I will always treasure the memories from this adventure!

Food in Japan

Here is a sampling of some of the food we ate in Japan (what is not pictured are ramen noodles and rice with curry, which are two popular items):

This was my first meal outside of the hotel. Prawns and noodles and, you'll notice, a dollop of mayonnaise. It was really surprising how much the Japanese like their mayo. It comes with on or in almost everything.
Many of the restaurants have plastic food displays of their menu in their windows.
This food was grilled elsewhere, but then placed on our hot grill for us to serve ourselves. I forget what it was called (maybe Michelle can help fill in the blanks on this blog?) but it was good!

This was my pre-Fuji meal at the fifth station. Notice the pink stuff? Pickled ginger. I was not a fan. (Also discovered on the trip - Dre does not like mayonnaise or wasabi, Michelle does not like ketchup, I do not like seaweed.)

After the hike, when we returned to the fifth station, I enjoyed a melon soda. Really sweet, but I liked it.
This was almost like fondue, except instead of dipping the food in hot oil to cook it, we cooked it over a grill.

Sushi, of course.

Crazy crepes! They had these everywhere and they were really good with a whole bunch of options from savory to sweet, including custard, ice cream, fruit and cheesecake.

Plum wine. I loved it and considered bringing some home. That thing in the bottom that looks like an olive is a plum.
Taco rice. This is a dish you can find in different variations all over Okinawa and it was good. We had it at a brewery called Helios, where I also had a Mango-Weizen (Hefeweizen with mango juice) and it was really good.

We enjoyed ice cream in untraditional flavors while in Japan such as grape or Okinawa Salt Cookie. Here I am having Okinawa Brown Sugar and Beni-imo (sweet potato) swirled. Sweet potatoes are big in Okinawa, and brown sugar and salt are made on the island.

Before the trip I told Michelle I preferred to not eat food with a face. On the last night, however, I was served whole prawns, which were raw so that I could grill them myself. On the right is a scallop on the shell.

Our meals on our last night included dessert so we ordered shaved ice. Michelle got it the traditional Okinawan way so we could try it ... it has sweet beans on the bottom. But they weren't actually sweet - it tasted like baked beans with ice on top. Apparently it's an acquired taste.

Sightseeing in Tokyo, Part 2

On our last day in Tokyo, we visited the Tsujiki Fish Market, the largest fish market in the world. As it was the day after our Fuji hike, we didn't arrive early enough to see the auction in the morning, but the wholesale market was still impressive to see.

There were endless vendors with all kinds of seafood for sale, and although the activity from the early morning had slowed, it still bustled with deliveries being picked up on bicycle, on foot and machines whizzing by - you had to pay attention not to get run over!

After the fish market, we headed to the Electronics District to look around.
And in the evening, we went to Shibuya, where the busiest intersection in the world (for foot traffic) is located. It's a busy area for nightlife and shopping as well.
Here are a couple videos of the intersection - watching people cross from above, and when we crossed:

Sightseeing in Tokyo, Part 1

On our first day in Tokyo (pre-hike) we saw the Sensoji Shrine and the Meiji Temple in Harajuku. We also enjoyed people-watching, with Japanese women wearing a much more feminine attire than we typically see in the states - nearly everyone in dresses, and many carrying parasols as well. I'll be writing about some of that for my work blog soon ... in the meantime, here are some of the sights:

On the way into the Sensoji Shrine

Pagoda

Getting a fortune

Breathing in incense before entering the shrine

Washing before entering the shrine

The Sensoji Shrine

Headed to the Meiji Temple

We weren't the only ones posing for pictures

Prayers hung around the tree

For our Sun Devil readers: Sparky made the trip to Japan with me as a favor to Alison, who now works for the ASU Alumni Association. You can see his Japan pics and others from Sparky's Summer Break here.

Climbing Fuji

Andrea and I flew into Tokyo on a Sunday afternoon, where we met Michelle and her friend and co-worker Nicole. After some sightseeing on Monday (more on that later) we prepared to begin hiking Mt. Fuji on Tuesday. At 7 a.m., we met up with the others on our English-speaking tour, which was paired with a Japanese-speaking tour. There were about 30 of us total. We had some funny moments wondering why the Japanese tour guide spoke about 10 times as long as our English-speaking guide and why our guide repeated everything three times or so.

We took a bus to Fuji, about a four-hour trip with one stop at a sort of truck stop on the way.

From the bus, we caught our first glimpse of Fuji-san.
We arrived at the Fifth Station, where everyone begins their hike. We had some lunch (Michelle's was shaped like the mountain).
And then received our hiking sticks.

We took a few pictures.

And then started the hike.

You can only climb Fuji two months out of the year (the huts and stations aren't open the rest of the time, and in the winter there is a lot of snow and ice) so many people were taking the hike - even in the middle of the week.
At some of the stations and huts we were able to have our hiking sticks stamped. They are our most prized souvenirs from the trip, especially because we got the red stamp at the Summit.
The closer we got to the Eighth Station, where we would eat and rest, the tougher the hike got. It was mostly stairs, but in the form of large lava rocks so you needed to find your footing.

At the Eighth Station we had some dinner. My stomach was feeling a little jumpy and I couldn't eat anything besides the rice. (There was also miso soup and "hamburger steak" - basically a hamburger patty with some sauce on it that pretty much grossed me out). After we ate, we rested until 10 p.m. The room had wall-to-wall bunk beds and everyone slept next to each other.

The higher we climbed, the colder it became so when we set out again at 10 at night, we were much more bundled up than the previous day.

The second part of the climb was much more difficult for me. I wasn't sore, but I felt like I was always trying to catch my breath. Luckily there were rests along the way and Michelle brought some oxygen. We arrived around 3:30 a.m., had some breakfast (rice wrapped in some fried tofu or something?) and rest, and around 4:30 watched the sunrise. It was so amazing to be above the clouds and know we made it to the top!
But then, we still had to walk back down. I felt as though the climb was harder on my lungs, and the descent was harder on my body. There were many switchbacks down through loose lava rock. Some people fell - it was difficult to maintain footing. But we were anxious to be done.
At the end, we jumped for joy. Okay, I jumped for joy. Everyone else had ice cream.

I don't think that I would have ever considered hiking Mt. Fuji until Michelle suggested it, but I'm so glad that I did and that I was able to share it with such great friends. It was just an incredible experience, and one I won't forget.

(I have a few more Japan blogs coming, and you can also read more on Andrea and Michelle's blogs.)