Okinawa Quick Update

Yesterday was Saturday, and I found a Japanese shopping center and went in and wandered around. It was fun. They have 100 Yen stores, which is the equivalent of a Dollar Store. Same crap for sale, too. Their grocery store was mostly fish (fresh fish, frozen fish, live fish, canned fish), dried noodles, and seasoning, as well as a produce section full of stuff I didn't recognize. I stopped by McDonalds and KFC that day instead of buying much at the store, although I did snag a few snacks. Their bakery is just a little corner of the store, but the baked goods are tasty. They are very fresh, with little preservatives. You buy stuff out of baskets while it is still warm and if you don't eat it in 24 hrs it is hard as a rock.

We had to pick someone up from the airport which is 30-40 minutes away, and we got to see a new road that we haven't been on before. It is funny because similar businesses seem to cluster together in the same areas. On one section of the street there much have been a dozen barbarshops in the same half mile. Weird.

Well, that is my little story for the day. I will post some more tomorrow.

Okinawa- Trip 1 pics

So a few months ago I made it to Okinawa. I think I mentioned it. Well, I made it back for a 2nd visit and decided to post some pictures, but since I never posted the pics from the last visit I will do those first. I will lower your expectations right off the bat by saying that I am often interested by odd little every day items. So did I take awesome panoramic vistas of mountains and beaches? No. McDonalds bags and Dr Pepper bottles? Yes.

I like to do Sudoku during plane rides. It is compact (one sheet of paper and a pen), free in newspapers and plane magazines, and takes me a long time to finish. Also featured here is roughly one cup of Haagen Daas Ice Cream, which set me back 300 Yen, or approximately $3. I would never pay $3 for a cup of ice cream, but for some reason I didn't mind parting with 300 Yen. I was leaving Japan that day, and for some reason those coins didn't seem so valuable when heading back to the states, even though I knew I would be going back.

Yes, this is as nasty as the name is. It has a kind of grapefruity taste at first that ends in a kind of salty, bitter aftertaste. I tried it. Then I recycled the bottle with most of the liquid still in it. There went another 150 Yen.

You might be thinking, "what's with the fireworks store?" Or perhaps "nice flower shop." Wrong on both accounts. This is a used car lot. And, yes, they all look like this. I think they are trying to shock you so bad that you wreck your car as you drive by, thereby creating business.

This picture isn't the greatest, but it is the sign at the main entrance to the base, by the flagpole where they raise/lower the colors and play the national anthems. I say anthemS because they play both the Japanese and US anthems every morning. This picture was just as they were about to lower the colors.

This was my hotel room on base. I was impressed by how much furniture they were able to squeeze into my little living room/kitchenette.

Coffee is a huge thing in Japan. It is everywhere, in everything. I thought I had seen it all until this showed up on the menu. Coffee Jelly for 180 Yen. What a deal.


Anyway, that is all for now. Maybe tomorrow I will post some pics from my more recent trip.