Fall Break in Okinawa (Last Week in October 2010)

We spent the kids fall break from school in Okinawa, Japan. Okinawa is the southern most prefecture in Japan and is made up of many small islands. The capital of the prefecture is on Okinawa Island (just to make things confusing). Okinawa has a reputation for being the "Hawaii of Japan", so we thought we'd take the opportunity to explore.
It was a quick 2 hour flight from Osaka to Okinawa but it was like going to a whole different country. Okinawa hosts a huge American military presence. In fact, the American military bases take up about 20% of all the land on Okinawa Island. We saw lots of American military personnel and planes at the airport. More importantly, they had many more American food chains than Osaka does! That sounds terrible, but we definitely get cravings for American food. There is even an town on the island called American Village.
We stayed at a gorgeous Marriott resort that was one of the most kid-friendly hotels I've ever seen. The drive from the airport took about 2 hours, so we got there after dark but we were very impressed by the hotel interior. 



We decided to splurge a bit and get one of the Dolphin rooms. These rooms were completely tricked out for kids.

 
They even came with lots of dolphin themed accessories. The bathroom and sitting room were also done in a dolphin motif. However, the connecting parent room was not as nice. It was a decent size for a Japanese hotel room but it was very plainly decorated and had 2 twin size beds that were so hard that when Nate tried to bounce on one he almost bruised his butt!
The next morning we explored the resort. It was a beautiful day and we were so impressed!

The outside of the resort

Breakfast on the patio

The beach area for the resort. It was just this small inlet, but it was gorgeous.

Dragon boat heading out for a tour

Playing in the water

Daddy and his girls

Exploring the beach

Feeding the dolphins

Dolphin doing tricks

Laura with one of the Okinawan guardian statues

We signed up for a family swim with dolphins and a snorkeling boat tour for the next day. Then we went to the American Village for lunch.

Lunch at Tony Romas

The girls had no idea who Betty Boop is!

We spent the rest of the day playing at the beach and in the pool. It was the best day of the trip!
Unfortunately, all of our plans for the following day were cancelled because of high winds and rain.

Beach closed because of high winds

 Instead we decided to go to the Okinawa Aquarium which has an excellent reputation. It turned into quite an adventure! We plugged the aquarium phone number into our fancy Japanese GPS and took off for the 90 minute drive to the aquarium. When we got there we found that we had to turn off the main road and head up a steep hill. I was surprised that the sign at the bottom was all in Japanese, since it was supposed to be a major tourist attraction but in Japan, you never know. We drove for about 1.5 miles up this hill. The track was fairly narrow, with huge drainage ditches on either side. It really wasn't what I expected at all. Right as the road completely gave out and ended in a grassy track the GPS announced we were there. Matt and I were pretty panicked. The road was too narrow and the drainage ditches to wide to turn the car around and we had no idea how would manage to call for help, since we don't speak the language and we didn't actually know where we were. Matt managed to back the car down hill for about 1/2 mile where we found a small driveway leading to nothing. However, it was wide enough for us to turn around! 
About 45 minutes later we finally arrived at the aquarium. It was (almost) worth the drive! It was also very visible and had lots of English signage. The grounds were gorgeous.

It was cool and windy when we got there and the girls were dressed for summer

The grounds were really beautiful with lots of marine-shaped topiary

Standing on a manta ray shaped topiary

Even though they were cold, the kids couldn't resist this mist generator

Outside of the Aquarium

Manatees

Petting starfish

Looking in the absolutely huge tank

Spider crab

Inside the mouth of a shark skull

One of the whale sharks that the aquarium is famous for

Bottom of a manta ray

My three little fish

We had a great time!
The following day it started pouring rain. Luckily, the resort had an indoor pool with two water slides. The kids had a blast and must have gone down each slide over 100 times. I was pretty pouty that I missed my chance to swim with the dolphins though.

The next morning we headed back to Kobe just ahead of a typhoon. We found out later that they closed the airport just a few hours after we left!


Nara  
October 13, 2010
A couple of weekends ago the we decided to take a family trip to Nara. It is a medium-size city that is about an hour away from Kobe. It is a very popular tourist site in Japan. It was the first permanent capital of Japan. It is famous for its temples and shrines, particularly the Diabutsu, or Great Buddha. It is also known for the sacred deer that roam the park that surrounds the Todai-ji (the temple that houses the Great Buddha).

The Nara tourist symbol - a little antler headed guy that we saw everywhere!

A Shinto shrine we passed on the way to the temple

There are many shrines and temples in Nara and we passed several as we walked from the car to the park.

Stone lantern with deer motif

Once we reached the park, the first thing we saw were the famous deer. They were everywhere. Little stands selling deer food were located all along the path. However, we were warned in advance, not to feed them. Although tame, they are very aggressive when it comes to food! Although they were originally disappointed, the kids were just as happy once they saw the deer in action! There are about 1200 deer which freely roam the park. In ancient times they were considered messengers of the gods. Today they have the status of National Treasures.

Laura and Katie with a sacred deer.

TheTodai-ji  temple itself was extremely impressive! It consists of several gates and buildings and beautiful grounds. The most impressive building was the Daibutsu-den, where the Great Buddha is kept. The pictures don't do the size of it justice. It was immense!

Outside Daibutsu-den Hall,the largest wooden building in the world!

A closer look at the building, you can kind of get a sense of the scale.

Inside the temple was the Daibutsu. He is one of the largest bronze figures in the world and is about 1300 years old. It is just over 52 feet tall. Historians believe that it was originally built as a charm against smallpox.

Buddha - He was immense, the picture doesn't do him justice!

 Behind the statue of the Buddha is a wooden column with a hole at the base. The tradition is that those who squeeze through the hole, which is the exact size of one of the Great Buddha's nostrils, are ensured enlightenment. Matt and I didn't attempt it, but all of the kids should be in good shape!

Laura ensuring her path to enlightenment

 The statues below were also in the same temple as the Great Buddha. Each of them was colossal and were amazing examples of carving.

Buddhavista to the side of the main statue

Guardian of the Temple

For lunch we stopped at a cute little French bistro. Nathan decided to branch out and instead of his usual  white rice and Coke, he had crepes covered in caramel sauce and ice cream. It's amazing how he's so willing to try new sweets when he's so picky about every other kind of food!

Getting a ride back to the car from daddy

Walking back to the car we passed a big deer in the middle of the city streets. I guess he escaped from the park. I was kind of shocked (and didn't get my camera out in time) but everyone else on the street just acted as though it was no big deal!

Japanese flags flying in the breeze, it still surprises me to see these, some how I still expect them to be American flags!

Arima

Last weekend our family headed to Arima, a nearby town in the mountains, famous for its hot springs and the onsen that have been built around them. Onsen is the Japanese word for hot spring and has also come to mean the baths that have been built over them. Men and women bathe separately but in communal baths. Actually, you shower before you get in, so the baths are more about soaking and relaxing than they are about getting clean. However, everyone is naked! I haven't had the courage to try one yet, but I was curious to see the town.

I was expecting to see a quaint mountain town surrounded by bubbling pools of water. Actually, I never did see a hot spring and the town was more of a modern, slightly dilapidated tourist trap. However, we had a fantastic time anyway!

Matt discovered that there was an Arima Toy and Automata Museum. We used this as a bribe to get the kids to go on our adventure without complaining too much. At first the museum seemed like a complete bust. Tin toys in glass cases. However, the further we explored, the more interesting and interactive things we discovered. Many of the toys were German or Swiss made, especially the wooden 

toys.

 The kids had a blast with these!

The tin toys and automata were mostly Japanese. Some of these were really fascinating.

Large doll. She was in the automated section but not sure what she did.

Matt was fascinated by the packaging for Robby the Robot!

Automated dragon. You turned it's crank and the mouth and body moved.

Automated dolls that moved when the crank was turned

We ended up staying for over two hours! Matt and I finally had to pull them away in order to eat lunch. We didn't make it far. On the second floor was the Toys Restaurant. This little guy met us at the door.

The restaurant had a nice view of the street and did offer a child's meal served on a wooden train. However, our kids chose a hamburgers and rice. Katie did try her first bowl of real ramen (and loved it!) 

 

Matt and I had a traditional Japanese dish called shabu-shabu. It consists of meats and vegetables cooked in a broth on a hot plate in the center of the table. It was really good! So were the dipping sauces served on the side.

After lunch we walked back to the car and finally found a little hidden pocket of traditional Japan in the form of a Shinto shrine and Buddist temple complex.

The Buddist temple

Katie and Laura at the Buddhist temple, ringing the bell to get the  gods attention for their prayers.

Eating ice cream with a statue of a Tanuki, a Japanese raccoon dog. Tanuki statues are found everywhere around Japan, especially outside restaurants and bars. The Tanuki is most often depicted with a big round tummy, gigantic testicles, a flask of sake, a promissory note, and a straw hat. 

 Our next stop was the Rokko-Arima Ropeway. This was a cable car that went up and down the steep slopes of the mountain. (Not my favorite thing!) However we did get gorgeous views of the mountain.

Waterfall near the Arima side.

When we got to the Rokko side of the ropeway we passed over an huge wooden obstacle course built in the woods and trailing up and down the side of the mountain. The kids were immediately intrigued. This was the Mt. Rokko Athletic Field and it consisted of 40 obstacle course stations. Nathan did every one! The girls did their best but their were a few that I absolutely refused to let them try. Given the lack of any safety features and the steepness of the trial, the most amazing thing about the place was that we didn't see anyone break any bones!

Much too cool for us, he took off and we only saw him at the beginning and the end.

 

Matt couldn't resist trying this one!

We had a great day and we all came home sweaty and exhausted! Nathan is already begging to go back but I kind of feel like we already may have used up all of our luck!

Kobe Soup Kitchen

Yesterday the family volunteered (along with many others from P&G) at the Kobe soup kitchen. We didn't really know what to expect. Most of our assumptions of what it would be like were based on American TV. The reality was very different, starting with the location. The kitchen was in a small public park near the docks. There was almost nothing nearby. We had to drive, since there were no train stops in the vicinity. Finding it was quite a challenge and most of the volunteers got lost at least once on their way there.

Once we got there we watched as several men unpacked a small shed that stood next to the  baseball field that was the park's only attraction. The number of items they pulled out of the shed were amazing: tables, rice cookers, giant pots, cutting boards, utensils/bowls/cups, 5 portable sinks, gas cookers, etc.

The gas powered rice cookers

Once things were set up, we started peeling potatoes, chopping carrots, taking 25 bullion cubes out of their packaging, washing the raw chicken, etc. We let the kids do some things that I've never let them try before, like peeling potatoes and handling raw meat. 

Washing the chicken at one of the portable sinks

Potatoes and seasonings waiting to go into the pot

Adding ingredients to the giant stew pot

Once the ingredients were ready, the cooking began. The meat and seasonings went into an enormous pot, fueled by a portable gas burner. Three giant rice cookers were filled and the kids began putting icing on the brownies that one of the volunteers had baked.

Helping ice the brownies

Next there was about an hour of time with very little to do while the chicken stew cooked. A few volunteers were in charge of stirring the pot, adding the vegetables and additional seasonings. The rest of us stood around watching. Matt and I had a chance to talk to one of the regular volunteers. She told us that homelessness in Japan is a fairly new phenomena. Most of the homeless are men who have become that way through debt. Once a person in Japan loses their address, they are no longer eligible to apply for any of the social benefits and medical care to which they are normally entitled. This makes it next to impossible to get back on their feet. Many are also very ashamed of their homeless status and do everything they can to maintain a "normal" appearance so that they blend in with everyone else. I was very surprised (maybe just because of my TV-based assumptions) to see that none of the people who came to eat seemed to be drunk or high. For the most part they were very well groomed and wore clothing that was in decent shape. There was no odor and they waited politely in line.

When some of the children began handing out brownies early, they gently refused and waved them back to their stations, despite the fact that they were clearly very hungry.

Handing out brownies

Once the stew was ready we began preparing it to serve, ladling stew over bowls of rice. They told us to prepare to feed 200 and, as it got closer to 12:00 p.m., a long line of people formed in front of our work station.

People walked or biked into the area. It was a beautiful day, so that wasn't a hardship for most, but in the heat of the summer or the cold of the winter, people must be truly starving to put up with the inconvenience. Within 10 minutes, we had given out 175 portions of rice and stew, along with water/tea, bananas and brownies. The line moved quickly, smoothly and quietly. The men sat on the ground or on scattered benches to eat their meals. When they were finished they brought their plates to be washed. Many stayed to help with the washing up and clean up. At that point, I realized that the men who had done all of the heavy lifting at the beginning of the day, the men who were in charge of cooking the rice and who were scrubbing out the giant stew pot, were all homeless men themselves. 

Volunteers handing out bananas in front of the shed. The line
of men waiting for food is on the right

They had taken ownership of the process, even to the point of waiting to eat until everyone else had a chance. It was amazing.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure the kids got the kind of understanding that I was hoping that they would from the experience, but it is definitely something that I'd like our family to do again on a regular basis.