Last week in Okinawa

These past few weeks have flown by. Outside of co-op I've been busy with graduate school applications and at co-op I have finally started to get a visual output from the model I've been working on. But alas, even though I wish I had a few more months here my flight to Tokyo is on Friday (bittersweet).

This being my last weekend in Okinawa, I have been trying to fit in all of my favorite Okinawan things. Today we made it to a new waterfall, it was triple scoop day at Blue Seal (Okinawan Icecream), followed (yes followed) by a dinner of Okinawan Soba, a stop at Family Mart, and a beach bonfire planned for tonight :)

Hiking to Tadake falls

Tadake falls!

Self explanatory

Soba Soba

Tokyo III and Kyoto

As I mentioned in my past two posts had the opportunity to spend 10 days traveling around mainland over the past two weeks. Without my computer I didn't have much of a chance to write and look at pictures but I just started going through everything and am realizing we really made tracks while we were there (made possible by Japan's awesome transportation).

So I'm not exactly the biggest "city" person. Some part of me thinks that a city is a city... its a place with a lot of people who share the same needs as people in all other cities and thus all cities some have some amount of "sameness". Tokyo is a huge city...but Tokyo won me over. First of all the shear number of people. If your in an area that is not very crowded it is still as crowded as NYC or parts of Boston but turn a corner and you are suddenly in a crosswalk with a sea of people moving in every direction.  We stayed in the neighborhood of Shibuya--home of Shibuya crossing (rumored to be the busiest crosswalk in the world). That title has probably brought even more people to the congestion (estimated by the number of selfie sticks being held above the crowd), and it was insane, it felt like you were trying to make your way through to the front of a concert at every cross signal.

Shibuya crossing

Our first morning in Tokyo we got up early and made our way to the Tokyo fish market. We didn't make it up in time (needed eta 4am) to view the famed tuna auction but we did have the chance to wander the isles of fresh catch...the shear volume of seafood in the one lot was jaw dropping.

  

We spent the next few days exploring the different neighborhoods of Tokyo and eating delicious sushi and ramen. 

Our next stop was Hakone. Nestled in the mountains along the train route between Tokyo and Kyoto this small town has an awesome view of Mt. Fuji. While I have loved being in Okinawa, the New Englander in me has been craving a little bit of Autumn, and I definitely got it here. The maples were still changing colors and driving through the hills to get a view of snow capped Fuji was definitely a needed change of pace.

A short bullet train later we arrived in Kyoto. Kyoto is definitely another city that took me by surprise. You could be walking down a relatively busy street, turn a corner and end up in a 1000+ year old temple. With 17 Unesco world heritage sites and over 2000 (YES let me spell that out...two thousand!) temples and shrines, I am glad we had a number of days to spend in this awesome city. 

We spent the first few days hitting the major sites. We crisscrossed the city to see Kinkaku-ji (the Golden temple), walk through the bamboo forest, and hike Mount Inari whose trails are lined with thousands of torii gates.  

Kinkaku-ji 

Candles at Kinkaku-ji

We got up early and hiked Mt. Inari before the crowds hit. The shear number of gates was astounding and we found a couple of stops with awesome views of the city from above.

Morning hike Mt. Inari

Mt. Inari Trail 

We saw a ton of temples! But Kennin-ji was one of my favorites. Holding the title of oldest zen temple in Kyoto (founded in 1202), walking on the tatami mats just after opening in the morning sunlight was ...we are going to go with...peaceful.

Looking through the temple onto the "garden of the sound of tide" --the three central rocks represent the Buddha and two Zen monks

The "Circle, Triangle, Square" garden

The Daio-en -- a zen stone garden

 After a couple days of touring temples we wanted to try to get to some of nearby cities. Again, thanks to the trains which run all the time at relatively low cost, we were able to spontaneously city hop to Nara and Osaka. 

Nara --Known for the dear which wander its streets and Todaiji temple was our first stop. Getting off the train, we walked five minutes and were immediately surrounded by "wild" dear. The dear have become a tourist attraction in themselves and will come right up to you wanting a hand out.

Off limits to the dear, we wandered over to Todaji temple. The temple boasts the title of being the largest wooden structure in the world was originally constructed in 752 and hosts a giant (15m) buddha! I would also like to note, that I successfully made it through one of the building's pillars which has a hole (supposedly the size of the Daibutsu's nostril) that is said those who can crawl through will be granted enlightenment in their next life, so I guess I'm doing okay. 

 After spending the morning in Nara we hopped on another train over to Osaka where we toured Osaka castle and made our way through the busy streets of Dontonbori. 

Osaka castle

 Finally, we couldn't leave without saying hello to the snow monkeys of Kyoto. I will leave you with this...

Tokyo II

I am finishing up my week of traveling by returning again to Tokyo. After two bullet trains and innumerable bus and subway rides, I would say Japan has lived up to its reputation of stellar public transportation - sorry Boston but it's going to be a little  painful waiting for the greenline after being able to spontaneously jump on a train that runs (on time) every 30 minutes - to a city three hours away.

Over the past week we have meandered through the temples of Kyoto, fed the deer that wander the parks of Nara, and  at delicious food in Osaka. Though I am missing being with family for thanksgiving I am so grateful to have had the chance to see some of this awesome country with great friends. Can't believe I have less than 3 weeks left in Okinawa.

Write more soon.

Tokyo

Okinawa and Tokyo could not be more dissimilar. I have been loving the smell of autumn, crisp air, and bright city lights. No really, the streets are lined with TV screens and there is music for everything from getting on the train to ordering Ramen.

I met up with my friends Alex and Mackenzie (also NU peeps) on Thursday and have since been making small tracks across this enormous city. From where we are staying in the busy neighborhood of Shibuya, to the older city and temple filled park of Ueno -we have ascended Tokyo tower, wandered through Tsukiji fish market, and got lost and wound up in Akihabara - a neighborhood filled with arcades and anime.

Headed to Mt. Fuji and then kyoto tomorrow!

(Longer post to come with pics)

Busy week

I only have a month left here :|

There are still so many things I want to do in Okinawa and a lot I want to get done in the lab before I leave. Highlights of the week: Delicious ramen, and I finally made some progress on the model I have been working on at co-op.

I'm leaving Thursday for 10 days on mainland Japan!-- Lots of updates to come.

Diving

The highlight of this week was definitely today’s dive trip. I ended up not going to South Korea with some of the other interns, but diving was my (really awesome) consolation prize.

Okinawa is known for its reefs and water visibility. I’ve been trying to get out snorkeling as much as possible but the good days have become fewer as the winter winds have picked up a bit more. It was gusting 40mph for most of the week so I wasn’t sure about going but I couldn’t have been luckier with the day –calm, sunny—really everything you would want.

I went with Reef Encounters, one of the dive shops around here that supports an English speaking staff, and hoped on a boat for a 1.5 hour trip north. In total we did three boat dives, mostly in the area between Okinawa Honto (the main island of Okinawa, where OIST is) and the Island of Iejima –which is awesome in itself because I would have never made it here snorkeling.

At the first two sites, the corals themselves were amazing.  We swam through the canyons between massive coral walls, watching fish schooling above and around us. I had forgotten how much I love diving, you can float inches above a coral, inspecting the individual polyps (sorry I started at NU as a marine bio major), or you can look out at the whole community, observing how far you actually are under the rippling surface above…50 minutes of awe.

Though we were warned of sea snakes we didn’t see any, but the third site was sandier and certain areas were full of garden eels! Also some overly friendly parrot fish.

Sorry I don’t have pictures, no underwater camera L but here is here's a video of a group of garden eels... because they’re pretty cool.

A note on Okinawan history

Before I go off to explore mainland Japan in a few weeks, I thought I would try to visit some of the main sites on Okinawa.

Okinawa Prefecture is technically comprised of hundreds of islands known as the Ryukus. However, it was 1879 before the Japan annexed the island chain and dissolved the Ryukyu kingdom which had reigned for hundreds of years prior. The palace of the kingdom is (was) in Naha, the capital of present day Okinawa. Over the past weekend I got to check it out. 

Most of the Shuri castle was destroyed in the Battle of Okinawa (1945) but there has been quite a bit of reconstruction, as well as preservation of what remains. The estimate is that the castle was built around 1320 and acted as the center of the Ryuku kindom for ~500 years.

The castle is just outside of the city in Naha and reminds me of many of the other sites I've been meaning to visit here. There are always signs pointing off of the highway to significant local sites...most of them I  obviously won't be able to go to. But still I am going to make an effort while I am here.

That being said, I've been told mainland Japan is very different from the "island life" on Okinawa. More exploration soon!

On another note, I've been really busy with work and grad school applications. It seems like the weeks are flying by and I am running out of time to get everything done (and to see everything here :P) Can't complain too much though, reading papers on the beach isn't a bad deal.