Day 1: June 23, 2015

After arriving in Naha, Bachan had prepared a soup with kombu, daikon and fatty pork. I don’t know what it’s called; it’s her creation and it’s delicious!

I spent most of the day at Hireto-ojisan’s house while my sister took my mom and Ruri-nechan to the commissary to get some American food for a BBQ they were planning on having later on in the day.

Later, I went back to visit Hitoshi-ojisan at his apartment upstairs from Bachan, because I heard they had knocked down the wall turning two apartments into one. I thought it looked pretty cool considering what it used to be. Two small apartments renovated to be one big apartment for the family of four.

That evening, we went to dinner at the izakaya that Tetsuro works at as a chef. Trojun is still pretty pumped about the GirlClutch brand, and I was surprised to see he had stuck one of the stickers on his planner, and designed a couple GirlClutch t-shirts!!

Day 2, June 24, 2015

We spent the day shopping in Ginowan. We stopped at the Aeon in Naha first, to use a currency exchange machine, then Sato and Ruri-nechan drove us out to Ginowan’s Aeon, where we had lunch in the food court and I finally got to have Okinawa Soba! It’s been too long. I picked up some fun washi tape and decorative rollers for my planner hobby I’ve picked up. Then to San A, Daiso and Don Coyote for more shopping. Sato and mom decided we should drive out to Okinawa City to find the CrossFit gym to see where it is, so it would be easier to find the next day, when they were going to drop me off for an Oly workout. Except no one had bothered to write down the gym’s information I had provided them weeks ago, and I had no access to the internet from my cell phone in Okinawa. So we drove around for a while but couldn’t find it, and headed back home. Dinner was at Sato’s house that night; takoyaki, tonkatsu and some kind of white noodle dish.

Day 3: June 25, 2015

Got up and got ready to head out to CrossFit Asia. Akari joined us this time around, and helped us find the CrossFit gym (which we happened to drive past the day before and never noticed!). They dropped me off and left me for myself as I met Jamie, the owner of CrossFit Asia, and dropped in on their weightlifting class where we worked on power snatches. Imagine my surprise when the warm-up that was programmed was as exhausting as a warm-up for a CrossFit class (including sled pushes!). The staff and athletes at CrossFit Asia were super welcoming and friendly though, and it was a pleasant experience. They encouraged me to come visit again before I left to go back to the States, but I didn’t realize Okinawa City was so far from Naha and knew that it was unlikely I’d return (at least on this trip).

After getting home and taking a shower, Sato and Akari took us to Okinawa World to explore the caves and the different vendors and glass shop. We watched the eisa performance, which Emily loved but Kailey freaked out when the shisa came out, after dad told her that it’d bite her.

Day 4: June 26, 2015

Low-key day. I helped mom with laundry while Sato took my sister and dad back to the commissary. Laundry took forever! I don’t know why, but standing in a small laundromat with the dryers going when it’s 90-degrees out and crazy humidity sucked! Laundry took so long that my sister and dad were back by the time we were walking back to the house with the clean laundry. There wasn’t enough room in Sato’s car for me to join them for lunch, so I stayed at Hireto-ojisan’s house while Bachan went out for her music lesson and relaxed until she came back. Sato came back to pick us up and took us to Aeon to drop us off and to pick everyone else up. So Bachan and I walked around Aeon and hung out before going back to Sato’s for spaghetti dinner.

Day 5: June 27, 2015

Road trip! We got up and started loading the rental van Trojun picked up for our 3-family family vacation.

The first stop was to downtown Naha to pick Akari up, who I think had stayed with her boyfriend that night. Then to the Churaumi Aquarium where we split up; my family and Konatsu went to the aquarium while Sato, Trojun, Akari, Hireto-ojisan and Ruri-nechan went to the planetarium. Had I known I had a choice between the two, I would have chose the planetarium.

Then we headed the rest of the way up the island to some traditional Japanese cabins at Okuyanbaru no Sato. When we arrived, there were people in the clubhouse across from the creek playing sanshin, which provided a relaxing atmosphere, in my opinion. I loved it. We decided to get into the river, which was waist-deep at its deepest, which provided for cooling off and relaxing, more than it did actual swimming.

So Kyoka, Kona, Akari and I relaxed while mom and my sister watched over the kids.

After a rinse off and shower, the family grilled up some traditional American food like burgers, hotdogs and beans, and I taught them how to make s’mores, since apparently that’s not something that has caught on in Japan yet!

Day 6, June 28, 2015

After breakfast, I got up and decided to do my devotional outside, where it was still “cool” outside (maybe mid-70’s). It was quiet, because no one was in the river, so all there was to hear was the wind blowing through the trees, the bubbling of the creek, birds chirping, water wheel splashing… It was just very peaceful, and I wish I never had to leave that place.

But I guess all good things must come to an end, and we packed up the van and headed back down southern Okinawa. Before leaving, Hireto-ojisan lead us up some path where there was a little farm with a goat in its pen. So we stopped and fed it a little, took a couple pictures, and headed on out (but not before Hireto-ojisan started harassing a baby snake, of course).

We stopped for lunch (soba) before going to the Peace Memorial, where my great grandfather’s name is inscribed in the walls where hundreds of thousands of Okinawan civilians died during the Battle of Okinawa in World War II. I finally got to go inside the actual exhibit, thanks to Ruri-nechan taking me through. After we got home, I decided to move out of the room I was sharing with my sister and her kids, and moved in with Bachan.

Day 7, June 29, 2015

Bachan had a doctor’s appointment in the morning, so my mom and I went with her down to the Heiwadorii/Kokusaidorii area, which is a touristy shopping area in downtown Naha.

The doctor’s appointment took a LOT longer than I expected (like an hour and a half!) Since we had to walk through Heiwadorii to get to her doctor’s, we decided to stop and have lunch there and had Okinawa soba in a little hole-in-the-wall shop, that apparently used to be a local secret until it was published in some travel magazine. Now the place pops with tourists (and it did start getting crowded as we were finishing up). I stopped into a couple shops for some souvenirs (including Starbucks to get Terri and I Okinawa-themed gift cards).

Day 8: June 30, 2015

Quiet day. My family went back to Kokusaidorii and we did a little more shopping. Came home and took and nap and I had dinner with my mom and Bachan while everyone else ate over at Hireto-ojisan’s.

Day 9: July 1, 2015

A slow morning, but Sato took my sister, kids and I took Kurukuma Cafe, which is a Thai restaurant overlooking the ocean from a cliff. It was my first time there and the place is heaven! The food was alright, but the views were spectacular! The water is clear turquoise and the waves don’t break anywhere close because of the shallow water and coral/reefs.

The rest of the day was chill, as I took a trip to Aeon by myself for some much needed alone time. Then hung out with Bachan at home and she told me about my mom growing up and about Jichan.

Day 10: July 2, 2015

Nothing crazy. My mom’s cousin Masaki came to have lunch with his parents. Masaki lived with us in the States for a few months while learning English, so they all caught up with stories for an hour or two.

Day 11: July 3, 2015

Took the monorail from Aeon back to Kokusaidorii. Emily wasn’t havin’ it this trip, so mom and my sister took the kids back home, while dad and I walked around and did more shopping. He was looking for a nice sake set for my brother-in-law, while I was trying to finish shopping for my short list. We took the bus back home, but ended up on a different bus that took us on the long, side-street path and ended up having to get off when we realized we didn’t think anything looked familiar, and took the taxi two blocks home. -_-…

Day 12, July 4, 2015

We got up early and went out to a beach with Hitoshi-ojisan. There wasn’t snorkeling allowed there, but the water was surprisingly cool. After a couple hours, we headed out to a more secluded beach for some snorkeling, that included climbing down some giant rocks/boulders to get down to the water. They were kind of like tide-pools, and didn’t look very colorful from above, but once you got under the water, there were a lot of little tropical fish swimming around. And lots of sea urchins. I wish I had brought my phone down, since Hireto-ojisan or Hitoshi-ojisan could have held on to it while dad, Kona and I went skin-diving. My GoPro died, so I didn’t get much pictures or footage of the swim.

I had hoped we were going to go to the American Village in Ginowan to watch the fireworks and celebrate 4th of July, but that wasn’t in the cards. But we had a curry-rice family dinner at Sato’s house with all 4 of Bachan’s kids and most of their families instead.

Day 13: July 5, 2015

Me, my sister and Kailey took a trip to Shuri Castle. Trojun and dad dropped us off, and Trojun haded me one of his cell phones (I don’t know why some of them have two), and told me to call him when we were done walking around. So we walked around, but it was so hot I missed a lot of the cultural spots around the castle, like the tombs and gardens. Blah! I think there were also some new exhibits because there were some items I don’t remember seeing before (like screens).

After we called to have Trojun pick us back up, we headed to the Aeon in Haebaru to grab lunch before heading home. Dinner was at Hitoshi-ojisan’s that night, and Yukari-obasan made zaru soba, while Hitoshi-ojisan had bought some sushi for a side.

Day 14: July 6, 2015

Bachan asked me if I wanted to go back to Kokusaidorii again, to buy the Ryukyu umbrella I had seen on Instagram and kinda really wanted. We came back home, so I could go to Makuman with Hireto-ojisan and my family (Makuman is like a WalMart + Lowes?). I ended up finding some Squash car air freshener that they used to sell at Super Autobac’s in Huntington Beach before they closed down. I love this scent haha… Then we stopped at the fish market so Hireto-ojisan could make us maguro-don for dinner. I was kind of upset that we still hadn’t gone out to have sushi for dinner (because seriously; can you go to Japan and not have sushi?), and I decided I was going to go find a sushi bar by myself the next day, which didn’t end up needing to happen because I ran into Sato at Family Mart later on in the day and she agreed sushi would be a good idea.

Day 15: July 7, 2015

The last full day in Okinawa. Sato and Ruri-nechan took us out to a park near the ocean so the kids could feed pigeons (when Sato had described the birds to be a few days prior, it sounded more like a dove… Guess not!), then headed to a revolving sushi bar (my fave!) and I treated everyone to lunch. The sushi was awesome.

So then while Ruri-nechan took dad, my sister and the kids to a toy store, Sato, mom and I drove around southern Okinawa just to drive. We ended up at another shopping mall so mom could get her watch battery fixed, and we looked at luggage to maybe purchase. I don’t have my own suitcase, so I was looking at some hard-cases thatwere on sale. But they were zippered, and not the lock, so mom advised against it. We had dinner at Tetsuro’s izakaya again with the whole family, as a going away dinner.

Day 16: July 8, 2015

We spent most of the morning packing, and running last minute errands. It’s really hard to leave Okinawa. Especially when the whole family comes out to the airport to see you off. Even Bachan came this time around. Tears everywhere.