Day 369

JAPAN - DAYS 6 & 7

Like almost every other day on this trip, I didn't have a plan for my last day in Okinawa.  I knew I had to be at the airport around 5pm for my flight, and I had already learned that you really only need to be there about 20 minutes early for Air Asia flights, so I had a lot of time.  Not wanting to waste my last day on an island paradise, I woke up early and went snorkeling before the sun got too strong.

I saw (and chased) another sea snake:

Look at that cool tail!

And some barracuda:

This poor striped surgeonfish is missing a chunk out of his head:

Poor thing.

An assortment of parrotfish, whose teeth scare me just a little:

Some wrasses:

I'm not personally a fan of feeding the fish, since it trains them to rely on humans for food AND makes them try to bite you.  But that doesn't stop me from taking advantage of a prime photography opportunity.

DO YOU SEE THE TEETH?  AHHHH.

My new favorite butterflyfish, the Latticed Butterflyfish.

I just like this photo because you can see the detail of the scales.

Again with the teeth!  These guys eat coral, which is like, pretty freaking hard.  Wouldn't want one to bite my finger.

Okay, enough of the fish photos.  After it started getting hot, I packed up my stuff at the hostel and decided to stop at interesting things on the way back down to Naha, where the airport is.  There was another castle on the route, so I went there.

Katsuren Castle is on the east coast of the island on a little peninsula.  It was very easy to find, and there weren't many people there.  (Probably because it was so darn hot.)

Walking up to the castle.

Not bad, not bad!

Panoramic from the front.  Remember, click to make any photo bigger.

Katsuren Castle was an Amawari castle built in the 13th century.  It has three levels and no remaining buildings.  It's free to visit, but the trek up is pretty steep and slippery.  I almost lost my flipflops (and my balance) a few times.  The view is beautiful!

On the first level.

From the top level you can see the empty first level and the remains of a building on the second level.  There was once a rectangular building, and all the stones on the second level were supports.

This is the view from the top level.

Also from the top level.  Click to make me bigger.

A little wider view.  The ocean is beautiful from here.

A closer look at the second level.

From the bottom again.

From the side.  The cones are marking a well.

Katsuren Castle was nice, but it didn't take very long to completely check out.  I decided to drive to a beach farther south.  Based on my previous experience with Okinawan beaches, I wasn't expecting much.  But it was my last chance to get some sun and swimming in!

On the way, I saw this.  It's a 24-hour flea market, basically.  I was compelled to stop.

I love me a good flea market.  Once inside, I found the typical flea market stuff.  Lots of small shops selling cheap, poorly-made goods.  A used video game/trading card shop.  But among the crap was a gem: a used bookstore.

Japanese comic books are called 'manga' and they're an excellent way to learn the language.  The kanji always have pronunciations next to them, and there are pictures to help you understand what's happening.  The language is usually casual and the sentence structure/grammar/etc. is usually pretty simple.  Bonus: everything was SUPER CHEAP.  Most of the books were Y100 (about a dollar) and the most expensive ones were about Y450.  They also sold sets of books for cheap.

I am fairly sure that "BOYS LOVE" is a section for very pretty homosexual romances,
not things that most boys actually love.

This painting, "Girl With A Pearl Earring," is really popular in Asia.  I see it on all sorts of stuff.
(Yes, I know a painting's name.  Don't act so surprised.)

I wanted to buy everything, because these are hard and expensive to get in the States, but I was still trying to at least look like I was following the 7kg (~15 pound) weight limit on my carry-on.   I ended up buying just three books and I was very proud of my self-control.  (I would have bought tons of stuff and shipped it home, but sadly it was Saturday and the post offices aren't open on the weekend.)

After the flea market I finally made it to the beach.  It was still sunny, but clearly was going to get cloudy in the near future.  I spent maybe two hours there relaxing in the sun before I realized I should probably shower and get going.  Fortunately the facilities there were pretty good!

I had to return the car, but the rental company had failed to provide me with an address or special-GPS-phone-number.  I basically drove around until I found it.  On the way I stopped and filled up the tank for the first time.  I drove 300 kilometers (about 175 miles) and I put $36 of gas into the tank.  I have no idea what the gas mileage of that car was, but it must have been incredible.  My old gas-guzzling Jeep in the States would have needed at least $100 of gas to get that far.  I'm starting to see the benefit of buying a new car!

I got on my flight--almost had to weigh my bag, but fortunately I got out of it--and with the help of about seven people I finally found my hostel for the night.  Their sign isn't lit up at night, it was really hard to find!  The next morning I tried to do a little last-minute souvenir shopping, but I needed to leave at 11 and nothing opened until 10.  While waiting, I stumbled upon two interesting things.

1)  Cigarette vending machines.  I'd heard about them, but to see them in person is... depressing, actually.

Didn't find any of the fabled used-panty vending machines, but I'm not complaining about that.

2) Also a small but efficient cemetery.

Very, very efficient use of space.

Lots of fresh flowers.

Lots of the graves had flowers (fresh and not-so-fresh) or drinks.  Some drinks were in cute cups, like below...

Hmmm what are those cups?

Please put these on my grave someday.

The drinks appear to be things that the dead person would have liked in real life, mostly soda and cheap booze.

Another drink in a nice cup.

Mostly soda at this one.

Soda again.  Don't bring me this crap when I die.  Leave me an offering of rum, please.

There are some cheap brands of sake (the traditional Japanese liquor) that come in a little glass cup with a removable lid, and a lot of the graves had those.  Many of them were moldy.  It was my understanding that some families would come have picnics at the grave sites, but frankly this place was way too small and cramped for that.  I did see a family meticulously cleaning a grave though.  Nice to see people respecting the dead and all.

After that it was back to the airport and off to Korea!  Keep an eye out for a post about all the wonderful and terrible things I ate while in Japan.

Cheers,
Ashton