Weekend Trip to Naha

After exploring a little of the less-populated northern part of Okinawa, Loren and I decided to visit the prefecture's cultural, economic and political capital -- Naha.

Because Japan (and Okinawa in particular) has so little land, it's hard to describe what's considered "city" and "country" here.  Everything is so compact.  Even the smaller villages have people stacked on top of each other.  So I wasn't quite sure what to expect with a big city like Naha.  Massive skyscrapers reaching up toward the sky?

As it turns out, Naha looks a lot like the other cities around Okinawa, except .... tighter.  Buildings are crammed next to each other, and the sprawl seems to go on forever.

Driving into Naha

We didn't really have a plan, so we just drove around the city for a while.  (In retrospect, I've found a billion things online that I would have liked to visit.  Naha has an enormous public market, historical sites, a mile-long avenue filled with shopping, etc.  Oh well, some other time.)

When we were sick of driving, Loren and I stopped at a park on the outskirts of Naha.

Ocean view

East China Sea

Holy crap, I live on a beautiful tropical island!

I love the various shades of blue in the ocean

Not the best shoes to wear to the beach

Coral fragments along the beach

The park was located near the Naha Airport, so we watched the planes take off and land.

I also oogled the massive selection of soft drinks available.  There are vending machines on literally every block in Okinawa.  Canned coffee is a really big thing here.  Some machines even have drinks available hot or cold.  

I bought one of the drinks the other day.  I wish I could read the labels, because I'm pretty sure its name was "Sugar-Water Death Drink."  I could practically feel my teeth rotting as I drank it.  I'm sure there are much better choices available.

We also watched a game of baseball at the park.

I know that baseball is considered the all-American sport, but the Japanese have really got it down.

Little league is HUGE over here.  There are baseball fields everywhere, and there's almost always a game being played.  After school, you'll see kids running around in their uniforms.  On my evening walks, I usually see at least one dad outside playing catch with his son (and sometimes daughter).

A few days ago, I took Lucky to the dog park.  Two young Japanese men -- probably in their late teens or early twenties -- were playing catch in the middle of the field.  (It's only recently been turned into a dog park, and I'm not sure some of the locals know this, because the sign is in English.)

Lucky, of course, immediately snagged their ball and took off with it.  I thought they'd be annoyed, but the guys laughed like crazy and started a game of monkey-in-the-middle with Lucky and the baseball.  I was grateful, because it wore Lucky out and meant that I didn't have to chase him around the field.

It's funny how dogs can kind of bridge that culture gap.  Whenever I take Lucky anywhere off-base, people automatically gravitate toward him.  (Which, in turn, opens the door for me to try to communicate with people.)

Yet another reason why dogs are so much better than cats ...