ocean expo

Shaggy, my old roomie from Yono, is here for a visit so we did a little bit of site seeing near Nago city this afternoon. Unfortunately Matt and I have had very little time to sort out our drivers licenses so we had to cab it which was a little pricey but well worth the cost.

We went to Ocean Expo Park which was rather breathtaking. First we went to the aquarium which was the largest I had ever seen. The tanks were huge and we got to walk through one of those glass tunnels! I’ve always wanted to walk through one of those things so I can now scratch that off the list. There were whale sharkes, mantas, stingrays, turtles, video cameras, digital cameras, camera phones, you name it!

We had lunch in the cafeteria where we had a front row view of these creatures from the deep blue sea. There’s nothing like spooning some soft mango ice cream into your mouth while a giant whale shark drifts by barely two feet away from you.

After spending about 3 hours underwater we headed to Emerald Beach. I finally felt we had arrived in the Okinawa our students told us about. Move over Hawaii!!! I have to keep reminding myself that I live here, in Japan, on a tropical island…yup. We took off our shoes and walked in the white sand to the sight of, as the scissor sisters put it, a “creamsicle sky” (insert groovy bass line).

Now here I am, back at the apartment with another work week ahead of me. It’s tough having these teeny tiny hints of vacation sprinkled a few hours here and there. The only thing I can compare it too is going on the road with your band, playing one great show and having to go home the next day. I just want to keep going. I just want to keep lying in the sand, listening to the ocean and not have to worry about being at work the next day. It’s time for a holiday, I haven’t had one since last summer and it’s beginning to wear on me. It’s tough having to be genki all of the time, the last thing I want to do when I get home from work is attempt any socializing whatsoever.

There’s a light at the end of this coming very soon, I just have to keep thinking about momma’s visit, the arrival of my sassy redheaded girlie on December 24^th and 10 days off over the Christmas holidays!! 10 whole days off with no work…at all…nothing…phew!

music and visits

Last Monday Matt and I went to a big used items warehouse called “Manga Souka” on a quest for musical instruments. Part of the deal with moving to Okinawa was to get our butts in gear to write music, so we found some stuff.

We found this bass for $60.00, the guitar for $90.00, an old toy Casio for a measly $3.00 and a new bass amp for $70.00. So far we have about 5 song ideas, now it’s just a matter of giving them some structure which is always the hard part. I’ve been having a great time mixing various drum loops and samples on Acid Pro and recording stuff into Cool Edit.

I’m happy to report that I’m moving branches and my next location will be a 10 minute walk from my place…yay!! No more 45 minute bus rides!

In other news, my momma arrives here on November 1^st and Jenny will be spending her Christmas holidays here in Japan!!! I’ll be standing at the gate, eagerly awaiting her grand entrance at Narita Airport on December 24th. What a great Christmas gift. We will be spending New Years in sunny Okinawa.

Listening to The Devil Wears Prada books on tape : )

snakes and the beach

We finally made it to the beach today and it was lovely. Even the American fighter planes circling above didn't deter us from the warmth of the sun and the feeling of sand between our toes. Matt was kind enough to rub things in by taking a photo of himself and text messaging friends back in Saitama.


On our way to the beach we walked down Kokusai St. where there are many tourist shops. We came across this local sake called 'Habu Saki'. Habu means snake in Japanese, this is pretty much the Okinawan version of tequila with a worm at the bottom. Apparently the habu venom is supposed to increase male virility…

bus work beach

This is our new view. Over to the right you can see this...
I had my first day at work yesterday and it went fairly well. I'm going through a little bit of reversed culture shock due to the American base located across from my work place. Many military folks go shopping in the department store I work at, I haven't seen this many westerners in a very long time and it feels very strange. My place of work reminds me of California. On my break, I can go sit on Sunset Beach and catch a couple of rays...
Here's some footage of me on my bus ride to work...


Sadly, I have to take a 45 minute bus journey to work. I'm not fond of buses, they're not very reliable and I think I'll forever hold a deep hatred for them after growing up in a suburb and having buses as my only mode of transportation into the city. There are no trains in Okinawa, only one monorail that gets you from the airport to the castle. It's pretty cool looking down on the city from the train though and they play happy disney-like music during the ride, we'll see how long that takes to wear off.