Off to Okinawa, 12-25-2012

Yoshie

 taco rice

goya chapuru

rafute and delicious tofu

ad for a hot spring

 

                          dried bonito - you shave it toflakes to season dishes and to make broth.

plastic food - pig's feet

Santa

these dog t-shirts were everywhere

My vacation started on the 23rd nothing special until the 25th.  It was way to expensive to fly home so I decided to go to Okinawa (thinking it would be warm enough to snorkel - Okinawa has a coral reef larger than Australia's.  But, they don't have a winter as warm as Hawaii's...)  I decided to go anyway and I will meet a friend, Yoshie (Japanese) from Tokyo who lived in Carmel for 4 years. Her son and Peter were very good friends as well, and we've all visited back and forth a few times. Okinawa is a group of islands pretty far to the south (and a little west) of the rest of Japan. There are still many U.S. army/navy ? bases on the island and there is often trouble because of that (soldier's fault - crime, rapes, etc.) so I wasn't sure how welcome Americans would be but no problem. Okinawa is warmer than the rest of Japan but not as warm as Hawaii. The people are also more relaxed (like Hawaii). The people, particularly the women, of Okinawa are the longest living people in the world. There is even a book 'The Okinawan Diet'. Goya is thought to be partly responsible. But also their tendency to eat a lot of vegetables and fish. That being said, pork is VERY popular and it's said 'On Okinawa they eat everything but the squeal'. The diets of the young people are different and so the life expectency is declining.

After meeting Yoshie at the airport we took the monorail to the hotel - very easy. Got settled and then headed over to Kokusai dori (International St.). I had high hopes for some international food (I especially crave mid-eastern) but alas, Japanese and a few American steak houses. So we decided to try some Okinawan specialties. Taco rice (don't know why that's a specialty) which was very spicy (for me), rafute, which is pork belly that's simmered for hours in awamori (the local liquor), and chanpuru a goya dish. All good. Then we walked around and tried some famous Okinawa cookies (made with lard) and purple potato cakes.  It's a very touristy area and has the feel of a Florida beach town, although there is no beach close by...