Arriving in Japan and Okinanwa

We arrived at Tokyo Narita Airport early evening on Sunday. Immigrations in Japan was unlike I have ever seen before. They take finger prints on both hands and take a photo of your face. They mean business. Our plan was to fly from Narita to Okinawa airport stand-by on All Nippon. We went to the ticketing counter to have our names put on the stand-by list. The customer service agent told us that we probably wouldn't make it on the flight. She told us our other option was to take a costly bus to Haneda Airport to list for a flight there. Apparently we couldn't wait for the one in Narita and then make it to the one in Haneda in time. We decided to just wait it out in Narita. We were concerned that if we didn't make it to Okinawa we had no way to let Chelsea and Billy know what happened. I asked the customer service agent if she would be able to let them know if we didn't make it. She said no. I don't know if she even understood what I was talking about. There was a little bit of a language barrier. While we waited to hear if we made the flight Chelsea and Billy walked by. We were able to give them a heads up that we may or may not be coming. We also started trying to figure out our "plan B." We were both so exhausted that we decided if we didn't make the flight we would find the closest hotel and crash. Luckily we made the flight. I'm not sure why the lady told us we probably wouldn't. There were tons of seats open.We hoped that we could do as much as possible in Okinawa in the short time we were there. We arrived late Sunday night and left Tuesday afternoon. Billy's brother Rick picked us up from the airport. We stayed at Rick and Wendy's house on the base. On the drive to their house Pachinko parlors were everywhere. Apparently gambling is not acceptable in Japan. Pachinko is gambling but you take the chips you win outside the building around the corner and exchange them for money. Once on base we chatted for a few minutes, ate some cereal, and went to bed.

I don't know if it was the time change but we were up very early. After making a game plan we were on our way. Our first stop was the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. I hate to admit it but that was the first time I've ever been to an aquarium. The Okinawa Aquarium is the 2nd largest in the world (following one in Atlanta, Georgia.) They had a little area where you could pick up and touch sea creatures. They had several small tanks. There was one huge tank in the center that even had whale sharks. They had one tank with multiple different kinds of sharks. One of my favorite finds was a fountain next to the drinking fountain for gargling. It tasted like a mild mouth wash.

After the Aquarium we went to Beach Rock Village for lunch. This place is really hard to describe. I'm not even totally sure what the purpose of Beach Rock Village is. I guess it's a destination. It has cottages, nomadic style tents, and a tent village. It offers activities like horse back riding, fishing, farming, and taking care of animals. We went to lunch at a little cafe there. I was a little nervous about what the food would be like when we pulled up but it was surprisingly good. I had taco rice. Brandon had curry. The others had pizza. The view was great. It was a cool atmosphere for lunch. We were able to climb up into a tree house. The whole experience was really random but cool. Then we headed to the park to see and ride a couple of slides you would never find in the United States. These slides in the United States would be a law suit waiting to happen. They were so much fun. My favorite part was when Billy rode down the first slide on a snow sled and went flying. I'm surprised we didn't have to take him to a hospital. He got some major air. For dinner we went to Sam's Anchor Inn for Teppan yaki. The steak and seafood are cooked right at the table. It was delicious!


Our day was full and we were so worn out by the time we went back to the base. Wendy did show us some bats that hang out in the trees by their house.

Tuesday morning all we had time for before we headed to the airport was snorkeling. I haven't been snorkeling for probably ten years. It was amazing how close some really great snorkeling was to their house. Rick, Billy, Brandon, and I went. Chelsea and Wendy stayed with the kids. It was so much fun.

We headed to the airport to fly stand-by on All Nippon to Kyoto. We were able to get on the flight no problem.

We had such a great time in Okinawa! Rick and Wendy were great hosts! I'm so glad we were able to spend some of our vacation with Chelsea, Billy, and baby Ryan.