On our third day in Okinawa we went to the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Park and Museum as well as Okinawa World.
The Peace Memorial Park was really awe inspiring. It is a similar concept to the Vietnam Memorial in DC. Throughout the park there are hundreds of granite/marble? (not sure) slabs with the names of those who died during the battle of Okinawa (during ww2). However what makes this memorial park unique is that it doesn't only list the names of those who served in the military that died, but instead it lists the names of military and civilians from every country involved that died during the battle. Currently there are about 250,000 names, but this number expands as more people submit names of deceased family members who had been involved. Both the Museum and Park where really moving, I think all of us had been pretty affected by visiting these sites.
After that we all climbed back onto the bus and drove for 30minutes to get to Okinawa world. Okinawa World is basically the same idea as Hawaii's Polynesian Cultural Center. It's kind of like a museum like park that recreates traditional Okinawan culture. While there we got to see an Eisa dance performance (Okinawan drum dance) as well as learn how to perform one. We also got to walk through a recreation of an Okinawan village which was selling a variety of novelty goods. There was also a garden area filled with various fruit trees and vegetation you can see throughout Okinawa. And one of my favorite highlights was the underground cave we got to walk through.
After all of this we were lucky to get back to the hotel early enough to be able to go swimming before the beach closed! It was really nice! The water was almost the perfect temperature, just a little cold when you first get in, but otherwise nice.
Day 4
We spent the morning wandering around Kokusai St.
After spending an hour and a half window shopping the whole IES group met up for lunch. We got to eat at a hibachi grill that was in a restaurant shaped like a ship. It was very nice, but unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the building and I think I only took a few pictures while at lunch. After that we went to Naha airport and flew back to Tokyo.
Photos and additional commentaries.
click any photo to enlarge.
The peace memorial park. Names of Japanese/Okinawan citizens/military who died during the battle of Okinawa.
This fountain is a symbol of peace for all and is dedicated for those who died in the battle of Okinawa.
Veronica and I standing outside the Peace Memorial Museum
Jodie and I getting our Hawaii on before going to Okinawa world. (Jodie is also from Hawaii)
Okinawan Eisa performers.
IES students performing the Eisa dance we had been taught.
Underground cave.
Me with Hello Kitty dressed as a Shisha (famous Okinawan decoration which resembles a mixture of a lion and a dog) on Kokusai St.
Hubu sake. One of the more interesting/popular omiyage you can find on Kokusai St.
Very expensive.
Cook preparing our lunch.
Outfit the waitresses/hostess were wearing.
Stephyn, Veronica, and I wearing our "serious" bibs preparing to nom on some yummy food.
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