New Years, Okinawa World and Habu Museum

So, I suppose I should say Happy New Year, belated though it may be. We cheered in the year at Hansen Christian Center (the place we stayed before moving in to our apartment) with the four Marines who lived there over the holidays. Since then, we've had a fairly busy year: Chaplain Black is in the US for a month, so Nathan has had full responsibility of the chapel in his absence. On one of his days off, we acted on a bit of a whim, and ended up buying a Tv and a Wii from the island's online yard sale site. It's been fun though, and gives us something to do together when we have extra time on our hands. We entertained for the first time (the same four Marines we spent New Years with), which was fun to do together in our own place.

We also discovered New Years Day sales in Japan, which was awesome. Both of us are currently on a scarf fling, and Nathan has discovered Converse shoes, both commonly found in Japanese malls. While shopping, we learned of a Japanese New Years marketing gimmick. Many shops will put a collection of items from their store into a bag and seal it so you can't see inside. They create lots of these bags and display them on a table for a single price, which tends to be a really good deal when considering the number of items in the bag. However, since you can't see inside, you don't know what you are getting, so they call it a "Good Luck" bag, wishing you luck in the new year. We didn't actually buy any of the bags, as Japanese clothes run a lot smaller than American clothes, and we aren't totally sold on their sense of fashion. Still, it's a fun, tempting way to shop on New Years Day.

We've visited a few places this month, so I'll start with just one. Okinawa World, on the southern end of the island in Nanjo, is essentially a culture center. A collection of museums and displays set up like a village to walk through, exploring Okinawan history. We started the tour with a 30 minute walk through a cave.







It was very humid and the floor was wet in many places. It was neat to see stalagmites forming on the concrete path through the cave, and to be able to reach up and touch the stalactites dripping down on our heads. There was a stream running through parts of the cave with a few small fish in it.

Outside the cave, there was lots to see.

Glassblowing:





Local instruments:




Lots of shishi dogs on display, of course:


A garden with local plants, like this kumquat tree:


A natural dye hut:


Even some stilts to try:


But our favorite was definitely the habu section. Habu is a word used to refer to poisonous snakes in Japan. There was a museum:





A show:





Several cages and tanks of various animals:








And our favorite, snakes to interact with:









We spent a lot of time playing with and taking pictures of the snakes (There are lots more pictures on Facebook if you are interested. Just email me.). Definitely a great way to break in my new macro lens!

After Okinawa World, we headed to a Japanese mall for some dinner and shopping.





We order a lot of food without having any idea what we are about to eat. But we've ended up with some amazing dishes!