All posts in: Okinawa

31 Jan 2017

Life, by Okinawa

I stumbled across this video last week and it brought back so many memories of my trip to Okinawa when I was in high school. I was 17 at the time and such a brat. It was hard for me to appreciate a trip like this at the time because I just “wanted to spend my last summer at home before college.” It took me about a day into the trip to realize how lucky I was to be able to travel to such a beautiful destination. I’m looking forward to someday returning too. This video was a nice little throwback.

[Source]

11 Jun 2010

Summer Time Summer Time You Make Me Feel Fine

Bye Bye Sea-Town! For the weekend, anyways!

I’ve been sitting in the same spot since I got home for about two hours now and I am ecstatic that I don’t have to think about accounting, stats, or theology. I don’t really have to think about school for three months! So this summer I’m going to go be an adult and do adult things, but what I wish I could do is travel. This might be the first summer that I won’t get a chance to go anywhere. For the past three years I’ve spent at least part of my summer time in Okinawa, Hawaii, and California. When I was in Hawaii, I didn’t do as many things as I hoped so I’m definitely going to go back – I’ve already been looking at www.kaikanani.com/ ready for my next trip because whale watching has always been on my to-do list! Don’t get me wrong, I did lots the last time I was in Hawaii but there’s just so much to do it’s hard to do it all!

Tomorrow one of my best friends will be leaving for her Semester at Sea trip aboard a cruise ship setting out for the Mediterranean. I couldn’t be more jealous. My other friends are leaving for Switzerland, Dublin, Costa Rica, and Ecuador this summer. I know they are all going to enjoy every opportunity and adventure they will get to experience in a location such as Costa Rica, including jet skiing, scuba diving, or perhaps Costa Rica deep sea fishing charters.

I remember when I almost turned down my month long trip to Okinawa for a month because I “didn’t want to miss out on summer w/ my friends.” I was dumb then, so my one piece of advice to you all is that if you ever have the chance to travel and this opportunity falls into your lap… TAKE IT. Take it and don’t look back because your friends will always be here, they’re not going anywhere. You’ll come back from your trip taking more away from it than you would’ve had you just stayed here with your friends trying to make up plans of things to do every night 😉

03 Feb 2010

2010 Dirtiest Hotels

A few years back, I took my first trip to Japan and had the privilege of staying in six different hotels all over Okinawa. It was one of the best experiences of my life! Some hotels were nicer than others, some had more character, better food, etc etc the list goes on. What makes a good hotel? A place where you feel like you’re home essentially. What makes a bad hotel? The better ones must be managed with some kind of hotel property management software so they can make the numbers work for them to provide a better service to their guests surely?

One of the hotels I had stayed at said they had a restaurant that served dinner at 6 PM. 6 PM rolls around and we find that this restaurant is actually in a basement and not a restaurant. It looked like a cafeteria with NO ONE there and food in bulk served all you can eat…or at your own risk. When I mean no one, I mean it was my family and I. Not even the staff was sighted. The atmosphere seriously made me feel like I was in a horror movie. We didn’t eat dinner. How did the hotel redeem itself? They helped us contact another hotel and a taxi that would transport us there. 🙂

Trip Advisor just posted ten hotels they recommend you NOT stay at. And I would take their advice because there are plenty of unhappy guests that can vouch for them.

To read the list click here!

01 Jan 2010

20 Favorite Posts!

It is a tedious and challenging task having to go through all of your posts in one year to weed out your favorites. Something… I don’t really want to ever do it again. BUT it’s important that I share with you my favorite 20. Over the course of this year, some posts have made it to the top [or the front page of WordPress] that I really don’t think are all that deserving of that title. I like all my posts of course, but there are some that I believe, have a larger message. There are some that I put a lot of time into working on that receive no attention at all. Yet, the whole world cares more about Dora the Explorer, Megan Fox, and the new Tinkerbell. So I’m allowing you all to see my favorite posts again resurfaced! These are for the most part in no order – I don’t have time to truly give them a number ranking.

20. New Directions

Why: If you don’t know where to look, you will never find it. Believe it or not, men care about their appearances just as much as women. Maybe they won’t admit, but that’s okay. I’m not asking you to. I wanted to highlight some well made websites and blogs for men that focus on dress and lifestyle. It’s okay to want to look good. 🙂

19. Life as a Seattlelite

Why: One of my best friends Jeanette reminded me this past summer that it is always important to explore where you are from. I’ve lived in and around Seattle my entire life and I can safely say that no experience is the same. People from Seattle don’t know this, but there is so much more than downtown and the Space Needle and Seattle Center. There are various neighborhoods – each a part of the city, but with its own individual personality. That day, we explored three prominent locations in the Seattle area: Pike Place Market, Gasworks, and the Fremont Troll.

Children Full Of Life

Tonight, I discovered a video from the documentary Children Full of Life. The documentary is about news and culture in Japan and the clip I am posting is about how the kids are educated. I was very impressed by the young children that stood up for their one friend, it almost brought me to tears as well. The way they behave may be different from the way we were raised, but there is something about this that is incredibly refreshing. When I was in elementary school, you wouldn’t dare see another child standing up to the teacher. You may not even see the student being punished put up a fight at all. I saw kids that were menaces! Rude, childish, immature. That was our idea of children back then because that’s how many of us were. These children are so mature. This teacher is wonderful. These kids are wonderful. This is my favorite post from the past two months.

There is no way to express my words about this video. There is so much politeness and respect.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd7YWx7idfE&feature=player_embedded]

23 Jul 2009

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

Two summers ago, I embarked on the most amazing vacation of my life. It trumped any trip to Vancouver or vacation to Hawaii or California.

I had the opportunity to travel to Okinawa, Japan. I started at the southern tip and traveled north along the coast of Okinawa staying at 7 locations including one home, one cabin and 5 different hotels.

I’ve never felt so alone, free and independent. It had to be the best experience of my life.

Late last year, the hard drive that had stored all of my pictures from Japan and my sophomore-junior year had crashed and I lost everything. I try so hard now to remember but without them it’s like I never went at all and it’s the most upsetting thing to lose your memories and have no control. If I ever get them back it would be some kind of a miracle I guess…

Today I found this video. A man named Jon Rawlinson shot some footage at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. This aquarium is the second largest in the world and this video doesn’t even do it justice, but does show just how beautiful it really is. I still imagine seeing myself. Wide-eyed. Staring only into this with a blank mind.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z31B1D7tgZw]

24 Apr 2009

Summer, Summer, it’s fine

I’ve never missed the beaches of Okinawa so much. These pictures aren’t shot there but I miss the beaches, I’m not talking Houghton in Kirkland. Photographer Stuart Gibson from Tasmania shot these incredible pictures of the water, I’ve never seen anything like it.

Read more “Summer, Summer, it’s fine”

09 Apr 2009

Today I mourn

You have been with me for the past two-three years. You were a wonderful Christmas present and I’m so sorry that you are broken beyond my control. Last Friday night, your button that takes my pictures completely came off so with the help of Boisen, we tried to superglue you back on and now you’re stuck. There is nothing more I can do except remember that I would be nowhere without you on these past few years capturing the most important days of my life: trips to Japan, Hawaii, California and Vancouver, Project 366, high school memories such as prom and graduation and football games, my back up camera during photo shoots, the various concerts, and many many days out.

You were my everyday camera and I don’t know what I’m going to do without you.