Okinawa World

Having the desire to hit one of the many tourist locations we've yet to explore here we set our sights on Okinawa World and took advantage of the beautiful and mild weather on Saturday and headed down into Nanjo City. This particular attraction boast the pride of Ryukyuan culture and invites visitors to experience the rich history and colorful background of the local people. It's a large park covering over 178,000 square meters and is a mesh between museum and seudo preserve. Here you can explore the natural beauty of the Gyokusendo Cave and natural tropical fruits orchard, observe the traditional craft practices so dear to the local culture in a replica village, visit a mini glass blowing factory and pottery kiln, a small brewery, take in a traditional Eisa dancing show, and visit with the local slithering residence of fame at the Habu Museum. Entrance was a bit pricey for all the attractions (you can purchase tickets for select attractions depending on what you want to do) at 1,600 yen for adults and 800 yen for children 4 and up, but for us it was well worth the price for a full day of entertainment that was enjoyed by our whole family.
We started our visit descending down into the Gyokusendo Cave, Japan's second longest. Currently about 890 meters of the cave is open to the public and if you are not claustrophobic, willing to follow out the pathway cut through some of the stalactites and stalagmites, and unafraid of a few drips of water then it's well worth the 25 to 35 minute walk. There are several areas of interest along the path of the cave worthy of notation such as Asia's Grand Hall, the Gathered Drapes, and the beautiful Golden Cup with it's "Fountain of Happiness". Next we browsed the orchard and stopped in for some fresh snacks at the Fruit Shop. Kris and Kyleigh enjoyed some Blue Seal ice cream. Chloe even tried to get in on the action and stuck her hand in Daddy's cone when he wasn't looking. What a booger!

Wanting to try something different I stopped at a little corner stand for a drink that seemed to be popular with the locals. Raw sugar cane was pressed and the resulting syrup was iced down and garnished with two stems of split cane. Many folks here have dined out at restaurants or gotten refreshments at some of the local festivities and had tropical drinks garnished with the sugar cane. It's great to chew on, fresh and sweet, with a woody taste. And that's exactly what the drink tasted like! It was oppressively sweet and proved just to be a little too much for me. After a few sips I was done. While Kris and Kyleigh finished up their ice cream I poked over to the fresh fruits they had available and honed in on the slightly larger than softball sized and delightfully ruby red apples. Feeling the need for a snack yielded to my impulse to get one despite the fact that it cost 250 yen for one. The lady at the stand cut it for us and carried it to the table and as soon as I tasted it I didn't regret the purchase. It was absolutely the best apple I've eaten in the 2 years I've been on island, perfect in flavor and texture, contrary to the ones available at the commissary. All 4 of us, yes Chloe too, thoroughly enjoyed it and I could have easily justified buying all they had sitting out.

After our snack we toured the village, looked at the pottery, watched some glass blowing, and I became quite interested in Bigata dyeing (which I hope to take a trip back to actually participate in soon). I was happy to find a little shop were you could be dressed in traditional garb and be photographed! It cost 500 yen per person for the dressing up and you had the option to purchase a picture for 1,000 yen. However, they also took pictures with your own camera and there was no obligation to buy their photo. The only downside was they didn't have any baby attire so Kris and Chloe sat out while Kyleigh and I played dress up.

We passed through the brewery and tried to explain to Kyleigh what Habu sake is and that the habu in the tank were actually being brewed into a drink (that is quite strong). We hurried to the performance plaza to watch the Eisa dance show but Kyleigh was more interested in the resident albino Burmese python that was available near by for pictures. We followed her lead and went over to visit him and have our picture taken with him, me being the good sport and snake enthusiast of the family taking the head end of the snake.

He was a very pretty specimen but what drew a crowd of curious Japanese on lookers was our little family sitting on a bench with the snake stretched out across us, the girls squealing in delight. Kyleigh was fascinated how the snake flicked out his tongue at her and I was able to quietly remind her that we must keep our tongues to ourselves before there was a Kyleigh/Snake communication mishap!
With the snake encounter and the resulting excitement bubbling over, Kyleigh was ready to head to the Habu museum and check out the Habu Show. The museum was more than I had expected some interesting exhibits displaying snake biology, the distribution and habits of the Habu, and included several other specimens of snake in addition to turtles and a couple of mongoose. The show was pretty neat too. The lady preforming pulled out a Habu and showed it off, talking only in Japanese, about the physical characteristics of the Habu and did a really neat demonstration on how the snake, a pit viper, hones in on heat during an attack. She also handled a beautiful cobra and there was a cute swimming race in which a Habu took on a mongoose. The audience was encouraged to guess who would win and Kyleigh guessed right, a shining moment for her that she's still talking about. After the show the audience was invited for another photo opportunity with another Burmese python, this one a little bigger, and of course we couldn't say no!

We did a little shopping in the gift shop and before leaving took a few pictures in front of a replica merchant ship exhibit. Then it was back on to the express way and back up to Foster. One of the advantages of visiting sites on the southern end of the island is that it's a quicker drive back home than when we visit Nago and the northern end. And that's quite handy when you have a baby who detest her car seat and is prone to scream for the entirety of a drive. That not with standing, we really enjoyed our visit to Okinawa World. If you have the time and the desire for the cultural experience it's well worth the trip, just be sure to bring plenty of yen, your walking shoes, and your camera!