[Japan Travel]: I'm back from parad... hell!

[chochajin]

Hi!

First of all HAPPY NEW YEAR
I hope you all had great holidays!

I'm sorry that I didn't write anything until now, but I just came back from winter vacation last week and then I also had to prepare for the wedding of a former co-worker which was this weekend.
I've been insanely busy!
Hopefully it's getting a bit more relaxed from now. I don't plan any trips until early March, I hope I can stick to it. I really need to relax for some time. It's been a crazy year!

So yeah, I'm back!
And first of all we need to celebrate because now I've officially been to
ALL 47 JAPANESE PREFECTURES!!!!!!!!




Unfortunately I was EXTREMELY unlucky with the weather (again).
Almost all 16 days were quite bad. My first days in Saga Prefecture I spent out in the cold snowstorm and from there it was strong winds and rain the whole time.


Remember how much I was hoping to get at least 1 or 2 sunny days on Okinawa?? :( ...
Well, I didn't.
What's more is that everything went wrong. Because of the strong winds the ferry we wanted to take got canceled. (we = asahifirsa and me)
We spent the whole day at the airport running from one airline to another, calling hotels, rental car companies etc. ....
There were no flights to that island available anymore as it was the end of the year. We had such a hard time rescheduling everything and it ended up to cost much more money than planned as we had to cancel / change all the hotels, some flights, the rental car(s) and so on.
It was really pretty bad. ......

I doubt that there are any good photos. I didn't take that many photos anyways!
I think you've seen some on Instagram already and because I didn't have time to look through my photos yet, I'm just gonna share a few of my Instagram photos instead for now. I apologize for that.

Photo was taken out of the car. Most of the time it looked like that :/ ...

Once we arrived on the small islands the weather was still bad .... and nothing much you could do in bad weather there.
I guess if I were alone at that time, I would have gone crazy!!! Luckily I wasn't! ^^; .....

I can't even imagine how beautiful this must be in good weather with actual sunshine!

Yet Okinawa was GREAT!!!!!!!
I really fell in love with Okinawa although I've only been to three islands. I definitely want to go again and explore some more (hopefully next time with better weather!).

Especially on the main island there were a lot of Americans (of course) and Chinese tourists. I didn't meet any European tourists at all.
I got to eat a lot of delicious food!
And it was great to see how many plants and animals there were that you can't find anywhere else in Japan!

Goya Chanpuru! I ate it at least 5 times while I was there! Goya is pretty bitter but in combination with egg, tofu and ham it tastes great in my opinion!

Beautiful Ogomadara butterflies in Okinawa.

New Year's Eve was nice, too.
We spent the evening in the famous Kokusaidori in Naha, shopping, ate Okinawa food while watching Kohaku and were surprised when the sound of the temple bells suddenly faded as there were fireworks! It was a nice surprise! ^-^

On Kumejima - a really small island in Okinawa - we met another blogger who has been living in Okinawa for quite a few years now.
It was a pleasure to meet him! He even cooked delicious food for us!
Check out his blog about Japan and Kumejima: MoreThingsJapanese
He has also published a book called "Samurai Awakening".

I also got to see a lot of castle ruins so I might have 100 castles on my list now, but I really don't know until I sit down and actually count! ^-^; ....

Okinawa with its subtropical climate gets cherry blossoms much earlier than other prefectures in Japan and so we could enjoy them in early January already!!

Even in Okinawa I ran into a lot of cute stray cats! ^__^

This photo was taken near our hotel on Kumejima. On our last day we finally got to see the sun, but only for a very short time!

Well, that's it for now!
Actually there's so much more to tell you, but I really have TONS of other things to do.
My blog is almost dying. I haven't had time to post anything in ages. I have millions and millions of photos to look through since last summer vacation. I need to renew my work visa this month.
I just bought a car navi, so hopefully I can explore the prefecture I'm living in now a bit more by car (after my "travel hiatus" until March).

It was really a crazy, busy year. Can't remember that I've ever been so busy before!
Especially since November when my family came to visit, I barely had any breaks at all. I need to make sure my body gets some good rest, but I also need to get back into blogging!

Hope you're all doing fine out there!
Bye~chuu!~

Comments

[asahifirsa.livejournal.com]

I'm going through the pictures now and it's actually REALLY depressing! The weather was really deplorable. Even when there's a blue sky it somehow doesn't look right. The only time it really looked nice was that morning in Naha at Shuri castle. I'm surprised I even took so many pictures!

At least it didn't get better after we left.

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

That's unfortunately the day when I was so sick, wasting time in the hospital. I don't think I have a lot of photos of that day! :(
Can you see why I don't have any motivation looking through the photos? ^-^;

Yes, that's true! ^^;;

[leviosa8.livejournal.com]

Bad luck about Okinawa! At least you were brave to visit. Two consecutive typhoons made me cancel my trip there in 2006. It must be so beautiful with sunny weather, indeed.

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Well, I thought winter would be safer in terms of typhoons and bad weather, but oh, how wrong I was!!! -____-; ....
On top of that I also was sick.

I'm sorry to hear that you ended up cancelling your trip! :(

[mit-souko.livejournal.com]

Nice pictures in spite of the weather! Sometimes it just doesn't cooperate... When I was at Ise last October, it was pouring so hard I couldn't even take pictures!

Well, you did enjoy your trip after all, and that's the main thing, isn't it?

I have wondered about going to Okinawa, but I have been to the Antilles, Hawaii and French Polynesia [the most beautiful of all], so I have seen lots of tropical islands...

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

The thing is that it has happened too often and in a way that people start laughing when they hear my stories because it's just unbelievable!
It was the same when my family came in November, the same during Golden Week, the same in April when a typhoon hit way outside of season .... same when I wanted to climb Mt. Fuji ... and so on. And recently it's just gotten worse.
It's like I have some sort of (unwanted) super powers that make sure it's pouring when I go somewhere.

On top of that I was sick the first week of my vacation.

I have never been to any tropical or subtropical place before. I was really looking forward to see the emerald blue ocean. I have never seen such a thing with my own eyes before .... and due to the weather I still can't say I really got to see it :(

If you've been to so many places already, I'm not sure if Okinawa makes sense - especially if you still have lots of other places in Japan you want to visit! ;)

[mit-souko.livejournal.com]

You remind me of a character in an old american cartoon, who went around with a little rain cloud above his head... Not making fun of you, I really sympathize.

Tropical waters are amazing. Here in the US you can see them if you go down to the Florida Keys, the color of the water is a sort of turquoise.

The Mediterranean too has beautiful colors, deep blues in several shades. I was so disappointed when I first saw the grey, dull, Atlantic, having been used to Mediterranean beaches.

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Actually, that's exactly how I sometimes feel! :(

I really need a second try! I want to see this beauty with my own eyes some day! :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/__manga__/]

congrats for your visited all 47 japanese prefectures （●＾o＾●）

and happy new year too (@＾3＾@)

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Thank you!! :3

[amvn.livejournal.com]

First of all Happy New Year!!! ^-^

Okinawa has been my dream place no 1 since forever T_T I would so wish to go there, especially Yaeyama. The combo nature/tropical climate/awesome culture etc. is second to none, plus I feel the people there are really welcoming.
Sad to hear the weather wasn't as great, but it's nice to hear you had a travel companion with you :) I'm sure it makes unforeseen troubles a bit better to handle at least.

I can't wait to see more photos from your trip *squee* ^.^

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

You really should go!!!! :)
I'm sure you'd love it there! ^-^

Ahahaha~ ... please be patient! ^___^;

[ex-ninchu.livejournal.com]

Auf welchen Inseln warst du? :D

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Leider nur auf der Hauptinsel, Miyako und Kume. Für mehr hätte bei all dem Chaos das Geld dann eh nicht mehr gereicht.
Ich will aber auf jeden Fall noch nach Iriomote, Ishigaki, Yonaguni, Hateruma!! ^^;

Wo warst du schon überall? :D

[kurikuribebi]

Aaah! I always get super excited when you go to places I haven't been yet =D It really does help me plan my trips. I look forward to more pictures.

No excuses. Give us more pictures!

And welcome back =)

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

There really aren't any great photos, though! ^-^;

Thanks :)

[perfectchaosrei.livejournal.com]

the blogger in kumejima must be ben! wooooooooow! i can't believe you were heeereeeee! probably saw you (i work near kokusai dori) and didn't even know it!

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was Ben!
Have you met him? You guys live so close to each other anyways! ^^

I really doubt it. There are SO many foreign people (mostly American, I suppose), it would be hard to tell. ;)
I was really surprised how many foreign people there are! It's different from the rest of Japan I'd say!

I really enjoyed Okinawa despite the horrible weather! :)

[perfectchaosrei.livejournal.com]

yes, i know him! he is a JET, so i have met him several times before. he comes into naha every so often to hang out with the other english teachers here. small world ne!

okinawa is always rainy, windy, and cold (to me) in the winter unfortunately. it's like that here for a good 5 or 6 months. the best time to come is around june/july i think.

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

It's a small world indeed! :)

Cold? *lol*
It was chilly, but coming back to Kansai I understood the BIIIG difference!! ;)
Too bad that I don't have any vacation time in June or July! :(

[keikazama.livejournal.com]

SUGOI!!! :)
What an accomplishment!!!

Vundrabaaaaaaaaaaaa*

Your blog and activities are such an inspiration!
I am sure not many Japanese people get to have the passion and drive and actually CONDUCT the actions the way you do ;) LOVE the motivation to travel more!

I would love to see a map of Japan on your blog.
Every prefecture will have the date you traveled, and what you did.
what a wonderful way for first timers (to Japan) to experience it through your footsteps!


LOVE U

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

You think so? Thank you very much! ^__^

Yes, I've been thinking about having a map there, but not right now.
It will take a lot of work and there are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many other things I also have to work on. *sigh*
Plus, I have (as always) no idea how to do it, so it'll take time! ^^

Luv u2!! :33333 *hugs*

[angel0399.livejournal.com]

Beautiful pictures and yay on visiting all of the prefectures!!