Banana Man..

Before you start thinking "dejavu!" - yes, this is the same post we put on our family website. But it seemed like the perfect addition to a blog about unique Okinawa...

One our way home from lunch last weekend, we stopped to check out the road-side stand that we'd seen so many times in passing. We knew it had something to do with bananas because of the signs leading up to it, and discovered a very "hippie" looking Japanese couple making banana smoothies out of the back of a van.. I'm not kidding, the guy's wife went up and started the van so he could run the blender!! I would probably never buy something like that in the states, but we just couldn't help ourselves!!




250 Yen for one, please... (that's roughly $2.50)


"Banana Man" poses for a photo


This was the inside of the card he gave us, I have no clue what it says, but I love the drawing of the little dudes with big noses wearing banana peels on their heads! I'm guessing this was some kind of Okinawan tradition...

It's a nice day for a .... Yellow wedding??

These newlyweds apparently went down to the beach for a lovely photo-op... But it seems they are a couple of decades behind with the highlighter-yellow wedding dress! (I especially like the black tubing and details..) Then again, they may be trendsetters for the retro movement! I admit, it is a dress worthy of an 80's rock video - Bowie could have some fun with it..







I thought the groom, walking way ahead in the last photo, seemed in a hurry to get it all over with. Or maybe his eyes just couldn't handle the blinding yellow anymore...

Shisa

These little guys are a miniature pair of "Shisas." The are used somewhat like gargoyles, and most Okinawan houses have a pair of them either on the rooftop, or on either side of a gate or entrance to the property. The open-mouthed Shisa is supposed to be scaring away bad fortune, like a guard dog. The closed-mouthed one is holding in the good fortune. I've heard it said that the former is a male, the latter a female, but I'm not sure there's a difference.




Shisas can also be found flanking doors to businesses, apartment buildings, city buildings... they are everywhere in Okinawa! They range in size from keychains to tall-as-me statues. You can read more about their history and see more photos here!

More hours in the day...

Have you ever wished there were more hours in a day? To get work done, to have more time with your family... maybe to drink coffee? Apparently, the local Starbucks here has achieved the impossible - they have added 2 extra hours to our day!



See? ....They are open until 26:00! Know what I'm going to do with the two extra hours? Sleep.... :)

new blog...

We are starting an "extension" blog, if you will, to highlight some of our adventures, experiences, and just plain oddities in Okinawa. We will most likely have more questions than answers about the things we see and share with you, but we'll do the best we can to give you a taste of what life is like here on Okinawa - at least, life as a gai-gin (foreigner).

Stay tuned.....