Day One

In the summer of 2015, my mom surprised me with a trip to Okinawa Japan. We stayed with a friend on the military base. She was so nice as to be our guide around the city. We spent most of our first day sleepig off the jet-lag.

Day Two

I took a walk along the coast while my mom and her friend got their nails done at a local salon. The breeze felt wonderful on the hot, humid day.

For lunch we decided to go to a small restaurant that served delicious ramen. I got the Tonkotsu Ramen, which is pork flavoured broth, ramen noodles, and chasu pork belly. Although I wouldn't recommend hot ramen on a humid day.

Day Three

We also decided to go the AEON Mall, famous for it's size and 3 story level fish tank. It has 5 floors, 220 stores and a large dining area. My mom and I got some teriyaki noodles from the food court.

Outside the mall entrance there is a 360 statue of a group of Shisas. These are the spirit guardians of Japanese culture and can be found outside almost any building in the city. They can be the size of your palm, or up to 6 feet tall and are often found in a pair of two.

Day Four

The next day we decided to get some sushi. This was a smaller establishment that had the conveyer belt sushi plates you could choose from. There were also hot tea dispensers where you could make black or green tea to have with your meal. It was also possible to request other types of meals from the menu they provide.

One of my favorite stops we made was at the Ryukyu Mura village. This is a small theme park that featured traditional Okinawan culture that was rebuilt as an old village from the times of the Ryukyu Kingdom. It was fascinating to see the history and we got to try some traditional green tea and witnessed a formal tea ceremony.

We also got to see the Shuri Castle, a reconstructed Ryukyun royal palace. A bit of history goes along with this castle, but the most important purpose of this palace was it being the political unification of the island.

Day Five

A really fun experience we had was going to the amusement park, Forest Adventure in Onna where the three of us got to go ziplining! We got to go through different areas of ziplining and small obstacle courses. There were several paths you could choose from depending on the experience you wanted, and they all led to the end. My poor mom lost her hat on the first line and it fell down into the forest below.

Another stop we took was in Naha City. We ventured to the city center of Kokusai-dori, a bustling two kilometer street filled with shops and entertainment. We passed by many shops that sold habushu, a alcoholic beverage in a large jar with a pickled viper inside. This drink was meant to hold special properties that allowed the drinker to obtain the abilities of the viper, as legend goes.

We stopped by a lot of shops here, including the famous arcade and the market through Heiwa-dori, and few small manga shops. We also met a very nice Japanese lady who was the owner of a rug shop, and enjoyed listening to our experiences.

Project Statement

For my project I decided on telling the story of my trip to Japan. I was going to do a similar narrative originally, with a pov version but decided against it. This being because I was presented with more challenges than I anticipated. I settled on this idea because no matter how many years go by, I still love telling people about the time I visited Japan. As a 15 year old, at the time, it was a dream come true (I definitely liked anime a little too much back then), and it was an amazing and unforgettable experience. Trying to learn a new way to navigate a different approach to html/css was the most difficult for me. I knew the content I wanted to use and the points I wanted to share, but learning a new skill made it frustrating at points during the process. I’m hoping in the future I will be able to learn more skills and use them to the fullest in order to create something new.

My Trip to Okinawa Japan in 2015