Japan Photo Blog: I wanna be 20 again!

In Japan, they have a special day to mark the transition of every individual into adulthood and they really do it in style. The special day is the Coming of Age Day in Japan, celebrating all individuals who turned 20 this year and it is a way to welcome them to adulthood and prepare them for an adult life with its responsibilities. It is an annual event and is celebrated on every second Monday in January.

Although it sounded serious, but it is actually quite the opposite. On this day, young ladies and men will dress up (fun), attend a ceremony at the local ward offices or at the Prefectural offices (serious), go to the temple to pray (maybe serious) and then, at night perhaps a little celebration at home or with friends (more fun).

For the young ladies, there is no doubt that half of the fun is to dress up in the pretty furisode and wear the zori sandals while the other half is being paparazzi-photographed by people.

Another special day that makes me want to go back in time is the San-Go-Shichi Day for children. On this day, any child who is 3, 5 and 7 years old will dress up and go to the temple to pray for good health. This occasion too always made me wish that I can go back to being a kid again ^^.

What a great way to celebrate you becoming an adult!

Doesn't it make you wish that you are 20 again so that you can dress up and join this ceremony?

Okinawa : Hiking in Daisekirinzan 3

This post is the last part of my hiking adventure and about Daisekirinzan, the green-coded Subtropical Nature Forest trail is a trail leading through the jungle. And as I have mentioned before, this last trail, features my favourite tree, the banyan tree or known as the gyajumaru in Japanese.

I love the banyan tree, although this tree has an ill reputation and superstitions surrounding the beautiful tree. It is believed that the banyan tree is a home for the spirits. When I was young, I was warned not to play near the banyan tree.

Despite all that, the banyan tree became my favourite tree. I have admired the fact that its seeds germinate in the cracks and crevices on a host tree that will one day grow into a big supportive root. To me, this tree symbolizes strength to grow from nothing to independence.

Ever since, I left my hometown, I see lesser and lesser of this tree and I am so over-the-moon to see it growing big and strong in Daisekirinzan. Most visitors will walk this trail as the last trail as it is the only trail that connects from the first entrance near the car park. Or you can also start this trail first if you do not want to take the bus up to the rest area.

As like many famous trails, it is already a well-beaten one, but you can still find something that can fascinate you at Daisekirinzan. Personally, I will go there again.

So will you include Daisekirinzan in your trip to Okinawa?

Okinawa : Hiking in Daisekirinzan 2

Sorry, I haven't been able to churn out posts as fast as I wanted to (I wonder how others have managed it?). Well, as the continuation of Daisekirinzan, after the yellow-coded Strange Rock hiking trail, we continued on to the red trail named as the Panoramic trail. This trail is the most popular with visitors as it allows you to enjoy the view of Cape Hedo. And the name of the trail really convey its message - the view is really panoramic and amazing.

This trail was a sacred trail for the Okinawans as they believed that the gods lived here. You can try to find the half hidden rock shrine.

Lots of money to begin my new year with!!!

We took almost 40mins to finish this trail because we stayed a bit too long at the panorama platform. The views are simply gorgeous and we can't get enough of it. You just have to experience this personally because words aren't enough to describe the view.

Hiking down this trail bring us the green Subtropical Nature Forest trail. I am actually excited and looking forward to finishing the last trail because my favourite tree is the main highlight of this trail.

Have you tried the green trail at the Daisekirinzan? Did you like it?

Okinawa : Hiking in Daisekirinzan 1

After my unforgettable whale-watching experience, me and my travel partner drove up to the northern tip of Okinawa island for a hike. As usual, the 'hike' was really just a walk because the path is typically beaten and some even paved which I suspect it is for the adventurous high-heelers (I can never understand why young Japanese women refuses to wear proper boots for hiking? Not stylish enough, maybe?)

So, hiking in popular or well-known places in Japan usually means that you can actually wear high heels and 'hike'!

Anyway, Daisekirinzan is one of the popular hiking spots in Okinawa. It is an area made up of strangely shaped karst formed over millions of years. The geological formation by water and wind on soft limestone rocks form the karst found abundant in this area and it makes great landscape feature. There are four color-coded hiking courses; the Strange rock course, the Panoramic course, the Subtropical Forest course and one barrier-free course for its visitors. 

At first, we thought that we are going to do just two courses, but after some thoughts, we figured out that we will have enough time to do all three courses as each course, just take about half an hour and still make it to another place that we are planning to go after Daisekirinzan.

We started on the yellow Strange Rock course which features oddly-shaped limestone rocks. It seems to be the longest course and travels up into the hills connecting the red Panoramic course. Looks like a little more strenuous course compared to the other, but I think it is relatively an easy course to do.

Pretty fascinating and there were lots of explanation on how the rocks form (it is written in Japanese). On this course alone, we took about one hour to finish it as we stopped to read and to photograph the nature (my favourite!!!)

From the Strange Rock course, we were able to go on straight to the Panoramic course.

To be continued... 

Okinawa : Instead of watching the first sunrise of the year, I went whale-watching!!!

So much has happened and so little time to write everything. Well, the new year has started and I am slowly breaking my new resolutions - huhuhu. Nonetheless, happy new year to all and may the new year brings you better tidings.

Hi there!

Well, my title of this post probably gave away the fact that I was not in Tokyo for the new year. Well, where am I? *wink *wink.

Ah.... We have the smell of the sea, the palm trees and yes, mildly warm weather - Yipee, I am in Okinawa! 

Well, what do I do on the first day of arrival in Okinawa? A whale watching trip! 

Unfortunately Okinawa had a little rain that day. But I was lucky and saw a few humpbacks. It was an exciting first time experience for me. Actually, before I board the cruise, I asked the person-in-charge if we are able to see any whales this time of the year, but his reply was vague and non-committal so I felt almost disappointed and sure that we will not see any. 

But we saw 2 whales at once and several others, and we even got to see the tail for 1 or 2 of them.  So the viewing went well enough and I had a soaking great time photographing the whales in the rain in the middle of the sea.

There were 2 of them! Maybe a mother and its baby?

But the boat ride was a little crazy. Well, the cruise has two decks, one is the main deck and the other is the viewing deck. On the main deck, there were about 10 rows of seats (3 on each side of the centre isle). And above every other row of the seat on each side was about 5 paper bags (with a smaller plastic bag inside) hanging from a string. 

So on this particular day, the seas were behaving quite badly. The ride was a little choppy and we sailed over a few rather large (and even alarming) waves. About half way there (about 20mins ride), one guy got himself a bag and squatted down behind the last row (which happens to be my row of seating). 

Then when we got to the spot where the whales were, the crew invited us to the upper deck, and about half the people went up. So I went up and had a nice time up there. From the viewing deck, I managed to capture several pictures of the whales. 

And when we eventually returned to the lower deck to go back to land, to my astonishment, the whole crowd downstairs had shuffled around and MOST of the paper bags were missing from their strings with more people with green faces, obviously suffering from seasickness! 

Fortunately, I was a bit stronger when it comes to seasickness! But those poor folks. 

How did you spend your new year? Share with me.