Japanese Baseball

Okinawa is where the Japanese and other southern Asia countries hold spring training.
The games are free, and the game is interesting. They don't have big hitters like America, so there is a lot of stealing bases, a bunch of field play and several pickle plays.

The weirdest thing is the field is black. We are not sure if it is just dark dirt or crushed coral.

Public safety announcement

Don't drink and drive. The legal limit is under .03. The is like less than one drink.

Okinawa Forest Adventure

Bill and I went on a zip line tour. Here is a list of differences from a zip line in America vs. Japan:
-In America a guide goes with you and does all of the equipment clipping on and off the zip line and safety wires.
In Japan there is no guide, you are on your own.
- In America they give a 30 min safety brief and demonstration.
In Japan they give a five min explanation, point the clips and hooks are color coded. And if you can demonstrate you can connect the colors correctly, transfer from a ladder to a platform and then to a zip line, you are considered and expert.
- In America you have to wear protective gear and a helmet.
In Japan, you can wear protective gear, but it is not required.
- In America you zip from platform to platform, high in the air.
In Japan you zip from one side of the hill to another, crossing the ravine high above the jungle, crashing into a bed of woodchips for your not so graceful landings.
- In America there are plenty of safety signs, reminding you to be safe.
In Japan there are safety signs warning you about Habu Snakes. (very poisonous)

In conclusion, America ensures you will survive the zip line, Japan just wants you to have fun!

Now for photo/video evidence.

Surprise day off! Biking around Comprehensive Park

This morning, I wake up panicking because Bill is still in bed next to me and I know he is LATE for work! I quickly check the time and tell him he is late, it is 7:45am. He rolls over with a huge smile on his face and says, "I took the day off!". Surprise.
Now let me remind you, he had Monday off for the super bowl, so he had a real long week of three working days.
He got today of because his legal assistance shop won a day off from the door decoration contest before Christmas.
So with our new found time and a beautiful day out, we loaded our bikes up on the car and headed out to explore a new area.
Okinawa Comprehensive park is about 20 mins from our house, located on the east side of the island.
I took some pictures of the park. The picture of the ocean with a bunch of sticks poking out of the water is a seaweed farm, they eat Okinawa Seaweed. And if your wondering...yes we played on the playground. There was a zip line that was pretty awesome. Enjoy!

Mt Yae and cherry blossoms

Can you find the bat in the cherry blossom trees?

Cherry Blossoms at Nakijin-Jo Castle Ruins Site

Today we set out in a caravan headed for the cherry blossom celebrations. Headed north, beautiful sun, wonderful weather, top down in the convertible. Less than 20 mins from the castle site it begins to pour.

Mid drive we had to put the top up. Now this is rather tricky because the car has to be off. So we were in stop and go traffic, Bill turns off the car and I push the button for the convertible top. The traffic begins to move so we move forward with the top half up, but the rain is beginning to fall. There was a moment of are we going to get the top up before it pours? Traffic stops again, we get the top up and not 5 mins pas the sky opens up and pours down. It was a close call.

Since the rain moved in, we postponed our cherry blossom adventure. Instead we stopped at this great soba restaurant. It was nestled in the hills, they had waterfalls and you get to eat in and among their beautiful landscape.

The rain did pass, but the clouds remained. We drove to the castle ruins anyways.

Not all the cherry blossoms had popped yet, so it was not as impressive as it could have been. But still the sights were quite beautiful.

We will have to come back in a few weeks to see the trees in all their glory.