I’m writing this as a part of the Japan Blog Matsuri's April Edition topic - "Slow Times in Japan". This month's topic is the exact opposite of the March topic "Fast Times in Japan."
Sadly, I found it rather difficult to think of a single slow experience that I've had recently. So I dug back a couple years into my long term memory cache and I managed to pull out a wonderfully slow and relaxing experience in Okinawa.
It was 2006 and my wife Kaori and I were working hard at the time. We rarely got out of the city and we were feeling a bit landlocked. So we decided at the last minute to book a trip to a small island near Okinawa. It was a lovely trip and it was exactly what the doctor ordered.
Okinawa Prefecture is made up of 160 islands, 48 of which are permanently inhabited.
We took a ferry from Tomarin Ferry Terminal and arrived at Tokashiki Island aprox. 1 hour later. It was a nice cruise. We brought along bento and a couple drinks for the ride.
We stayed in the Reef Inn which was a cozy little spot a minute away from the main beach.
Everyone was walking around in flip flops and everything seemed to revolve around the beach. Being from Florida I can surely relate to that type of thinking and lifestyle. Here money doesn't seem to matter one bit.
I was really impressed with how beautifully white the sand was and the color of the water was breathtaking. I thought we had nice beaches in Florida!
We spent the entire day on the beach just chilling out. It was slow and times were good. Nothing on our minds and that's how I like it.
We're lucky to have each other to spend times like this together.
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6 Responses to “Slow Times in Japan” Leave a reply ›
Loved your pictures, I love the beach side particularly for the reason you mentioned before: no one seems to care about money, time... Would be great if we could all live like that ^^ my small Costa Rica (which means "Beautiful Coasts") is one great place to do some slow beach times =)
@Hao
thanks for your comment. I've been to Costa Rica and I really enjoyed Playa Hermosa. My best friend and I stayed there for a couple weeks and I seriously considered not going back.
@Billy: Glad you enjoyed it, Playa Hermosa is beautiful [sic] and going there sometimes I too feel like not returning to the city anymore :D
If you come back and I'm around lemme know ;)
Great matsuri entry! Man, you make me want to jump over to Okinawa pronto. Your photos are really nice. Okinawa is on my list for this year - I've simply never made it over there. I'd love to do some scuba too. Looks like paradise.
Wow, Tokashiki - I had a great few days down there in '07 - Orion beer, goya-chanpuru, umi-budo, and that beautiful sea... Thanks for taking me back there!
(some photos here, if you're interested:
http://www.flickr.com/...usredux/sets/72157600304138838/)