Can I hazs speaking Japan?

Another couple of glorious mornings in Okinawa. What to talk about today?

Well, we started off with a ride on the city monorail. It was awesome - there's friendly chiming music between all the stops. Even cooler is that the conductor hops out of the car every stop, and upon hoping back in, does all those chopping / pointing motions that Anime mech-robot drivers do when they get into their vehicles.

We visited the Okinawa castle grounds - which was a neat visit in their history. I really regret not remembering Social 8 any better. It's really a sad story -- basically the entire castle has been rebuild from scratch to the best of their memories. Virtually every single descriptive placard in the building reads "The original was destroyed in the Battle of Okinawa, and has since been rebuild in _____." We have the technology...

On a brighter note, after all of that we went for delicious lunch (noodles and pork - with the cartilage still in). Desert was a trip to an ice cream parlor that has the same idea as marble slab, but makes the slab look like a bunch of rank amateurs. Basically, the guy on the left in the photos speed created ice cream creations, juggled his tools while doing it, and could make intricate chocolate drizzle latticework all while calling out the name of his ingredients (think Karate movie fighting move announcements).

The next day was spent at the beach. We had to get ferried out there. The nice thing is, there aren't a whole lot of other boats, so they were free to go full throttle. Golden week ends today, so everybody else was busy trying to get back home. Basically, we were the only ferry on the entire beach, so there were a grand total of maybe 40 people on the beach, TOPS.

We went snorkeling, which was fantastic. I signed my life away on some waiver, but Jack told me I would at least get to keep my first born child (as long as his translation was correct). For the first time this trip, I think the Japanese people finally understood me. I saw a clownfish, popped up, grabbed Jack and shouted NEMO! Every japanese snorkeller then repeated, "Awww. Nemo!" and proceeded to dunk their head in exactly where I popped up. Creepiest thing ever.

But hey... I guess that means I now know 1 word we share. Further truth that Disney really is the universal language. I'm going to try all my communications in the language of WALL-E from now on.

Okay, I think I've monopolized the computer long enough, and now Jack's getting bored enough that he's making us watch Japanese 'learn to speak english' shows (they're also the only shows in English) - so it's time to make a quick escape. Thanks for reading my drivel.