Japan - Day 7

I felt ok when I got up - which was surprising.

We started at 07.00 today. Needed to have a quick breakfast before leaving the hotel at 08:00 for a 09.00 fishing trip about an hour away. The speed limits on the way were typically 50 or 60 - still in km/h, but difficult to maintain due to the already heavy weekend traffic on what we decided was a weekend/tourist route. In general, driving anywhere in Okinawa was frustrating slow and, add to that, every second car is a hire car with a driver unfamiliar with the roads, and we got to see some pretty crazy driving - the speed limits made a little more sense.

I wouldn’t want to be there in high season.

Getting out on the water was nice, if a bit rough. The fish weren’t biting - so it was a zero result, and as lunch hadn’t been caught, it would need to be purchased. SPAM was a surprising option - but worked well as a snack.

We drove for kms and kms that day - visiting a number of place - castles, temples, very early cherry blossom, and an aquarium.

We finished the day at American Village and enjoyed the fireworks — though the pizza much less so. It was a strange sort of place, with lots of shops, restaurants, and entertainment — a little slice of America, clearly designed to serve the needs of the many US bases in Okinawa. That said, if they like pretty bad pizza, it’s doing its job.

As an aside, we saw a lot of American military planes and helicopters throughout the day. They even buzzed over our fishing boat a few times.

Driving in Okinawa

Fishing trip - Okinawa

Fishing trip - Okinawa

Fishing trip - Okinawa

SPAM

SPAM

Cherry Blossom - Okinawa

Cherry Blossom - Okinawa

Big fish