Happy 2025!

Happy New Year 2025 ♡

I hope you all had great holidays! 

During Christmas, I visited Okinawa. Here are some I would like to share with you.

The picture above shows traditional dance "Yotsutake" which used to be performed at the palace in Okinawa during the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429-1879) to entertain delegates from China. 

I saw ten dance performances at a restaurant Urashima in Naha City where I also enjoyed local food, including pig ear (the white dish in the photo below). I was bit worried about whether I could eat it, but it turned out to be delicious enough with a savory peanut flavor. I wouldn't have realized it was pig ear if I hadn't been told. 

The sashimi was fresh from the Naha Port. Orion Beer was a local brand and I ordered a non-alcoholic one. Customers were allowed to take pictures and videos of the performances and we could even take photos with the dancers after the show. The food and performances exceeded my expectations. On top of that, the attitude of the servers left a lasting impression ー they really did their best to make us feel welcome. 

I also visited the Tsushima-maru Memorial Museum, where I saw exhibits related to the Tsushima-maru, an evacuation ship that carried local people and school children from Okinawa to Japan's mainland. The ship was bombed and sank in 1944 during its journey, resulting in the loss of about 1500 lives. 

The photos of victims and their belongings, such as school bags, symbolized how easily the war took away their dreams for the future. What was even more heartbreaking, though, was learning that after the sinking, the survivors and victims' families were not allowed to talk about the tragedy. 

The clerk informed me that the museum was built in 2004 by the Japanese government after it became clear that recovering the wreckage of the Tsushima-maru, lying on the bottom of the sea, would be impossible. The museum is now managed by Tsushima-maru Memorial Museum Foundation.

Traveling in Okinawa was, of course, enjoyable, but visiting sites related to the Battle of Okinawa made my trip truly meaningful. 

I hope we all have a peaceful year ahead!