okinawa hai!

CONTRIBUTED BY MONETTE EAMES Adan Boy A little swish of the brush here, a little swish there, and maybe a slight smile looking thing on the page. Whenever I watch my students practicing writing kanji and hiragana, pure amazement comes over me, making me want to teach myself whatever they’re doing. A year ago, I [...]

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 CONTRIBUTED BY MONETTE EAMES On a recent camping trip to Okuma, we decided to see what the sleepy outskirts had to offer. We came across Michi No Eki Yuiyui Kunigami, the shopping center looking area right next to Family Mart (it’s actually a road station/rest stop). You can’t miss it. It has a red tiled [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY JOY BARNES At my core, I am an activist.  Before my “career” as a stay at home mom, I worked for a feminist non-profit organization, I volunteered for political movements, and I’ve certainly done my share of letter writing campaigns.   However, when I moved to Okinawa, I was worried about where I [...]

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CONTRIBUTED SARRA MCMILLAN Shortly after my arrival in Okinawa in December 2009, a new-found friend pulled me towards the flashing lights and screaming sounds of teenagers playing arcade games. “Have you ever done purikura?” she asked.The word was as unknown to me at that time as arigatou and irasshaimase, so I just looked at her [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY JENNIFER SHUE The other night my husband and I were watching downloaded episodes (legitimately! – through iTunes) of last season’s Top Gear. In Season 15, Episode 6, the main host, Jeremy, had borrowed another host’s car (a Ferrari 430) who was particularly OCD about how tidy his car was at all times. So, Jeremy, [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY HEATHER GELORMINE I don’t want to alarm anyone but THE HOLIDAYS ARE RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!  *ahem* (I think my panic and unpreparedness are showing.)  Unless you’ve already put in your order for our fabulous 2011 Okinawa Hai calendars, you may still be scrambling around, looking for local gifts for all those special [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY JENNIFER SHUE Digging through some of the old Okinawa Hai posts, I came across an entry for ETWS. I didn’t even know that it was on Okinawa Hai and I’ve been reading this site regularly for about a year and a half now! But the five sentence review didn’t scratch the surface of [...]

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As promised, here is the second installment of Shannan's favorite kid's books related to Japan, Okinawa and its cultures.  If you missed the first, it's HERE.  Take it away, Shannan… CONTRIBUTED BY SHANNAN LEWELLEN   My Japan by Etsuko Watanabe is fairly new to our collection, and by far the most informative.  The book details every aspect [...]

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I'm very excited to pass on to you two installments of posts about children's books that could help your children better understand their Okinawan experience.  And for those of you leaving island soon, these might be great investments to keep the memories alive.  I've divided Shannan's post and will be sharing the rest of it [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY JOELLE YAMADA Isn’t it great how things grow on you over time?   When I arrived on island, there were two specific things that I found to be… well…  garish and overdone:  All of the toenails of the women I seemed to meet and all of the crazily colorful obi that were proudly [...]

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