(no longer) LOST IN JAPAN

One week left!!!

I can't wait. I'll be leaving for Okinawa in 8 days... dans 8 dodos... I asked Matsui-sensei to help me with my hotel bookings. I got a room in all the ryokans that I wanted. I finished all the planning yesterday and now I can just relax and wait.

I'm actually quite pleased with the planning considering it was all pretty last minute. Here's the proposed schedule, subject to change depending on the weather (although the weather forecast says 20C and sunny next weekend in Naha).

So, it's Naha from the 24-26th of December. We'll visit whatever we can on the buses and then on the 26th we're flying to Ishigaki which is the southernmost island with an airport. On Ishigaki, there isn't much to do but we'll be taking a ferry to 2 of the surrounding islands: Iriomote island, which is home to Japan's last jungle and first UNESCO World Heritage Site; and Takatomi island, which is a tiny island about 1km in diametre that has star-shaped sand and water buffalo. The sand is not actually sand but thousands of little skeletons of sea creatures. According to legend, they are the babies of the star goddess who enraged the sea god by giving birth in the sea without permission... so the sea god killed all the babies... Kinda sad really.
After Ishigaki from the 26th-29th, we take a ferry to Miyako island where we'll be from the 29th to the 1st of January. We'll rent a car for a day and explore. After Miyako, we're heading back to Naha, where we'll have a car until we leave. I come back to Nara on January 5th.

Here's a zoomed in look at the islands... I can't wait!!!

posted by Samantha @ 11:30 PM