Chatan Festival

Takoyaki! Baked dumplings with ocotpus inside, covered in okonomiyaki sause, mayo, and seaweed.

We went to the festival on Sunset Beach in our town yesterday.  It was so fun to have Brandon try some of the popular festival foods!  And I was excited to have my yakisoba again - brought back happy memories of festivals and friends in Tokyo and Yokohama.  We went to the festival for an early dinner and got to enjoy some live music from local Japanese artists.

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Summer cupcakes!

Megumi and I decorated 48 cupcakes!

Yesterday was a busy and exciting day!  We had a solar eclipse at 11am here to start things off.  It's the longest total solar eclipse we'll have in the 21st century.  On Okinawa we had 80% of a total solar eclipse, so for a little over 6 minutes we had some of the strangest sunlight I have ever seen in my life.  Due to the fact that it was only 80%, you had to have protective eyewear to actually watch the eclipse, but I enjoyed the eeiry light as I drove to pick up my friend, Megumi.  It was interesting to drive at that time, as everyone was standing outside their work buildings and looking to the sky...reminded me a lot of an "end of the world" movie.  And the lighting only enhanced that feel.  Overall, it was a cool experience.  I posted a pic of the neat ring that appeared in the clouds around the sun about 20 minutes before the eclipse.

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Clover Cafe!

Lunch at Clover Cafe!

Megumi and I tried out Clover Cafe near our apartment for lunch.  We had their "healthy lunch" set.  I love the attention to detail the Japanese as a culture as a whole gives to food presentation! 

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Transformers and Yogurtland!

Arielle at Yogurtland!

Saturday, Brandon took me out for lunch at the Ramen shop in American Village.  I had some very good Okinawan fried rice and Brandon had beef ramen.  The ramen here is a far cry from the stove-top ramen Americans are used to...come to think of it, we should probably take photos next time.  So stay tuned for a ramen story in the near future.  Anyway, we did some shopping at the nearby 100-Yen store and wandered through a couple other stores before stopping at the newest addition to American Village for dessert: Yogurtland!

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Sugarcane!

Me and Shisa looking at the Sugarcane as we drive by.

I thought I'd share a couple photos of the local sugarcane growing.  I've watched it grow from seed to around 7ft tall!  My guess is within the next couple weeks they will have the machinery in to harvest the sugarcane.  The other photo I uploaded shows a couple farmers out tending to their field. 

I would have to say the majority of what I see is all done by hand.  Which is very different to what I am use to, since most of the things I see is done by machinery in the States.  Granted the amount of land they have here is no where near as much as a typical farmer in the States.  Additionally, there is at least one farmer that I see almost everyday that rides his Rascal scooter to his field!  One of these times I'll have to stop my SMX and take a few shots of when they come in to harvest the sugarcane.

- brandon