The 58th

This motorcycle video is long overdue. Sporting a new motorcycle and jacket I take a crack at rush hour traffic in Okinawa, Japan. Being that I'm a little rusty at shooting and riding, this time around the speed was kept down a bit.

Okinawa, Japan

Rock Soup

What's in my bowl?

At a local ramin shop I noticed one of the menu items was a hot stone. Curious I ordered a bowl of ramin and the hot stone. First the ramin came out, so I thought maybe the stone was already in it. However then the super hot stone came out a spoon and was placed next to the bowl.

Perplexed I asked the waitress what the purpose of the hot stone was. She explained that adding the hot stone to the ramin would bring out more of the soups flavor and also keep the ramin warmer.

So that's how they did it before the microwave.

Really?

What's going on here? Guns are outlawed in Japan, how many armed robberies in parks occur in Okinawa? Wait... Lets read this sign, it talks about not doing graffiti and starting fires in the park. But no where does it talk about armed robberies?

Maybe the picture is just a clever way of getting people to read the sign. OR Maybe its a clever way of keeping people from ever coming into the park in the first place.

Nerd Bird

This would be a little bird who lives in the tree outside my balcony. All morning he fly's around with his Mom asking for food. In the evenings, for reasons I am unsure of, he sits outside my door with a grumpy look on his face waiting for me to get home. When I arrive home and approach my door he pretends like he can blend into the wall and waits impatiently for me to go inside of my apartment.

Kinser Set

Wendesday nights sunset.
Typically I pick the best photo of group, however in this case it was impossible to choose.

Nuclear Viking

Speeding along a sign on the side of the road caught my eye. Just a left turn away was a parking lot with 50 spaces and a Manga Café with a buffet lunch for 780 yen.

What is a Manga Café you ask? Imagine a library you pay by the hour to sit in that is stocked with the latest comic books and magazines. The fee, which varies from one Manga Café to another, typically includes a free drink bar and reserved cubical that has a computer with internet access and a comfortable chair in it.

Wondering what happens when you combine a Manga Café with a buffet, I turned left into the ample parking lot and ventured inside. After filling out a membership card, which is free and typically required to use the café, I walked over to my cubical dropped off my motorcycle gear and then ventured over to the buffet.

It was everything that I had hoped and feared it would be. Piles for fried rice, vats of curry, Spam and fried noodles, and several limp looking salads all begged to be consumed; it was the type of fair you consume only if you are willing to declare nuclear war on your body. Having faith that the Ulong tea from the drink bar would combat the MSG and grease, I loaded up four plates and waddled back to my cubical.

Once inside the dimly lit tobacco stained cocoon, I loaded up the internet and then dug into to my carefully picked feast, which contained so much MSG that it took nearly a gallon of water to quench my thirst.

In other words, it was amazing.