Visible from the heights..

I spent around 12 days on vacation with my girlfriend. First we went camping in Nagano-ken for 3 days. We met up with some of her friends at a rock festival called Kiso-Kodo. It was fun and relaxing. Highlight of the camping was the food. Fresh grilled
seafood and wild boar.

After that, we spent the next 5 days in Okinawa. We flew in on a monday night, Naha then to Ishigakijima. We were on the tail end of a typhoon this night, so it was overcast and raining. The next morning we hopped on a speedboat and took a 45minute ride to Iruomotejima.

We spent the next three days on Iruomotejima snorkeling, kayaking, trekking, camping and being general beach bums. Check out some of the pictures on flickr, we took too many pictures with the pentax w40 I bought (it’s ruggedized and does under water shots.) Pretty fun, and I found Nemo, anglefish and sea snakes. This island is about 80% wild-life reserve/national park. There is one main road that connects north to the south and it runs a long the coast. This island is extremely beautiful, both a long the ocean for diving and in-land for hiking, treking and general exploring. The mangroves and fauna are amazing. I recommend you skip Naha and head here for at least two days. September is perfect if you can get here in between typhoons like we managed.

After Iruomotejima, we headed to Taketomijima. This is a really small island, around 2km across at the widest. We spent the day here lounging on the beach and visiting some of the kamidana, or alcoves where sacred spirits are supposed to live.

After this we returned to Ishigakijima. We stayed in a hotel here in the downtown district. After shopping for some okinawan wine and presents, we enjoyed the night life at a popular okinawan bar. I have really come to enjoy goya…

We headed back to honshu after this. From Nagoya, we head to kyoto and to Yamauto. This is a 30 day, self-sustainable music/outdoor living/eco friendly festival. The festival was deep in the mountains of Shiga-ken, about 1.5 hours from Kyoto station by train/bus.

All in all this was a great, and much needed vacation. I met and talked with some interesting people ( including a gynecologist from Tokyo) and learned some interesting things about
japanese people in general. ( My ideas of camping and japanese, completely different.. patrol and clean your campsite before and after you setup your tent! Rocks and sticks under your tent are not comfortable!)