After enjoyed a delightful fireworks display from the comfort of our balcony on New Year’s Eve, the following morning we drove south with our friends, Josh and Jamie, to Naminoue Shrine in Naha to celebrate New Year’s Day. This was Brandon and my third time to Naminoue for New Year’s after being introduced to it by Brandon’s uncle. We enjoyed festival food and I got my first ever positive fortune since we’ve been living in Japan! (My favorite part was “Travel: The sooner, the better.” Definitely my motto!)
From there, we drove down towards Okinawa World. Decided to finally stop at the Stone Lion and see what it was all about.
This lovely stone lion sits upon a lookout point. You can actually see some of the bullet holes in the lion from the Battle of Okinawa (World War II.)
The small glade around the Stone Lion is wonderfully peaceful and so beautiful! I can imagine it would be a wonderful place to pack a small picnic lunch and enjoy the scenery. I love how different some of the trees here are compared to ours back in Pennsylvania!
The Stone Lion is thought to be the oldest shisa on the island and was worth the short stop.
Once we got to Okinawa World, Brandon helped “ring in the New Year.”
And we laughed as the kids “rode” horses around the entrance circle. By alternating standing up in the stirrups and sitting down, the kids are able to make the horses’ legs move back and forth, propelling themselves forward on the wheeled horses. They sure were having a blast!
Brandon was happy to get his new favorite Nihede Black Ale and the annual New Year’s awamori. As 2013 is the year of the snake, the albino python photo stand had the longest line we have ever seen. The albino python is considered good luck and everyone wanted a photo with it. (This photo is NOT the albino python. It is an advertisement for the Nanto Brewery’s Habu Awamori. Much shorter line for this photo op.)
I always enjoy walking through the caves here! I always notice something different each time we go. Absolutely breath-taking! And the constant 21 degrees Celsius and 90% humidity felt incredibly warm and humid coming in from the outdoor sweatshirt-weather that day.
As this was their first time to Okinawa World, Josh and Jamie agreed to our traditional photo op. We’ve gotten quite the collection over the last four years.
After a wonderful day of celebrating, we stopped at our favorite chain restaurant “Sukiya” for our cheese gyudon (beef and rice bowl.) Sukiya is surprisingly cheap and oh-so-tasty, even for picky eaters! I ordered the “mini” size and while Brandon usually orders a medium, he decided to try the “mega” size this time. (Just looking at this photo has my mouth watering!) And yes, folks, he did manage to finish both his bowl and part of mine, although he says he’ll go back to the medium in the future. Unless he’s super-hungry.
We hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s celebration! Happy 2013!