Christmas in Tokyo...

A few days before Christmas we spent a night in Tokyo and ran around trying to see Christmas lights...

in Shinjuku

Christmas trees under Tokyo Tower

Santa crawling up Tokyo Tower

lights in Odaiba

gingerbread house in our hotel

...and Christmas in Okinawa!

We decided to spend Christmas in Okinawa this year as it is a little warmer there than in the rest of the country.  Okinawa is in the string of islands that trail off the southern tip of Japan toward Taiwan.  It's a three hour plane flight from Tokyo and stays around 65°F in the winter.  Okinawa Island was pretty, with a beautiful rocky coastline that you could see from almost anywhere because the island itself is really mountainous.  It was pretty densely populated with a surprising amount of things to do.

And it made for an interesting holiday--on Christmas Eve we went to a butterfly garden, then to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium which is situated right on the coast and was the largest aquarium in the world until the one in Atlanta was built.

Cape Manzamo

at the butterfly garden--decorated for Christmas

view of the East China Sea from the aquarium

Thousands of years ago Okinawa was separated into several kingdoms.  Eventually the kingdoms combined into one Ryukyuan culture and then around the 1860's all the islands were absorbed into Japan (there are still differences between the islands and the mainland, mainly in food and dialect).  However, most of the castles from the kingdom days are still standing, albeit in ruins.  They are all UNESCO World Heritage sites.  We finished off Christmas Eve day by visiting one of the largest---Nakijin Castle, built in the 13th century.

Nakijin Castle walls and the East China Sea

castle walls & mountains

Christmas Eve dinner was remarkably authentic tacos in a pretty skeevy place next to one of the many US military bases on the island.  We also enjoyed Tony Roma's, A&W and Baskin Robbins while we were there, as well as an elaborate Christmas buffet served at our hotel (and Santa found time to hang out in the hotel lobby). There is a little more American "stuff" on Okinawa because there are so many US soldiers stationed there.

nothing like Christmas Eve dinner at a place where
you can  walk up and order on the street

There is even an area called the American Village that is modeled after American beach towns like Venice Beach.  The shopping was a little disappointing (not much imported stuff) but it is lively, especially at night.

American Village & ferris wheel

an Okinawan shisa, lion-dog guardian statues
that can be found all over the islands
(seriously, they are everywhere)

Best. Christmas. Present. Ever.

Yesterday we went to take the driver's test for the third time and........we both passed!!!  (Read about our first try here and our second here.)  We went to practice first again but agreed that this would be our last time at the practice course regardless of whether or not we passed.  My teacher carried on about the exact position of my arms when turning (he made me make a perfect X every time) and he wanted me to try to hit an exact speed on every section of the course (first time I'd heard that).  But I still felt like I was doing better. 

About ten people took the test this time but we were the only two who passed.  The guys who process the paperwork after the test were pretty surprised we passed together.  We really think they take into account what country you're from, how long you've been driving and how many times you've taken the test.  We had the same evaluator and actually got pulled at the same time which means I rode in the back while Chad took the test (this happened last time too).  This evaluator really scrutinized our paperwork but then seemed a little bored and disinterested while we were driving.  We think he just decided that as long as we didn't screw up really badly it was time to give a couple of Americans a break.  That or he was a Christmas angel. ;)

We had to go back to get the licenses today which turned out to be almost as hard as the test.  We had to wait forever and listen to some lectures that we think were about the responsibility of having a Japanese driver's license.  The whole process was pretty long and confusing but we got through it by A) looking lost until someone took pity and shuffled us in the right direction and B) mimicking what the other people were doing. But after a couple of hours they handed us our licenses and we got to leave.  Woo-hoo!

I'll be away from the blog for a few days but check back after the holidays for some new adventures. 
Merry Christmas!