Shimauta

In Okinawa right now and have about 30 seconds to write a quick post. After moving back down to Tokyo this week, I*ve been desperately trying to finish all the work I have (ie, my research which is now done, and the handbook which only has about 30 hours of work left to be done on it). I saw Rie, Akari, and Chiari on Wednesday night in Kichijoji and bought them dinner to show my thanks for all the stuff they did for me this year, especially Akari. Then I had to get up at 5:30 AM on Thursday morning to come to Okinawa! Okinawa is a weird place. We're on the main island (Hontou, or Naha) and in the downtown area there are so many Americans (all of whom are normal soldiers in the army, so they either have that (1) dorky, I wear jeans that are too tight with big white tennis shoes look or that (2) tough-guy, who has a sense of trashiness and retardedness to him look to go along with their crewcuts. You can imagine how excited I am that they are here. Also, there was this gigantic white girl dressed like a gothic slut (gothic-ish clothes only really skimpy despite her fatness) and bleached blonde hair down to her ass with visible roots. Someone that would get stared at anywhere. And I stared at her when she passed by and I heard her ask her friend 'why do these people keep looking at me' and her friend was like 'because you're not Japanese' in this snooty 'Japanese people are weird' kind of way. Well I hate to disagree, but maybe it's because you look like a tank in a mini-skirt and knee-high platforms. I hate when people put on an outfit and KNOW people are going to stare when they put it on, and then complain that people keep staring. If you don't want people to stare, leave the costume at home freakshow.

It's also really hot here, but it's this different, tropical kind of hot. The temperature itself isn't so bad (maybe mid-80s in fahrenheit?) but it's kind of humid and just feels like an oven constantly. But that's the last of my complaints.

The scenery here is lush and beautiful, and there are all sorts of weird animals and insects everywhere. The water is the clearest ocean water I've ever seen, and it looks like a bright blue/emerald green sheet of glass as it spreads out toward the horizon. Yesterday, after going to this beach where this one reeediculously hot girl in a bikini greeted us as we arrived (I seriously felt like Kevin Arnold or something). If you drive through some narrow roads around here, you seem like you're always bound to come across some narrow strip of beach or a cove that is pretty much untouched. And this is the main island! Last night, we went out to see some Okinawan music performed which was very enjoyable since I just so happen to love Okinawan music.

Today I went snorkeling with Yuji-ojisan. Since the island is surrounded by coral reefs (i think most of the islands are?), the water breaks far out to sea and is warm and shallow inward towards land. Today, you could swim out hundreds of yards and it was still about 2-3 feet deep. There were a bunch of interesting little animals in the water (and about 10 million black sea cucumber) and it was really interesting. I think I was swimming for like two hours.

Okay gotta go. Wow this is such a lamely written entry. But much longer than I meant to make it.