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| Howdy from Sunayama Beach! |
We started our tour of Japan back on October 18 in Tokyo. We wrapped it up on October 28 on the Okinawa Island of Miyakojima. From beginning to end, it was an amazing adventure in a country that we would definitely visit again if given the opportunity.
Miyakojima is famous for beautiful clear water and sandy beaches. We found one of them (Sunayama Beach) just an easy 2.5 mile walk from the ship. The small beach was ranked in the top 5 of all beaches in Japan according to trip advisor. A few people were swimming in the slightly chilly water. We were content to relax sitting in the sand soaking up the scenery and reminiscing about our time in Japan.
I had mentioned in previous blogs about the reception we often got on our arrival into port, or the send off on our departure. Miyakojima welcomed us warmly as well. They planned a Halloween Carnival to coincide with our time in port It had the typical games you’d see at a Halloween Carnival in the US along with face painting, food trucks and entertainment. After our beach time we enjoyed roaming the carnival for a bit. We enjoyed seeing local children in their costumes and sampling a bit of food (we didn’t try the Octopus Balls). Unfortunately the carnival was slowed down by a brief passing shower.
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| The Halloween Market (Carnival) was an unexpected surprise! |
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| The flyers passed out to passengers as we got off the ship was a great advertisement. The carnival was a nice mix of locals and tourists! |
To wrap up Japan here’s a few fun (at least to me) tidbits of information.
Vending Machines-it is estimated that there are around 5 million vending machines in Japan That equals around one vending machine for every forty people! It was rare to not have a vending machine in sight. If you didn’t see one, but suddenly had a craving for a cold or hot beverage just walk another 100 yards or so and one would likely come into view.
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| …..or in the rural areas, a well stocked and working vending machine was rarely out of sight |
7-11’s-There are over 71,000 7-11’s around the world. Over 30% of them are in Japan. It’s a popular place to pick up small needed items, but they are known for their fresh sandwiches and hot food items…….and they met all our banking needs with their ATM’s.
What an amazing country!
