Eisa & Beer
Our favorite time of year, the Orion Beer Fest and Okinawan Eisa Dancing. This year Emily's Cousin and her boyfriend are visitng us, so they got a chance to see what all the fuss is about. We started them off Friday with a nice dinner and Suguru-san's show. Then next day (sat) we went to the Eisa fest then we went out to Mods to see Namiko-san. As is tradition after Namiko-sans performance we went out to an Izakya for an Otskarasama party. Since we had the beer fest the following day we decided to call it an early night and took a daiko home at about 3:00 am.
The next day Emily went with Hisano-san to get her yukata (Okinawan Kimono) put on. Hisano-san's aunt was the only one that knew how to put them on, so Emily and Hisano had to have her dress them, HA! Then we met up with Shota-san, and Chika-san at the festival. We had lots of fun, great food, music, people, and of course BEER! This was the first time Emily has worn her Yukata. This is the Yukata that Shota-san and Hisano-san got for her as a present. Hisano-san and Chika-san were just as excited as Emily to wear their Yukatas. It was such a beautiful sight to see them together having so much fun and getting along so well with no barriers. No concern for appearances, just good friends having a good time. I wish everyone could have chance to see how life can be when people put aside their differences and just embrace each 
other and life. Shota-san and I of course had to wear our Jimbes. We had worn them to the beer festival in 2004, before Emily had moved to Okinawa. It brought back a lot of great memories for us. And this year we made a lot of new ones. I will always remember Emily and her friends, my Okinawan women.
After the beer fest we walked to Martin's Irish Pub for some Fish and Chips and Guinness. As if all that was not enough for one night, Tara and Will wanted to sing Karaoke, so of course we couldn't refuse :-). Emily blew me away once again. She got up and sang Hana Mizuki. WOW! To hear my (shy) wife, sing a Japanese song, in a Karaoke bar, it brought tears of pride to my eyes. Hisano, and Shota-san were also very impressed. Okinawa-Ken dai suki desu. To see more pictures of my beautiful yukata women, click on the link to the left "Our Pictures".
The next day Emily went with Hisano-san to get her yukata (Okinawan Kimono) put on. Hisano-san's aunt was the only one that knew how to put them on, so Emily and Hisano had to have her dress them, HA! Then we met up with Shota-san, and Chika-san at the festival. We had lots of fun, great food, music, people, and of course BEER! This was the first time Emily has worn her Yukata. This is the Yukata that Shota-san and Hisano-san got for her as a present. Hisano-san and Chika-san were just as excited as Emily to wear their Yukatas. It was such a beautiful sight to see them together having so much fun and getting along so well with no barriers. No concern for appearances, just good friends having a good time. I wish everyone could have chance to see how life can be when people put aside their differences and just embrace each 
other and life. Shota-san and I of course had to wear our Jimbes. We had worn them to the beer festival in 2004, before Emily had moved to Okinawa. It brought back a lot of great memories for us. And this year we made a lot of new ones. I will always remember Emily and her friends, my Okinawan women.After the beer fest we walked to Martin's Irish Pub for some Fish and Chips and Guinness. As if all that was not enough for one night, Tara and Will wanted to sing Karaoke, so of course we couldn't refuse :-). Emily blew me away once again. She got up and sang Hana Mizuki. WOW! To hear my (shy) wife, sing a Japanese song, in a Karaoke bar, it brought tears of pride to my eyes. Hisano, and Shota-san were also very impressed. Okinawa-Ken dai suki desu. To see more pictures of my beautiful yukata women, click on the link to the left "Our Pictures".
posted by Oki Dave | 4:57 AM
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Okinawa, the Champaru culture that it is, hosted an international festival this past week. It was mainly a festival for children with lots of plays geared toward a younger audience. Emily and I volunteered to help out. Emily speaks Japanese really well, so that was her talent, and I like to hang out and talk to people so that was my talent. We were dubbed "Okinawa Goodwill ambassadors". We ended up spending time with a group from Sweden, from Thursday thru to Sunday. They were a great bunch and we had a lot of fun. I especially had fun showing them many different sides to the Okinawan/Japanese culture. Of course we also interacted with a bunch of folks from other countries. We took them out to an outdoor Izakaiya, then we went and sang Karaoke. They had a lot of fun singing. They were all very open minded and willing to try just about anything. We had one particular adventure that stands out in my mind as a prime example of why Okinawa is so great, and why it is what it is. We took them all out to Martins, the Irish pub. As we sat there I stepped back and took a look at the situation. Here we were, a group of Americans, Okinawans, Swedes and French (truly amazing), all sitting together in Okinawa Japan, in an Irish pub, drinking Irish beer, and speaking Japanese, English, and Swedish... a very unique experience for me! Emily and I would love to come back next year to help out again. We never did get a group picture, so I took the pictures we had from when we went to Martins, and combined them. The couple to the left is Yoko-san and her Husband David. They live in Paris. Yoko-san is Okinawan, and speaks French, English, and Japanese perfectly. On the right is Bengt, Me, and Stalle. They were lots of fun, and had a good sense of humor, they both spoke English very well. The center picture is Hisano-san, Emily, Tuve in the front, and Ylva in the back. Hisano-san is Emily's best friend in Okinawa. Tuve and Ylva, were both from Sweden, and both spoke English very well. What a great group.