Honshu and Okinawa

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I am back. I spent 10 days in Japan, 5 days for work on the main island of Honshu and 5 days of solo adventure in Okinawa. Travel is so invigorating dispite the uncomfortableness. Jetlag, anxiety, crowds, and other discomforts aside, it is mind-expanding and rewarding. Work went well. I flew a new airline (Skymark) from Tokyo to Naha. I am always wary of strange discount airlines and all the traps they set. However, I had a great expereince with "Sky". I was actually shocked. Super easy checkin at the airport, no extra fees even with extra luggage. The primary mission in Okinawa was to visit the Peace Park and the suicide cliffs of Okinawa. From what I understand, at the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. Besides other types of suicide, they jumped off the cliffs at the Southern end of the main island. If you have seen the original color footage taken at the time, I am sure you ...
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I am back from the most recent NYC adventure. It was an easy drive at about 3.5 hours and another hour onto Long Island. We had dinner with a couple of ardent and interesting Jazz musicians. One of them teaches music in the public schools in the South Bronx. The other was an Irish imigrant. There was some excellent conversation in, from and about the Red Hook District of Brooklyn. There is quite a revitalization going on. You can feel the tension between property owners. Overall, it looks like it is going in a positive direction. I also got to do a couple of city-firsts for me. I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge which was quite a thrill as well as visiting the Egyptian obelisk in Central Park. The view from Red Hook over to the Statue of Liberty was very nice.

The Tire Changer turned out to be an even better than planned deal. The seller was a great ebay'r.

The glove on the constantine wire spoke of an interesting tale. What made the context even more interesting was the Police Crime Scene tape attached to the fence that I walked away with as an artifact. Notice which side of the fence I took the picture, the person side.

In short, good food, good company, good deals, and of course good adventure.

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Honshu and Okinawa

-
Image
I am back. I spent 10 days in Japan, 5 days for work on the main island of Honshu and 5 days of solo adventure in Okinawa. Travel is so invigorating dispite the uncomfortableness. Jetlag, anxiety, crowds, and other discomforts aside, it is mind-expanding and rewarding. Work went well. I flew a new airline (Skymark) from Tokyo to Naha. I am always wary of strange discount airlines and all the traps they set. However, I had a great expereince with "Sky". I was actually shocked. Super easy checkin at the airport, no extra fees even with extra luggage. The primary mission in Okinawa was to visit the Peace Park and the suicide cliffs of Okinawa. From what I understand, at the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. Besides other types of suicide, they jumped off the cliffs at the Southern end of the main island. If you have seen the original color footage taken at the time, I am sure you ...
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