Our We-Survived-Law-School Trip!

Thursday, April 30th--Law school has been hard for every member of our family.  To help us get through it over the last three years, we have often talked about taking a family trip after law school was over with to celebrate our survival.  It was our light at the end of the tunnel and it gave us something to look forward to.  During our second year of law school, we decided that we wanted to go to California because we decided that we wanted to see ocean animals (Sea World) and spend a lot of time on the beach.

But, we didn't know that we would be finishing up law school in Tokyo, Japan.  We also didn't know that airfare from Tokyo to Okinawa is very cheap....so cheap that we discovered that we would spend the same amount of money on round-trip airfare to Okinawa for the whole family as we would driving to and from California.  We held a family vote and Okinawa beat out California for our We-Survived-Law-School Trip!  Okinawa, here we come!

We were in Okinawa from April 30-May 6th.  The trip started out very stressful--and it all centered around Caitlin.  The night before, we stayed up very late looking for her misplaced camera.  We got up very early and continued looking for it....and finally had to leave without it.  Because we were looking for her camera, we left later than we should have and were practically running to Ebisu Station.  On the way, Caitlin checked the pockets in the stroller for the hundredth time and miraculously pulled out her camera!  We couldn't believe it!  We had ALL checked those pockets over and over again--we were all so excited that she had found it! 

Once we got to Ebisu, we had to catch a train to Shinagawa Station. We got in line and the train pulled up.  We all began to get on, but the doors closed faster than usual and Caitlin and Kirstin were not able to get on!  We were already in an extreme hurry to catch our express train at Shinagawa and didn't have time to get off at the next station and wait for Caitlin to meet us before getting back on a train and heading to Shinagawa all together.  I panicked when I saw the doors close and began to punch the door in my frustration.  I later wondered what the Japanese people thought of me beating the train up. 

Before the train pulled out, we were trying to yell to Caitlin to get on the next train and just meet us at Shinagawa instead of our normal routine that we do when we get separated.  She couldn't hear us, but luckily a lady on the metro with us had been separated from her boyfriend by the quick-closing doors and she called him on his cell phone and then he gave his phone to Caitlin so I could explain to her what I needed her to do so we could make our express train on time. 

We got to Shinagawa Station and Ray told me to go on ahead and find the platform for the express train.  He was going to stay back and wait for Caitlin to show up with Kirstin in the stroller.  The rest of the kids and I scurried with the luggage to the platform and anxiously watched for Ray and the two girls to show up.  We had non-refundable tickets for this train and we needed to catch it or else we would not be able to make our flight.  I talked to the conductor and tried to persuade him to wait just a couple more minutes for the rest of the family, but he refused.  I didn't want to board the train until we were all back together as a family.  Just as the doors were about to close, we saw Raymond poke his head out of the express train door.  He and Caitlin had run with the stroller all the way through Shinagawa Station and jumped on the train in the very last car and then walked up it looking for us.  We were at the beginning of the train trying to talk the conductor into waiting.  We grabbed our luggage and all jumped on just in time.  Whew!  We made it!  We counted kids--everyone was on--and found our seats. 

We were all a little stunned by the stress of making this express train, but we thought we could now relax.  And then, Caitlin checked the stroller for her camera since Raymond bounced and sped that stroller through the station as quickly as he did.  When she checked, the camera wasn't there and she was sure that it had fallen out.  She became very upset, but a few minutes later she checked again and it was there right where she had put it.  We told her to get that darn camera out of that stroller and put it in her pocket where it would be safe!

This train is an express train that would take us straight to Narita Airport just outside of Tokyo.  We were on this train for 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Once we got away from the skyscrapers, we could see the Japanese countryside--including rice fields.

You can't really see it in these pictures, but the rice plants were just beginning to come up in neat little rows.  Seeing rice fields was something that we wanted to see while we were here, so we were grateful that we were able to see them on the express train.

Getting through the airport was a breeze after the fiasco of trying to make our express train at Shinagawa.  We could finally get excited about our trip!

After a pleasant 1 1/2 hour flight, we began to see small islands in the bright blue water.  The kids were excited by the lush green of the foliage on the islands and by how clear the water appeared to be.  Finally, we were able to make out the island of Okinawa. 

We were greeted at the Naha Airport by lots of exotic orchids everywhere!

More orchids!

No issues with luggage this time.....things are looking up.

We got on the monorail and got our first glimpse of Okinawa.  By the looks of all the laundry hanging out on the balconies, it seems just like Tokyo.  We can already feel the difference in heat and humidity, though.  It's much warmer here!

We landed in the capital city of Okinawa, which is Naha.  Much of this city was completely destroyed during the Battle of Okinawa during World War II.

In honor of Boys' Day coming up, we saw carp flags hanging all over the place. 

Boy's Day has been traditionally celebrated with special food and the display of colorful carp flags outside of the home (one for each son) and samurai armor inside the home. The carp is a symbol of a father's desire for his son to grow up and be strong like a carp fish who swims upstream and also strong like a samurai warrior. Sons are seen as a tremendous blessing in Japan because they carry the family name and take care of the parents financially when they grow old.  Because we have 3 sons, we are often bowed to by strangers for how "rich" we are. ( Within the last few decades, Boy's Day has been called Children's Day and an attempt has been made to combine both Girls' and Boys' Days.)

We rode the cute little monorail from the airport to the station that was very close to our rental for the night.  On display at the station, there were carp flags that school children had made. 

We found our rental, which was small but very nice (could have been a little cleaner), dropped off our luggage, and then got back on the monorail to head to our first place of exploration--SHURI CASTLE!!