Okinawa Birthday Party

-Traditional Birthday Kiss.
Contributed by Allyson.

Tanjoubi omedeto gozaimasu (Happy Birthday)
This day good things we will eat
Sushi is to eat
Sake is to drink
We tonight partake
In the hot springs we soak
A boiled eel! like that we will be
The karaoke bar after we will find
Loud singing
Sake too
Your birthday very fun is
Penguins under table are
Because your birthday, they dance!
-Traditional Japanese Birthday Song.
Translation contributed by Bruce & Alene on the trimaran Migration.


Today is my birthday. We started off the day with a Japanese Buffet Breakfast at the Laguna Garden Hotel located next to the Ginowan Marina where we are staying. TripAdvisor rated this as one of the top ten restaurants in Ginowan (for the Japanese Breakfast buffet) so we had to give it a try. They also have a Western Breakfast Buffet in an adjacent room. There is no fusion between the two. The buffet was excellent as forecast and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

The next item on the day's agenda was to rent a car for a driving tour of the island. After some initial confusion, which is not uncommon for English speakers here in Japan, we managed to get hold of a small car for the day. For some reason, the residents of Okinawa seem to prefer box-shaped vehicles. We rented a compact Suzuki from I&E rentals, within walking distance of the marina, and it zipped us efficiently on our way. An international driver's license is required and the price was reasonable at 40USD per day, including insurance and taxes.

We opted to drive the west coast road on the way north, with several stops along the way. The hole in the wall cliffs at Cape Manzamo are an iconic image of Okinawa and one of the highlights on the coast, which is interspersed with resort communities and beautiful small coves and bays.


Our primary destination was the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, once the largest aquarium in the world until surpassed by the Georgia Aquarium in 2005 (which in turn was surpassed by the Marine Life Park in Singapore in 2012. They have three whale sharks (the world's largest fish) in a enormous viewing tank. The Churaumi Aquarium is located within the Ocean Expo Park, about halfway up the island from Ginowan and took us about 2 hours to drive there.

Cuttlefish in aquarium tank.


Lobster in aquarium tank.

The Aquarium lived up to its billing. It is big and popular - especially with small children.

We had lunch in the aquarium café at the base of the large tank holding the whale sharks and other large specimens. With the 1.9 million gallon (7 million litre) tank overlooking us, we had a momentary thought of a James Bond scene with a bursting aquarium, but quickly put that out of our minds. It was a mesmerizing lunchtime view. No seafood on the menu like there was at the Taiwan aquarium.

We took the expressway south which goes across a ridge in the centre of the island and gave us some brief views of the east coast. Overall, we were surprised at how developed and populated the island is with large communities built along the coast on both sides.

We selected another TripAdvisor Top 10 restaurant for dinner. This time it was the legendary Sam's Anchor Inn. Sam's has been around Ginowan since 1970. It is a Teppanyaki-style American Surf N' Turf fusion restaurant. Of course the term fusion wasn't applied to food in the 70s so it is not really called that. It has a ship's cabin décor and the wait staff wear sailor suits. The chefs wear sky high hats, pristine white smocks and a red scarf at their necks. The service is excellent and a note on the menu insists that no tips are allowed. A most popular place with the locals and tourists. It was packed on a Monday night.

I had the Steak and Lobster special:

Lobster on my plate.

Allyson had the Ladies Special, Tenderloin and Grouper:


And here is how it all got made:
[%youtube*https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=3nOoE03MYlA%v]


We rounded out the day with two quarts of Baskin Robbins ice cream (Chocolate Almond Fudge and Strawberry Cheesecake) from the Convention City Shopping Mall across the street from the marina. At about 10 USD per quart, including some dry ice, it was not the cheapest ice cream but it sure was good and a sweet end to a sweet day.