My envelope was opened and I got to meet my new host, Jayme. She said we were on the island of Okinawa in Japan. Though Okinawa used to be an independent nation it has been conquered by many different people. The latest in the early 1900's by Japan. Since then it has remained a Japanese prefecture. Today she said we're taking a very special trip to learn about the island's history, but we have to prepare our meals first.
So we made bento boxes, these are toddler sized ones for her two children.
You can see they stack up to be carried easily.
I also had to do some that were larger for the adults.
Traditionally bentos has rice in them instead of crackers, but Jayme said we were in a bit of a hurry and she didn't have any cooked rice. Darn. But our preparations done, we were able to get on our way..
This very beautiful coast line is found at the edge of the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park.
Okinawa was caught in the middle of World War II's Battle of Okinawa. During the battle Okinawa's large civilian population could not escape. Because of this they suffered many, many casualties. As a remembrance of this battle and the loss suffered, the Peace Memorial Park was put into place. There are many smaller memorials throughout the grounds as well as a cemetary, but you are not to take pictures of Okinawan tombs without the permission of the family. We could take pictures of some of the Memorials though.
The most beautiful and sad part of the park is over this small bridge here.
In here are walls... so many rows of walls! With over 200,000 names inscribed into them of those who lost their lives during the Battle of Okinawa. Most of them were civilians, but there are also military from Japan, the United States, and Great Britain inscribed here. It is a very sad and amazingly beautiful site.
What an amazing place to visit and learn about! After our visit we headed home, but the children had been so well that we decided to stop half way to let them play a bit.
What an exhausting day... time to head home and take a little break!
Write more soon,
Khetiwe