Episode 3: My first Okinawa
November 30, 2024
It's already been two weeks since my last diary entry. Time really flies!
Today, I'd like to talk about my trip to Okinawa in October, but before that, let me tell you about a few recent events. First of all, I finally bought a frame for my poster of "Kaiju No. 8"! Now I just need to decide where to hang it. Looking closer at the photo, one of the fish is pulling a really funny face, which popped me (lol).
Then, I found a recipe for chanko nabe on YouTube. The video was all in Japanese so I couldn't understand it completely, but I gave it a go and it was pretty delicious! I used to make chanko nabe when I was in AJPW, but to be honest, I wasn't very good at it, lol. Chanko nabe after working out is something special!
Now, let's talk about my trip to Okinawa!
On October 16th, I went to Okinawa with my two best friends from Italy. They were in Japan to wrestle for GLEAT and were staying at my house. We decided to go on a trip together after their matches. I’ve always been curious about going to Okinawa and it’s been high on my list of places I want to visit for a while now. I thought it would be an amazing place, but I never expected to actually visit and fall completely in love with it!
We stayed at a resort hotel in Onna Village on the main island of Okinawa. To be honest, I thought Okinawa would be more expensive, but it wasn’t that bad at all.
On the first day, we visited the Churaumi Aquarium. I love aquariums and have visited many aquariums in Japan since I’ve been here. This may be surprising, but the Churaumi Aquarium was not all that memorable for me. I enjoyed it, of course, but I think that was because my expectations were too high and there were too many people. For me, the aquarium in Shimoda was better. The aquarium is a bit far from Onna Village, so that was it for the day.
In the evening we went for a short swim and watched the beautiful sunset.
Then on the second day, I had a special experience. It was my first time snorkeling! I booked a snorkeling tour with one of my friends (the other one was scared of swimming) and went to the "Blue Cave" near Cape Maeda. I was so excited! I never expected snorkeling, something I'd always wanted to do, to be so beautiful. The water was so clear that you could clearly see the ocean floor. I saw some brightly colored fish I'd never seen before, and even a large poisonous fish (it was a little scary haha).
We snorkeled for about an hour, and by the end I was very satisfied and exhausted (lol). My feet were a little sore from the fins, but I was really happy to have shared this amazing experience with my best friend.
After that, the diving instructor told me about a nearby snorkeling spot, so I bought some water shoes at a nearby convenience store and went to the beach. There was no one there, and it was like a private beach!
I was excited like a kid, so I quickly put on sunscreen and jumped into the sea. We ended up playing there until it got dark. It was a really beautiful place.
It's a small thing, but because I put on my sunscreen in a rush, my skin was bright red the next day and it hurt a lot (lol). But I was having so much fun that I thought, "What can I do?"
I don't want this diary to be too long and boring, so I'm including lots of photos of the places I visited! I'm also introducing some recommended spots, such as the Blue Cave, Cape Maeda, and the sunset at Cape Manzamo. My trip to Okinawa was truly amazing.
Not only did I enjoy the beautiful scenery and delicious food (I ate a lot of Spam and even bought a Spam T-shirt lol), but it was also special to spend the day with my best friends. I've known them since I started my career as a wrestler and we share a lot of memories. I was so happy to be able to share this wonderful trip with them in Japan, my "second home". I'll be uploading lots of photos from the trip, so please enjoy!
Thank you for reading this time. See you in two weeks. I'll have lots of other stories to share with you then. Have a great day! arrivederci!