April 18: Okinawa

Luke woke up this morning around 6 and we slowly got ready and headed down to breakfast around 6:45. After breakfast I caught up on my journaling while Christal, Luke & Ojiichan went swimming. Unfortunately it was raining so they didn't want to use the outdoor pool. At 10 Auntie Tokimi came to the hotel to pick us up for the day. Our first stop was to visit Hi-Obaachan who was in the hospital because she had a fever. Luke seemed to be a little afraid of her because he was clinging to Christal like a koala bear. We visited with her for a few minutes and then headed out.

With Hi-Obaachan

Next we went to visit step-grandpa, but he was getting bathed when we got there so we went to pick up Yukiko Obaachan. After picking her up Christal thought it would be best to have lunch before visiting Hi-Ojiichan so we went to an Aeon Mall in Haebaru and found a conveyor belt sushi place called Yazaemon. Ojiichan ordered quite a few different things but my favorite was probably the maguro cheek, collar and throat. They all reminded me of chutoro with varying degrees of fattiness.

Maguro Collar, Cheek and Throat

After lunch we went to visit Hi-Ojiichan. Unfortunately Luke fell asleep on the way over so we wasn't able to interact with Hi-Ojiichan, but he seemed to still be in a better mood than the last time we visited him. He did look a little bit more frail than the last time though.

With Hi-Ojiichan

When we finished visiting with Hi-Ojiichan we dropped Yukiko Obaachan off at her home and then we went to Heiwadori and Makishi Public Market. Ojiichan stayed in the car to take a nap while we walked around browsing and admiring all the colorful fish in the market. There were even some lobsters than looked like they were bigger than Luke.

He Doesn't Like Seafood That's Bigger Than Him

Eventually we bought a small gurukun to have cooked upstairs. The gurukun is actually the prefectural fish of Okinawa and it is known as the double lined fusilier in English. The restaurant/stand, Ganjudo, suggested we have it fried, which is the most popular way of eating it. It came out piping hot and crispy with some lemon, green onions and spicy daikon oroshi. It had a mild flavor that is very pleasant and it was very easy to eat. Luke enjoyed all of it too. He even ate the tail fin when we offered it.

Gurukun Karaage

After finishing the fish we walked back to the car where Ojiichan was patiently waiting. Auntie Tokimi drove us back to the hotel and dropped us off. Christal, Luke and I went walking around and eventually found a place to eat. It was an okonomiyaki and yaki soba restaurant called Ichigenya. Christal ordered the yaki soba with chicken and I got their tonpei yaki, which was an omelet stuffed with pork okonomiyaki and topped with okonomi sauce and mayonnaise, and it was apparently their original specialty and what they are famous for because they had autographs of professional Japanese baseball players all over, even signed bats and balls in the front window. It was very good and not as heavy as it sounds. The okonomiyaki part had more of a mochi chew to it than regular okonomiyaki and the egg went really well with it.

Tonpei Yaki

When we finished with dinner we went over to Blue Seal for dessert. Christal ordered the shikwasa sherbert and I got another Blue Seal sundae, this time with sugar cane ice cream under the salty milk soft serve. Just like last night Luke only at Christal's, but this time he even ate most of the cone.

Brown Sugar Ice Cream & Salt Milk Soft Serve

From dessert we walked back to the hotel and Christal and Luke went to bed. I went out walking to find a Family Mart because I had seen some wasabi and takoyaki flavored Doritos at the hospital earlier and wanted to see if I could get some. I was in luck because the Family Mart had them right in the front of the store, so maybe they are a promotional item. After I bought them I walked back to the room and got ready for bed and journaled a little bit.

Wasabi & Takoyaki Doritos!