Few additional photos from Okinawa. There is also few video clips and Kaczor photos. Topic will be continued next year.
Tomorrow at dawn we'll flight to Kuala Lumpur with my beautiful, private, Japanese soulmate. Hostel is reserved already, we don't have any precise plans. Five days in paradise? Weather forecast: monsoon :)

Fresh photos and comments will be published on picasaweb, where my previous photos from foreign travels are. Bow in!

Last day on island. Last night we were singing with crew from neighboring taproom till 3:00 PM. There were dances. A wake-up call was hard.

The music tI hear here is above average (in comparison to Tokyo). Shops, radio in car. Everything is a little more ambitious. Today in six hours we drove Naha district. Our sightseeing is rather chaotic. Kaczor is catching people and urging theme to pose, i'm running around and shoot without a fuss. I was playing with lensbaby borrowed from Kuba. I have not enough passion and it resulted in rapid return to my lens.
The perfect interlude was visit in Gyokusendo cave. A ridiculous, holiday interior decoration is an essence of local taste :)

















Return to Japan on evening. Okinawa is great place, not without reason Japanese claims that it doesn't belong to they country.
Being tired with Tokyo routine I strongly recommend Okinawa.

We drove half of the island by 60 kilometer motorway. Northern area is a paradise for anchorites, old people and photographers. Desolated beaches, tiny islands. We managed to avoid all kind of touristic objects. Evening we made a tour around Naha taverns. People here are really friendly, especially after explaining that we aren't Americans.
It's funny thing with language here. So far everyone told me about Okinawa emphasized that Okinawan language is slightly different from Japanese. I'm not an expert. We questioned some people in bars with Kaczor. Unfortunately even 50 years old chef in one of taverns was only able to say 'good morning' in Okinawan, and some two women said other 3 words that Japanese couldn't know.
Generally it's one big fairy tale, Okinawan language is like our Silesia's dialect.

First day on the Island was fine. Flight in the morning, transfer to car rental (kind of organized trip) and after the checkout and finding out that throttle is on right side and brake on left, we hit the road. I've tamed car after about 30 minutes, Kaczor managed to get to bottom of GPS after few hours.
Island is admirable, even when it's raining. It looks like it's poor part of Japan, but it makes it more "normal". People are more friendly and open-minded. Food is good so far. There is also another scale - island is small so everything is more accessible. All distances can be traveled by bicycle.
Today it's sunny, 20 celcius degree, normal humidity (68%). We are going to reportedly wild part of isle.

Professional informations about this region: Wikipedia

Two and half hours of flight and you are in totally different Japan.

This year was full of travels. I've never flew so much before. Omitting Warsaw-change-Tokyo cruises, i was in Taiwan, Hong Kong, continental China, and in South Korea. I'm writing these words from plane flying to Okinawa. Counting this three days trip that we just started with Kaczor i flew 43,146km this year.
Travel is an addict, it opens your mind and allows you to think about life without handicap of everyday emotions. I have feeling that to visit one foreign country, meet people, see places and taste foods is like to read 100 books.
First aim for new year: travels!

Bigos was delicious. Statistics: 2 big pots, 14 people, time required to eat = 2 hours including breaks. Additionally we had cake, żubrówka, Moldavian rye vodka and lots of presents.

Today the Christmas tree is dying at home same as me at office. I've started Christmas Eve from lunch at McDonald's. Evening will be festive again.

But tomorrow... ;>

I know, both at mine and your place the Christmas vibe is missing. Weather is bad, there is a lack of power, time and ambiance. Christmas is in our heads.
Merry Christmas!

ps. Today I present short video found during hard drive cleanup. Radek and Greg in Christmas moods.

Finally i bagged Xmas tree. Small canadian fir tree bought on suburb costs 1800JPY. There is 20% discount because Christmas are ending. Total cost with flowerpot (that costs same as tree), some soil, sticks and professional labour is 6000JPY. After paying i'll had to carry 15kg set to home. It was extremely uncomfortable and homeward was long. Satisfaction - priceless. It even smells a bit.

There is also bigos, same partying is planned for weekend.

Additionally i've catched interesting things: first is umbrella coin-locker (mentioned before). Second one is Suntory flower time! Company apart from whiskey produces plants. That is production diversification, huh? ;)

Visit at japanese pet shop always yields some curious details. I think that there are such things in Europe too. I see it for the first time here.
Ice creams for dogs, cream puffs with pudding and capsules with frozen dog milk. It's shocking for me.

There is a skating rink very close to my place. It's a great example time stopped in late 80s. I don't care about the building look but skating in prehistoric, leather skates makes me suprised though. Additionally the crowd like in a tram, organized trips of old people and classes in the middle of the rink. Ramen shop at the back, cool!
Every 15 minutest the cleaning car runs around, all doesn't worth 1600JPY still.

I'll thank her if I meet her on the corridor ;D

I spend my 25th birthday in a theme park. I can't say anything wrong. I liked it. However after 13 hours of entertainment mixed with shopping, eating makes me see only black mouses in front of my eyes :)
I was not alone of course. I've been pulled there, it supposed to be a surprise. I noticed when we took some strange train...

I've been invited to a rehearsal of the Warsaw Chamber Opera with Marek. For three hours we were spinning around the backstage of a theater in Yokohama captured bu a bunch of Polish artists. A second (after a church in Kamakura) place I felt like at home. So rare things appeared here: polish language, emotions, friendly people and beautiful music.

You can find nice gadgets in a Japanese electronics shop. This Star Wars hairdryer I bought recently, beside drying hair also moisturizes and prevents dandruff. You put distilled water in it. There are two ion cannons on sides, producing a cloud ionized cloud. And it was not the most expensive model ...

I started to look for real Christmas tree, first time in my life. Even seen one poor tree for 5,250JPY (including glass balls) in some flower shop tonight, but it looks like taken
from the Warsaw's rubbish dump after Christmas. I'll try at the Home Center, everything Japanese family needs.

I heard the story from newspaper long time ago. It was an extract of the weirdest things ever found on a train. Japanese are not thefts so a lot of stuff lands in the stations lost&found bureau. Umbrellas, purses, laptops and hats are the most common.
But the most extreme findings listed for me was cut-off finger, lost by yakuza mamber. It's very important for the owner and he often keeps it with him in a special case.

Saurday, late evening. JR Yokohama station. A 300 meters part of the track is occupied with around 200 workers. Everything in proper hierarchy and organized. The workers are putting polystyrene under the tracks. Supervisors are considering every decision together looking down from the platform. Everybody in trance. It's living swiss watch by Japanese.

After sports weekend - a culture week. Finally I managed to watch Mozart opera played by Warsaw Chamber Opera. I was surprised nobody from Japanese audience was sleeping.


Today more cultural nights, Thursday probably too ;)
Beside that some pictures from last days (and nights):

Excellent ambiance, latin drums, bugle-call - for me it was unforgettable remind. Besides these shots were left:





























Moreover i was always curious how judge gets to his seat, and what these two gentlemens have on their laptop screens :)

There isn't much to comment...












And i don't have throat :O

Now there is time for movie recorded by gaijin with short probation - Radek. He is one of few people that is dare to film with flash Japanese at the train ;)

Closest weekend is going to be sporty. Tickets and gadgets are bought. Healthy emotions are guaranteed.
Poorando! Poorando!