The saying goes, “All good things must come to an end,” unfortunately that is how we feel because we are leaving Iwakuni after 1.5 years. When I first received a job offer to work in Iwakuni, I’ve never even heard of this town and I bet most people haven’t. I always told myself I want to live in a smaller city yet close enough to a big city, I wanted to live near an ocean and have access to mountains, and I wanted to live in a city that has great public transportation. Iwakuni ticked all these boxes. To me, Iwakuni was the perfect city and I wish I could have lived here another 5 years, but no matter what, I was grateful to be given the opportunity to live here and have made countless memories.
Jill and I have always wanted to live abroad together, we finally achieved this goal but when we found out our contract was up we were both upset. After all, we were planning on heading back to the United States to look for work, but with the current COVID-19 situation and Politics, we weren’t particularly excited to be moving back. Japan has handled the COVID-19 situation brilliantly and we didn’t want to leave. Lucky for us, we found employment in Okinawa Japan and are currently making our way down there.
I’ve never really gave much thought about living on a tropical island in the Pacific Ocean, but the more I think about it the more excited I get. I’ve heard from numerous people that Okinawa is like what Hawaii is to the United States. It has crystal clear water, some of the prettiest beaches on the planet, and quite possibly some of the best Scuba Diving destinations on Earth. Although we are sad to leave mainland Japan both Jill and I are looking forward to our next adventure….Okinawa!
February 25, 2021 – This is the date we left Iwakuni for good. We closed out our apartment and shared a tearful goodbye with our Japanese friends. Closing out of an apartment in Japan is straightforward and easy. The realtor comes over along with an individual from the water company and another from the electric company. They turn off the utilities and you pay them the final bill right then and there in cash. This was great, that way there are no online bills that will haunt you down the road.
There are two ways to get to Okinawa, one is to fly and the other is to take a 25 hour ferry ride from Japan’s southern most city, Kagoshima. We own a car and decided it would be easiest to load the car from floor to ceiling with all our belongings including our bikes and drive through Yamaguchi down to the ferry port in Kagoshima located on the Kyushu Island of Japan. All together, it is about a 6.5 hour drive from Iwakuni to Kagoshima using the toll roads. We didn’t want to do this all in one trip as our car’s wheel wells were nearly touching the tires and we wanted to give our car a rest, so we stayed one night in a town called Kumamoto. 
Kumamoto
February 25, 2021 – We drove directly about 4.5 hours from Iwakuni to Kumamoto which is the capital of Kumamoto Prefecture. First, we made a pit stop at a rest area, because our friends made us a delicious and traditional Japanese meal. It was amazing and thoughtful, Emi made us a lunch box with fried chicken, grilled sausages, pork and onion, Japanese omelets, pickled veggies, rice balls, potato salad, and a renkon (lotus root) salad. It was wonderful. Thank you! 
I was very much looking forward to visiting Kumamoto because the castle here is considered one of Japan’s most beautiful and is the third largest castle in Japan. Our friends told us it was under construction so I immediately thought some portions might be under renovations, you know just touching up some paint or polishing some wood, no biggie. Boy was I wrong. Apparently in 2016 there was a major earthquake that impacted the area killing 273 people and injuring thousands. Terrible tragedy, but I couldn’t help but wonder, the earthquake was 5 years ago, why does it still lie in ruins and how come it is taking so long to restore the castle to its former beauty? I read somewhere on the castle grounds that the city wants to rebuilt the castle exactly how it was, so they have numbered each and every stone and will then place them back in the exact position they were. I find it fascinating that they are restoring it completely, and hope to visit Kumamoto again to see the castle back to normal! 
Here are a few photos I took of portions of the walls and turrets, the above photo is the main keep, this portion has been fully restored.
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February 26, 2021 – Kumamon is the Prefectural Mascot and is the most popular mascot in all of Japan. Kumamon is a bear with big red cheeks. We saw Kumamon souvenirs all throughout Kumamoto, he even has his own office in Kumamon Square. Jill and I visited his office (more of a souvenir shop) since it was rainy out.
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After visiting Kumamon in his office at Kumamon Square, we went back to our car to drive to Kagoshima. The drive from Kumamoto to Kagoshima was about 2.5 hours using the toll roads.
Here is a photo dump from some fun stuff around Kumamoto.
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Kagoshima
February 26, 2021 – 
Our ferry from Kagoshima was set to depart at 1800 on the 27th of February and we would land in Okinawa the following day. Unfortunately, we received a phone call from a travel agent that the ferry for that particular day had been cancelled due to bad weather at sea. Our only option was to go to the ferry terminal Sunday morning (February 28th) and see if there would be any availability. Originally, I was worried about not getting enough time to explore Kagoshima since we would only be there for an evening and a night, so I guess I was not to bummed about getting a full day to explore the city. 
Kagoshima is the capital city of the Kagoshima Prefecture. Kagoshima is the southern most large city on the Kyushu island and is the ending point for the Shinkansen (bullet train). One of the more dominant features of this town is Sakurajima which is a large and very active volcano. I read online that the volcano erupts more then 800 times a year. Everywhere you walk, you can see the volcano and every time I’ve looked at it, it’s been spitting out ash clouds, pretty neat!
February 27th, 2021 – This was our day to explore Kagoshima, we had all day to bum around and see the sites. The first thing we did was visit the aquarium. I was very much excited to see this aquarium because they have a whale shark! I’ve never seen an aquarium with a whale shark. I know the Atlanta aquarium has whale sharks and I’ve been wanting to visit that aquarium, I’ll get there eventually. For now, the Kagoshima had a whale shark and we arrived just in time for feeding time! For about 5 minutes, the staff would put small amounts of food in a basket and empty the contents in a circular pattern around the tank and we could watch the whale shark suck in a mouthful of water along with the food, like a vacuum it was fun! I noticed the whale shark was a bit smaller then what I would have expected. I read today that the whale sharks here get released back into the wild once they reach a mature age, so although I was happy to see the little guy, I am glad he gets to return to his natural habitat. Other then the whale shark, the aquarium had a lot of local fish from the Kagoshima area, seals, and the Arapaima or Pirarucu which are those giant fresh water fish from the Amazon, I always love seeing these guys.
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After a nice visit to the local aquarium we took in some more sites around Kagoshima. We visited the Terukuni Shrine, Central Park, Kagoshima Castle and then hiked to the observatory deck. In route to the observatory deck, we made an amazing discovery! There were several areas along the route that had tiny staircases for frogs. Apparently these are for frogs that fall into the drainage system, it gives them a place to escape and hop back above ground, we loved seeing this!
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Once we got to the top of the observatory deck, we could get a great view of Sakurajima and the whole city of Kagoshima, much bigger then I originally expected! Afterwards we walked around the shopping arcade area until we got tired and went to bed!
February 28, 2021 – Today is the big day! Today we board the ferry and head to Okinawa to start our new lives! Not so fast!!! We promptly arrived at the ferry terminal at 0830 to talk to someone at the ticket counter to see if ferries were active again. One person there spoke English and told us that once again due to weather the ferries were cancelled. Right away our hearts sank, what a crappy feeling. There are two ferry companies that go interchangeably, so we thought ok well if not today then how about tomorrow? He called the ferry line that was departing tomorrow which is March 1st, let out a big sigh and said the ferry was full! Well, Sh*t, turns out the next ferry that had an opening was not until Wednesday, meaning we won’t get to Okinawa until Thursday night. It was our only available option, so we had to reserve it. So originally I was afraid of not having enough time to explore Kagoshima, now we have a whole 5 days to explore the city! We were pretty bummed and shocked at first, but after a while we came to accept that it’s really out of our control so might as well enjoy our time here.
We had to book another hotel today which turned out to be great because it’s a lot cheaper and more spacious. Today was kind of a repeat of yesterday. We walked around downtown Kagoshima and ate way to much, thankfully my step counter watch is showing 24969 steps so we are getting our exercise in. We used today to take it easy and plan trips for the next couple of days. Tomorrow (March 1st) we plan to take our bikes on a ferry to Sakurajima and bike 40km around the island. We’ll see how that goes!
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March 1, 2021 – 
Today was a great day, it almost made me forget about the frustrations with the ferry. Weather wise, today was perfect, it was sunny for the most part and stayed relatively warm, perfect for a full day’s bike ride. We brought our bikes along and planned on riding around Sakurajima which is the active volcano that can be seen from Kagoshima. First things first, we had to wipe our bikes down because they had ash all over them. Our poor car was covered in a layer of ash. A ferry takes vehicles and passengers from Kagoshima port to Sakurajima about every fifteen minutes. The two of us plus bikes costed 660 Yen which is about $6 USD. Once we got to Sakurajima we took a left turn and followed the road that circles the island. In total we rode 37 Km (23 miles) and made many stops. At first the cloud coverage limited our visibility of the volcano but once we got about half way around the island the clouds cleared and we had great views of the volcano.
Here is a screenshot of our route we did around Sakurajima, the second photo is the volcano from the backside.
A little about the volcano, it’s a composite volcano and is the most active volcano in Japan. The last major eruption was in 1914 and it lasted a whole month burying 8 different villages. Prior to the 1914 eruption Sakurajima was an island and due to the lava build up at sea it is no longer an island but a peninsula. One of the more fascinating attractions on the island was the buried Torii Gate. The Torii Gate stood 3 meters but during the 1914 eruption ash accumulated up to 2 meters in a single day to the point where only the top of the Torii Gate was shown and has been left this way since as a memory to the local residents.
After the Torii Shrine, we rode around the island more, stopping at all observatory decks snapping photos of the very active volcano. We stumbled upon an abandoned resort that was pretty neat. It fascinates me that a resort like this is abandoned, knowing that at some point it was probably a very luxurious and popular resort only to be abandoned.
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After exploring the resort a little we headed back to the ferry port toward Kagoshima. At the end of the day, we are pretty beat, we’ll see what tomorrow has in store for us.
Here are a few photos from today of the volcano.
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March 2, 2021 – After our adventurous bike ride yesterday, today was a pretty easygoing, nothing to exciting kind of day. We’ve seen what we wanted to see in and around Kagoshima, so today we walked over to the train station. In Japan, even the train stations are an attraction as they usually have these gigantic malls attached to them with high end shops, super markets, food courts, and other fun activities. The one in Kagoshima has a Ferris wheel built on top of the station.
After a brief visit to the train station, we found a nice river walk area. I love the fact that in Kagoshima, no matter where you are Sakurajima is usually visible. If I lived here, I would love to get an apartment with a view of the volcano, since it’s so active and constantly changing it is like watching T.V., I would always be entertained! 
Tomorrow should be our big day. I’ve said this before so we are crossing our fingers that the ferry is departing as scheduled. The ferry should leave port at 1800, since we have a car we need to be there around 1300. Our plan is to get up, enjoy one last breakfast in Kagoshima, load our poor car up again and then drive to the ferry port and set sail! I hope tomorrow will be as easy as described.
Success! We Boarded the Ferry
March 3, 2021 – We woke up today a bit earlier then usual as we had to pack everything up again and load the car. The ferry was scheduled to leave at 1800 today and yes, it left right on time. Since we drove our own vehicle, we had to be at the ferry port at 1300 to check in before being able to load the car on the ferry at 1500. When we first arrived at the port we filled out whatever paperwork was needed and the individual there gave us a small scare as he seemed confused we had a car, we assured him we made a reservation days beforehand and he went behind the counter to talk to someone. He came out after a minute and said all was Okay, but for a minute there my heart sank and all I could think of was them not letting us boarding the ferry once again, thankfully that was not the case.
After leaving our car on its designated spot we had a few hours to kill. The port is obviously right by the ocean meaning we had incredible views of Sakurajima, no power lines or tall buildings to block our view! Here are some shots of the volcano today. Looking at Sakurajima never gets old.
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Jill and I walked the seawall for a bit along the coast and were approached by a very friendly stranger. It doesn’t happen a lot but once in a while there is local man who is always excited to see and speak to us. It happened in Tottori at Mt. Daisen once where this guy came up to us to practice English and took photos of us, it was a great experience. Today’s friendly stranger first came up to us asking where we were from and gave me a pamphlet of Kagoshima, how nice! We exchanged words and then kept walking. After Jill and I briefly stopped to take photos of the volcano he came up to us again with a small gift bag for us. In the gift bag there were a few candies, a small towel, a tube of hand cream, and a roll of toilet paper. Not sure what the toilet paper was all about but we smiled and said “Arigato Gozaimasu”! We actually met him again on our walk and he told us a little bit about the volcano and himself. Here is a picture of our kind gift from our local Kagoshima stranger. 
After a nice walk, we decided to head back to the ferry port and get ready to load our vehicle. Before sitting in the car, I had to use the restroom and couldn’t help but notice that the view in their bathroom here for the men restroom at least has to be the prettiest view I’ve seen in a restroom.
Our Ferry is called the Queen Coral Plus and operates between Kagoshima and Naha, Okinawa with stops to the Amami Islands in between. The ferry is quite nice. It has a small convenienve store, restaurant that serves great food, and has spacious rooms. We left at exactly 1800 and are bound for Motobu Port which is before Naha. The ferry ride will take anywhere from 20-25 hours. I guess it will be a nice time to relax, listen to music, and read a good book. The latest book I am reading was a present for Christmas from Jill. It’s called “Out of the Silence, After the Crash.” It’s about the Rugby team that crashed in the Andes and were left stranded for 72 days. It’s an incredible book about the survivors and how they overcame the crash, an avalanche, and the elements before being rescued.
There is not a whole lot more to do while on board, but I am excited to wake up early go on the 5th floor deck and see the ocean while drinking a coffee and eating tasty pastries we got at a local bakery.
Here are photos of the ship we are on and our car ready to go!
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We Made it to Okinawa
March 4, 2021 – Just a quick update. We made it to Okinawa and moved into our new apartment. So far so good! The island looks a lot bigger then I expected as we were cruising along the island in the ferry. got dropped off at Motobu Port and drove an hour to the Okinawa City area.
We don’t really have internet yet, so I will keep this short for now and update once we get our own provider. I’ll update soon with more photos and info, but we made it!
March 6, 2021 – This will be my last post in this series, but I managed to get a better internet connection and we’ve had a full day to bum around our area and see a small piece of what Okinawa has to offer. So far, I really think I’ll like it here. We are settling into our new apartment, which has incredible ocean views. Never thought I would live in a place with an ocean view, but it is great!
We rode our bikes a few kilometers to the Chatan area and a place called the American Village. It was actually a pretty neat area, yeah it was touristy but there were a lot of good looking restaurants and gorgeous ocean views. First we found this amazing ice cream shop that served Cremia Ice Cream. Cremia is a premium soft serve ice cream, and it is amazing! It’s all over Japan but usually we only see chocolate or vanilla, today I had a cheesecake one and Jill had strawberry. I think we will make frequent visits here.
While walking along a boardwalk near the American Village, we spotted many species of fish and crabs. We saw angel fish, cuddle fish, squid, and other random yet beautiful ones. I want to learn more about the fish species and general ocean life here as I assume it will be a part of my life now.
We did a bit of shopping over the last few days, kind of the typical shopping one does when moving and needing to furnish an apartment. Right down the road from us we found an amazing Thai restaurant, I had Pad Thai and it was delicious!
One more thing, when we were on Mainland Japan, all the temples had these half dragon half dog statues guarding the entrances. Jill has wanted to buy a pair for our home but we never really found them. Apparently they are super famous in Okinawa and we’ve seen them on almost every house. These statues are called Shisha and they are a traditional and cultural thing here in the Ryukyuan Islands. These are wards placed at locations to protect from evil spirits. We will soon have our own pair to ward of all the evil around us!
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Oh, and they do have fun manhole covers here as well!
Thanks for reading this lengthy post and keeping up with our travels. I will make new content regarding our new life here in Okinawa!
Comments (5)
Cool. Sounds like you both are living life to the fullest…still working for the jarheads…mapping?
We try, even when our ferry has been cancelled we’ve made the most out of it. Yeah, same job, same branch, different location!
L
Love reading your stories! Japan sounds like a wonderful place to explore! You are making memories of a lifetime.
Thank you! Japan has been amazing and there is so much to see and do here.