We took a 2 week cruise on Holland America’s MS Westerdam ship starting from Yokohama and stopping at Naha and Ishigaki in Okinawa, Hualien and Keelung in Taiwan and Kagoshima, Aburatsu, Kochi, Osaka and Shimizu in Japan before returning to Yokohama.
Naha, Okinawa.
After a pleasant 2-day sail from Yokohama we arrived into Naha in Okinawa.
We took a taxi into the city and firstly explored the Makishi market which was full of small shops and restaurants. The seafood and meat sections of the closed market place was most fascinating with an incredible variety of seafood to buy and various cuts of meat. There were even pigs faces you could buy!!
Down a small alleyway we found a very interesting small bar selling grilled food and cheap beer. It was very popular and many locals were here for their morning snack. I was tempted to join them!
We stopped at one small food stall where they were preparing charred wagyu beef sushi. This was delicious and the beef just melted in your mouth.
We then headed down the main street and checked out more shops and had some lunch in a restaurant serving traditional Okinawa food.
Everywhere we noticed a rather curious interest or like for SPAM and they had T-shirts, bags and even shoes printed with the SPAM logo.
From the main street we then had a short walk to visit the Former Chongyuan Temple Stone Gate 旧崇元寺石門 (重要文化財). Inside there was an incredible old tree with many roots and large spreading branches.
Passionate Photographer …. Lost in Asia
Stuart Taylor of HighlanderImages Photography has been making images for over 30 years and can offer a diverse range of photo imaging services with a focus on Asia and a documentary/photojournalistic style. These services include planning and executing a photo shoot on location but importantly all the post-processing and image preparation needed for the specific finished media format required by the customer. Stuart’s experience and knowledge in all of these aspects make HighlanderImages Photography a one-stop-shop for a comprehensive and professional image production service.
Stuart can be available for a variety individual assignments or projects and he specialises in areas such as photojournalism, commercial, architectural, real estate, industrial, interior design, corporate, urbex, adventure, wilderness, and travel photography.
Final image products can be delivered as high resolution images, prints, books, multimedia slideshows, videos, and DVDs. Images from this website can be purchased as prints in a variety of sizes and media, as gift items or as digital downloads.
E-Mail : staylor@highlanderimages.com