UNESCO World Heritage Site #10: Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu
From the World Heritage inscription:
Five hundred years of Ryukyuan history (12th-17th century) are represented by this group of sites and monuments. The ruins of the castles, on imposing elevated sites, are evidence for the social structure over much of that period, while the sacred sites provide mute testimony to the rare survival of an ancient form of religion into the modern age. The wide- ranging economic and cultural contacts of the Ryukyu Islands over that period gave rise to a unique culture.
Okinawa is geographically and culturally different than the rest of Japan. I usually explain it as Japan’s Hawaii. Its language is distinct from Japanese and the islands weren’t even formally part of Japan until the 1870′s.
Much of Shuri-jo Castle and other landmarks in Okinawa were damaged during the battle of Okinawa in WWII, which took the lives of over 100,000 Japanese and 13,000 allied soldiers. The current castle is mostly rebuilt and reconstruction is still ongoing.
View my complete list of UNESCO World Heritage sites.
One of the strangest things I have eaten is worm soup. Really, grub soup but they dissolve into the soup and become like the flying wispy parts of dandelions, but in a soup. This was at a banquet in Macau, China. I also had duck feet soup served from a very tall bowl. It was not until half the soup was eaten that we could see the duck feet standing up in the bowl. Fun times. It was a business dinner in Hong Kong.
I was hoping to see the statues at Jiro Brothers Bakery.
I was an army brat in the 60′s…and Jiro was our bus stop for Mercy ELM.
Ever so often you would catch a school kid just standing and staring them…if they’re still there …you know what I mean.
Can’t show you the statues but how about this link showing a Jiro Bakery taro pie:
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2111501870060203229cudhDz
that was my bus stop to Mercy as well for the first half of sixrth grade then we got tranferred to Colo
What an adventure you must be on! As a young (24 yr old)US Army MP, I was assigned to 62d MP Company at Camp Sukiran, Okinawa from early 1973 to late 1974. I had just gotten married and had to wait on my wife to receive her concurrent travel orders to Okinawa. We lived in the Kiyuna area (behind the Jiro Bakery) in Futenma before moving on base into Futenma Housing Area; our first son was born at the Camp Kue Army Hospital which now belongs to the Navy. We both had a wonderful time on the island and blogs such as yours help keep us up to date on the goings on in Okinawa. Would love to visit again but likely wouldn’t remember a thing!
Mike and Diane Austing
Dennison,OH
thanks you for sharing the picture and lesson