The Mens. Why d’you ask?
THe Ryukyu Mura is this little maze of shops inside what looks like a theater, behind which is a “village walk” playing traditional Okinawan music accompanied by their 3-string instrument (I would later buy a toy one for the Miss to strum.)
Many of the tourists are Japanese themselves, though I overhear one or two Cantonese conversations. Later we’re told Mainlanders do come, just not around this area when we are there; I overhear almost no Putonghua throughout the trip though we are assured they do come…
Live music (and later some simple dance rehearsals) in the half-empty food court is really good…
The food is too!
I take a picture and point, smile and nod at the fare. How did non-Japanese speakers order food before iPhones?
(They also had doting fathers to feed them “Japanese ba-chang”)
While Little Miss napped Rockstar did a first quick tour of the traditional Okinawan village…
Rockstar gets into position to paint a lion (this is the most popular craft station by far)…
While Kings munches a traditionally fried dough ball from another village hut…
Kings also ends up painting something else….
And then ta-ra! Finished product!
Whereupon the Miss wakes while we’re snacking, has some Ramen, and we proceed to do……. this:
Well excu-use me for being all Annoying Doting Mummy but I couldn’t resist struggling back and forth trying to take pics with my cellphone. Little Miss melted quite a few people in the queue too, especially as she was perfectly happy to toddle up and down, sit on the step, try and open and close the parasol and put on the hat. I got stopped several times from taking cellphone pics and asked to keep these two in check (more in check than in these pics) and they rushed us off really quickly.
But not before this 🙂
A quick round again with the Miss awake…..
And Rockstar gets a tattoo
The lady asked to display Rockstar’s pic with a turquoise (Rockstar insisted we call it that) dragon on his hand. Hopefully someday we come back when he’s a little older and see the image of 6-year old him preserved here 🙂
Hello Aileen,
The family portrait of all of you in costume is really lovely! What a memorable holiday.
Yes it’s very nice but honestly they were a bit “conveyor belt” about it, we didn’t even fasten the robes properly esp in my case I just held them closed for a pic… Also I think we may have committed some faux pas, maybe the boy’s costume should only be put on for posing with the drums because all Rockstar wanted was to take a pic holding one of the half doz or so toy swords/ spears and from the start this is what we told them but they still dressed him in that robe (fine by me) and shoo-ed him away from the swords/ spears etc several times and gave him the drum.
He obligingly posed and finally I had to be the one to walk up to the toy weapons, pick one up and ask “may he have a picture with this” because when we asked several times and pointed they kept saying wait there are 4 changes (which never happened either – we didn’t change costume at all, the two kids did change props ONCE). The Rockstars were the only little kids taking pics at the time I think and quite sure they were not very happy with us 😛