Life Long Memories, Thank You Karaoke

When work told me, they were sending me to Macau, China for four days, I immediately knew I had to make the best of it. My first thought was, it would not make sense to brave the jet lag for such a short trip. Without hesitation, I grabbed my phone and sent my dearest travel companion a text message, “How can we turn this into something epic?”.

It should be known that we both have love affairs with destinations in East Asia. Given our combined love, I was confident we would make this trip just as special.

We both like to use Google Maps to take virtual tours of the world with the hopes of discovering new and exciting places. One place my friend found was, The Ryukyu Islands. Neither of us had ever heard of these islands before. After some research, we realized Okinawa was a part of these islands and that there were several smaller island groups within the chain.

Being tropical beach lovers, we directed our attention to the two island groups furthest south: the Miyako Islands and Yaeyama Islands. We were shocked to learn that Japan had beaches that rivaled some of the most beautiful white sand beaches we had ever seen in the Caribbean.

Okinawan & Japanese food & culture + a tropical climate & white sand beaches = We. Were. Sold.

Alright, alright there were some logistics involved. Macau was the first destination (for work) and Hong Kong is the gateway to Macau. From Hong Kong we were easily able to fly to the Yaeyama Islands rather than needing to head to mainland Japan first like the other islands.

Besides purchasing plane tickets in advance there was little to no planning for this trip. Instead, we opted to go with the flow once we were there. This laissez-faire attitude definitely paid!

As expected, we spent our days island hopping via the islands’ sophisticated ferry system, buying tickets as we went. Keeping a home base on Ishigaki, we visited four distinctly different islands while we were there:

Kuroshima had more cows than people and we roamed the empty roads by bicycle, taking in the bucolic sights and rocky volcanic coastline.

Hateruma was a tropical paradise with a mile-long stretch of white sand beach and turquoise waters. It was amazing for swimming. Please bring sunscreen!

Iriomote was home to waterfalls, rivers, beaches, subtropical rainforest, and its very own Iriomote wildcat. The sunset was out of this world!

Taketomi gave us the ability to ride our bikes for miles. We stopped often to admire the traditional Okinawan homes, enjoy beers and ramen at a delicious roadside eateries. It had one of my favorite beaches where you could swim out to a large sandbar in the middle of the crystal-clear sea.

Photos from Taketomi, Kuroshima, Hateruma, Iriomote, and Ishigaki

Now, as much as the beaches and nature were a magnificent part of the trip, the nighttime was when I realized this was the experience of a lifetime, and one I would not soon forget.

After dinner each evening, we did not really know what to do with ourselves, but we noticed Ishigaki had quite the nightlife culture. But all the signs were in Japanese, of course, and the apartment-style buildings were not set up with windows to peek inside to see what was going on.

On the second night, we built up some courage, decided to follow the noise and reluctantly walked into a second story venue that seemed to be a bar. We were hoping to encounter welcoming faces. There was a brief awkwardness as we sat down at the bar. We were all sure the bar staff and patrons were trying to sort out how we had found the place and what the heck we were doing there.

However, within minutes, we were in! We became instant friends with everyone in the bar, buying each other drinks, dancing and singing karaoke together. The other group was a bachelor-style party and they shared all of their fun props with us as we sang and danced the night away. Many many photos, flattering and not so flattering, were taken that night. Sometimes I wonder if they look back on the photos and if so, I wonder if it is with such fondness as we do.

The story could end there, I guess, but I need to point out that this was the level of friendliness and hospitality we received each time we went out in Ishigaki.

On another night, we stumbled into a bar that also had karaoke (we started sensing a theme here), and within minutes of sitting down, two younger guys came over to introduce themselves. They each spoke maybe 10 words of English and we unfortunately spoke very minimal Japanese, so our interaction included a lot of gestures, “I love you’s” and “You are my best friend.” These were probably a couple of the only phrases they knew, but they came from such a warm and genuine place.

Again, we spent the night dancing and singing, and even wrestling with giant stuffed animals that just happened to be scattered around the bar. Our new friends bought us several rounds of awamori, a potent distilled beverage made from rice indigenous to Okinawa, which definitely made us all a bit loose! By the end of the night, the entire bar was singing recognizable hits in unison, hugging, and swaying to songs such as “We are the World.” It was an incredibly heartwarming experience filled with lots of comradery and love.

This trip changed a lot for me. It came during a period in life where I was somewhat closed off and experiencing quite a bit of insecurity. The amount of kindness, curiosity, and affection we received from our new Japanese friends was beyond anything I had experienced before. It reminded me just how beautiful we all are and how we are all in this together.

I can honestly say this trip laid the foundation for many meaningful encounters and friendships I have experienced since then.

So, here is to my forever friends I met in Ishigaki in July 2018! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Regards,

Katrina | Instagram

Fast Five

1. Three hours early to the airport or running to the gate? Def three hours early. I love a good airport restaurant/lounge/bar.

2. Pretzels or Lotus Biscoff cookies? Biscoff for sure

3. Excel planned trip or just wing it? Just wing it

4. Favorite continent? Asia (Central America, though technically not a continent, is a close second)

5. Dream destination? Island hopping in South Pacific