My 15th Birthday!!! [Joshua Burke]

Wow, I am already 15?! It seems like I was doing my post on my 14^th birthday yesterday. We flew back to Seattle from Tokyo about a week before my birthday, so I was able to spend my birthday back home. I have not spent my birthday in America since my 11^th birthday! I had no idea what I was going to do. I had some places I wanted to go to like the Sci-fi museum or go on a hike. But what I did, I didn’t even know I could do here in the States. Like last year, I flew in a private plane! But I didn’t just fly in any old plane; I ended up flying in an actual WW2 plane!

Ready for takeoff!

What makes the Historic flight museum awesome is that it houses a bunch of original aircraft from the 20’s to the 60’s (the bulk of the aircraft are from WW2). What makes the museum unique is that all their aircraft can fly. For planes they have a B-25D Mitchell (Grumpy) that participated in the Doolittle Raid during WW2, a P-51B Mustang (Impatient Virgin?) that fought over Germany during WW2 and downed seven German airplanes, a Pan American Douglas DC-3 that supplied the US Army and Nationalist Chinese during WW2 in Burma, and a Grasshopper that directed artillery barrages from the air in Philippine Campaign and the bloody battle of Okinawa.

The B-25D Mitchell (Grumpy)

I got to fly in a North American Aviation T-6A (Texan) Navy variant. The T-6 was a two-seater plane used in WW2 as an advanced trainer to transition pilots from primary trainers such as Boeing Stearman to front line fighter such as the Wildcat and Mustang. This particular aircraft (N512SE) trained American pilots during WW2, and then was used by the Argentine Navy during the 50’s and 60’s. The plane had a serious accident after it was retired from the Argentine Navy and in private hands. The accident created a restoration opportunity. The T-6 now resides at the Historic Flight Museum at Paine Field, Washington.

Flying in the plane was a ton of fun. Unfortunately, according to FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) rules I could not fly the airplane. LSometimes I miss the freedom you have in Thailand. I chose to fly over Whidbey Island and the pilot said he could do aileron roll over the island. The roll was quite an experience. The pilot first put the T-6 in a slight dive, increasing speed. Then the pilot brought the plane up and rolled left. The airplane was upside down for about a second. Then he brought the plane upright. When the pilot brought the plane up I could feel the G’s (centrifugal force) pushing me into my seat. But when we went upside down the G’s disappeared. The aileron roll was defiantly my favorite part of the flight. We got close to our house but we couldn’t go over it because that is where the navy jets fly and is therefore is restricted airspace.

I didn't puke during the Aileron Roll!!! 

Special Thanks to my Dad and Mom for making this happen! Also thanks to the pilot and the Historic Flight personal for opening the museum special for my birthday!  

I had tons of fun!!

Thanks for reading!!

You can visit their website at www.historicflight.org 

Joshua 

                      

  

Going faster then a bullet [Joshua Burke]

Sea Glass has finally arrived at Tokyo. Well not quite, we are actually at YYC (Yokohama Yacht Club). Yokohama is the city just south of Tokyo and is in the Tokyo area. Yokohama is quite cold, well cold comparing it to SE Asia. The Tokyo area is a giant urban complex, and is spread out over a large area. It reminds me of Bangkok except that the city is well organized, way cleaner, and the public transportation is effective and actually runs on time!

When we first arrived in Japan, we had always wanted to go to Kyoto, the former capital of Japan. The only problem is that Kyoto is right in the middle of Japan, so we can’t take Sea Glass there. So to get to Kyoto, we took a bullet train.  The bullet trains are fast, they can go over 200 miles per hour! What enables these trains to go super fast is that they ride on specially designed rails to reduce friction and the weird shape of the train makes an air pocket, which allows that train to go very quick. The ride was extremely smooth and the ride from Tokyo to Kyoto only took two hours! Much smoother, cheaper and less hassle then an airplane flight.

The front of the bullet train. 

Kyoto was the capital before Edo, or Tokyo became capital. Therefore it had many old shrines, temples, and castles. We were only here for 2 days and a night, and we wanted to stay in a traditional Japanese hotel. We looked and looked but all of them were full. And it is the low season! We had to settle into a modern hotel instead.

Nijo Castle was one extraordinary castle and because of that it was a UNESCO site, like Tubbataha. The castle was built in the Tokugawa period in Japan, when the Shogun was in power and the emperor a figurehead. The castle was a formidable stronghold as well as being the Shogun’s house. The castle is 400 by 500 meters (1200 by 1500 feet) for the perimeter.  To defend the Nijo Castle, there are two moats four meters deep; two huge stonewalls for defense, and two watchtowers in opposite corners. The other two watchtowers burned down in a fire long ago.

One of the watchtowers and the outer wall and moat. 

The castle is divided into an inner part and an outer part. In my opinion, the shogun’s person building was my favorite. What I thought was really cool about the place was that the floors were nightingale floors, so the floors creaked as you walked along. The reason for installing nightingale floors were that you could hear someone easily if they broke into your house. In the rooms were the Shogun met his officials or daimyos, the shogun would always sit on a floor a little higher then the guests floor to show his power over them. All the walls were beautifully decorated, and showed many different kinds of animals and plants. Most of the walls were covered in gold.

The Shogun's building.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos while in the Shogun’s building. 

Outside the shogun’s building, imperial gardens covered most of the remainder of the land. The gardens were beautiful, bonsai and regular trees were everywhere. They were classic Japanese gardens, perfect stones, little waterfalls, and tons of flowers. The remainder of the land was filled with ancient buildings that you could go into, but we didn’t have the time to see any of them.

One of the three royal gardens. 

The whole inner part of the Nijo Castle was made up of the keep. The keep was one heck of a defense building. The enemy would first have to cross the deep and wide secondary moat and then breach the heavy doors or try to scale the tall stonewalls. If the enemy breached the door, they were running into a death trap. The door leads to an exposed road, with arrow slots on every side of the road. And if the enemy breached those defenses they would still have to take the center keep. No wonder this castle has never been attacked.

The view from the top of the keep. 

The Kiyomizu-Dera Temple is an old Buddhist temple built in 778 A.D. The temple was burnt down and then rebuilt in 1633. The temple area includes not only main temple, but also pagodas and shrines too. Inside, there were tons of golden statues of the Buddha.

The Kiyomizu-Dera Temple. 

One of the main pagodas. 

The temple is a very popular temple. It was packed with tourists, and I was surprised to see that most of the tourists were Japanese. A lot of students were also there because Kyoto is like our Washington D.C. for historical importance.

Thanks for Reading!!!

Joshua

Japan’s Nature Paradises: Yakushima & Katsuura [Joshua Burke]

At Okinawa I had lots of fun but it was time to keep moving. Our next destination, Yakushima was about two nights sail away. Yakushima is a little island shaped like a circle and is only 43 NM away from Japan’s main southern island, Kyushu. The island is completely encased in lush, green forests, except for a few urban towns on the island’s perimeter. Yakushima is located just above, on, or just below the stationary front (where the warm air from the South and cold air from the North meet).  Because of that, you can find tropical animals like monkeys and temperate animals like deer when on hikes.

Yakushima 

The hikes were defiantly the number one thing to do here. We did one long hike while we were here, I think it took 5 hours and it was great. We also made some friends with an Irish brother and sister who drove us to the hike and hiked with us. It was the best hike that I have done in a while. The trees, animals, even the moss was interesting to look at. What made the hike even better was that we did the hike on Jacob’s 13^th birthday.  I think the coolest thing about the hike was the amount of waterfalls that were near or on the trail. There wasn’t a shortage of water when I went hiking because you could fill up your water bottle whenever you passed a waterfall. 

Filling up my water bottle. 

The amazing view! 

There were two special things that made this hike awesome. Number one the entire park was a World Heritage Site, so all of it was not tampered with and there wasn’t a building in site. The view was just stunning. Number two was that the park inspired a great Japanese anime movie, Princess Monanoki. I have happened to watch the movie and it is a great anime film. What was ironic is that when we were hiking back to the car we met a lady dressed up as Monanoki! One picture PLEASE!

This rock inspired the creation of the tree spirits in the movie Princess Monanoki. 

Us with Princess Monanoki. 

Besides from the amazing hike, we went to a natural hot spring and to a huge waterfall. We were only able to do these things because of a local we met named Age. The natural hot springs were HOT! The Japanese islands are all volcanoes,  and therefore there are many spots where the steam rises up, out of the mantle. You have to be naked when you go into the public hot spring baths. Inside there are the hot spring bath areas and on the side there are showers. After you get out of the steaming baths, it feels great to have a cold shower. 

Age also took us in his car to go see this absolutely huge waterfall. It made so much noise that I could barely hear anyone or anything except for the crashing water. So much water got sprayed around from the falling impact, that I had my shower for the day! Special Thanks to Age for taking us around and having dinner with us!

The huge waterfall. 

Katsuura was our next stop and it was an extraordinary place. Besides from having tons and tons of natural hot springs in nice hotels, we also saw the Nachi waterfall, the tallest waterfall in Japan. Only a thirty-minute bus ride from where our boat was parked, the Nachi waterfall was pretty cool to see. It is 133 meters (400 feet) tall, and I calculated takes 6 seconds to free fall down the entire length. I also got to drink the pure waterfall water, which is supposed to make you live longer. So don’t be surprised if I live to be 110 or something.

The Nachi Waterfall, the tallest waterfall in Japan. 

The main pagoda in the area with the waterfall in the background.

The amazing trees. 

The hot springs were located in a huge hotel just a ferry ride away from our boat. The hot springs were located in some natural caves in the hotel. The entire hotel was built was built into a hillside located on a narrow peninsula. So when you were taking a bath you could look out upon the sea. It was superb!

Thanks for Reading!!!

The hot springs here are HOT!!!

Joshua       

Beginning of the Travels in the Land of the Rising Sun: Ishigaki andOkinawa [Joshua Burke]

After a three-day voyage from the Philippines we arrived in Ishigaki, Japan. Ishigaki is very close (131nm) to Taiwan and is the most southern Japanese Island that you can check into. I have never been to Japan before, so I was super excited to finally explore a new country outside of SE Asia.

We spent most of our time in Ishigaki exploring the town, doing boat work, and eating yummy soba, or noodles. We stayed at a marina (a rarity in Japan) that was very close to the main town, so It was very easy to do shopping, go out to eat, etc. Checking into Japan wasn’t that much of a hassle, all the customs, immigration, and coast guard guys came to your boat. All of them were friendly and very helpful, and if you had a question of where buildings were, they would point it out to you on a map.

While in in Ishigaki, we made friends with an Australian couple, David and Robyn, on Maaji Re. We got to now each other pretty well and it was fun going to a local noodle shop for dinner with David. While we were eating, the TV was showing a baseball game. I hadn’t seen a baseball game for 5 years. I had to have Dad teach me how baseball was played again. Base Ball is HUGE in Japan. I think it is the main sport, and a lot of Japanese play on the US teams.

Okinawa, the biggest island In the Ryukyu Islands is located just South of mainland Japan. This island has seen many conflicts from when Okinawa itself was a kingdom in the 14th century, and being the last major conflict during the Pacific War. Okinawa now is a sprawling urban island with most of the cities in the South end. On the North end there are still mountains covered with forests. There are many US military bases on the island because all of the Japan’s southern islands are under threat from China. I have wanted to go to Okinawa for ages and ages.

The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium is the only aquarium on the island and is located at the far Northern end of the island. Since we at the Southern end of the island it took a 2 hour drive to get there, which means a 4 hour round trip. We met a guy named Pat and his son, Kairen, who live on another boat in the marina, and they offered to take us to the aquarium. Dad couldn’t rent a car because to drive in Japan you must be qualified as an international driver. It would only take a couple days to get but we didn't have the time to do it.

Ever seen a manta made out of flowers?

Poor Dory. 

The aquarium on Okinawa is unique because it is the first aquarium to house an incredibly big animal. It houses whale sharks, and not just one, but three whale sharks! The tank that holds them is humongous and apart from holding whale sharks also holds manta rays, sharks, and stingrays. It was the first time I had seen whale sharks in person.

One of the three manta sharks 

Other then the whale sharks, there was also a huge room dedicated to sharks. In the shark room, there was a reconstructed jaw skeleton of a Carcharodon megalodon, a mega shark that existed 12 million years ago. The jaw was so big that I could stand in it. Each tooth was as big as my hand. By the way, Carcharodon megalodon are thought to have mainly fed on whales! Also in the shark room was a tank that held all different types of sharks such as the Sicklefin Lemon Shark, the Copper Shark, the Bull Shark, and the Bowmouth Guitarfish, that is actually a ray but looks like a shark.

The mega shark jaw!

The shark tank. 

The dolphin show at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium was amazing. The Bottlenose dolphins and the false killer wales jumped so high out of the water, that I couldn’t believe my eyes. Besides jumping they also splashed the Asian tourist, which I always enjoy watching.

Check out how high the dolphin jumped! 

I got to know these nice US cruisers, Larry and Peg with their crewman Drew, who were on a yacht at the marina. Through them we got to make friends with their grandchildren, George and JT, who live on a USMC base on Okinawa. Because we knew them they invited us on the base to go swimming. How could I refuse, I have wanted to go on a US base forever. It was my first time on any US base, and it was weird to see so many Western people again. To go swimming you had to pass a test, which I passed easily. Swimming was very fun and the pool was deep, so I could do dives, cannonballs, etc.

Before we left Okinawa we had the chance to go to the Okinawan Natural History and Art Museum with George and JT. The museum is huge and we only had enough time to do the natural history part. The natural history area was divided into six sections.
Section 1: A people embraced by the sea
Section 2: Social translation from shell mound era to ancient Ryukyu era Section 3: Prosperity of the kingdom
Section 4: Satsuma control over the Ryukyu Kingdom
Section 5: Decline of the empire
Section 6: Modern era of Okinawa
Section one was about the early days of Okinawa. There was a lot of pottery, earth ware, and skeletons of the early inhabitants. One of the skeletons is 22,000 years old! Not a lot in the section because there written language has not been developed yet.

The 22,000 year old male found here in Okinawa. 

Section two was a lot like section one except for people started building forts. There were models of the different kinds of forts they had found around the island. Some of them had just been dirt mounds, but others had stonewalls. I think you can go see one of these very old forts on Okinawa, but we didn’t have the time. There was also fine craftsmanship on display.

A bunch of earthenware pots. 

Section three was very interesting. A written language had been developed so there were ancient scrolls, paintings, and even ink seals! I never knew that Okinawa had been at the heart of a kingdom. The modern Ryukyu Islands used to be a quite prosperous kingdom called the Ryukyu Kingdom. The kingdom was in an ideal trading spot. It was in the middle of Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, and Philippine trading routes. A lot of money flowed into the kingdom’s treasury from trading taxes.

The Ryukyu Kingdom traded with everybody from Japan to Indonesia, but the wealthiest and most prosperous trading partner was China, at the time controlled by the Ming. To trade with the Ming you had to pay tribute to the Ming Emperer. Envoys that brought the tribute were called Shinko shi and the tribute was called Shinko. About two to four tribute ships were in each tribute fleet.

A model of a tribute ship. 

A fine painting of a tribute ship coming into a port in China. 

Section four was about the beginning of the Ryukyu kingdom’s decline. Another kingdom called the Satsuma Kingdom invaded Ryukyu Kingdom 1609 with only 3,000 troops. Ryukyu Kingdom actually lost and became Satsuma subjects, ceding the Amami Islands and incurring a large tax fund to Satsuma. After the take over disasters, famines, droughts, huge taxes, and financial difficulties all started to weaken the empire.

All empires or kingdoms eventually fall, and section five explained that. Europeans started to visit the Ryukyu Kingdom and demanded trade, permission to send in Christian Missionaries, and other demands. The kingdom did nothing but refuse while continuing “negotiations” in order to avoid war. When the British defeated the Qing Dynasty in 1842, a severe economic shockwave hit the Ryukyu Kingdom.

Eventually the Meiji government disbanded the Ryukyu Kingdom, establishing the Okinawa Prefecture in its place. However the people of the Ryukyu Kingdom did not want to be part of Japan, so the Meiji government sent in police and military forces to force them to be part of Japan. The Ryukyu Kingdom fell after its last king, Sho Tai, and his ministers abandoned the Shurijo Castle.

Section six was about WW2 and modern Okinawa history. Okinawa was the last major island to be invaded in the Pacific War and the battle was brutal. The fighting lasted well over 3 months, and the island was literally a hellhole. After Japan surrendered the US controlled Okinawa until 1972, when the US gave Okinawa back to Japan. 

Thanks for reading!!!

Special Thanks to David, Robyn, Pat, Kairen, Larry, Peg, Drew, George, TJ, George’s and TJ’s Mom, and of course Jacob and Dad for making my stay at Ishigaki and Okinawa so much fun!!!
Defend Okinawa! 


Joshua