On our last day of the trip we went to the Okinawa Churami Aquarium. We decided this was Luke's favorite day of the trip, he LOVED seeing the fish and the show and was grateful to get out of the hiking bag for the day that he spent living in most the trip.
After aquarium, we went on a hunt to buy some "Shisas" to take home as a souvenir. Almost every house/gateway and building in Okinawa has a pair of Shisas. They are protectors and the statues resemble a cross between a lion and dog. They are used to scare away evil spirits, and there are always two of them. The Shisa with the open mouth, the male is to scare away spirits, while the closed-mouth female Shisa keeps in the good luck of household. They are EVERYWHERE here and was something Riley really wanted to bring back from Okinawa/mission. So if you see some big "lion dolls" (as Luke called them) around our future house one day-- you know why!
To close off the remaining hours before the flight, we got mango shaved ice and all went swimming together at 'our beach.' I didn't take any pictures of it but all of us got in together and soaked up the last hour in the ocean and enjoying the sun and headed to airport all salty and sandy back to Tokyo.
'Shisa' Hunting
The only picture I took of our last few hours in Okinawa enjoying the water and sunshine.
