Ever go to a place and think, "I should tell other people about this place?" or, "I should save this location so I can find it later." Well, I do. So I started logging the spots I visit. Below you'll find a global map of the pins I've dropped so far, as well as a feed of all my latest spots.
(Hint: because the global map contains a lot of closely-clustered pins, you may need to zoom in significantly to select individual spots. Try going full screen!)
So basically there's a large natural sand dune in the least populated prefecture of Japan, Tottori.
As someone who grew up enjoying Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes, I agreed to visit them after the lady seated next to me at the SoftBank SeaHawks baseball game suggested I go visit after Matsue.
Well, I did!
Here's to two more weeks of sand in my shoes I can never quite clean out.
Aaron insisted that while I was in Matsue, I visit its renowned sunset spot in a park along the eastern shore of Lake Shinji.
I'm not a huge sunrise/sunset person, but what else was I going to be doing at 7:12pm on a Thursday? So I walked down and checked it out:
It was very pretty. If you're a fan of the life-giving fusion power generator that is Sol, you'd probably dig this view.
The first overnight stop on my tour of the north side of Honshu was Matsue. As its castle is among a handful of original castles to survive in Japan (similar to my adopted hometown of Hikone), I felt obligated to drop in and scope out the joint.
And I'm glad I did! Seriously, this is one of the most beautiful and well-maintained castles I've visited in Japan. Really glad I came.
Every American who has an opportunity to visit the peace exhibits in Hiroshima and Nagasaki should, in my opinion.
So Aaron and I spent a couple days touring Okinawa after RubyKaigi 2024 wrapped. In particular, we were both eager to escape the urban environments of Naha on the main island, so we hopped on the fastest ferry out of town, the Queen Zamami (whose reservation website evokes some real Angelfire nostalgia).
Once you get there, you probably want to rent a bike or an electronic scooter (referred to as kickboards here) to get around the island, because the island's a bit too large to comfortably walk around—especially on a warm day in direct sunlight. To the east and west are beautiful beaches—though we both preferred the tranquil blue waters of Furuzami beach. On every corner of the island, there sits an observation deck (希望台) atop the nearest mountain, and they offer some truly breathtaking views.
Speaking of, here are some of those views:
I also cut a quick one-minute video of the island, for your audiovisual enjoyment:
Anyway, if you're ever on Okinawa's main island, you really should save a day to ferry out and back to Zamami. Definitely worth seeing. 🏝️
