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Just recently my wife and I took a trip to visit Neo Park in Nago City Okinawa, Japan. Neo Park is a wildlife park that houses a variety of different animals. The last zoo we visited happened to be the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo which was just amazing and left our Zoo expectations pretty high. We were eager to see if Okinawa could hold its own against Ueno Zoo in Tokyo.

Neo Park is a great place to take the family on a weekend if you are looking for something affordable and fun to do. Getting there was also fairly simple. There are no signs pointing which way to go but if you just stay on HWY 58 through central Nago, you will see it on the left side just past a Jusco and Makeman "Monkey Store". We went during the off season so I believe many of the displays were not functional or being repaired.

I thought the entrance fee was reasonable at roughly ¥1200 for both my wife and I.  As you enter the park you will be greeted by a variety of birds including flamingos and peacocks. You can buy bird food at the front desk for ¥200 if you want a more up close and personal experience. The park itself is relatively small, only taking my wife and I  a little over an hour to see everything.

Neo Park is broken down into several different habitats that resemble the Amazon Jungle, African Savannah, Southeast Asia and Oceania. Overall I was not that impressed with the park, but think that it would be a great place to bring young children to experience different wildlife up close.

For me, Neo Park gave off a small petting zoo type feel which I stated earlier would be great for families with younger children. However, it is definitely not the place to go if you are looking for an abundance of exotic animals.

Get out and explore Okinawa for yourself and let me know how you feel about Neo Park. Check out more of the photo’s by going to my Okinawa album and checking out the Neo Park gallery.

Helpful Information

Hours: Open year-round 9:00 a.m. – 17:30  (last entry 17:00)

Entrance fee:

Telephone: 0980-52-6348

Web Site: http://www.neopark.co.jp/

E-Mail: okinawa@neopark.co.jp

Location/Directions

Location: 4607-41 Nago, Nago City, Okinawa 905-0012

Directions:

Neo Park is located just off of HWY 58 in Nago. You have the option of taking either HWY 58 or the Expressway to get there. The difference is probably around 1 hour in favor of the expressway. You will drive through the central Nago area on HWY 58 and even pass a Jusco. Neo park is located on the left just after the MakeMan "Monkey Store".

Park Map:

What I meant to say is that the Chunichi Dragons are here in Okinawa.

The  Chunichi Dragons are one of several professional baseball teams that will spend a month in Okinawa for spring training.

If you were unaware, baseball is a very popular sport here in Japan. At the Dragons most recent practice I went to, there were several hundred people just waiting to catch a glimpse of their favorite star. The Dragons will actually begin the pre-season with an exhibition game against the Yakult Swallows at 1 p.m. at Chatan Town Ball Park. You can find out more about the Dragons here.

It was very exciting to see people of all ages out watching just a practice session. I have played baseball nearly my entire life and can understand why so many appreciate the game.

Needless to say, I brought my camera and snapped a couple of photo’s.

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The latest and greatest addition to the family is my new Nikkor 80-200m f/2.8 ED AF-D lens. I got mine from one of my favorite online retailers, B&H Photo .

It has been only about three hours but I just love how sharp the images are. I have it coupled with my Nikon D80 and everything seems to be working just beautifully. I bought the newer two ring version with the tripod collar, but if you were curious about the different versions check out this link .

Because this is my first professional grade lens, I am very excited about getting out and using this as often as possible.

One problem that many people have with this lens is that it does not have Nikons VR (Vibration Reduction) like the newer 70-200 f/2.8 VR . Although I think this would be a huge benefit, the 70-200 f/2.8 version costs nearly double the price of the 80-200 f/2.8. If you plan on buying this lens, be prepared to get a great workout whenever you shoot with it. It is pretty heavy weighing in at nearly 3 pounds!

I haven’t had the lens for a full day, but I will post any updates or findings I have with the lens in the future. Overall…I am very impressed with the speed and sharpness I get from this lens.

Here is a sample image

When I started taking pictures a year ago, I was not that interested in portrait style photography. However, I have become more interested and curious about portrait photography after frequenting blogs like Strobist , Bert Stephani , and Squeeze the Lime .

I currently don’t own a strobe, but I still believe that learning the importance of lighting is crucial. I plan on purchasing a strobe in the upcoming months and using what I have learned from these websites to make incredible images.

Here are a couple photo’s that I recently took using just ambient light. Tell me what you think!

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Calling all you crazy garlic fans out there. If you been on Okinawa for longer than a month, you have probably heard about “The Garlic House” or Arin Krin located south near Naha. Surprisingly enough, my wife and I have never been and decided that after nearly three years of living here we would check out what all the hype was about.

The drive from the Kadena area is fairly simple, just head south on HWY 58 towards Naha until you see an odd building with garlic characters all over it. If you have been to Naha, you have passed this thing a million times! We have heard from so many people that this was a great restaurant over the years, so we made sure to call and make reservations.

My main fuss with Arin Krin is the fact that they only have about 3 or 4 parking spaces available for their patrons. I would imagine that parking is definitely an issue for everyone that eats there. My wife and I actually parked up the road at a MOS burger. We figured that they wouldn’t mind at all, haha.

We arrived at 7 p.m. and the place seemed fairly busy. It was a Friday night, so we expected it. The staff spoke English and we were seated immediately. The menu was somewhat intimidating at first because it had so much to offer (no pictures though). I love pictures!

There were plenty of items to choose from which all ranged from ¥300 – ¥1000. We ordered garlic pizza, deep fried shrimp with garlic cheese sauce, garlic mushroom pasta, and deep fried mash potatoes in cheese. The portions are not “super mega American sized” so I would suggest ordering a variety of dishes and having a taste test of everything. We ordered and our food was out to our table in no time at all.

I really enjoyed all of the dishes except the deep fried mash potatoes in cheese. The texture just wasn’t working for me. However, the garlic pizza was probably the grand prize winner of the night. We will definitely be back to get our hands on the garlic pizza again.

Our total bill after four dishes and a glass of wine was just under ¥3000. Not too shabby!

One small bit of advice I would offer is not taking someone here for a  first date unless you plan on bringing some heavy duty mints or chewing gum.

My wife and I will have to check it out a couple more times before we leave the island for sure.

Let me know if this helps at all. Also, if you have any favorite dishes or parking tips…leave a comment and let me know.

Helpful Information

Hours/Phone

Hours: 5:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.

Phone: 098 877-3971

Location/Directions

Location: 1-9-11 Makiminato. Urasoe-City Okinawa, Japan 901-2131

Directions: Arin Krin (The Garlic House) is located right off of HWY 58 heading south towards Naha. From the Kadena area, you will pass Camp Foster and continue heading towards Naha. When you reach the Urasoe area, make sure to stay to the left and not get on the bridge. Arin Krin will be a building right after Autobacs on the left hand side. It is across the street from a massive Pachinko stadium. The building will have creative garlic characters all over it. Hope this helps!!

In Japan cherry blossoms or Sakura would definitely be categorized as a "NATIONAL OBSESSION." I mean, the Japanese love Sakura so much that they flock by the thousands every year to get a chance to see them up close and personal. I don’t blame them…they are absolutely beautiful!

Because Okinawa is such a tropical island, their Sakura bloom a little earlier compared to mainland Japan. I recently had a chance to take a trip up north for the 47th annual Nago Cherry Blossom Festival. Nago is one of the best places on Okinawa to see cherry blossoms because it hosts nearly 20,000 cherry trees.

For directions and more information, go to mahae plus .

Here are a couple of shots from the festival.

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You can view all of the Nago cherry blossom photo’s by going to my Okinawa album then select the Nago gallery.