Where in the World are Dave and Elizabeth?

  Yesterday, we met ship friends Jae and Brad for lunch at Jango Jango in Naha for a bit of Mexican/Okinawan fusion.  With Americans stationed here since WWII, the two kinds of food combined.  We thought we were ordering the famous taco rice and soba, but it turned out to be actual tacos and soba.  It was all yummy. We had a great time at the Japanese version of the dollar store — Daiso.  We walked through neighborhoods and came to  Shinto shrine on top of a high hill.  People buy prayers or blessings here.  Did you know that Marie Kondo was a miko or Shinto shrine maiden for 5 years? A miko sells amulets, helps maintain the shrine grounds, and helps the priests perform rituals.  Shintos believe in gods called Kami which they think inhabit things like wind, rocks, mountains, trees, fertility.  They believe everything — from houses to shoes — are inhabited by spirits. Some Shinto believe they will become Kami when they die.  Some Bud...

  From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  27 God did this so that meanwhile n would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. Acts 17 I am thinking of people, cultures, and languages today. Did you know that the dominant religion in Okinawa today comes from a time before the region became part of Japan? It is animistic and also based on ancestor worship, as well as taking care of family. Today’s version has been influenced by several other religions, including Shintoism, Buddhism, and Christianity, but the base beliefs are the same as centuries ago.  Our first stop today was  Shuri  Castle. Built in the 14th Century, it has burned and been rebuilt to be the same a number of times.  It was the home of the kings of the Ryukyu, the people who lived here before combining with the ...