Miyakojima
A few months ago I signed up for the annual Tour Du Miyakojima, a 100km cycling road race on the Island of Miyakojima. Miyakojima is about 300km southwest of the main island of Okinawa.
The plan was to ditch the kids with their grandparents and to have a nice weekend getaway with just the two of us. And to race 100km on a bike somewhere in there. But as the race got closer the weather forecast looked worse and worse. It seemed like it was going to rain all weekend. The plan tickets and hotel were already paid for, but it was starting to look like a miserable weekend for a bike race. So I decided to leave the bike behind, and just spend a weekend on an island with my wife. I figured a weekend of relaxing would do me good, even if it was rainy. And of course I was hoping to make some good photos.
As it turned out, the weather was perfect! But I don’t regret skipping the race. It was pretty hot, and those guys looked miserable. And since I didn’t have the race to worry about we had a great time touring the island.
We arrived around 10:30am and had several hours before checking into the hotel. We spent the time driving around in a rental car and taking in the sights. Misakojima is beautiful. And unlike most places in Japan that are worth visiting, it wasn’t crowded at all. The roads were empty, the parks were empty. After 4 years in Tokyo, I felt like I could finally breath again.
One of the first places we stopped was Sunayama Beach (lit. “sand mountain beach”). Surprisingly enough, it’s a big mountain of sand that drops down to the water. We saw butterflies, pretty flowers, beautiful green plants, and the amazing emerald green of the Pacific Ocean. Truly island paradise stuff.
All images © 2010 by Jason Weddington, All Rights Reserved. No Use Without Written Permission. Contact me at the_wandering_eye [at] yahoo [dot] com for usage or licensing requests.
Hurter recommends talking to the flourist, the caterer, DJ, etc before the event. He also suggests studying the wedding gown from a fashion and design perspective to achieve an awareness of what details to shoot. And perhaps most importantly, visit the location prior to the ceremony at around the same time of day to get a feel for the lighting. This is serious stuff!