Do it Like the Germans Do

Who would have thought that the tiny Japanese island of Okinawa could throw one awesome beer fest?  Well, they do!  And the timing was perfect, because no one needed to cut loose more than us last week.  Orion Beer Fest 2010 was last weekend and we decided to check it out.  Orion is a beer brewed here on the island and is damn good - this coming from a picky beer-drinker.  The best part of all?  The festival was just outside Gate 2, which is walking distance from our house.  We got a little exercise on the way there because we followed a bunch of people who ended up going the long way (someone in our group may or may not have "mooed" along the way), but it's all good.

When we first arrived, it looked more like a carnival than a beer festival.  There were games and food and just a tiny, little keg of beer that was way too expensive to have been at a beer festival.  But since everything was written in Japanese and the great majority of the people there were Japanese, we just had to go with it.  We figured we'd spend the yen we brought and make the best of it.  Here we are shortly after arriving, with our expensive beer:

We wandered around for a while, looking at the food and games and Eisa drummers doing their thing.  Here is a picture of one of the food booths.  I'm pretty sure it says something like, "Fried Rice, Yakisoba, Mystery Meat...Cheaper if you can read this - we gouge Americans - don't tell them"

We had yakisoba noodles:

Shortly after the noodles, we ran in to some people we knew, who pointed us toward the Beer Fest (As we previously suspected, we were not there, but at an Eisa Festival that coincides with it).  Here is Alan, excited to have found it:

Now, we knew we were in the right place because the ground was all dirt - no grass, there was a Japanese band playing rock music, and there were beer booths surrounding the perimeter.  Here we are, upon finding out the beer in here was cheaper.  We appear really happy.  We might have enough yen to last all night, after all!

We met this guy, who pulled a Hangover move.

After the Hangover guy, M and I recognized a Japanese woman we knew!  One of the girls that works at Cocok's, our pedicure place.  Yay!  It's a great feeling to recognize a local out in public.  We didn't get a picture with her, though.  Drat.  We did, however, see these Japanese women in their summer kimonos and ask to take a picture with them...then three of them handed cameras to the guys because they also wanted pictures with us!

The crowd seemed to love the band, and went really crazy when one particular song came on.  I decided to join in a little.  When in Rome...

Here, Michelle and I found "Japanese wine coolers," which were really tasty.  That's what the sign said - "Japanese wine cooler."  However, we have since found out that it is not wine at all, but a "cocktail," with something "like vodka" in it.  No wonder it had some bite!

Here we are, still happy from our "wine coolers"

Orion Beer Fest is a must-do for anyone on Okinawa.  If you plan to visit, do it around Labor Day and go to the festival, take it all in - the food, the music, the people...what an experience.  It really made me step back and take a minute to wonder how I got here?  I'm sure several of the Japanese people were wondering how I got here, too.  Not M, though.  She fits right in ;-)  It was our little version of Oktoberfest, and it was pretty stinkin' fun.  You gotta love you some Orion.  After all, it is "for your happy time"

*Special thanks to TD and MD for their (possibly nonconsensual, but I doubt they'll raise charges) photo contributions