Okinawan schoolgirls lose the “shortest skirts in Japan” mantle!
Well I thought I’d stray from normal diving related posts to bring you this vitally important piece of news which has just been forwarded to me. Apparently Okinawa has lost its title of having the shortest average schoolgirl skirt length in Japan (and I’m sure a title the senior highschool girls are destraught to have lost). Instead, the mantle is now being hold by Shiga, in mainland Japan. This news article comes from the Mainichi:
Shiga Prefecture’s schoolgirls boast of skimpiest skirts in Japan
Schoolgirl uniforms in Shiga are so short, they’re less hem than ahem, according to Weekly Playboy (1/29).
The Japanese language Internet is awash with rumors that schoolgirls in the central Japan prefecture wear the skimpiest uniforms of anywhere in the country. Continue reading this entry »
Newsflash - 1000kg great white shark caught off coast of Okinawa!
Just wanted to give you all a quick newsflash, sent to me by my good buddy Brian. Yesterday afternoon, some Okinawan fisherman yesterday caught a 9m/30ft, 1000kg great white shark off the coast of Okinawa, in the Yomitan village area. Apparently, it was caught “by accident” although I am definately in 2 minds about that one! When the boat got back to shore they had to get a second crane to lift the thing out, as the first crane wasn’t up to the job.
I can’t tell you much more about this as the information I’ve got is only brief. Needless to say, if I hear any more then I’ll post it. One thing I do have though is some excellent photos, courtesy of Emmanuel Lacoste. This is a little scary, as I dive these waters frequently - would be interested to find out what depth it was caught at. But without further adue, here are the photos I’m sure you’ll be interested in. Until next time, take care, dive safely, and look out for huge great whites!
Diving and life updates (can’t think of a more exciting title!)
Hello ladies and gents, and apologies for the lack of recent updates. Believe me, if I thought I had something useful and worthwhile to tell you then I would have posted. But I’m a believer that if you have nothing good to say, it’s much better to say nothing at all. That’s not to say that my life is bad at the moment (don’t get worried, mother!), but just relatively uneventful. Let’s see if can think of something exciting to talk about though.
Dive logs 206-222 31/12/06-14/1/07)
Dive logs from my trip to Yonaguni (and a couple of dives from this past weekend):
Diving the underwater ruins in Yonaguni
Well here we are in 2007, and a Happy New Year to everyone. I hope the forthcoming 12 months are successful and happy ones for you all, and for you divers, I hope you manage to get in the water even more this year. 2007 started off for me with 2 dives looking for hammerheads and then on some underwater ruins that are thought to be up to 8,000 years old. That’s definitely the way to stay off a year, and if the diving carries on in that way I’ll be pretty pleased! Well, this entry is going to have quite a few photos, so pull up a chair and get ready to see some of the underwater sights of the westernmost island of Japan.
A tiny background about Yonaguni - it’s a very small island (around 26km in circumference) with one taxi, one bus, and 2 traffic lights. Not the bustling metropolis of Okinawa or mainland Japan. It’s about 1 and a half hour flight from the Okinawan mainland, and the plane that took me there was a puddle-skipper! It only had 39 seats and was a propeller plane rather than a jet engine one. Just about the only reason to go to this island for tourists is to see these underwater ruins. That is, unless you’re a big fan of the Japanese TV drama, Dr Koto, in which case, Yonaguni will be a must-see place! In fact, each time the dive boat passed the house where the TV show was filmed, you heard lots of Japanese chatter pick up about “Docutaaaa Kotooo” and photos being taken. But enough about Japanese dramas that 99% of you are never likely to see, onto the diving!