I landed on Okinawa in 1995 with no clue about anything about the island or much about Japan as a whole for that matter. As young spouses, my husband and I picked up diving, visited castles, roamed around to all the tourist sites. Upon leaving with new baby in tow, I hoped to come back, which we did twice more, the last time to stay indefinitely. I'm going on 17 years here now and both of my kids spent most of their lives here. Along the way I began painting lessons with a living treasure, Hirokazu Akamine, and I have learned his style of watercolor over the past 11 years. Besides enjoying local activities, we travel yearly to Bali and Korea and try to get out of our comfort zone and visit a new country every other year.
