Last week I returned from Ishigaki-jima after spending a short holiday on the island for Golden Week .

Ishigaki-jima in Okinawa Prefecture is an island that is part of the disputed Senkaku islands, islands which are disputed by China and Taiwan because these islands are next to these countries.

The island of Ishigaki-jima has only 229km2 and a population of 46938 inhabitants.

The island has a lot to visit, is an island but rather to relax and enjoy the beaches.

SunToru I stayed in a sort of guest house where they had like 7 rooms and a dining room. People in the guest house treats you as if you were of the same family and help you in everything you need. We could even rent a car for only 2000 yen a day, and on the island without cars do not go nearly anywhere.

In Ishigaki and a half days I spent fishing with boat. About 30cm fish we catch very many, about 70 or 80 over the two days, but what I really wanted to catch something big. Unfortunately the only thing we caught large shark was 3 the first thing I look forward to have something big fish in this area but there are a lot and do not eat shark, so for fishermen sharks are a plague.

I also go through the Kannonzaki sulfate, which is the most northern point of the island, went to the beach of Kabira, which is a beautiful beach, but you can not swim in strong currents.
I pass through the village of Yaima, a village where you can see were the old buildings on the island.

Also horseback riding along the beach after a long time and of course I pass by the restaurants to eat Ishigaki beef, which is well known in these parts.

Japan today marked the 40th anniversary of the return from the U.S. of sovereignty of the archipelago of Okinawa (southwest), where it still remains open the controversy over the presence of U.S. military bases on the islands.

The anniversary takes place after Tokyo and Washington last April reached a historic agreement that will output 9,000 Okinawa, which will be sent to the U.S. islands of Guam, Hawaii and other Pacific bases.

U.S. maintained control of the archipelago of Okinawa for 27 years after the Second World War and not returned to Nippon administration until 1972, and even after that there remained a large majority of its military forces in Japan.

Four decades later, this island territory still holds more than half of the 48,000 U.S. soldiers and 74 percent of terrestrial military bases Washington maintains in Japan.

During a ceremony marking the anniversary, Koizumi, Yoshihiko Noda, reiterated his commitment to "relieve tension" of the inhabitants of the archipelago in relation to military bases, and was aware that "have become a heavy burden on the Okinawan people. "

So stressed that address this issue is "one of the biggest challenges" of his cabinet, Kyodo news agency reported.

The ceremony took place in the city of Ginowan, home to the controversial Futenma air base, whose future move has been one of the most controversial issues between the U.S., Japan and the residents of Okinawa.

Via: ABC

Every time I think that was part of the U.S. Okinawa I remember the grandfather of a friend of mine told us Okinawa which had always used the dollar and driven by the right car in Okinawa until the overnight change the currency and traffic regulations.

A couple of weeks ago I went traveling for 10 days in Indonesia.

My journey began in Bali, exactly in Kuta, where the first two days pretty much all I did was go shopping, surfing and partying. I was quite surprised that the beaches of Kuta are virtually surfing by how big are the waves in that area.

The third day we took a flight to Labuan Bajo to where we are headed to the port upon arrival. From here we began our journey by boat two days where we stopped at many islands, including the Rinca island, which is the island of Komodo dragons more around the Komodo National Park and in which we saw many dragons their natural environment, as well as buffalo, monkeys and so on. It was a great experience because you get to the island and a guide accompanies you with a stick to protect animals, the animals roam the island at your leisure, without fences or gates.
Then we went to an island where many giant bats gather at dawn.

We spent the night on the boat and continue to the fishing village of Komodo. A hamlet in the most authentic misery, where most of the houses has no toilet, but it was all an experience to visit and see how people of the village was glad to see someone different.

After that we went to Komodo Island, where again we saw many dragons at home.

In the afternoon we went snorkeling at the Pink Beach, an island with a pink beach created by the red coral pieces that flow to the beach.

At night we went back to Labuan Bajo and dined by the people. The next day we embark to be half-day fishing, but caught nothing.
After that we went back to Bali.

In Vali we had no plan, so ask about and negotiate with other people on the island to take us to all parts of the island we wanted to visit.

Total we visited lots of places, including Ubud, Besakih, dolphins on the beach in Lovina, 3 lakes, rice CANPOS Tagalalang, Taman Ayun, Tanah Lot, Uluwatu Pure and beach from the movie "Ear, pray, love ", Padang Padang. It took us almost 3 days as they go to North Bali requires some time.

Another day we went back to catch a flight to go to the island of Java where we could see some world heritage sites like Borobudur or Prambanan.

I quite like Indonesia, is a very cheap but at the same time people are not going at all hours asking for money in Sri Lanka or India.

A few weeks ago I renewed my work visa (engineer) for another three years more, which means I have visa until May 2015.

Renew the visa is much easier to make a new visa, so the only documents I had to deliver were:

1 - Form of extension of visa, which can be downloaded from immigration here . This form is very easy to complete. In my case I sent him my company already filled.

2 - Copies and original passport and alien card.

3 - Tax certificate. Which is available at the town hall where you have been paying taxes during the previous anyo.

4 - Documents enterprise which collects the information of those wins workforce, and the company you work for. In my case, the company faxed these documents directly to the immigration office.

After submitting all these documents, only had to wait 2 weeks to get my visa extension.

Today I leave you with a video you finish riding the other day where you see a summary of what was my trip to Guam last month.

Umibiraki (海 開き) means opening of the beach is the official word used to proclaim the beach open mind. Declare open means that from Umibiraki and there are lifeguards on the beach and the locals of the area begins to open.

On the 18th of last month (March) was officially opened Sukuji Beach in Ishigaki (Okinawa), the next to make the umibiraki on the main island of Okinawa was Hizoko Beach on 25 March.

During throughout this month and are doing umibiraki of all the beaches of Okinawa, so we are officially in season go to the beach around here. From now until the end of November BBQ on the beach and only that is carried here.

If you want to see the calendar of Umibiraki from the beaches of Okinawa can do it from this link .

I think I had mentioned before how important it is to pay your credit card travel but if ever I'm going back to comment.

Many credit cards like Visa or MasterCard have some type of insurance included in the card. The type of insurance covers and how much depends on the type of credit card and this may include the costs of accidents, medical expenses, flight delay, death insurance etc..

In my case this insurance had already used a couple of years ago when I stole a watch that I got my friends in Spain when I visit my hometown. The clock was in the suitcase which did checkin in Spain and not see her again until you get to Japan. When you arrive in Japan the suitcase was opened and the watch was not. Aeroflot was the company that trip was not liable for damages because according to them and had not declared all the objects that were in my suitcase they could not take care of anything.
I knew that my Visa card has travel insurance, and as he had paid for the trip with this, because I only had to call and they refunded me the cost of the watch and the bag that I had broken.

I also told him that in my last trip to Guam , I got sick one night in which you spend more than 6 hours in the hospital and charged me $ 700 of medical expenses because they did not have any insurance cover me there.
When I arrive in Japan called my Visa card and explain that they had fallen ill on a journey to pay with this credit card. Without further explanation ask me told me that if the expenses were not more than 30 million yen I covered them with no problems, and the following week at home and had to fill out forms which had to indicate where I wanted the money from entering, explain very over what had happened and attach medical documents I received at the hospital. In little more than a couple of weeks I had entered my mind this $ 700.

My advice when you travel is that you ensure your credit card if you have any travel insurance and if so pay it all with this credit card. This also can save you many unnecessary expenses such as additional medical insurance cover you abroad or for example the typical all-risk insurance when renting a car abroad. When you rent a car abroad often give you a price for renting the car but then you say at that price there is only minimum insurance that includes only rent the vehicle in an accident but would have to cover your expenses with third and so I always try to sell you additional insurance. All this is not necessary as your credit card probably take care of these expenses in case of accident.

And you? have you ever used the safe in your credit card? traveling you had a mishap that has cost you a considerable amount of money?