On New Years Day, we headed over to Naminoue-gu shrine along with about half of Naha city! It was really interesting to witness a typical Japanese New Years celebration! The place had the feeling of a festival - lots of booths selling food (squid on a stick, anyone?) and balloons and trinkets (mostly on a mouse/rat theme) to remember the occasion.
Everyone made their way through the booths to the main building of the shrine, where they threw a coin onto this sheet and said a prayer for the new year. 
Then there were more trinkets to be bought. Commerialism has really caught on well here.
Many people bought a wooden placard to write their wishes on. 
Other people bought arrows which symbolize sending good luck into the new year. And everyone drew a fortune (for 100 yen). There were even fortunes in English, so Karen and I got ours too! My fortune said "Everything seems not to go well, but if you are honest and faithful and never get tired of anything. You will soon find away out of the difficulties. Be patient." (grammatical mistakes are not mine!) It went on to say "Missing item: it will be found around you." "Travel: you will be comfortable during your trip." "Removal: Do not make in a hurry." (not sure what that refers to!) People who didn't like their fortunes tied them to the strings in hopes that the gods would change them. Mine was cryptic enough that I decided to keep it! 
After visiting this Shinto shrine, the Buddhist temple next door, and the Confusious shrine nearby, we went to Fukushu-en, a Chinese-style garden. Once again, I went crazy taking photos, this time of the stone cravings of bamboo. To spare those of you who have only a fleeting interest in gardens (and stone bamboo), I've put the photos from the garden (and a few others from the day) on a webalbum - http://picasaweb.google.com/sarainjapan/OkinawaJanuary1 and only posted my three favorites here:
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