Denied

We went to Shuri Castle with Brian a couple of weeks ago (I promise I'll blog about Brian's trip!). Finn was a rockstar that day-we started our day out early and went to the southern part of the island to a museum, to the Japanese Naval Headquarters during WWII and on to Shuri. Those days are awesome but a little trying AND tiring. Finn was getting a little tired so I gave him some Mom Mom milk to take the edge off. Well, this happened to be as we were entering the "courtyard" aka paying area of Shuri Castle. Some Japanese college student dressed up in 1800 Ryukyu regalia tells me in broken English that liquids are not allowed within Shuri Castle. Enter the cute Japanese teenager walking past us carrying her bottle of tea. I try to communicate that it's milk and in a spill proof sippy cup. No go. Brian and Jared were ahead of us and are already in the courtyard. The guy keeps refusing entrance. I ask if we can just wait on the side while my son drinks his milk. Again, Japanese women are walking by with their bottles of green and jasmine tea. We sit and wait for about 10 minutes. Then a college aged Japanese girl, also decked out in 1800s style Okinawan clothes, comes over and says we can go into the courtyard, "misunderstanding" she says. I smile, bow very far down (to convey gratitude) and see Jared and Brian waiting for us. Then an armed guard comes up and tells me we cannot go any further, "No drink!" Now there are like 15 cc of milk in the sippy cup, just enough to cover the nipple if the cup is inverted, but Finn is really wanting to bite on the sippy cup spout because it feels good on his poor gums. I tell him that the woman said we could enter and he points to a corridor for us to wait in. Again, more people walking around with their exposed, partially empty tea bottles. Sigh.