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Okinawa (Japanese: 沖縄 Okinawa, Okinawan: 沖縄 Uchinaa) is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan, an island chain to the southwest of the Home Islands.
The name Okinawa means "rope in the open sea", a fairly apt description of this long stretch of islands between the main islands of Japan and Taiwan. Consisting of 49 inhabited islands and 111 uninhabited islands, Okinawa has a subtropical to tropical climate and is a popular beach holiday destination for Japanese, with frequent flights from all the major cities of Japan. While visitors from nearby countries are increasingly discovering Okinawa's charms, the number still remains low compared to the tourist destinations on mainland Japan.
Most of Okinawa is subtropical, with the southern extremities (Yaeyama and the outlying islands) fully tropical. Even in January and February, the average high temperature... Read more
Okinawa (Japanese: 沖縄 Okinawa, Okinawan: 沖縄 Uchinaa) is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan, an island chain to the southwest of the Home Islands.
The name Okinawa means "rope in the open sea", a fairly apt description of this long stretch of islands between the main islands of Japan and Taiwan. Consisting of 49 inhabited islands and 111 uninhabited islands, Okinawa has a subtropical to tropical climate and is a popular beach holiday destination for Japanese, with frequent flights from all the major cities of Japan. While visitors from nearby countries are increasingly discovering Okinawa's charms, the number still remains low compared to the tourist destinations on mainland Japan.
Most of Okinawa is subtropical, with the southern extremities (Yaeyama and the outlying islands) fully tropical. Even in January and February, the average high temperature is around 20°C (68°F), making the area a popular winter getaway, although it's often cloudy and usually a little too cold for sunbathing due to the winter monsoon. Spring, around late March and April, is an excellent time to visit if you take care to avoid Golden Week (a succession of national holidays from the end of April), however, it does not get busy at all on the small islands even during Golden Week. The rainy season starts early in May and continues until June. Unlike the rainy season in mainland Japan, it rains neither every day nor all day long during the rainy season in Okinawa. Summer in Okinawa is hot and humid but still one of the peak visiting seasons, while September brings a succession of fierce typhoons. October and November are again good times to visit.
Ferry and air connections link the islands together, but many of them are simply so small in population that scheduled services may be infrequent and prices vary.
By ferry
There are dense webs of ferry links between nearby islands, but only infrequent cargo boats ply lengthier routes like Naha-Ishigaki. If traveling by boat in late summer, note that the area around Okinawa is known as Typhoon Alley for a reason.
By car
Probably more so than anywhere else in Japan, the trainless main island of Okinawa is a car culture, which makes car rental an attractive option for longer stays. Be prepared to drive on the left side of the road and to show your International Drivers License. Military and other SOFA personnel may obtain driving privileges via their own installation procedures.
International Drivers Licenses are not accepted in Japan, if you are from Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Slovenia, Monaco or Taiwan. Instead, you need an authorized Japanese translation of your national driver's license. The translation is issued in the JAF Office (Japanese Automobile Foundation) in 1-48-7 Maeda Urasoe-shi. This took approximately one hour in January 2016.
By bus
Most islands of interest in Okinawa have at least a rudimentary bus network, although schedules may be sparse and prices fairly high. Times and routes (usually in both English and Japanese) are indicated at each bus stop and at the various bus terminals. Prices outside of Naha are based on distance travel and are indicated in the front of the bus as it moves from sector to sector (your ticket, that you take as you enter the bus, has a sector number on it). There is a changer for 1000 yen bills and coins at the front of the bus. Keep your ticket until you leave the bus. You pay the fare on alighting and it might be, that the bus driver wants to see your ticket with the sector number.
Most people come to Okinawa for the sun and beaches. Even in midwinter, when many areas of the mainland Japan teeter around the freezing point, temperatures rarely dip below 15°C in Okinawa. For more adventurous types, the vast yet almost uninhabited island of Iriomote is covered in dense jungle.
Cultural attractions are rather more limited, as the Japanese invasion and subsequent brutal colonization coupled with fighting in World War II did a regrettably thorough job of eliminating most traces of the Ryukyu Kingdom, but two standouts are the newly rebuilt Shuri Castle in Naha on Okinawa Island, and the carefully preserved tiny village of Taketomi in the southern Yaeyama Islands.
Historical sites related to World War II can be found throughout the islands, especially the main island of Okinawa, including the Peace Memorial Park in Naha, the Navy's former underground headquarters and the Himeyuri Monument.
Churaumi Aquarium is a world-class aquarium located on the Motobu peninsula. Attractions include one of the world’s largest tanks with huge whale sharks and manta rays. The aquarium is located in Ocean Expo Park with a beautiful public facility called Emerald Beach.
Okinawa is the best place in Japan for all sorts of watersports.
The Okinawa archipelago is one of the world's best diving destinations, with the count of marine species on par with the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. You can find over 400 types of corals, 5 types of sea turtles, manta rays, whale sharks, hammerhead sharks and many kinds of tropical fish. The language barrier can be an issue, with most shops only set up to cater to Japanese-speaking tourists, although Piranha Divers Okinawa and Onna Sensui Diving Shop in Onna Village, Reef Encounters in Chatan or Bluefield in Kadena on Okinawa Island, and Umicōza on Ishigaki are welcome exceptions.
If all this does not put you off, there is some world-class diving to look forward to: particular highlights include the gorgeous reefs surrounding the Kerama Islands, the manta rays of Miyakoand Ishigaki and the hammerhead sharks and underwater ruins of Yonaguni. The waters are generally divable all year, although water temperature fluctuates between 22°C in the winter to around 29°C in summer. Also, beware of the typhoons during June-November and the north wind that may frequently close diving sites in the north shores of many of the islands during November and December. Many people dive in boardshorts and rashguards half the year. Most Japanese divers wear a 5mm full-body wetsuit, and dive shops usually provide aluminum tanks with American-style fittings.
Sailing is gaining in popularity in Okinawa. There is a small but passionate international sailing community centered at Ginowan Marina, near the Convention Center. Local and international sailors cruise and race to the Kerama islands and to other locations. Sailing cruises and classes are also conducted out of Ginowan Marina.
Surfing is popular in Okinawa, but it's not particularly easy: waves break over very shallow shelves of the reef and/or basaltic rock, resulting in challenging waves. Surfing spots can be found all over the archipelago, but most surfers surf off the main island.
Okinawa has some of the best offshore fishing in the world. Some fish are seasonal, but there are fish for every season of the year. Marlin, mahi mahi, and various species of tuna are some of the fish that are teeming in Okinawa's crystal clear seas. There are many places where you can find a boat to go fishing, but as with diving, language can be a major issue. Some charter services provide fishing tackle, and others require you to rent fishing gear. The 2008-2009 Issue of "Okinawa Island Guide" has featured Saltwater Fishing Okinawa for catering to Japanese, English, and Chinese speaking travelers.
The cost of offshore fishing in Okinawa is comparable to other charter services around the world.
Okinawan cuisine is distinctly different from that of mainland Japan. Unlike the simplicity of classical Japanese food, which tries to highlight individual ingredients, Okinawa is a champurū (mixed) cuisine, where lots of ingredients can be used in a single dish to create complex, balanced flavors -- aptly enough, the very word seems to originate from the Malay campur. Thanks to its notable Taiwanese influence, Okinawans too proudly proclaim that they use every part of the pig except the squeal and pork makes an appearance in almost every dish, including bits like ears, trotters, and blood which are generally disdained by the Japanese. Even Spam has a distinct following.
Other Okinawan ingredients include vegetables rarely seen on the Japanese mainland such as bitter melon (ゴーヤー gōyā) and purple yam (紫芋 murasaki-imo). Local seaweeds like the gloopy mozuku (モズク), often served in vinegar or mixed into porridge, or fluffy green āsa (アーサ), hiding in soups, often get credit for Okinawans' life expectancy, the longest in the world. Okinawan tropical fruits including mango, papaya, pineapple, dragonfruit and the sour lime-like calamansi (シークァーサー shīkwāsā) are delicious when in season. Dark cane sugar (黒砂糖 kurosatō) is also a popular snack, eaten both as is and made into a vast variety of candies and pastries.
Some dishes worth trying:
Okinawan chinmi or "strange foods", eaten as snacks with drinking, include:
Aficionados of American fast food may find Okinawa to be a curious treat, as many American restaurants popped up here to serve the US military long before they made it to the mainland. Most prominent is the presence of A&W outlets serving hamburgers and root beer (with free refills, even), available practically nowhere else in Japan. Blue Seal ice cream is common, with their purple yam soft ice creams worth a lick. Several hybrid Okinawan-American dishes, most of which seem to employ copious quantities of Spam, are widely available:
The local brew of choice is awamori (泡盛), a notoriously strong rice liquor that can contain up to 60% alcohol, although 30-40% is more common. Unlike Japanese shochu, which is usually prepared from potatoes or barley, awamori is brewed using imported Thai jasmine rice since during the days of the Ryukyu Kingdom, short-grain rice could not be brought in from the main islands. It's most commonly drunk on the rocks or neat.
Awamori keeps well, and when stored more than three years is known as kūsu (古酒, also read koshu in standard Japanese). If the label indicates a specific age, it's 100% at least that old; however, kūsu without a given age is usually a blend of 50% 3-year-old and 50% new awamori.
If awamori is a bit too strong for your taste, try awamori umeshu (泡盛梅酒), a delectable sweet liquor made by infusing Japanese ume plums in awamori and cane sugar. Lemon and coffee-flavored versions of awamori are also available.
Okinawa's local beer Orion is a safer alternative, at least in small quantities. Most larger islands also have their own microbreweries.
LOCAL TIME
8:05 am
May 18, 2022
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Okinawa is the southernmost prefecture of Japan. It consists of hundreds of small islands forming the Ryukyu archipelago. The main island is also called Okinawa. The administrative center of the Prefecture is the city of Naha. A monorail train runs from the airport to Shuri Castle. The line runs... |
In the photo, there’s a stone gate Sonohyan-utaki, an object of the UNESCO cultural heritage. Behind, there’s a sacred place where the prayer ceremonies were held before leaving the King outside the castle. The gate is made of coral limestone and show a laying of that time. It was open only for the... |
Kokusai Dori, the main street of the city, runs from the center to the east. There are many shops, restaurants and cafes, hotels, department stores, souvenir shops and even a market. The street starts near the station monorail Kencho-mae, and ends a little further of Makishi Station.
In the photo... |
Although the island has many different attractions, there is something to see outside the capital. On the third day, I decided to go somewhere else. Having explored the sights, I chose to visit the Nakamura House. Along the way, you can see something more interesting. The way promised to be uneasy... |
The Ryukyu Kingdom existed on the territory of Okinawa from the 4th century. The ruler had the title of Wang and was considered a vassal of the Chinese emperor. In 1609, the state was conquered by the Japanese. Formally, they have maintained the independence of the Ryukyus, but placed his deputy in... |
Okinawa has five famous castles: Shuri, Katsura, Nakagusuku, Nakijin, and Tamagusuku. The first one is located in Naha, the rest are scattered around the island. Nakagusuku is the oldest castle. It is said that its construction lasted for about 1,000 years. It is believed that the castle was built... |
In spring of 1945, the United States conducted a military operation Iceberg, better known as the "Battle of Okinawa". The island was badly damaged and was demolished almost to the ground. More than a third of the population of Okinawa and a hundred thousand Japanese troop died during 82 days. The... |