As I sit on the balcony of our room at the Beach Hotel Sunshine, on the East China Sea, I decided I didn’t want to wait months to share our latest holiday here. We are loving Okinawa! Basically, we are hanging out more than 2000 kms south of our apartment in Kamikawa! We left mountains of snow and traded it in for sunshine and palm trees!
Okinawa is Japan’s most southern prefecture and is made up of various small islands. In fact there are 48 inhabited islands in Okinawa prefecture, including of course, Okinawa Island. We spent 5 days in and around Naha on Okinawa Island.
Perhaps you know that the USA sort of took over after WWII? Anyhooo - Japan got this area back in 1972. Still, there is a strong US military presence in Okinawa and a major base as well. Our flight from Sapporo to Naha was easily 40% errr…. North American-like? And in particular? US military- like…
One day we took the 45 minute bus ride out to American Village! This is a touristy resort-like area by the sea. There are many hotels, restaurants, and lots of shopping. It was an interesting place for sure! You can kind of see how it would be cool to spend a 3 day getaway in this play land for sure! One afternoon was enough for us though! And instead of the 45 minute bus ride back to our hotel? We took a taxi!
Okinawa was once an independent country which was ruled by the Ryukyu Kingdom, and flourished through trade with China. Japan abolished the royal government in 1879 and annexed Okinawa as a prefecture. We visited the Shurijo Castle Park on our first full day in Naha. So interesting and so beautiful!
On the same day we headed to Shurikinjo-cho Stone-Path Road… over 500 years old! Before the Second World War, there were many similar stone roads in the area of Shuri Castle, and this stone path was 10 kilometres long. Unfortunately, during the Battle of Okinawa, the other paths and all the rest of the road were destroyed by the bombings and only this 300 metres long stone path survived.
On our last full day in Naha, we visited Fukushuen Gardens. I will say that the gardens we have visited in all the Japanese cities to date have been so beautiful and inspirational. Fukushuen was the same! It is not actually very old. It was built to honour the 70th anniversary of Naha City and the 10th anniversary of establishing a relationship with their sister city in China; Fuzhou. It first opened in the fall of 1992.
From Fukushuen Gardens we wandered to the only beach in the city of Naha. Gorgeous! We strolled around the area looking for a place to have a noon hour beer, and we stopped at a tiny little place a block from the beach with a cute little table outside. The owner was sweet and the sun was shining so we stayed for a second! While we were sitting there, the cutest little boy came by on his bike to give the owner a New Year’s gift from his mother - he had to wait so he could take something back for her. He couldn’t get his kickstand to release so Mark looked up “push” and “up” and showed him how to fix it!
The owner of the restaurant must have decided we were trustworthy because she told us to wait, locked her door and took off on a scooter to deliver food. Of course we waited! And then she asked us where we were from…
I absolutely love the band world - everything about it! And here we were, at the tiniest cafe on a side street in Naha, Japan, chatting to a woman who had played tuba with her band at the Whistler Festival in 2009!!! Of course she gave us a New Year’s gift to take with us… sigh…
We really enjoyed our stay in Naha. I GOT MY NAILS DONE!! I found the “Pedi Lounge” and met some fabulous women! Mark made a joke that he probably should not hang around such a facility (LOL) so I walked back to the hotel myself!
There were many fabulous bars and restaurants in the area of our hotel, which by the way, was fabulous! We had a poolside bar next to the infinity swimming pool. Yes - the weather was not the best (hovering around 20 and windy) but we were not the only guests who attended the NYE Party at the hotel. The staff handed out cosy blankets for all of us who were there!
This is the VERY first time that Mark and I have ”escaped” winter since our trip to Hawaii with his family in December 1989. Something tells me it won’t be our last!
PICTURES
Airport
Hotel
Castle
Stone Road
American Village
Fukushuen
Beach
NYE
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