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The plummeting Yen has been luring tourists to Japan with great value on hotels, restaurants and consumer goods since its descent began three years ago. We took advantage of the timing to visit the Japanese tropical island of Okinawa – a gorgeous paradise with a rich and complex history, vibrant culture and stunning beaches.
A two-hour flight from Osaka brought us to the Okinawan capital city of Naha where we gratefully sank into the tropical heat and the island vibe so unlike Japanese metropolises like Tokyo and Osaka. This is an island for artisans, fishers and vacationers.
Unfortunately, the island wasn’t always so laid back — Okinawa was the site of the bloodiest battle of the Pacific during the Second World War. It was hard to imagine Allied forces landing on the picture-perfect Kerama Islands beaches, now a tranquil mecca for sun-seeking vacationers. Today, Okinawa thrives on agriculture and tourism, serving mainly the Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese markets, but the daily military jet flyovers we saw are a reminder of the U.S. presence over 70 years later.
The beaches
A network of ferries will take you to some of Okinawa’s biggest draws — its beautiful white sand beaches. We traveled to Zamami and Tokashiki Islands, in the Kerama chain of islands as day trips. Both islands were bare of big chain hotels or resorts but boasted unspoiled public beaches. Furuzamami Beach on Zamami Island is one of the most beautiful, with a coral reef less than 20 feet from the shoreline. It was by far the most vibrant reef I’ve ever snorkelled in, teeming with colorful fish and sea life. There are dozens of beaches ideal for swimming and snorkelling in Okinawa and its surrounding islands, and the toughest decision we had to make was deciding which ones to visit.
The warmest months in Okinawa are from April to October when the beaches are open for swimming. From January to March, you can join whale watching expeditions with the hopes of spotting humpbacks as they migrate south from Russia and Alaska.
The food
If sun and surf aren’t enough to fill your day, there are plenty of other things to do on the island, including my favourite occupation: eating! For a city of just over 300,000 Naha has a staggering number of restaurants and eateries — everything from large, touristy restaurants, to small mom-and-pop run izakayas, to food courts and even grocery store delis that offer up a stunning variety of dishes.
Japanese food, as we discovered, is very regional. Okinawan food is much less protein-based than what we found in Osaka. One of the island’s specialties we loved is chanparu (roughly translated as “something mixed”) and is a dish that combines rice, eggs, vegetables and meat, often Spam! Delicious, even if canned meat isn’t my thing. Turns out the ubiquitous Spam is a legacy of the American navy presence on the island and it’s since become a beloved staple in Okinawan cooking. Who knew?
Most of Naha’s action takes place on Kokusaidori Street, a one-and-a-half-kilometre-long palm tree-lined strip that reminded me of a smaller version of Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki. The strip is packed with brightly-lit restaurants, souvenir shops, ice creameries, bars and hotels that are hard to resist. This is also where you’ll find the Makishi Public Market, a must-visit for sushi lovers. The main floor is filled with fish and vegetable stalls while the upstairs supports several casual restaurants. I watched rubber-booted fish mongers carry sushi platters from their downstairs stall straight to the table — it doesn’t get much fresher than that!
Further down the street, you’ll find the Kokusai Street Food Village, also known as Eating Alley. It’s open from noon to midnight but it really gets going in the evening, when it heaves with crowds jostling for stools in one of the 21 restaurants and bars packed into this tiny maze of gastronomical delights.
If you prefer a quieter, more authentic type of restaurant, just wander down the side streets — there are restaurants and izakayas on almost every corner. Most are tiny establishments with menus that specialize in a handful of dishes. It often took us hours to find a restaurant, because we kept wanting to check out every establishment we saw. Interestingly, some of these restaurants allow smoking — what a throwback!
The history
In between indulging our appetites, we needed to find something to occupy ourselves and Okinawa did not disappoint. Shiro Castle was a highlight with its 400-yard paving stone road built to access the castle and still in use by cars and pedestrians today. Sadly, the castle itself has burned down twice, but the castle walls and grounds are still an impressive site.
There is also the Peace Memorial Museum honoring the 200,000 civilians and soldiers that died from shelling, malaria, starvation and suicide during the war, the Okinawa Churaumi aquarium and the Okinawa Prefectural Museum which provides a fascinating look at Okinawan history from its beginnings as the seat of the Ryukyu Kingdom, it’s eventual annexation by the Japanese to its post war history.
Our last morning was spent strolling Tsuboya Yachimun street, also known as Pottery Street, a winding few blocks packed with artisans selling Okinawan pottery — distinctive for it’s beautiful glazes and designs. It’s one of the few areas that retains rare pre-war buildings (90 per cent of Okinawa’s buildings were destroyed in the war) and it’s definitely worth a leisurely stroll.
Our six days in Okinawa wasn’t nearly long enough to explore all the sites. We’ll just have to save visiting the rest of the Ryukyu Islands and sea kayaking amongst the mangrove trees for next time!
If you go
- Most Japanese city airports offer direct flights to Naha, with some offering direct flights to the more remote islands of Miyako and Ishigaki.
- If you plan on ferrying to any of the islands, make your online reservation as far ahead as possible — the islands are popular and the boats aren’t that big.
- Public transportation on Okinawa is not that well-developed. We managed to get around on buses and the monorail, but if you want to explore more remote sites, car rental is the way to go. There are taxis, but no rideshares.