Okinawa - Suggestions on must do's and sees and eats.

[Goosie 0]

Off to Okinawa next week, firs time. Any suggestions?

 

Are there places to avoid, like yank bases etc.

[RobBright 35]

Eats - chanpurū - in particular goya chanpurū!

[Ocean11 0]

These umi budo are good:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caulerpa_lentillifera

 

Apart from goya chanpuru, not much else in Okinawa is really special, in my admittedly limited experience. I translate a lot of promotional material for Okinawa, and all the food looks as poor as I remember it. Pigs feet are interesting to look at, but not a great joy to put in your mouth.

 

I do like a drop of Awamori though.

 

But you're asking about places - dunno. I've only been to Miyakojima. Mrs 11 went to Okinawa recently and said there are yanks in uniform everywhere, so good luck avoiding that.

[NoFakie 45]

Spam spam spam spam! Glorious spam! Wonderful spam!

 

That said, we love Okinawa. I've been four times. Ishigaki is best. Miyako's nice but we went in Feb and it wasn't warm enough (Feb in Hawaii by comparison is great). Last time we went to Honto, which still has some very nice spots. Honto's much cheaper to get to than Yaeyama. Its easy to do with air miles.

 

Now is July so I guess you don't get the mega deals you get outside summer. Big beachside hotels with a massive brekkie buffet for six or seven thousand a night per adult. Okinawa has the best value accom I've stayed at in Japan.

 

Last time we camped one night at Hiji Falls and there were maybe twenty or thirty servicemen or family members there during the day doing the river walk, but they were the only ones we came across and they weren't in uniform. At night, we had the campsite to ourselves.

 

If it isn't obvious, hire a car.

 

For eats, there's pretty good yakiniku, but that's about it. I don't like the trotters (tebichi) but the raamen like "soba" with the pork belly can be quite good. Clutching at straws perhaps, but A&W Burger is better than Mos/Freshness and way cheaper. For souvenirs, they do very good chili oil (ra-yu-). We usually stock up on jasmine tea too.

[Goosie 0]

Great informaion. Thanks.

 

Ishigaki is on the itin, so too the car. Chili oil sounds good, I like a bit of chili.

 

It'll all be about sand in my shorts sort of thing. Lots of swimming and beer.

[Ocean11 0]

Make sure you do some snorkelling, and make sure you protect your back from the sun. I saw some fantastic fish in Miyakojima, then all the skin fell off my back in a ghastly mess of lymphatic fluid and dermis. So every time I leaned back in my chair, I screamed and spilt my Orion.

[Thundercat 60]

I like Kumejima. Very quiet place with beautiful beaches and snorkeling. Also, Kumesen is the best awamori made in Okinawa and it's plentiful on that island!

[Goosie 0]

Good good good. Snorkelling sounds great.

 

Amamori sounds great. I'll be driving, so a couple for the road sounds good.

[Goosie 0]

It was hot. Hotter than what I'd expected Japan to be. 37 degrees and 80% humidity settling down to 28 in the evening.

 

In a place in a triangle among Japan, China and Taiwan, we expected a cultural mix alike to Hawaii. And we got it. The people were dark. Much darker than the Honshu people. They wore Hawaiin shirts and Bermuda shorts, the youth were orange with their ginger hair. A cartoon land in the sticks of farm country. What a beautiful contrast.

 

Amongst the azzure blues of the coast and the deep blue off the shelf, the sky made the third layer giving the dream of here, now and then. All along the coast people looked upon this beauty and just breathed "c'est la vie".

 

We met people from Tokyo, Osaka, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea. The Japanese came because they had condos in Okinawa. We foreigners came for the sun, sea, sand and seafood. It was strange that grilling fresh fish was special here.

 

A room with a view

 

Perfect picture postcard

 

Oh Sunset

 

Beautiful giants enslaved. But how werre we to see them otherwise.

 

 

Now for dinner: Ishigaki beef

 

 

And some black pork.

 

 

 

Would we come back? YES. Defintely. This place is unique, special in it's way and charming for the rustic infrastructure contrasting with the mega hotel luxuries. Try it. It'll surprise you for turning the Japan experience on its head.