snapshots from okinawa, japan.
april 2023
after south korea, we headed to okinawa, japan! while we’ve been to the main island honshu in the past, this was our first time to this part of the country.
kokusai dori.
we stayed in the city of naha. the main shopping street of kokusai dori is very kitschy and touristy. with the subtropical climates and decades of american military influence, it honestly felt a little like we were in florida
kokusai dori.
kokusai dori.
one of the covered shopping streets off kokusai dori.
okinawa is known for its ceramics, and tsuboya yachimun dori is the place to go. shisa (part-lion protectors) are everywhere on the island and also sold in many forms. i really enjoyed walking around and seeing the cute handmade ceramics shops. i’m not really one for physical souvenirs, but we came home with our own shisa pair and a few other small pieces.
shisa for sale.
cute ceramics shop.
shisa.
more cute ceramics.
municipal building in naha.
naha is the largest city in okinawa, but once you get off the main drag, it doesn’t feel urban at all. nature is everywhere, it’s a little eerie seeing how it’s creeping in. almost makes it feel a little post-apocalyptic in the quieter moments.
overgrown.
one day, we drove north to see orion happy park and okinawa churaumi aquarium. there were meant to be many scenic stops along the way, but it was pouring rain nearly the whole time.
the rain did let up briefly when we were near cape manzamo, so we stopped there to check things out and get some photos before moving on.
cape manzamo.
cape manzamo.
cape manzamo.
cape manzamo.
the following day was sunny with a sky full of puffy clouds. we drove south of naha to check out the rock formations at mibaru beach.
colorful boats at mibaru beach.
mibaru beach.
mibaru beach.
our next stop was giza banta cliff, from which we took a somewhat precarious trek down to the rocky, tide-pool beach.
giza banta.
checking out tidepools at giza banta.
tidepool.
tidepools.
we definitely had to stop by peace memorial park, a beautiful but somber place to reflect on the lives lost in okinawa during world war ii.
schoolchildren on a field trip to peace memorial park.
the cornerstone of peace was very moving. names of the dead from the battle of okinawa, regardless of what side or country they fought for, are engraved on black granite slaps. the number of names (over 240,000) is staggering to see in person.
cornerstone of peace.
and since we were in japan, james insisted we stop by a manga store. mangasouko naha was overhwhelmingly large, but james was able to get his hands on some manga he was looking for.
looking through manga.
i mentioned orion happy park earlier - more on that in next week’s post, and what put okinawa on our travel radar in the first place many years ago.
kokusai dori at night.
kokusai dori at night.
