Okinawa on ¥5750 a day

April 26, 2006 8:14 PM

Things to do in Okinawa/Japan?

I'm going to Okinawa next month for an interview. I'll be in Uruma City for 3 days, but as long as I'm in the area I may as well take a couple more days to look around. What are some of the sights/sounds/smells I should attempt to check out?

posted by logicpunk to travel & transportation (8 comments total)

Ocean Expo Park! I haven't been there since I was a little kid, but it was very beautiful then.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:34 PM on April 26, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

While you're in town for Ocean Expo Park, go to Nago Pineapple Park and Winery for free samples of different pineapple wines. And get a free taste of habu sake, if you dare.

(Habu sake is a potent Okinawan liquor with a poisonous "habu" snake coiled inside the bottle. It reputedly increases, um, stamina.)
posted by QueSeraSera at 5:53 AM on April 27, 2006

The English link on the Nago Pineapple Park page doesn't seem to work. Try this.
posted by QueSeraSera at 5:57 AM on April 27, 2006

(Hey logicpunk, I don't remember much about Okinawa, because I was so young when I lived there, but I just e-mailed my Dad to see if he remembers any cool places to visit in Okinawa. We'll see what he can remember.)
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:17 AM on April 27, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

Ah ha, and here's Dad's response:

Beachs are nice, and good scuba and skin diving, if they're into that. If it's still there, the Okinawa village is interesting. Also the peace memorial at the south end of the island. There was also a Battle of Okinawa museum and cave somewhere in Naha, for the history buff. And the rebuilt Naha castle.

lots of good restaurants--seafood is great.

If they happen to be there during any of the Okinawan Dance festivals, they're fun to see.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:04 AM on April 27, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

Nice. Thanks TPS (and thanks to your dad, also). I figured the beaches would be a good backup, but the WWII stuff looks interesting, and the castle seems worth checking out.
posted by logicpunk at 8:46 AM on April 27, 2006

I lived in Japan for 6 years. If there's one piece of advice that I can give you, it's this - walk down the alleys.

yes, walk down side streets & alleys. I ran across the BEST shops & food by just wandering down side streets and getting off the main strip.
posted by drstein at 11:14 AM on April 27, 2006

I lived on Okinawa for a while in the early 1990s. The south half of the island is well developed, but there is some lovely wild country in the northern half once you get up above Kadena and the other US installations, some of which abandoned. There's a little cape, I don't recall the name, at the northern tip. A lovely old overgrown temple and some wild seascapes. Also out on the western side of the northern half there is some pretty picturesque scenery; fishing villages.

I second the dance festivals (saw one at the ocean park, with drumming and dragons and all). And the temples have an enjoyable buzz around (some of?) the Japanese holidays.

The pineapple wine place was interesting, if the wine was not. In that part of the island they make a killer hot pepper sauce. You could buy it at or around the winery.

There was a snake place where you could go and watch a snake vs mongoose fight. Just don't sit too close to the front or you may see more of the snake than you'd really care to.
posted by sagwalla at 1:18 AM on April 28, 2006