Our last morning in Okinawa was just packing everything up before the check out time at 11am. The sun was shining and it was about 28°C. We checked the forecast for Sapporo and it was a high of 11°C and a low of 3°C. We basically picked the two most extremely opposite parts of Japan (climate wise) to visit back to back.
Before checking out we went downstairs to the Family Mart and grabbed a few things for lunch – an egg salad sandwich, a fried chicken drumstick, and inari. We checked out and made our way to Asahibashi Monorail Station to take the train to Naha Airport. The train ride to get to the airport was 260 JPY = $3 CAD each. We arrived at the airport dripping in sweat, it was not a pretty sight.
View of the street from Asahibashi Station. Goodbye, Naha!Monorail stations in Naha are very smallTwo train monorail
When we arrived, we checked in and noticed that Tim’s boarding pass said Star Alliance Gold. He didn’t think he still had status this year but apparently he still does? Or maybe this is because he had gold status when we booked these flights. Anyway, we went to the ANA lounge and they scanned his boarding pass and we were allowed in. The lounge was very business oriented and quite small. They had some fresh juice, fountain drinks, Suntory Whiskey, Orion Beer, and some Japanese cracker snacks. Their Orion Beer pouring machine was really cool. Tim took a good video of it.
While sitting in the lounge, there were a bunch of fighter jets taking off from the airport. Except this time, these fighter jets were part of the Japanese Self-Defense Force. (Tim: We saw two jets take off in tandem and banked left together immediately after taking off… which was pretty cool). We had some drinks in the lounge before heading to our gate.
Naha Domestic TerminalANA lounge in the Naha Domestic TerminalWe looked into a construction area and a runway
Goodbye, Okinawa!
Our flight was delayed by 10 minutes, but still ended up getting to Sapporo on time. The flight was about 2 hours and 45 minutes. ANA domestic flights don’t offer much in terms of food or drinks (they only have coffee, apple juice, green tea, or consomme), which is a bit disappointing for an Asian airline. The best airline we’ve flown has been Bangkok Airways. For a domestic flight in Thailand (that was only an hour long), they served us drinks and a meal.
Welcome to Hokkaido!
When we arrived in Sapporo and stepped out of the plane, we could immediately feel the cold crisp air, a stark difference from the warm humid air we were in a few hours ago. After we got our bags we headed for the JR New Chitose Airport Station where we caught a train to Sapporo Station. The train ride was about 35 minutes and cost us 1,070 JPY = $12.45 CAD each.
Tried to take some pictures of the mountains from the train into SapporoSapporo StationOn our way to our hotel
Our hotel, Nest Hotel, is about a 6 minute walk straight up the street from Sapporo Station. On our walk there, my sweatshirt was not cutting it. It was so cold! I don’t think we’ve been this cold since some time in February when we left Vancouver. Tim’s going to say it wasn’t that cold, but it was (Tim: it wasn’t that cold). We got to the hotel and checked into our room. The room was similar to other typical Japanese hotel rooms – small, double bed, with minimal space to put your luggage. But as always, everything is very clean so there’s not much more you can ask for. We got a pretty good deal on this hotel room, we’re paying $245 CAD for 4 nights here. We booked on Expedia and had a promo code for $100 off from TD Rewards.
Our double room. Pretty standard Japanese hotel room set up.
We settled in and layered up. I wore my Heattech shirt from Uniqlo, brought out my scarf and my toque (I basically brought my toque just for Sapporo). We did a bit of research on what restaurants were close by since our plan for tonight was just to grab dinner and plan our next few days here. Since it was so cold out, I was actually craving ramen (which rarely happens). Sapporo is known for having good ramen, Hokkaido ramen, which is more of a miso based broth (vs. tonkotsu broth from Fukuoka/Hakata). My favourite ramen in Vancouver is Santouka on Robson, which is originally from Hokkaido. There’s actually a ramen area in Sapporo but it was too far of a walk for tonight, so we continued looking. Tim found a yakitori place one street over that sounded really good so we headed there.
When we got to the yakitori place, it did look really good but the wait for dinner was 45 minutes so we passed. We’ll try to go back again another day. We walked down the street and found an izakaya whose menu looked good so we went there. The izakaya was filled with smoking businessmen and women. We were seated at the counter since all the tables were full. Unfortunately, everyone to my left was smoking and blowing it my direction (I used my scarf to cover my nose when it got bad). We ordered a salad, yakitori, chicken karaage, fried squid, pork belly fried rice and edamame (which we thought was free but I think it’s free if you order drinks). Our bill came out to be 4,049 JPY = $47 CAD. Everything was tasty (we have yet to have a bad meal in Japan. *knock on wood*), but towards the end we wanted to leave as soon as possible since even more smoke was blowing our way.
Yakitori grillDaikon tuna salad. I thought the tuna was going to be raw, oh well. 560 JPY $6.50 CADPork belly and chicken yakitori 160 JPY = $1.85 CAD eachSalad, half eaten fried squid leg dish, assorted yakitori and chicken karaage.Pork belly fried rice. Tim’s favourite dish. (699 JPY = $8.10 CAD)
The Sapporo Clock Tower was close to the hotel so we decided to take a quick look. We took a picture and then walked back quickly. It was too cold!
Looking forward to exploring another part of Japan in the next few days. It’s our last Japanese city we’ll visit before heading back to Taipei on Tuesday. April went by so quickly, I can’t believe it’s almost May. We’ll be more prepared with layering up even more tomorrow.
Today was our last day in Okinawa and we had originally planned on going to the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park in Itoman and visit the Shuri Castle in Naha. But after some research on transportation to Itoman, and the infrequent buses to the Peace Memorial Park, we would only be able to fit in one attraction. We both picked the Peace Memorial Park over Shuri Castle. We’ll have to visit Shuri Castle on our next trip here.
Tim and I are both very interested in World War II history so whenever we go somewhere that was involved in the war or has something WWII related, it’s always on our list to visit. We were able to visit the National WWII Museum in New Orleans last year and Pearl Harbor in Oahu in 2014 together. With Japan playing a significant role in WWII, on the axis side, it was interesting to see the country’s perspective on events during that period of time while visiting Hiroshima and now, Okinawa.
Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Park was quite a trek from Naha. We had a late start to the day as we were taking it easy after yesterday’s long trek out to Nago. Tim made the instant noodles that he had bought the other day from Chatan for an early lunch.
We walked to Asahibashi Bus Terminal and took the #89 bus to Itoman Bus Terminal and this took about an hour. Itoman is located on the southern tip of Okinawa island, and is only about 13km away from Naha. Once we got to Itoman Bus Terminal, we asked what time the #82 bus (to the Peace Memorial Park) is set to leave and a man who was sitting outside the bus office said the next one wouldn’t be until 2:50pm (which was more than an hour and a half from then). We looked around the bus terminal area and it was pretty dead and nothing of interest around. Tim looked at Google Maps and it said we were about 10km away from the Memorial Park so we decided to just walk (Tim: I like to think in terms of the Stanley Park Sea Wall, so 10km is around 1 loop around Stanley Park, no problem). It was about 25 degrees Celsius and overcast with a slight breeze, so walking didn’t seem like a bad idea.
Naha Bus Terminal (it’s under construction)Somewhere in Itoman. Our walk for the first 3kmFarms galore. Most of the route smelled like manure.Thank goodness for Japanese vending machines. They’re everywhere on the side of the road. Yay for cold drinks. 100 JPY = $1.13 CADThis little guy was staring at me and wagging his tail. Then we walked away and he started to bark.
Since we were walking, we also decided to visit the Himeyuri Monument, which was about 6km from the bus terminal. The Himeyuri Monument was built to honour a group of over 230 female students and teachers from a Naha high school who, during WWII, were forced to become a nursing unit by the Japanese government. They were performing surgeries and eventually ended up living in dark caves to hide from the Americans along side gravely injured and dead Japanese soldiers. But during the battle of Okinawa, 80% of them died in an attack.
(Tim: We learned at the Peace Museum that the girls, along with a lot of other Okinawan civilians, were in a horrific position during the war. Near the end of the fighting, while in these caves that became makeshift bunkers and field hospitals, the US soldiers would move across the land, find caves, tell those inside to surrender, or they would attack. For Okinawan civilians, if they tried to surrender, the Japanese Soldiers would kill them. If they stayed put, the US Soldiers would attack and most likely kill them. It’s no wonder so many Okinawans died during the Battle of Okinawa.)
Himeyuri Memorial MonumentYou can see the shelter/cave that was used by the girls for surgery.
The Himeyuri Memorial was small and peaceful. There were a couple of Japanese school tours there as well. There is a museum (310 JPY entrance) there as well, and it is built to replicate the high school building where the girls went to school.
Paper cranes outside the museum entrance
We continued down the road towards the Memorial Peace Park, which was another 4km away. We eventually made it there, all sweaty and sticky. I wore a grey cotton t-shirt today, which was probably the wrong choice for today’s activity.
The Peace Memorial Park MuseumView of the park grounds from the observatory tower at the museum. (Tim: Those dark grey walls arcing around in the top right of the picture have the names of people who died in the Battle of Okinawa… both Japanese and American (and other Allied) solders, as well as civilians. I’ve seen a lot of war memorials with the names of those who died engraved on walls, but I’ve never seen anything remotely close to being as vast as this one).
The Okinawa Memorial Peace Park is beautifully set upon the Mabuni Hill area of Itoman and is the actual spot where the last battle of Okinawa occurred. We headed straight for the museum, which closed at 5pm, so we had about 2 hours to spend there. It was 300 JPY = $3.40 CAD to enter and there were free English audio guides which helped a lot. Although most signage was translated into English, a lot of the smaller details only have Japanese, so I would recommend asking for an audio guide at the ticket counter.
View of the ocean from the memorial
The museum was very informative and really heartbreaking at the same time. I remember learning briefly about WWII events in Okinawa but it was never discussed in detail in Social Studies class. The battle of Okinawa, which is also referred to as the “Typhoon of Steel”, and lasted for 82 days in 1945. More than one third of Okinawa’s population died during those 82 days (~120,000 people). (Tim: They called it the Typhoon of Steel” for how fierce the fighting was, as well as for the insane amount of artillery shells the Allies fired at the island. Apparently over 6.5 million shells were fired at the island over the 82-days of fighting.)
Considering Okinawa is heavily populated with American military and their families, I was interested in learning what the tone of the museum would be. The tone was not anti-American at all, it was actually American sympathetic and seemed almost anti-Japanese (Tim: I would say it felt mostly neutral to me, with more of a slant to the general horrors of war than who was to blame). Even during a testimonial video, a woman who was 16 during 1945, said how the Japanese military gave her and her younger siblings hand grenades to kill themselves if the Americans got close (Tim: she said she pulled the pins because they wanted to die, but they turned out to be duds). She also recalled that other civilians who tried to leave the cave they were hiding in were all shot in the back by Japanese soldiers. When they got so hungry and thirsty and prepared for death, they went to surrender and it was the American soldiers who gave her and her siblings chocolate and hot milk while trying to calm them down. But since they didn’t understand English, they thought the Americans were going to kill them, but in actuality they saved them. This was the general sentiment that I got while reading and listening to the audio guides.
Although Okinawa was technically on the Japanese side, many of the casualties and atrocities during the battle were a result of Japanese military brutality. They suspected anyone who spoke Okinawan (Ryukyuan Languages) of being a spy which could lead to execution. If anyone was caught talking about surrendering, they were killed immediately. The Japanese military also transported thousands of Koreans to Okinawa and other Pacific islands and forced the men into hard labour and the women to become sex slaves (“comfort women”) for the soldiers. Many of the Koreans who were brought to Okinawa for these purposes died during the battle (Tim: The Peace Memorial has a Korean Memorial which states over 10,000 Koreans died in the Battle of Okinawa). For some Okinawans that weren’t heavily indoctrinated in the Japanese war effort, there was a strong sentiment of wanting to surrender early on.
The museum was really well done and I would highly recommend it if you happen to be in Okinawa. The park grounds were extremely peaceful and there were many observation view points which over looked the rocky coast line. While looking over the cliffs, while beautiful, it’s sad to know how many people perished in that very area 61 years ago. They said many Okiniwans and Japanese soldiers committed suicide and jumped over the cliffs when the American attacks became too strong to fight. I feel very sympathetic towards Okiniwans as they had been put in unfortunate situations that the Japanese government placed on them. Okinawa is a very peaceful place, it’s a shame that their history is so tragic.
Peace Hill
Names of all who died during the Battle of Okinawa. Over 300,000 names from Japan, U.S., Taiwan, Korea, and the UK. We didn’t see any listed from Canada.
Carp flags are all over the parkJapanese torpedoesWalking through the cemetery area which are made up of large towers from different areas on the island. This path leads to two observation points higher on the hill.View from one of the observation points. It was extremely peaceful here. There weren’t many people at the park, only a couple of school tours.On the way down, view of the colourful houses in Itoman.Korea memorial dedicated to the 10,000 Koreans who died in Okinawa. On the ground, there’s an arrow pointing in Korea’s direction.
We walked around the park grounds for about an hour and slowly made our way to the bus stop to catch our bus (that comes every hour). As we were waiting, a taxi driver drove past us and offered to take us back to Naha for 2,000 JPY = $22 CAD, which is cheaper than what the bus would cost us (2,100 JPY). The ride back into Naha was a lot quicker than the bus as he took a very direct route back to the city. That was actually my first taxi ride in Japan. It was cool. The door opens and closes on its own (Tim: well, the driver controls it…) and there’s a TV in the middle of the console in the front that shows the news.
At the bus stop before the taxi stopped by
Once we got back to Naha, we looked for a restaurant for dinner. We passed by a couple of places and an Italian restaurant actually caught our eye. It was called Bambino’s and it looked like a very cute and quaint restaurant. When we were looking at the menu, the guy inside came out and greeted us and showed us the menu. We were actually deciding between that restaurant and an izakaya but since he was so friendly, we went inside. I guess you can tell that we’ve both been craving more western food recently from our food choices.
Outside Bambino in Naha
We ordered a pizza margarita, caesar salad, oysters in garlic oil, and a meat sauce pasta. Expecting everything to be “Japafied”, we were pleasantly surprised when everything wasn’t (Tim thought the pasta was a bit but I thought it was “normal”). Everything was freshly made and was delicious. The pizza crust was perfectly made, nice and chewy. This totally hit the spot for us. The waiter asked us where we’re from and we told him it was our last day in Okinawa. He asked us if we tried Okinawan food and we told him we had taco rice and soba noodles. He chuckled a bit and said, so your last day you can have Italian!
Inside BambinoCaesar salad – which included more vegetables than I expected. A pleasant surprise. 800 JPY = $9.06 CADOysters (5) in bubbling garlic and olive oil. This was my favourite dish. 680 JPY = $7.70 CADMargarita pizza. 600 JPY = $6.70 CADMeat sauce spaghetti (980 JPY = $11 CAD)
Tomorrow, we’re headed to Sapporo. We’re going from a place with a high temperature of 27 degrees Celsius with humidity to a city that has a high of 9 degrees Celsius. It’s time to layer up!
Before coming to Okinawa, I knew it would be different from mainland Japan, but to experience the difference was very interesting. While walking around Itoman today, Okinawa reminded me a lot of the east coast of Taiwan. I guess it does make sense that Okinawa seemed more Taiwanese than it does Japanese in a lot of ways (Tim: because it’s closer to Taiwan than it is to mainland Japan).
While Okinawa is a resort island for most people, I think staying in Naha was a good experience. I enjoyed being able to see all different parts of the island, which was actually not that trivial since the transportation isn’t very good. Before coming here, I was always curious about Okinawa’s relationship with the Americans and the Japanese government. After learning more about the island and it’s rough history, I think I’m only beginning to understand it’s complex relationships.
Today was our long awaited aquarium day. We booked a tour to go to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, which is on the opposite end of the island from Naha. We left the hotel at around 7:45am to walk to the closest hotel pick up point and waited for the tour bus to arrive.
Tim found this tour online and it was 4,800 JPY per person. It included admission to the aquarium, lunch, admission to a butterfly garden, admission to a pineapple plantation and a stop at a Ryukyu glass shop. It was a good price from where we’re staying since a bus that would take us to the aquarium would be over 4,000 JPY round trip, plus we would have to pay 1,850 JPY admission.
We were at the second hotel pick up point, but as we continued north the bus eventually filled. The tour guide was a middle aged Japanese lady and we later realized that a lot of tour guides here are older ladies. The tour is in Japanese, but on the ride up there would be English commentary on the speakers as we passed by points of interest, which was helpful. The bus ride felt like it took forever. There was a lot of traffic and stopping at multiple hotels made it longer. On the bright side, as we continued on route 58 (the same road as yesterday to Chatan), the scenery was beautiful. The East China Sea was to the left and the lush green forests were to our right. Since we stopped at a bunch of hotels, we saw some really nice resorts. I thought the ANA Intercontinental at Manza Beach looked really nice. Maybe on a future trip to Okinawa.
We eventually arrived at our first destination, Ryugujo Butterfly Gardens at 11:20am (was a 3 hour bus ride from Naha). They served us lunch in the restaurant upstairs, which looked like it was mostly for tours. For lunch they served us Okinawan style soba noodles, which was in a pork broth and had a piece of pork and a fish cake. Lunch was tasty and simple. The noodles reminded me of noodles they use in Taiwanese beef noodle.
Okinawan soba
Ryugujo Butterfly Gardens is located just down the street from the aquarium in Motobu. The gardens are right on the coastline so the views were quite nice. It was a sunny and hot day today, so being outside was a bit draining. It was probably a good idea that we were going to the aquarium today, where it would be air conditioned.
These were basically the only species we saw hereSee the gold cocoons and one butterfly fully out on the bottom left.View from the garden areaTropical plants and flowers around the garden
After lunch and the butterfly garden, it was time for the main event. We had 3 hours at the aquarium, which was just enough time. I think an extra half an hour would have been nice. The aquarium grounds are nice as it backs on to the East China Sea. The aquarium is also part of Ocean Expo Park which has dolphins, sea turtles, and manatees.
The stairs leading down to Ocean ParkPuffer fishCreepy white thing is a “broadbanded moray”
The main reason why we wanted to come to the aquarium in Okinawa was because they have three whale sharks. They are the largest known fish species. On our honeymoon, Tim and I took a whale shark excursion hoping to snorkel with them in the Maldives. But unfortunately, there was only one sighting and by the time we all dove into the water the whale shark had dove too deep. After seeing these amazing creatures in captivity, it would’ve been really awesome if we had seen one in the wild. Awesome but kind of scary because they are huge!
Kuroshio Tank: 3 whale sharks, manta rays, hammerhead sharks and a few schools of fishUnderneath one of the whale sharksWhale shark with its mouth a bit openClose up on the whale shark. It looks like it’s smilingThere was a scuba diver in the tank with a camera that displayed a live camera feed for everyone to see. Look how small he is compared to the whale shark!In the shark tankwhat a cute little ray
We spent about an hour in the Kuroshio tank area just admiring the whale sharks as well as everything else in the tank. It’s the largest aquarium tank I’ve ever seen. We both took so many pictures and videos, it’ll take some time to sort through the good ones.
We had about an hour left before we had to go back to the tour bus. We quickly went to see the turtles outside and got a seat for the dolphin show.
Pools of sea turtlesThe dolphins saying helloManatees
We headed back to the bus on time and made our way to our next stop, the Nago Pineapple Plant. This was like Okinawa’s Dole Plantation in Oahu. We were guided through a short path of Okinawan pineapples and then lead into a store with all sort of pineapple products: wine, juice, vinegar, cosmetics, and cookies. Each product had samples so we got to try everything. Originally, Nago Pineapple Plant is supposed to give people on the tour actual pineapple samples but they had a sign saying that there is a shortage of pineapples this season so help yourself to pineapple juice instead. This was a bit disappointing, but the pineapple juice was really delicious. Tim and I both had 3 (small) cups of it.
Nago Pineapple ParkMiniature pineapplePineapple soft serve! It is just like the Dole Plantation.
Most people on our tour bought a lot of products from the store. They came back with bags except for us. We just had our soft serve. Our last stop on the tour was over was an Okinawan glass shop. This wasn’t that interesting since it was just a store. We did see them make a jar, which was pretty cool. I don’t think anyone bought anything from this stop – everything was quite expensive. Only some glass products were still made in Okinawa, the majority of them are made in a factory in Vietnam.
On the way back into town, the tour guide said a bunch of stuff in Japanese, I’m guessing it was her closing remarks and she started to sing for us (which was nice). It was nice that after the pineapple plantation and the glass store, she gave us all gifts from each. She gave us all cups of pineapple sorbet and a small glass chopstick holder. Most people ended up sleeping on the way back. I passed out and when I woke up half the bus had been dropped off already and it was raining outside. We still had about an hour to go before getting back into Naha.
View from the moving bus on the way back to Naha
Tim and I decided to get off the bus at a hotel stop closer to Kokusai Street (International Street) to look for a restaurant for dinner. Kokusai Street is strip that has a lot of souvenir shops and restaurants in one area. It’s nicknamed, International Street, and it sort of reminded me of the International Market area in Waikiki. The streets were mainly filled with Hong Kong tourists as I mainly heard Cantonese.
A lot of stores along Kokusai look like thisWe walked up a few blocks looking at the different restaurants
After walking along Kokusai Street for about 15 minutes, we finally decided on a place to eat. It was called “Jango Jango” and all the menu items were 500 JPY = $5.68 CAD. We were his last customers of the night and got seated at the counter. Tim ordered Okinawan soba (just to compare it with what we had at lunch) and I had taco rice. Both dishes were good. The soba was similar to the soba from lunch except the pork was more of a stewed pork than a single slice. There was also more garnishes. The taco rice was more simple than the one we had yesterday. It was also more similar in taste to what I would make at home. Overall, we were really satisfied with dinner and it only costed 1,000 JPY = $11.36 CAD.
Inside Jango Jango. Pretty neat interior.Kokusai St. in 1960Taco Rice with an egg and chive soupOkinawa Soba with stewed pork, egg, ginger and fish cake
After a fairly long day, we headed back to the hotel. We’re taking it easier tomorrow and just staying around the Naha area. We want to see the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman and the Shuri Castle. It’s our last day in Okinawa tomorrow before heading to Sapporo on Thursday. Our time in Japan is almost over. I’ll definitely miss the food and overall pleasant nature of the country. I know we’ll be back again!
It was our first day in Okinawa and we didn’t have firm plans on what we were going to do. Last night, we narrowed down what we wanted to see and what we could see, given that we didn’t rent a car. Transportation outside of Naha (which is the main city in Okinawa and where we’re staying) is not very convenient or cheap so if you’re planning on coming to Okinawa and have a lot of plans to do activities outside of the Naha area, renting a car is recommended. We also looked into car rentals but they start at about $90 CAD a day, a bit too much considering our plans here.
Number one on both our lists for Okinawa was to just relax and visit the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, which is now the second largest in the world (was first before Atlanta’s aquarium opened). After looking at ways to get to the aquarium, we discovered that a round trip bus fare from Naha to the aquarium (which is on the north end of the island and 90km away) would cost more than paying for a tour to take us there. So that’s what we’ll be doing tomorrow.
For today, we decided to head north up the coast of Okinawa to a town called, Chatan. It is about 15km north of Naha and is the most Americanized part of Okinawa (and likely Japan) due to the American military base in the area. There is even an area called “American Village” or Maihama which is an area full of restaurants and shops that are supposed to resemble an American outdoor mall. After reading about this area, it seemed interesting and not like any other place in Japan. In addition to sounding intriguing, it is also my old coworker’s hometown, so that was an added bonus.
We walked to Naha bus terminal and caught bus #28 that headed north on highway 58. Although it’s only about 15 km away, the bus ride felt really long. There is quite a bit of congestion getting out of Naha since it seems like the majority of its residents drive. For about 95% of our ride to Chatan, Tim and I were the only ones on the bus. When we weren’t alone, there was only one other person.
Lots of scooters in Naha. Feels like Taiwan.Empty bus
Along the way to Chatan, we passed by many Japanese fast food chain restaurants: Sukiya, Yoshinoya, Mos Burger, CoCo Ichibanya, etc. This time, all these were stand alone restaurants and the majority of them had drive throughs. After being in denser cities for a while, it was interesting to see all these places as restaurants that you would drive to. We also noticed that there were a ton of pachinko parlours and quite large ones at that (they look like casinos). Gambling for cash is illegal in Japan, but they have these pachinko parlours where people play for balls which can be exchanged for tokens at the parlour. The tokens then can be exchanged for cash at a locations outside or around the parlour (sounds complicated). Historically, these pachinko parlours were run by the yakuza and I think the majority still are.
Finally, we knew we had arrived in the Chatan area as we could see the military base along the other side of the road. After about 45 minutes on the bus, our fare was 680 JPY = $7.75 CAD each. Bus fare is determined by where you got on the bus. You take a ticket with a number when you get on, and a screen up front shows the fare corresponding to the number on the tickets so you know how much to pay (the bus driver doesn’t keep track so it’s all honour system). The prices go up as you continue further on the bus route.
U.S. Military Base: Camp Kuwae or aka Camp Lester
We walked towards the American Village area and saw signs for A&W and decided to go there for lunch. A&W has a strong presence in Okinawa and has been here since 1963. Unlike the A&W in Canada, the A&Ws in Okinawa advertise free refills on their drinks. Refills on fountain drinks at fast food restaurants outside of North America is rare, so this was a nice surprise (especially for Tim, who guzzles drinks).
We found the American Village. Hard to miss it with the ferris wheel.A&W in the American VillageTeen burger, Chicken Burger, Root Beer and fries for 1,200 ($13.70 CAD)
Everything tasted really good and familiar, except the fries were a bit different. After drinking the root beer, it occurred to us that we haven’t had root beer at all since being in Asia. The closest we got was drinking Sarsaparilla in Taiwan. Also, A&W root beer is only available in Okinawa and no other part of Japan. We went to a store that had an “only in Okinawa” souvenir section and cans of A&W were there. I have taken root beer, my favourite soda, for granted.
It was about 27 degrees today and humid. It was overcast for most of the day but when the sun came through the clouds every so often, it was really hot! It was the first time since Kenting that we were wearing shorts and t-shirts. We continued to walk through the American Village towards the coast to see the water and check out Sunset Beach.
American Depot. Filled with anything American – toys, clothes, knick knacks.Giovanni’s shrimp truck. Just like in OahuNothing says American food like Red Lobster. There’s also a Tony Romas in the village.Walking along the seawallWe saw a lot of guys just chilling by the beach alone. Also, look at his large wallet sticking out of his back pocket. We noticed that Japanese guys all have long rectangular wallets like that. Those sticking out of back pockets would not fly in Europe – a pick pocket’s dream!I’m not sure what kind of fruit this is but it we saw a bunch of these trees around Sunset BeachBeach graffiti art.Tide is way out at Sunset Beach so it didn’t look very inviting.
We decided to keep walking north on the seawall to see what other beaches we would find. We ended up having to take a slight detour to a strip mall since the seawall didn’t connect the whole way. We spent a fair amount of time in the supermarket since it was the first actual supermarket we have been to in Japan. It felt like we were in a Japanese Safeway. Fruit is still not that cheap here, but avocados are cheap (~$1 CAD each).
Tim spent a lot of time in the instant noodle section and I spent most of my time in the deli (gawking at the cheap and delicious looking sushi) and the snack aisle. And of course, the majority of items are cheaper there than it is at convenience stores. The grocery store was filled with American Moms grocery shopping with their children. It was only until we got to this store that we saw a lot of Americans. (You mean they don’t just hang out in the American Village all the time?)
My first Pocari Sweat (94 JPY = $1.05 CAD). We waited for some hot weather to drink it. It tastes like Gatorade.Walking through an area called Miyagi to get back on to the seawall. Tim wanted to go this way because he likes the Karate Kid.
As we continued on the seawall north, we noticed a lot of Americans running along the seawall and Moms with a lot of children. It felt like we weren’t in Japan any more. Suddenly, while we were walking, a military fighter jet took off and passed by. It was so quick and very loud. We were too slow to take out our phones to get a picture but then three more jets followed suit. It was pretty cool to see how incredibly fast they go. We saw about eight jets in total during our walk, it was pretty awesome. I guess this is a common occurrence in Okinawa, especially in the Chatan area. It was really cool to see and hear. We have pretty good videos if anyone wants to see.
The fighter jet. It was so close to us when I took out my phone but then when I finally took the picture, it was already so far away.
We walked for about two hours before going back to the American Village. We decided to have taco rice for dinner since it’s an Okinawan thing. I love making tacos at home, Tex-Mex/Old el Paso type of tacos. Usually when I make them we have a lot of leftovers so I started to make taco rice as our meal for the next day. So having taco rice in Okinawa felt like “home cooking” to me.
We both really enjoyed the taco rice. It “hit the spot” as Tim would say. It’s easy enough to make at home, but now we could modify ours and make omutaco rice too. My regular taco rice also had Dorito crumbs sprinkled on top. It was a nice touch and good for texture, I would definitely copy it if I had Doritos lying around. Most of the clientele at Taco Rice Cafe were Japanese tourists and Americans who probably lived on the base.
We planned on watching the sunset at Sunset Beach before we headed back to Naha. The sun sets in Okinawa at around 7pm, so we had a bit of time to spare. We walked to a mall close by called, Aeon. It was a store full of everything – groceries, cosmetics, clothes and toys. We spent a bunch of time perusing the merchandise.
Okinawa produces a lot of delicious taro snacksOkiniwan men wear floral shirts just like Hawaiians. You don’t see nearly many black suits at all here.
Considering today was a very overcast day, the sun was shining really brightly through the clouds as it was setting. When we walked back to Sunset Beach, it seemed like a totally different place than the beach we visited earlier in the day. The tide was in and the sun was shining. It was an amazing sight to see (I love watching sunsets).
Dipping my feet into the ocean (East China Sea)
School children playing soccer as the sun was settingWe’re sitting on rocks by the water
Finally, the sun went behind the clouds so we couldn’t see it go below the horizon. Before leaving for Naha, we wanted to try ice cream from “Blue Seal”. We saw a location when we first got off the bus and another one inside the American Village. Blue Seal is an American Okinawan ice cream company that was established in 1948, by an American based company. They built a factory inside a military base in order to supply the military with dairy products. In 1963, it moved out of the base and made its products available to Okinawans.
Tim and I shared a cone and picked the number one pick – “Okinawan salt cookies” (which was like vanilla with salted shortbread) and ube (taro). We sat outside on the balcony and ate our ice cream while staring at the lit up ferris wheel. It was a perfect way to end our day in Chatan.
Our ice cream cone. Double scoop was 550 JPY = $6.30 CADWe sat and ate our ice cream while listening to music blasting from stores. We hadn’t heard Justin Bieber music since Taiwan.Until next time!
We caught the back bus into town (this time from a stop further up) and it was 730 JPY = $8.30 CAD. The bus ride was about an hour long this time and we both fell asleep. It was a long day and the heat probably got to us a bit. Lucky we had a lot of water and drank Pocari Sweat.
I’m glad we visited Chatan. It was definitely an area that was very unique to Okinawa. We’re not American, but as Canadians, a lot of things that they get nostalgic over, we do too. For a bit, I did feel like I was in Hawaii with all the American stores, Americans, and Japanese tourists (basically the same thing, right?).
Tomorrow, we have to wake up earlier to get picked up for our tour to the aquarium. Looking forward to seeing the northern part of the island and finally getting to see a whale shark (we didn’t have any luck while we were the Maldives).
After a relatively late night of packing and getting things sorted, we woke up and were on our way out of the apartment by 11am (which was also our check out time). We were happy with our Airbnb experience in Tokyo and would be happy to stay in that apartment again.
Goodbye Tokyo apartment!Apartment entrance in Shinjuku
We made our way to Shinjuku Station to take the train to Haneda Airport. It’s nice that we’re flying out of Haneda since it’s a lot closer to the city centre than Narita is. Our flight to Naha, Okinawa was at 2:45pm. We arrived at the domestic terminal at 12pm and took our time getting to the gate. While on the train, we were happy that our flight was on a Sunday, since maneuvering around the station and being on the train with our backpacks would be horrific during a weekday.
On the Yamanote line. We both got seats.Haneda Domestic Terminal
There are a quite a few stores in the public areas of the airport but once you cross security there isn’t much in the domestic terminal. We had lunch at Tenya (the same tempura don place we ate at in Osaka). Tim and I both agreed that we can eat cheaply in Japan and would be happy with it as we don’t seem to appreciate (Tim: the value proposition of) super expensive tempura. The jumbo prawn tempura I had in Roppongi Hills was the most expensive tempura I’ve eaten – at $12 for one piece (Tim: more than our entire meals combined at Tenya)!
At Tenya. We both got the same regular ten don with miso for 500 JPY = $5.65 CAD. The basic tendon had a piece of fish, squid, squash, prawn and some green beans.
Haneda is a nice airport, though the domestic terminal is kind of lacking in stores, I’m sure the international terminal is much better. Since we are flying ANA back home in July, we will be connecting through Haneda again for two hours before our final flight back to Vancouver. I was trying to scout out what stores are available on the international side (past security) so I know what I don’t need to buy until July.
They had a robot showing people how to do the self-check in. It was pretty neat. It knew when I was close to it because it looked up at me. Too bad we couldn’t speak Japanese.When I walked away from it, it turned to watch me leave. That was a bit creepy.
While planning out Japan, one of the first two flights we booked was our flights to Okinawa and Sapporo. We knew we wanted to go to these two places but since they’re either not on the mainland or pretty far north, it wasn’t as easily accessible with the JR train pass. Luckily, I remembered my former manager talking about cheap domestic flights within Japan that are only available for foreigners. We did some research online and booked our two flights as soon as the flights for the spring and summer were available.
All domestic flights within Japan (regardless of how far) can be booked for 10,800 JPY = $120 CAD. This is a really good price and you also get the full amount of miles (Aeroplan points) for the discounted fare (Tim: I can’t remember the last time I got full miles on an Air Canada flight… you have to purchase Flex Fares which are close to double the price of their typically advertised Tango Fares.). All you have to do is provide your passport info as well as your booking number for your arrival and departure flights to Japan. You can book these discounted fares through the ANA’s Experience Japan Fare or through JAL’s Japan Explorer Pass (JAL seems to also have something called the Yokoso/Visit Japan Fare and Welcome to Japan Fare which seem to be similar promotions). We picked ANA mainly because it’s part of Star Alliance, so if you collect Aeroplan points, it’s best to fly ANA as JAL is part of One World (Cathay, British Airways, etc). When we looked to book the exact same flights as we wanted without the foreigner’s promotion, the price of the tickets were over $800 per person. A lot of people know about the JR pass but if you need to go between cities quickly or ones that aren’t as accessible, taking advantage of these cheap tickets is the way to go.
Our plane took about 20 minutes on the tarmac before taking off. They had to double check something on the plane. The flight to Okinawa was about 2.5 hours, and there was quite a bit of turbulence as we were getting closer to landing. The plane was a lot bigger than I thought it would be for a domestic flight (Tim: 777), but I guess Okinawa is a popular destination for a lot of Japanese people.
It was my first time flying ANA and I was actually surprised they only served us drinks for this flight, but I guess it was only a domestic flight. Drinks choices were green tea, apple juice, coffee and chicken consommé (?!).
As soon as we landed, you could tell it was super humid as the windows on the plane on the outside fogged up immediately. We were now closer to Taiwan than were to mainland Japan. When we got out of the plane, you could feel the warm tropical air and it was 27 degrees Celsius. Walking through the terminal, it felt like Hawaii in a sense. Everyone waiting for their flight out of Okinawa were in shorts and t-shirts and were slightly tanned or burned. And it seemed like the staff uniform for a lot of stores were floral printed shirts – very tropical looking.
We caught the monorail (which was only 2 cars long) to Asahibashi Station and walked about 8 minutes to our guest house. This was our first test walking with our backpacks in tropical weather and we both were sweating quite a bit. Are we going to die in Vietnam in June? (Tim: I’m pretty sure we won’t die since humans are pretty good at heat acclimatization).
When we we finally got to Villa Coast Nishimachi Guest House, we followed the instructions for the self-check in (the reception is only open until 6pm) which is pretty easy since they also sent me an email after we booked with instructions on how to get there and check in. We booked a double bed studio off Expedia after reading really good reviews about this place. When we got into the room, I was both very pleasantly surprised with the space and cleanliness for $62.44 CAD a night.
My mailbox for checking inView from the front door. Kitchen on the left, washroom and laundry to the right.Double bed with a computer deskSink and laundry with the bath tub and shower to the left.Tub and shower room with Shiseido soaps and shampoo
I realize that when posting these pictures for people back home, this doesn’t look very impressive but anything that’s extremely clean (Tim: not too hard to find in Japan), we’re happy with. And if it has a washer, even better! I see why this place has high ratings on TripAdvisor, there’s a guide for the room and even a list of suggested restaurants around the area that are favourites of the guest house managers. Although reception isn’t around 24 hours and it feels like we’re staying in an apartment rather than a hotel, you feel very supported.
Our hosts 🙂 AJ was the one who emailed me about how to get there and the check in process.View from our balcony on the top floor. I guess we got a ocean view 😛
We decided to pick a place from the suggested restaurants for dinner tonight and plan out our next three days in Okinawa. We went to an Izakaya restaurant called, Himitsu-Kichi, about a 3 minute walk away. The building looked a bit tiki-hut-ish and we were seated upstairs in our own private little booth. All the food was really good, and the drinks were very cheap (alcoholic cocktails were only like $3 CAD, too bad I don’t really drink). We ordered a salad, chicken skewers, grilled squid, an omurice with gravy, chicken karaage, an Orion Beer (an Okinawan Beer), and coke for 3,988 JPY = $45 CAD.
Tim drinking the Orion BeerTofu and pork sliced salad with sesame dressing 399 JPY = $4.50 CAD5 chicken skewers for 399 JPY = $4.50 CADGrilled squid for 650 JPY = $7.35 CADOm Rice with gravy = $6.75 CADChicken Karaage 450 JPY = $5.10 CAD
After a delicious first meal in Okinawa, we headed back to the guest house and bought some water along the way at Family Mart. It was now pouring rain (but still very warm) on our walk back. It’s rainy season right now, so hopefully it won’t be crazy rain all the time.
I first heard about Okinawa while working at my Aunt’s store in Stanley Park (Tim: and I first hear about Okinawa while watching The Karate Kid Part II… looking forward to witnessing some ice breaking, since that’s a thing right?). I used to work there each summer when I was younger and got to meet a lot of people from around the world. One of my coworkers was from Okinawa and I heard it was like the “Hawaii of Japan”. The way she described home sounded awesome. She’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, so when I think of Okinawans, I think of her. Since then, I’ve always wanted to visit.
The city of Naha is a very slow and quiet town from what we’ve seen so far. A totally different scene from Tokyo. It feels nice to take it down a notch after being in two large cities back to back.
Looking forward to exploring more of the island and seeing a very different part of Japan.
