Okinawa Part 1
Getting started on my Okinawa posts while the memories are still [somewhat] fresh in my mind. Okinawa was one of the places I’ve wanted to visit in Japan for a long time, but I’ve never been able to fit it in my trips since it’s so far out of the way. However, this time I specially made the effort to spend a few days on the island.
The first day of my trip was mostly spent traveling to Naha. Since it was too expensive flying directly out of Chubu, I decided to fly out of KIX instead. But that meant I had a take a 3-hour bus ride to Osaka early in the morning, transfer to the rail for an hour to get to the airport, then take a shuttle to get to the LCC terminal. By the time I got to Naha in the afternoon I was already tired from traveling. Lol
My friend Carmen, who flew in from Tokyo that morning, met me at the LCC terminal. Soon we were on our way on the Yui Rail towards our hotel. Yui Rail is the monorail system in Naha and is the only public rail system in the city. It’s pretty tiny because you can get from one end (the airport) to the other (Shuri Station) in just under 30 minutes. However I found it to be very efficient. One thing I noticed was that all the drivers wore an Okinawan version of a Hawaiian shirt. The other thing that was cool was that all the train tickets are scanned at the gates using QR codes. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who was looking for a slot to insert my ticket in. =P
After dropping off our bags at the hotel and getting freshened up, we made our way back out. It was pretty hot in Naha, with the temperature over 30 degrees. One thing I found while we were heading back to the Yui Rail station is that most of the pedestrian crosswalks are elevated. I guess it made sense since the monorail is elevated too, but it meant that we always had to go up and down flights of stairs to cross the street. It took a little getting used to, but it was fine once we knew where we were going.
We took the Yui Rail to Makishi Station, then walked on foot to find Tsuboya Yachimun Street. Similar to Tokoname, the streets in that area are known for their pottery works. We ended up first at Yaramunto Cafe Chataro, where we grabbed a light snack of zenzai (702 yen). Zenzai is made with sweet red beans and mochi, topped with crushed ice. The one I ate came with black sugar syrup and ice cream. It was super messy eating it but soooo good and perfect to eat for the weather that day.
Later in the evening we explored some of the houses along the pottery path. Once it got dark we headed over to Makishi Market, then walked over to International Street. The entire stretch of shops and restaurants on International Street are very popular with tourists. It almost felt like I was back in Hawaii!
For dinner that night I picked out an izakaya called Yuunangii. It’s apparently very popular amongst locals, so I decided to go on a weekday to avoid the lineups. We were lucky that we got seated at the bar right when we arrived. We ended up ordering all Okinawan foods, including rafute, umi budo, goya champura and even a bottle of awamori. Awamori is super strong, so Carmen and I seriously had to dilute it with lots of ice and water before we could drink it. =P
The rest of the dishes were incredibly delicious. The waitress taking our order confirmed with us twice that we were okay with fatty pork and intestines, since she was afraid that we wouldn’t eat it. Lol. It was totally unnecessary because Carmen and I cleared all those plates like a pro. Haha. Yuunangii was definitely my favourite meal out of the trip and only cost us 2,000 yen each. I highly recommend going there for dinner! Great portions and great atmosphere. =D