Okinawa

Once we knew that we had two and a half weeks in Japan, we took turns picking locations to visit but we both had Okinawa on our list, so it was an easy choice for the last several days. We were not entirely sure what to expect, and did little research in order to be pleasantly surprised when we arrived, but found it to be a beautiful island(s) and an interesting place socially.

We found the significance presence of American military personnel and their families, along with the years that Okinawa was under American sovereignty after the war, has resulted in a fascinating American/Japanese fusion hat is influenced by Okinawa's own historical culture.  One nice perk of this was the prevalence of English, it was much easier to find signs in English and people who spoke at least a bit of the language (except for the elderly taxi driver we had one day who spoke no English and was asking me to direct him to our destination, never mind that I was a foreigner haha). We lost track of how many McDonald's we found, but were amused at how some of them played honky tonk country music. The weather was a delightful treat after the more wintery temperatures of the US and our time on the mainland Japan. With daytime reading upper 70s or low 80s, we were comfortable in shorts and t-shirts; the locals in long sleeves and coats informed us it was far too cold for such summer wear, as they routinely have 100+ degrees during the summer months.

Te spelling wasn't necessarily better despite
more English speakers...

American Village was a fun part of to explore that was easy walking distance from our hotel. It featured a giant Ferris wheel, American restaurants, shopping, a beach side boardwalk and an arcade. It was constructed as a theme park several decades ago as a way for Americans stationed on the island to feel more at home.

View from the top of the Ferris wheel

I didn't say the American food they offered was good :D 

A bus tour booked for one day of our stay took us to the Northern part of the island (the day of the tour we got a call at 830 am that the scheduled 930 departure was running 20 minutes ahead of schedule so to be at the pick-up early....we had to run 12 blocks to get there in time. Only in Japan!). We got to cross the stunning bridge over to Love Island, called such due to a folk tale along the lines of the Adam and Eve story, that homo sapiens were conceived there. Beautiful place in this world so might not be too far-fetched, ha! The afternoon was spent at the Chura-umi aquarium, a fantastic place with an incredible assortment of sea creatures, including sperm whales and manta rays. My favorite part of the tour was the underwater observatory at a coral reef. We got to descend five meters under the under where we had 360 degree views of coral reef and all the beautiful fishies and creatures that live there.

View from the Love Island bridge

Okinawan ice cream on the island

Smallest of the sperm whales

One afternoon we decided to rent bikes, since public transportation was much less reliable and available than mainland Japan. One of the sites we visited on our bike journey was the underground tunnel system used by the Okinawan navy during WWII. As the American forces came closer to invading the islands, the Navy bunkered down in a system of tunnels they dug out to try and outlast the battles. It was a sad place to visit when considering the hardships endured by military and civilians alike and the high number of casualties. But we also appreciated the opportunity to view and learn about the history from an alternate perspective.

Generals uniform

Stairs down to the tunnels (lighting is not original)

This was one of the bigger tunnels

Map of the tunnel system

Generals quarters

Our final day on the island had a chunk of free time between hotel check out and getting to the airport. Due to needing to manage luggage, and running a little short on energy and cash we decided on something low-key to pass the time. Fortunately, downtown Naha city did not let us down. After enjoying an early lunch at an all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu restaurant, we spent the remainder of our time at a hedgehog cafe. They offered hamsters and gerbils, rabbits, mice and hedgehogs for you to meet and enjoy interacting with. Weird, but fun in an odd way haha.