Discovering the Beauty of Okinawa: A Journey Through Mainland and Kerama Islands

saracooperamun
Apr 16, 2024
8 min read

When I first visited Japan 8 years ago I never imagined I would find a place in Japan with sub-tropical beaches, blue ocean and simply paradise. And even less that I would visit it in winter.

Okinawa consists of an archipelago of over 100 subtropical islands in southern Japan, closer to Taiwan than actual mainland Japan. Due to its Ryukyu Kingdom roots, culture is also slightly different as well food. Mainland Okinawa is where the capital, Naha, is located, the biggest of all islands, and where is easiest to fly to. While islands further rom mainland, such as Ishigaki, Miyako or Iriomote, are more exotic, the nearby Kerama islands with blue turquoise waters are a tempting alternative.

When I was planning my Working Holiday Japan, I really wanted to spend a few weeks travelling around a bit less touristic areas of Japan before settling down in Tokyo. And as I wanted to fly in February, I chose to plan a route from south to north in order to catch milder weather. Okinawa was actually the first stop of this trip when I first landed in Japan February 2023. I flew with my dad, who was helping me with the move and accompanying me during those few weeks, to Haneda Airport in Tokyo.

While initially I was a bit worried about the weather as I really wanted to swim at the beach, it was overall great. It is true that I am from north of Spain I am more used to swimming under colder weather, so I had no issues, but maybe for others it may still have been a bit cold. Regardless travelling in February guarantees much much less tourists, there were many areas and beaches where we were alone. Beware of travelling in summer not only due to the heat but also typhoons and rainy season that is quite severe in Okinawa.

The trip consisted of the following itinerary:

Naha capital arrival. 1 night.
Boat and stay at Zamami island (part of Kerama islands). Day trip to Aka island. 3 nights
Return to Naha, city visit and north mainland. 2 nights

Some may choose to take another flight to remote islands by flying to Ishigaki or Miyako to extend their stay. I actually visited Ishigaki and Iriomote on a separate trip in November the same year which you can check in this post.

Day 1: Arrival to Naha bustling city

After an overnight stay near Haneda airport we flew to Naha, Okinawa. The flight was about 3 hours long and we even managed to see Mt Fuji on the way! Peach Airlines is one of the budget airlines that offer flights to Okinawa. Note they have a 7 kg maximum weight restriction for hand luggage, including any smaller purse you may carry. For us as we booked it together with the international flight we checked in the big luggages as well.

We stayed at My Place hostel for 1 night. After the trip to Kerama Islands we would return to the same hostel so it was convenient to leave big suitcases. It is near the port so convenient to visit nearby islands, and about 30 minutes walk to downtown. It also had a kitchen, laundry and place to relax the first floor. We had some fresh sushi at Tomari Iyumachi Fish Market that was only 10 minutes walk from our hostel.

It was about 4 PM when we got ready and headed out to explore. 30 minutes walking the canal river we reached Kokusai Dori street, a commercial street with many restaurants and shops. There is also a food market called Makishi Public Market just off Kokusai Dori street, we tried some unique food like "Umi Budou", sea grapes, a green type of seafood that has a lot of flavour, "umami" in Japanese. At Suitenro izakaya we had Okinawa soba.

Day 2: Ferry to Zamami Island

We snacked some Okinawa doughnuts and Sweet Purple potatoe cakes for breakfast.

After checking out and leaving our big suitcases at the hostel we headed to the port to catch the Ferry Zamami. It took 2 hours to Zamami Island (about 2200 yen one-way). You could already see the blue waters of Kerama Islands, that is why it is called Kerama Blue.

Zamami is the largest and most populous island of Kerama Islands. It has a lot of marine life, coral reefs in the surrounding blue waters. We were spending 3 nights at Okinawa Resort Annex, a family round guesthouse where we stayed at beautiful Japanese style rooms. The owner even came to pick us up to the port. There really were very few tourists, not sure if just low season or also because Japan only opened in October 2022 after COVID-19.

The guesthouse also had a rooftop bath.

In spite of being a small islands there were still a fair share of cut restaurants and cafes around the port area, where we were staying. There are other small villages scattered around but only residents seemed to stay there.

We had lunch at Marumiya restaurant, 5 minutes walk from our guesthouse, as they did pretty good "teishoku" lunch sets, and in fact we repeated the place several times.

In the afternoon it was time to start exploring the island. Walking 30 min from the north-east side slowly we passed by the village, and reached the Takatsuki-Yama Observation Deck observation point.

You could see the surrounding islands as well from there. After crossing a couple of villages at the back that did not seem to have too much, we finished at Furuzamami beach. There was hardly anyone there so perfect for a swim.

In the evening we had dinner at Santa izakaya. The people hardly seemed to know English but unlike outside, there were quite a few people for dinner.

Day 3: Whale-watching and turtoise seeking

An advantage of visiting Okinawa in winter and specifically in February is that it is the best time for whale-watching in Zamami! The waters around Zamami attrack many humpback whales between January and March. Our guesthouse organised trips so we joined the tour with 2 others, but there are more tours if you visit the tourist office near the port.

It was a pretty small boat and I was a bit worried of getting seasick, as it has happened to me in the past. But in spite of spending about 2 hours it was okay. At first we did not see anything, but it was clear the guides knew what they were doing as we soon spotted a big humpback whale, showing its tail. Soon its baby joined, and it was amazing to see them both swimming around and even jumping, the baby seemed to copy what the mum was doing!

After returning back to the port we went back for lunch at the same spot as the day before. In the afternoon, we explored the west side of the island, walking the path along the port. On the way there was Marilin dog statue, similar to the Hachiko of Tokio. It is facing Aka island's Shio dog, waiting to play together again. Soon there was a village, where we had a sweet potatoe ice cream, called "beni imo". It is said that okinawans have the longest life expectancy in the world because this potatoe is their main source of nutrient - unlike rice in mainland Japan. The old woman was quite at seeing us!

Ama Beach is just in front of the village, where we had another swim, and tried to snorkel to see if we could spot some turtoises. I managed to see a small one!

Day 4: Day-trip to Aka island

Only 15 minutes by ferry from Zamami Port was Aka island. The fast boat takes only 15 minutes, and is a good day-trip to do if you are visiting Kerama islands. While it is the smallest of Kerama, with only 12 km in circumference, it has even crystal blue waters. It was especially sunny and warm that day so we could make the most of the trip.

We rented bicycles to explore the island at Rental Shop Sho, costing only 1000 yen per bike for a whole day. At Paara Hibiki we got some very cheap bentos so that we could later enjoy them at a beach.

The day was spent cycling around the different spots. To the north is Nishibama beach, my favorite beach in Okinawa. There was no one even! It was so blue and so sunny we managed to see quite a few fish snorkelling. There were also some free-roaming deers around.

After having our bentos we continued across the center of the island to the west observatory Kushibaru Observatory and its beach, although we were not sure how to access that beach.

We omitted the northside as it was quite steep and instead went south to Ama-Gushuku Observation deck and Hizushi Beach, where we relaxed for a bit more.

There was also time to cross Aka bridge to Geruma island. There is not much to do there so we just cycled around. By 5 PM we left our bikes and said hi to Shio dog, the friend of Marilin of Zamami, before boarding the ferry back. We had dinner at Nanamaru izakaya, trying also tried Awamori, typical alcoholic drink of Okinawa.

Day 5: Exploring Naha

After taking the morning ferry back to Naha and leaving our stuff at the same My Place accomodation, we spent the day exploring the city. To explore Naha the Rui rail is pretty convnenient, an overground that also allows you to see the sights of the city.

From Miebashi station it was 15 minutes to Shuri stationn, where we visited Shuri castle.

It is a castle from Ryukyu Kingdom that has a mixture of Japanese and Chinese architectural influences. It costs 820 yen to enter the grounds, and while there are some sections under restoration, the views of the city and what can be seen are quite different to other castles in Japan. There were also Shisa lion statues as protectors.

Taking again the Yui Rail the next stop was Prefectural Office Station to visit Fukushuen Garden (300 yen fee). It is a traditional Chinese-style garden, and has a central pond with koi fish, several Chinese-style bridges, pavillions and even waterfalls.

Walking about 15 minutes towards the coast from there is Naminoue Shrine and Naminoue Beach, where many teenages were playing football or volleyball next to the sea. It was quite a contrast from Tokyo as everyone seemed so much more relaxed!

I took the train again to Tsubuya Pottery Street, full of pottery shops and other artisan shops. But as it was around 5 PM many places were closing, so we finished again at Kokusai Dori street for dinner, specifically at Norengai, an internal restaurant center with many places to eat. It seemed most Japanese went there after work and were having fun!

Day 6: Roadtrip to north of Naha

For our last day in Okinawa we ventured north, by renting a car for the day. Mainland Okinawa is quite big and with more days we could have also explored the south, but as it mainly had museums and areas related to World War II, we were not too interested. The north appeared to have more nature.

The first stop was Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. It is one of the largest and most reknown aquariums in the world, having about 11.000 animals. The highlight is its Kuroshio Sea Tank that has whale sharks, manta rays and more. In outdoor pools we saw Okinawan big turtles, manatees and dolphins too. It took us about 2-3 hours to see it all.

We continued to Kouri Island next. It is about 30 minutes north from the aquarium, and has a nice beach, and odd-looking rock formations. We even saw a wedding even! Gajumaru Rock is the main sight around there that is quite an odd pair of rocks. So many people taking photos though in spite of the strong wind.

On the way towards Naha we did a final stop at American Village. It is a large entertainment and shopping center, it was created originally for American military back in 1980. It seemed quite surreal to see so many burger, pizza, and even Christmas decorated shops.