I have now returned from Kyoto and am going to talk about Okinawa. I know there is absolutely no logic in my writing except for one thing. I’m going back to Okinawa and I’m so happy I can’t stop talking about it. Sorry. (or not sorry).
The one really amazing thing about Okinawa is that it’s the best way for Japanese people to go on a paradise holiday wihtout spending a lot of money. The airplane ticket is pretty cheap and there are a lot of ways to find a place to sleep that aren’t overly expensive either. Even luxurious hotel rooms aren’t out of reach for the average traveler.
Again, Okinawa has one huge problem and it is, again, transportations. I mean, just like for Hokkaido, if you want to get around easily you are going to have to rent a car.
Another rather big and surprising drawback is that people don’t really speak English (or maybe they consciously refuse to do so). Ever since coming to Japan I’ve never been spoken so little English than on Okinawa. I thought that people would do that more naturally considering there’s a huge population of Americans in the islands. Well, I say it’s a drawback but I don’t mind that much considering I’m French anyway and it makes me practice my Japanese.
Well, back on Okinawa. Okinawa has four main attractions: its nature, its culture, its food and its beaches.
I should maybe have included the nature and the beaches together but somehow I feel that they’re different. As you may ahve guessed, Okinawa’s beaches are the kind of pure white beaches with transparent blue water. It’s always at the right temperature so you can always swim and it’s always beautiful so you can just stay here and watch the sea for hours.
Many nature related things are protected in Okinawa. Some entire islands are off limits, the access to some other islands is strictly limited. I have been lucky enough to hike in Okinawa and see wonderful landscapes of mangroves. I have also been lucky enough to snorkel in Okinawa and see clown fishes, sea snakes, many other kinds of colorful fishes and swim with several sea turtles. As such, many people go to Okinawa for the love of its nature and especially for the love of what’s inside its seas.
As for the food, the food of Okinawa is known all over the world for being the healthiest possible. Which is true, except not completely. I mean, some of Okinawa only specialities (ice cream *___*) are everything but healthy. Some other things that are supposed to be healthy, like goya, are just really hard to stomach. I didn’t know you could eat goat meat sashimi either.
I’m not saying everything is bad though. It might take a while to get used to some of the things Okinawa is known for. I have on the other hand become a big fan of purple potatoe and umi budô as well as Okinawa soba.
And last but not least Okinawa’s culture is really different than the rest of Japan, just like its history. The music is different, the food is different, the architecture is different, the traditions are different. In a way it’s like a breath of fresh hair in a visit of Japan.
Okinawa might be a bit more off the usual path of tourists in Japan and frequented mostly by the Japanese themselves but I think it’s worth it for it brings a completely different view on what Japan really is.
