Okinawa
We flew from Ishigaki to Naha in Okinawa in the morning, arriving before noon. We had to leave our bags at the hotel once we got there, as it was too early to check in. Naha is in the southwestern part of Okinawa, a coastal town and port.
Naha
Naha doesn't really have a lot of attractions, but the monorail (the grey line on the map below - new since I was last there) makes it easy to get between the airport and downtown area, and also to Shuri to see the castle.
At the Naha airport monorail station:
The monorail:
Accessible via monorail, the Shuri area of Naha has a small castle.
The entrance gate:
A drawing of the castle grounds:
The accompanying description (get out your magnifying glass!):
A side wall area:
The main castle building:
Roof ornaments:
Near the front door of the building:
Taking tea in the castle. This seems to be in a newly-constructed building, as the timber all looks new:
The main area used by the king of the castle:
And his seat:
Models of the main courtyard (the shots were taken through a glass case, which accounts for the reflections):
A drawing on the wall:
A small building on a pond, outside the castle itself:
Some statues outside a residence near the castle:
At night on Kokusai-dori, the main shopping street of Naha:
Jurassic Park comes to Kokusai-dori:
Okinawa's mightily-feared Habu snake (at least feared when it's not pickled in a bottle):
Dinner in Naha, somewhere along Kokusai-dori:
Ocean Expo Park Central Okinawa
To pass a day, we took an all-day bus tour up the west coast of the island to Ocean Expo Park, northwest of Nago City. This park contains an aquarium, a tropical plant house called the Tropical Dream Centre, a museum, and a few other attractions around the park. It is right near the sea. The three listed attractions all charged entry, which wasn't covered by the bus tour ticket, and as we only had a couple of hours there, we only visited the Tropical Dream centre of those three.
First, lunch was provided at the Chisun Resort right next to the park:
The main courtyard area includes some interesting displays of large fish, birds, and other creatures made from flowers growing on wire frames.
One not made of flowers:
A beetle:
A couple of fish:
A crab:
A frog:
A lobster:
A manta ray (the waters of Okinawa, particularly around the Yaeyama Islands, are known for their manta rays) :
A sea horse:
A turtle:
A whale (are they supposed to be teeth on the front?):
An owl:
A woodpecker:
A tree growing in the park:
The Tropical Dream Centre is quite a big display and includes a large variety of orchids as well as other plants. It takes about an hour to walk through comfortably.
A variety of plants growing in the centre:
An observatory at the rear of the garden:
Nakijin Castle
The ruins of Nakijin Castle are located not far from Ocean Expo Park. After leaving the park, the bus tour continued to here.
A lower wall of the castle:
Some scattered remains:
Another lower wall. Note the waves breaking on a reef off the shore:
All that's left of the main castle itself:
Some blossoms in the castle grounds:
Nago Pineapple Park
Pineapple Park is at Nago, the last tour stop before hitting the motorway back to Naha. Basically it's a place where you can sample pineapple wares, including drinks (some alcoholic) and a variety of sweets, and purchase any you like. A variety of gift packs are also for sale. I think it's supposed to be the place to offload whatever cash you have left at the end of the tour.
There's not much else worth seeing here other than the entrance, and that just for posterity's sake:
Japan 2008 - Part 3
