Visiting Okinawa (Podcast)

Hear about travel to Okinawa as the Amateur Traveler talks to Mike de Jong about his visits to this tropical corner of Japan.

Mike suggests, “To be frank, it’s my favored place in Japan. I have been to Okinawa many situations, and I just enjoy it there. I just really like the folks, the tradition, the food items, the new music. It’s like the Hawaii of Japan simply because the beach locations there are just frankly astounding. They are the most effective beach locations in Japan. Okinawa is so unique from mainland Japan, almost everything is. It is nonetheless Japanese. They nonetheless converse Japanese on the Okinawa Islands. You couldn’t get more removed, both geographically or culturally. The songs, the people today, every little thing is diverse from mainland Japan.”

Mike starts us in the city of Naha, which is the money of Okinawa. He implies area dishes to check out and also suggests discovering more about Okinawan new music, like the 3 string snakeskin-lined instrument termed the sanshin. Some neighborhood beverages can have a authentic chunk. Habushu is a community sake that has a pit viper in the bottle.

Not considerably from Naha is the Shuri Castle outdated palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom, Shuri Castle. Stop by this UNESCO Globe Heritage web page and understand extra about the first lifestyle of the island before it was conquered by Japan. Japan has experienced a considerable influence on the culture of the islands. It was when the Japanese took away the weapons from the locals that they developed a variety of battle devoid of weapons that we know as karate. Learn far more about the regional tradition at the Okinawa Prefectural Museum.

 In WWII, the fight of Okinawa devastated the island. Study additional about it at the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum. A monument there paperwork those who died in the conflict. The museum and memorial are situated in close proximity to the “Suicide Cliffs” in which the fight came to a tragic summary. You can also take a look at caves that the Japanese employed as bases all through WWII. 

Katsuren Castle is yet another UNESCO website. The castle is no more time standing, but its foundations are even now there. 

Some of Mike’s favorite beaches can be uncovered in the west in the center of the main island on the Motobu Peninsula. You can also come across the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium there, which is a person of the greatest aquariums in the world. Mike relished some of the reviews in the spot as very well as the kitschy American Village, where you can see the United states by way of the eyes of the Okinawans. Mike enjoyed a baseball-themed bar that focused on Japanese baseball stars.

He took a side trip to Miyakojima for a superb snorkeling outing.

Find out why Mike retains coming back again to Okinawa and why you may possibly want to include it to your Japan itinerary.

Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by the About the Journey Podcast. In Time 2, travel journalist Oneika Raymond usually takes us on a journey close to North The us to obtain out. This time all around, she’s picked 6 cities and six solely unique activities. From a Black-owned bookstore in Washington, D.C., to the birthplace of the premier queer film pageant.

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Show Notes

Mike’s Travel Pics
Okinawa Island
Naha
Sanshin
Okinawan tunes
Goya Champuru
Okinawan sea grapes reveal strategies of plant evolution
Orion Beer
Habushu
Shuri Castle
Okinawa Prefectural Museum
Shisa
Okinawa Prefecture Karate Museum (Nishihara-cho)
Record of the Ryukyu Islands
Fight of Okinawa
Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum
2 Okinawan caves offer glimpse into fatal WWII struggle
Katsuren Castle
Welcome to Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium
Motobu Penninsula
American Village
Miyakojima, Okinawa
Emerald Beach
Moon Beach Resort
Tiger Beach front (Onna-son)
Onna Coastline
Okinawa (city)

Neighborhood

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