Okinawa is truly a beautiful place to be especially in Summer. But, winters in Okinawa are pretty special too!
I have never been to Okinawa, and I’ve heard that Okinawan culture is very different from that around mainland Japan. Okinawa’s beauty truly opens up during summer, but that is when prices increase dramatically as well. Hence, I chose to travel with my friend, Gladys, in January this year. We enjoy photography, but we also liked to travel on a small-to-medium budget.
Okinawan Highlights?
Despite knowing that Okinawa’s sights truly shine in summer, I was determined to make this trip in January work. With waters transitioning from cool to warm, the whales were also migrating closer to the shores of Okinawa in Winter.
I also heard of the special Ryukyu Glass. There were several glass studios across mainland Okinawa, so I wanted to pay a visit to observe the art.
As for food, I’ve heard about sea grapes, and definitely wanted to give it a try. Somewhere somehow, I also wanted to try some Okinawan/Japanese cuisine and you’ll see if we managed to achieve it!
Day 1 – 10 January 2019 (Thursday)
I arrived in Okinawa Naha Airport at 8AM after a long 6 hour flight from Changi Airport. Upon arrival at the international terminal of Naha Airport, I proceeded to the domestic terminal. The walk between these two terminals was quite long, even though it was flat.
The reason I had to go to the domestic terminal was to collect my Churaumi Aquarium tickets that I had booked via Klook. The counter opened at 9am, so just chilled around the domestic terminal. I got myself some curry bread from a bakery between the two terminals for 626 yen. After getting all the tickets for Gladys and I, I went back to the international terminal to collect our rental car.
We rented from ORIX-Rent-a-Car. You can read about our driving experiences in Okinawa here.
The pick-up location was not at the airport, I realised as I had to take a shuttle bus. Anyway, I then proceeded to the nearest Sushiro… which was located in Itoman City!
Destination 1: Sushiro (Itoman City)
I was pretty surprised that the parking was free. Actually most parking places are free, unless you’re planning to park in a very congested area like Shuri Castle (more on that later).
When I arrived at the eatery, I was a bit unsure as it was my first time in Sushiro. There was quite a crowd, so I wasn’t sure if I had to wait to be seated. Followed social cues from others and realised that I should have waited, after all, because the ordering system at the table wasn’t activated! Had my lunch at Sushiro and total damage done was 1296 yen.
Destination 2: Toyosaki Seaside Park
I had some time to kill, so I went to this pretty area near Sushiro – Toyosaki Seaside Park. It was a mere 5 minute drive away (~2.5km) and I wanted to test out coin parking in a less congested area.
It was easy to pay for parking. Upon entry, you will be given a ticket. Keep that ticket! There are two types of payment methods – some parking locations only have one or the other, or both.
- You can pay it upon exit when you put in the ticket into the gantry booth. There is some coin and dollar slots. I think the largest denomination these booths can accept is a 1000 yen bill.
- You can pay the ticket at a standalone payment booth which is usually located near the exit gantries or on every floor of let’s say, the carpark of a mall. After paying, you will have a time limit of 10 minutes or so to get out of the parking area. Otherwise, you have to make additional payment.
Anyway, parking at the seaside park turned out to be 100 yen/hour. Not bad!
Destination 3: Hotel Koza
As it was close to 2PM, I decided to make the drive to our first hotel for the trip – Hotel Koza.
The hotel was quite a distance from Naha city, so it took around 1 hour 10 minutes to get there (without tolls). I tried as much not to use tolls even though it was faster. Gladys hadn’t arrived then, but I wanted to see how the hotel and the vicinity was like first. The hotel had 3 parking areas – the most convenient (but severely limited in lots) was right at the ground level. I managed to park there during the first night, but parked at the other assigned parking lots on the second night. Otherwise, if you’re planning to drive and cannot score a free parking, you have to proceed to coin parking which can add up a lot.
The room is really clean, but very small. I would describe this hotel to be more of a no-frills business hotel! For 12,466 yen for 2 nights (~SGD160), I say that it is a steal.
The room had a small double bed, bathtub, heated toilet seats, free breakfast included and the usual tea/coffee selection in rooms. Wifi is really fast as well. However, breakfasts is really limited – there is only croissants and breads (the same for both mornings) and green tea, hot water. It’s enough for me, but definitely not enough for most people.
Destination 4: Naha International Airport
After resting a little at the hotel, I got ready to fetch Gladys at the airport. While it seemed like poor planning, having to drive back from Uruma to Naha City, we had some dinner planned back in Naha city!
There was a little mishap that happened however – I simply lost Gladys for close to 2 hours! I wasn’t able to connect to the airport wifi, and I forgot to bring the rented pocket wifi. Plus, I wasn’t sure how to use roaming on Circles.Life. In the end, I managed to contact Gladys (though I was super tired, and she was super cranky by then) by purchasing a tourist SIM card for 3,500 yen. So so lucky!
Destination 5: DINING Hana
At around 9.30pm, we actually had dinner-slash-supper planned at DINING Hana! We used this website called Savor Japan to make a reservation. The website is very simple to use – just browse through thousands of Japanese restaurants, izakayas and cafés and make a reservation! After a few days, you will receive an email confirmation for your reservation.
Upon entering the izakaya, we were welcomed by wonderful Okinawans. We barely spoke Japanese, but luckily one of the staff had a great level of English. She studied in California for a bit, and it was nice to know more about the locals there. The other staff were interested to know more about us – but alas, our Japanese conversational skills barely moved beyond the standard phrases for tourists. 🙁
They had a selection of beers, sake and wine – I didn’t and couldn’t try (since I don’t drink and even if I do, I am driving!). Gladys had a beer though!
The food was super awesome. They gave us a fish appetiser – even Gladys, who didn’t like anything seafood thoroughly liked it. It’s some kind of grilled trout, the Japanese kind. Also, we had the special sushi that this place was known for! I can’t remember the exact name of the food we had. Might have been the Aguri Beef sushi – we had two plates of it. Miso soup also came with the set.
Destination 6: Back to Hotel!
Because we had a 2 hour delay in our schedule, we didn’t manage to go to our favourite hyaku-yen store – Daiso. We were thoroughly wiped out from the journey to Okinawa, so we headed back to the hotel to rest up for the following days!
Total Spent (Day 1)
Food – 8531 yen
Parking – 1250 yen
Hotel Koza (for 2 nights/per person) – 6233 yen
Miscellaneous – 3500 yen (SIM Card)
Day 1 was off to a super challenging start. Because of the long driving distances and the mishap that happened at the airport, there was a bit of lethargy build-up. Thankfully, it got better in the days after!
See you in the next post!
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