Okinawa Overview

Our guide for the afternoon in Okinawa was named Nikki and she was very knowledgeable as well as having very clear English – a welcome difference from the previous couple of ports. We set off from the harbor in Naha City on our way to see the Cornerstone of Peace and the Peace Memorial Park. On the way, we passed through Naha City and found that all the construction is concrete since they have an average of 6 typhoons per year and no other construction can hold up to them. We also noticed that many of the houses had animal-like statues with fierce expressions that were over the doorways to scare away evil spirits.



Naha City Buildings



Protective Animals

There is still a very large military presence on Okinawa and our guide grew up making visits to the nearby base since her mom was a clerk there. But we didn’t see anyone in any US uniform while we were there.

As we got into countryside, we saw fields of sugar cane and since it is early spring, many newly planted fields and many plastic greenhouses. The temperate climate makes it a productive agricultural area.



Farmland

We didn’t have time to go into the Peace Memorial Museum but did enjoy the beautiful Peace Memorial Park. There, walls zigzagged across the green lawns with the names of all the nationalities that died there in conflicts from 1940 until the present - Okinawan, American & Japanese.



Peace Park



Memorial Walls

We then headed back to Naha City to visit the Shuri Castle. At one time, Okinawa was an independent kingdom called Ryukyu and this was administered from the Castle. During WWII, the Castle was taken over for the headquarters of the Japanese military, so it was extensively bombed. It is designated as a UNESCO Heritage Site and the meet the requirements for this designation, there must be some part of the original structure left. In the floor of the wooden castle floor there is a glass panel showing the crumbled blocks of the original basement – the only original feature left after the Castle was leveled by the bombs.



Castle Roofs beyond Flags for Children’s Day

The Castle was built in two different styles. The original structure looks like Chinese style with the bright red & gilt colors while one wing is definitely Japanese style with natural wood inside & out.



Chinese Style


Japanese Style

We entered the Japanese wing first, complete with the paper panels dividing the rooms and the sliding doors. There were peaceful garden views and patios off all these rooms. The royal compartments were all painted red and the only unpainted wood features were the beautifully polished wood floors. We all had to take off our shoes and carry them in plastic bags to protect these floors.



Throne Room

We then moved on to the shopping street but I wasn’t in the mood for more shopping so we visited the local Starbucks and afterward Bill found a comfortable bench. The street had been closed off to vehicular traffic for the Sunday evening fair they had each weekend. There were street performers – jugglers, Chinese yoyo entertainers, singers, etc. My favorites were the Drum Dancers who combined martial arts and popular music to choreograph quasi-martial arts dances with traditional drum rhthyms while wearing traditional warriors’ costumes. There was a lot of energy with beating drums, dancing and the guttural yells that seemed to finish off the effect. They had the largest crowd of all gathered around them in the street. It was a really nice way to finish off our afternoon in Naha City.