I am planning to go to Naha from Tokyo on 2nd April, stay in Naha (booked a whale watching session, go see American village, the aquarium, Ryukyumura). Go to Zamami for a one night stay. Come back to Naha maybe on the 7th? I’m confused about how long I may need to stay.
Take a flight to Ishigaki island on the 8th maybe, go to two beaches or so. I can’t swim so I don’t want to do any snorkelling.
Take a ferry to Taketomi, stay the night, come back to Ishigaki on the 11th?
Take a ferry to iriomote (do kayaking and go to the beach), stay maybe one or two nights, take the ferry back to Ishigaki and fly back to Tokyo on the 16th. How long should I stay for in iriomote? Also is Yubu worth it?
Edit : FYI I live in Japan, so please only suggest food items etc that are special to Okinawa, or better in Okinawa.
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We just did a daytrip to Zamami and thought that was enough time. It really just depends how much time you want to spend at the beach.
From my experience, the main island is pretty easy to navigate. I was there in November 2021 and rented a car and experienced it all. Not much traffic either so I was able to go to the very North of the island quickly. It’s a very unique sight and you’ll enjoy it.
I went to the aquarium right before closing cos I’ve been before and cos I knew that the shows weren’t on. So if you’re trying to go see the shows, then it might be half a day for you.
5 days sounds long, I did it in 3. And that’s including surfing and snorkelling that I did.
I went to Miyakojima for 5 days right after and loved it a lot more.
Beaches are a lot better, and enjoyed the scuba diving. Was also able to swim with lots of sea turtles.
With the smaller islands, it was a lot more fun being in the water from my experience.
You’ll have more fun on Ishigakijima and Miyakojima. The islands don’t differ that much if you’re enjoying it from the above. What’s different is the fishes that you see when you’re diving or snorkelling.
Get some CoCo Curry. Level 5 with cheese. Go to Sea Wall. Yaki Niku. Have a shot of Habu Sake. Buy the Marines a drink.
In my opinion, the American town was not worth it. I went about close to 10 years ago and it was pretty much just some tourist shops and restaurants. Underwhelming to me. I had more fun just walking around Naha.
I worked in Okinawa for a summer a few years ago, let me know if you have any questions, but below are my main thoughts:
-Speaking as a Kiwi, the beaches were incredibly underwhelming
-The castle was awesome, although still under repairs at the time
-There is an amazing gyoza restaurant in Naha, I’d have to do some googling to find it again if you’re interesting (I went twice it was that good)
-The aquarium was really cool
-You have to try decent taco rice and the okinawan soba
I would recommend you stay on ishigakijima and just do day trips to the other islands.
I would skip American Village entirely. Nothing particularly interesting to see there.
Kinpa Ginpa in Chatan is a great restaurant that has, among other things, goat sashimi, which is an Okinawan delicacy.
Nakamura Soba in Onna has the best Okinawan soba I’ve had.
Zamami is glorious. I went about 20 yrs ago and it is one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen. Very small and not much to do if you can’t go in the water though :/
Are you interested in WW2 history? There’s some good things to see if so. Can’t remember the details but a quick Google will help.
I went to Ie Jima and there was still a destroyed anti air craft gun on the side of the road. Locals pointed out bullet holes in the trees and buildings.
Try to go to a restaurant that has a sanshin performance. Amazing stuff. I’ve only seen that in Okinawa. If you’re in a place with locals rather than tourists they’ll join in on the popular songs (Shimanchu nu takara, Orion Beer etc).
Have a great time! Okinawa is fantastic!
I did about a week in Okinawa, didn’t manage to make it to the north as the bus prices seemed ridiculous. I believe most people rent a car to zip around the island.
Zamami was absolutely gorgeous. Did snorkelling at one of the (two?) beaches and it was fantastic. Went off track and away from the area we were supposed to stay in and saw some mental aqua life – big shame you can’t swim!
I think we did just the one night there and stayed in a nice little hostel, so 2 days seemed like enough.
Actually had my favorite katsu made by someone in a cabin on Zamami lol.
Pork village is a fun place for Okinawa soba.
I spent just a couple days in Okinawa (main island only) but had a great time staying mostly in Naha.
Food/drink: Rafte, goya champloo, taco rice, flying fish if you can find it. Go to a bar and get an Orion and some habushu, they’re touristy and gimmicky but that doesn’t make them any less fun, I must say.
In Naha, I can’t recommend going to Tsuboya Pottery Street enough; I went there totally on a whim but the shops are full of lovey pieces. One I went to (for the life of me I can’t remember the name) was run by a woman and all the pieces were made by her husband and father. She made me tea and we discussed yachimun and general pottery history, then she helped me pick out some beautiful pieces to ship home.