Okinawa tour 4/4 eating in Okinawa

Ordering food is easier during this holiday, first with translation app for Japanese menu, or they have QR code to order in your phone with an English menu, or Nepalese waiter who speaks English. Generally sashimi, charcoal grilled yakitori are safe cuisines. Izakaya is ok but quality not as stable as in other parts of Japan.

Some memorable meals and dishes:

1.Bitter melon is a specialty here, the Okinawa variety has dark green skin, not too bitter and a good crunch after cooking. I tried stir fry with eggs and tofu, stuff with pork mince grilled, pickled with sweet vinaigrette and red perilla and tempura. Only the tempura one was disappointing as the veg is very raw, batter too thick and heavy.

Like it so much that I even hunt down a pack of seeds to try to grow in Ireland.

2.Umibudo (sea grape), a type of seaweed that is being farmed in the sea now. Amazing mini grape structure, a popping crunch, a mild umami flavour with a slightly viscous texture, unique in all aspects.

 
3.Okinawa dark brown sugar, from sugarcane grown locally and hand cooked. Indeed has lot of flavour and surprisingly not that sweet, can be eaten as a candy. It is said to have a lot of minerals, locally use it to make ginger hot drinks.

 

 

Enjoyed before departure a meal at the sushi restaurant at the airport 4/f, though with a conveyor belt but actually serve made to order sushi. Quality very good with a good selection. We had 22 dishes, very full, and the price is very reasonable.

 

Other memorable tasty dishes.

Okinawa tour 3/4 the east coast

First stop is Nagakusuku farmer’s house, a way to hide from a rain shower. It is the dwelling of a rich farmer, small compact design with barn area for keeping goats, pigs, horses, kitchen with all the old tools and equipments and decent living space. 

Next is Nagakusugu ruin, number one of all the castles because on top of the ring of outer wall, it has a lot of remaining stone structures of buildings inside. Enough to figure out that it used to have 3 groups of buildings in a straight line one leading to the other and increasing in size.

Also built on hill top with a commanding panoramic view of the surrounding area. 3 types of stone laying methods were used, straight sided, hexagonal and irregular. A lot of walls with curves, amazing skill!

Last stop is Cape Zanpa, a wild pointy coast with powerful waves crashing to the cliffs. The light house has a fantastic view of the violent sea, just100 steps up. It was blowing gusty strong wind, up in the open platform is a frightening yet mesmerising experience.

Okinawa tour 2/4 the west coast

Rented a car to tour the north west coast of the island. Beautiful sandy beach near Busena underwater observatory tower. When the sun shines, the sea water has many different shades of blue. It has some coral reefs around hence is a good snorkelling spot. The underwater observatory tower is a way to appreciate the fish life in the water, without getting wet.

Further north is Bise, a town next to the sea famous for Biseno Fukugi tree walk. Because of strong wind and powerful sunshine, a lot of evergreen fukugi trees were planted around all sides of houses. Forming long cris crossing tree lined alleyways in the area, very pleasant to wander around.

Nearby is Churaumi Aquarium, the major attraction for me is to see manta rays and whale shark in close proximity. Of course all the other species are equally beautiful to see in close up, the attraction of an aquarium, versus snorkelling.

A bit inland is the ruin of Nakijin castle up a hill, surrounded by mountains on 3 sides, built in 14C during the Ruyuku period. The extensive external stone wall structure with many curves is in good condition. The  huge stone wall and the site among hill reminded me of Machu Pichu in Peru. The stone walls are surprisingly similar to those built by Inca too.

There is nothing left inside the walls except marks of building foundations. A lot of broken Ming dynasty porcelain wares were found in the ground, a sign that the kingdom was rich and trading actively with neighboring countries.

There are over 300 such castle ruins in this island, very surprised that I haven’t read about this in my research of what to see.

The final destination of the day is Kouri Island. Beautiful water colour and scattering of rocks near the shore. Okinawa is bigger than we thought and the driving speed is slow, 50km in cities and 30km in many countryside lanes, can’t get far easily.