Higashi, Okinawa

The name itself is a clue: *higashi*, east, given because the sun rises here first, over the Pacific-facing coast of northern Okinawa. In Higashi village, mornings arrive at the water before anywhere else on the island. At Gesashi Bay, mangrove roots grip the tidal mud in dense, tangled rows — the Hirugi forest there is a nationally designated natural monument, and a wooden walkway threads through it quietly, above the brackish shallows where herons stand without urgency.

Inland, the land rises through forest toward Iyudake, and the watershed feeds Fukuchi Dam, whose reservoir is the largest artificial lake in Okinawa Prefecture — a still, green-rimmed body of water that supplies much of the region's drinking supply. The village's two fishing harbors, Gesashi and Higashi, sit at opposite ends of a coast that has not been smoothed into resort geometry. Pineapple and kabocha pumpkin grow in the agricultural plots between settlements — the roadside station Sunrise Higashi sells both, along with prepared food, in the manner of a place that serves residents as much as anyone passing through.

The Tsutsuji Eco Park, arranged around azalea plantings since the 1970s, doubles as village forest. The annual Tsutsuji Festival brings the community together around what is officially the village flower. The village museum, in the Kawada settlement, holds the local history — including the weight of the Okinawan wartime experience that shaped these communities. In 2021, the forests here became part of a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site, a designation that has clarified what was already quietly understood: this is a living landscape, not a backdrop.