Okinawa

Flavour

G

Vegetables and beans

Goya Champuru

Flavour

I

Hot pots and soups

Ikasumi Jiru

Flavour

M

Fish and shellfish

Makishi Ichiba Sakana

Flavour

M

Noodles

Miyako Soba

Flavour

M

Rice bowls

Mozuku Don

Flavour

O

Noodles

Okinawa Soba

Flavour

P

Rice bowls

Pork Tamago Onigiri

Flavour

R

Meat

Rafute

Flavour

R

Shochu and awamori

Ryukyu Awamori

Flavour

S

Sweets

Sata Andagi

Flavour

T

Rice bowls

Taco Rice

Flavour

Y

Noodles

Yaeyama Soba

Trade

Y

Producing region / Tourism and lodging

Yaeyama Minsa Weaving Workshop

Five kasuri figures and four, alternating.

Trade

M

Places of trade

Makishi Public Market and Heiwa-dori

Buy downstairs, eat upstairs.

Trade

M

Primary industry / Producing region

Miyako Jofu Weavers and Ramie Fields

The thread is made by splicing ramie fibre by hand.

Trade

T

Primary industry / Tourism and lodging

Taketomi Island Village

The sand on the roads is swept every morning.

Trade

T

Primary industry

Tonaki Island Village

The ground is dug out so that the houses sit low.

Trade

Y

Producing region

Yomitan Yachimun no Sato Pottery Village

Once the kiln is lit, it burns for four days.

Event

N

Naha Great Tug-of-War Festival

Everyone pulls a rope two hundred meters long.

Event

O

Okinawa Zento Eisa Festival

A dance to send off the ancestors fills the night.

Event

M

Makishi Public Market

In Okinawa, a market is called a machigwaa.

Event

M

Miyakojima Paantu: The God Who Marks You

The deity appears from the forest covered in mud — thick, an…

Event

Y

Yaeyama Hoonen-sai: Harvest Offerings at the Edge of Japan

In the Yaeyama islands — Japan's southwestern edge, closer t…

Event

I

Ishigaki Euglena Mall: The Kitchen of the Yaeyamas

Before the ferry to Taketomi or Iriomote or any of the outer…

Event

T

Tsuboya Yachimun Street: Okinawa's Living Pottery District

Yachimun is the Okinawan word for pottery, and Tsuboya is wh…

Event

R

Ryukyu Glass: Blowing Something Beautiful from Broken Bottles

After the war, there was glass everywhere — bottles discarde…

Event

K

Kudaka Island: The Island at the Center of Ryukyuan Spiritual Life

Kudaka Island is five square kilometers, accessible by ferry…

Event

O

Okinawa Kanasa Fireworks

"Kanasa" means beloved.

Event

N

Naha Okinawa Fireworks Festival

Fire falls on a southern sea.

Event

R

Ryukyu Bingata Dyeing Experience

These are the vivid colors of a southern island.

Event

N

Peak bloom early February

Nago Castle Park Cherry Blossoms

This one flowers in winter.

Island

西

西表島

The ferry from Ishigaki takes a little over half an hour, and the engine noise fades as the harbor at Ōhara or Uehara comes into view.

Island

石

石垣島

The runway at Painushima Ishigaki Airport sits closer to the sugarcane than to anything urban, and the air on arrival already carries salt and something green.

Island

宮

宮古島

The island has no rivers.

Island

久

久米島

The flight from Naha lasts barely longer than a coffee break, and yet stepping out at Kume-jima Airport, the air already moves differently — slower, saltier, weighted with the volcanic hills that rise toward the interior.

Island

南

南大東島

The plane approach is the first clue: open ocean in every direction, then a small flat green disc rising out of water that drops away almost vertically beneath it.

Island

伊

伊良部島

The bridge from Miyako stretches long and low over shallow water, and by the time the road meets land again, the pace has already eased.

Island

与

与那国島

The wind off the south cliffs arrives almost before you do.

Island

伊

伊江島

The pointed silhouette of Gusuku-yama rises from the flat surface of the island, visible long before the ferry from the Motobu Peninsula closes the final stretch of sea.

Island

伊

伊平屋島

The ferry from Unten Port crosses to Maedomari, and the scale of things adjusts on the way over.

Island

多

多良間島

Sugarcane fields run almost to the edge of the coral shore, broken here and there by a tethered goat or a low concrete wall.

Island

渡

渡嘉敷島

The high-speed boat from Tomari pulls away from Naha and within a little over half an hour the water has turned a clarity that makes the hull seem suspended.

Island

伊

伊是名島

The ferry from Untenkō runs on its own quiet schedule, and by the time it docks at Nakada Port, the pace of the mainland has already loosened.

Island

波

波照間島

The high-speed boat from Ishigaki crosses water that changes color several times along the way, and the dock arrives without much ceremony.

Island

北

北大東島

The cliffs drop straight into the sea.

Island

下

下地島

A jet on approach makes a low pass over the reef, then climbs again without landing.

Island

小

小浜島

The ferry from Ishigaki arrives at Kohama Port in less than half an hour, and from the dock the island reveals itself as a low green dome rather than a coastline.

Island

粟

粟国島

The ferry from Naha's Tomari pier takes its time crossing the open water, and by the time the harbor at Aguni comes into view, the rhythm of arrival has already slowed.

Island

座

座間味島

The high-speed boat from Naha takes under an hour; the slower ferry, about twice that.

Island

竹

竹富島

White coral sand laid out along the lanes, raked each morning, holds the print of bicycle tires and bare feet alike.

Island

阿

阿嘉島

The boat from Naha pulls into Aka Port, and within a few minutes of stepping ashore, the absence of cars becomes the first thing one registers.

Island

渡

渡名喜島

The ferry from Naha's Tomari port takes a little over two hours, and by the time it docks at Tonaki Port, the rhythm of the main island has dissolved into something slower.

Island

来

来間島

Sugarcane fields cover most of the small island, broken here and there by lower rows of tobacco leaves.

Island

池

池間島

The bridge from the main island of Miyako curves low across shallow water, and the moment you cross it, the air changes.

Island

津

津堅島

The ferry from Heshikiya port takes about ten minutes by hydrofoil, twenty-five by slower boat, and runs only a handful of times a day.

Island

久

久高島

The ferry from Azama port takes less than half an hour, but the distance feels longer once you step off at Tokujin.

Island

野

野甫島

The ridges run northwest to southeast in slow waves, sotetsu and Ryukyu pine clinging to the limestone.

Island

鳩

鳩間島

The high-speed boat from Ishigaki cuts in toward Itoma Hama Terminal, and the floating pontoon shifts under the weight of arrivals.

Island

嘉

嘉弥真島

The boat from Kohama crosses a narrow stretch of water and arrives at a low, flat island where nothing rises high enough to block the horizon.

Island

オ

オーハ島

At low tide, a strip of sand emerges between Ōu Island and the smaller island to its east, and one can cross on foot across a narrow channel.

Island

大

大神島

The ferry leaves from Shimajiri harbor on Miyako, four crossings a day, and the small boat called Ukan Kariyusu pulls in at Ōgami Port, where a floating pontoon and a rest hut wait beside the water.

Island

由

由布島

The water buffalo carts cross the shallows between Iriomote and the smaller island in ten or fifteen minutes, the wheels making a slow wake through water that barely reaches the animals' knees.

Onsen

C

Chatan Megumi Onsen

Onsen

S

Shigira Onsen

Onsen

C

Campanella no Yu

Onsen

N

Naka no Yu Onsen

Onsen

M

Miyakojima Onsen

Town

a

agunison

The ferry from Naha Port arrives once a day at Aguni Port, and when it leaves again, the island settles back into its own pace.

Town

i

ieson

The ferry from Motobu Port takes about half an hour, and by the time Ie-jima's silhouette sharpens — the abrupt cone of Gusuku-yama rising from a flat shelf of coral and cane fields — the island has already announced its character.

Town

i

ishigakishi

The ferry schedules at Ishigaki Port's離島ターミナル move on island time — unhurried, functional, essential.

Town

i

izenason

The ferry from Uten Port on the main island takes several hours before Izena Island appears — low on the water, edged by reef, its highest point the rounded bulk of Onoyama rising quietly above the shoreline.

Town

i

itomanshi

The fishing boats at Itoman Harbor leave early, before the market stalls have fully arranged themselves.

Town

i

iheyason

The ferry from Unten Port takes roughly eighty minutes, and by the time the bow of *Ferry Iheya 3* swings toward Maehama, the Okinawan mainland has dissolved behind you.

Town

u

urasoeshi

The monorai station at Urasoe Maeda opens onto a city that moves with commercial purpose — logistics terminals, wholesale districts, the hum of buses on Route 58 connecting it to the coast.

Town

u

urumashi

The road stretches out across open water, connecting the Katsuren Peninsula to the island of Henza, with the sea visible on both sides through the windshield.

Town

o

oogimison

Steep forested ridges press almost to the waterline along this stretch of Okinawa's northern coast, leaving little flat ground between the trees and the East China Sea.

Town

o

okinawashi

Bilingual signage lines the streets near Koza Crossroads — Japanese on one side, English on the other — a quiet remnant of decades spent adjacent to Kadena Air Base.

Town

o

onnason

The coastline along Route 58 is narrow — the village of Onna stretches long and thin, hemmed between the East China Sea and a ridge of forested hills, with Onna-dake rising behind the small settlements clustered at river mouths.

Town

k

kadenachou

From the rooftop observation deck of 道の駅かでな, the runways of Kadena Air Base stretch across the horizon in every direction — not a backdrop but the actual geography of the town.

Town

k

kitadaitouson

The cargo-passenger ship *Daitō* docks at Kitadaitō Port several dozen times a year, and for many islanders that schedule is simply the rhythm of supply.

Town

k

kitanakagusukuson

Red-tiled roofs catch the afternoon light on the hillside above Nakamura House, where the curved eaves and stone-flanked gate have stood since the mid-eighteenth century.

Town

k

kinchou

Taco rice was born here, in the strip of bars and restaurants that opened along Kin's new quarter in the early 1960s, when American servicemen from Camp Hansen filled the streets after dark.

Town

g

ginozason

The Hanshin Tigers arrive each spring, and the village reorganizes itself around them.

Town

g

ginowanshi

Fences run along the perimeter of Futenma Air Station, and the streets simply continue on the other side — convenience stores, apartment blocks, a school gate, a car repair shop.

Town

k

kunigamison

Forest covers most of what you see from the road through Kunigami.

Town

k

kumejimachou

The ferry from Naha takes hours; the flight is shorter but lands you at a small terminal where the air already feels different — salt-thick, unhurried.

Town

z

zamamison

The ferry from Naha takes the better part of an hour at speed, and by the time Zamami Port comes into view, the water has changed color in a way that is difficult to explain without seeing it.

Town

t

taketomichou

Ferry schedules out of Ishigaki Port branch toward islands most visitors never name.

Town

t

taramason

The flight from Miyako takes less than half an hour, and when the plane descends over Tarama-jima, the flatness is the first thing you notice — no hills rising to meet you, just a disc of green cane fields and coral-white coast sitting low in the sea.

Town

c

chiyatanchou

The western coast of Okinawa's main island carries a particular layering that becomes legible only slowly.

Town

t

tokashikison

The ferry from Naha's Tomari Pier cuts west across the East China Sea, and by the time Tokashiki Island comes into view, the water has shifted to a shade that resists easy description — the locals call it Kerama Blue, and the name sticks because nothing else quite fits.

Town

t

tonakison

Red-tiled rooftops peek above dense rows of fukugi trees, their trunks forming a windbreak so old and deliberate that the houses behind them seem almost sheltered from time itself.

Town

t

tomigusukushi

Salt once defined this stretch of coast.

Town

n

nakagusukuson

The stone walls of Nakagusuku Castle rise in curved tiers above the hillside, fitted without mortar in a technique particular to the Ryukyu kingdom.

Town

n

nakijinson

The stone walls of Nakijin Castle rise in layered curves across the headland, and the wind that comes off the East China Sea carries nothing in particular — salt, perhaps, the faint green of karst scrub.

Town

n

nagoshi

A gajumaru tree stands near the old town center of Nago, its roots and canopy so dense and sprawling that the trunk seems less like a single tree than a slow accumulation of the place itself.

Town

n

nahashi

The monorailtracks run above street level, and from the window you can see rooftops, a flash of sea, then the dense grid of Kokusai-dori below.

Town

n

nanjoushi

The bus from Naha takes you southeast along the coast, and by the time you reach Nanjo, the skyline has flattened into limestone ridges and low agricultural land edging toward the sea.

Town

n

nishiharachou

Sugarcane fields once defined the economy here, and their trace persists even in the footprint of サンエー西原シティ, a large shopping complex built on the site of a former sugar refinery.

Town

h

haebaruchou

Pumpkins appear on roadside stalls in Haebaru, stacked alongside bundles of chōmeisō, the long-leafed herb whose name translates loosely as "longevity grass." The town sits inland, hemmed on all sides by other municipalities, yet it moves at its own pace — dense with residents, busy with traffic feeding onto the Naha Expressway, and still somehow domestic in feel.

Town

h

higashison

The name itself is a clue: *higashi*, east, given because the sun rises here first, over the Pacific-facing coast of northern Okinawa.

Town

m

minamidaitouson

The flight from Naha takes less than an hour, but the distance feels larger than that.

Town

m

miyakojimashi

Flat limestone ground stretches beneath the cane fields — no hills, no rivers to speak of, just porous rock that drinks the rain before it can gather.

Town

m

motobuchou

Salt water rises from the ground at 塩川, a river where the current runs brackish from a natural spring — the only one of its kind recorded in Japan.

Town

y

yaesechou

The stone lion at Tomori has stood on its limestone base since the late seventeenth century, facing the fields as a guard against fire.

Town

y

yonagunichou

The ferry from Ishigaki takes the better part of an afternoon, and by the time Kubura port appears through the salt haze, the sense of having crossed into somewhere genuinely apart is difficult to shake.

Town

y

yonabaruchou

The old railway station at Yonabaru was once busy enough to carry a crown prince's imperial train.

Town

y

yomitanson

The kilns at Yomitan Sanpin Kita-gama still burn with wood, their thirteen-chamber climbing structure producing the thick-glazed, earth-toned wares that four master potters share between them.