Naha, Okinawa, Japan
Officially founded on 20 May 1921, Naha is the political, economic and education centre of the southernmost prefecture of Japan. The modern city covers an area of close to 40 square kilometres with the city centre located about 4 km away from Naha Airport. In the past, it was the commercial centre of the Ryukyu Kingdom, prominent as a major port.
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JPN: Naha Downtown <YOU ARE HERE!>
The city hall is the first thing that my BFFs and I saw when we alighted from the bus that brought us to Naha from Motobu.
Nearby is Palette Kumoji, possibly one of the largest shopping centres in the city.
Seeing a scramble crossing always reminds me of Japan's most famous one in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Kokusai-dori (lit. International Street) is Naha's main shopping and entertainment street.
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| The street stretches approximately 2 km through the downtown area. |
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| Get some shirts for yourself or your dog! |
You probably won't miss the sight of Okashi Goten, a highly popular gift shop, although we only saw the exterior of the shop when it'd already closed for the day on our way back to
Hotel Sun Okinawa.
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| The shop is the producer of the famous beni imo (Okinawan purple sweet potato) tarts. |
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| I miss that soft and fragrant tart. |
Take a look at the moving tarts in the short video clip below.
Our aimless walking brought us to a really cool izakaya (a type of Japanese establishment serving alcohols and food to go along with).
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| Let's go inside the 'tree trunk' called Machinuya, shall we? |
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| I'm not sure if they've got English menu, but we only saw this handwritten one that evening. |
After dinner, we walked into a supermarket. We were greeted by a pig head inside. For the uninitiated, pork is featured in many Okinawan dishes.
Following that, we walked into a book store.
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| Learn Japanese history through manga! |
Shijo Hon-dori is a covered shopping arcade connected to Kokusai-dori.
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| 青桜 (lit. blue cherry blossom) is a local alcoholic beverage that's blue in colour. |
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| We didn't manage to go there during the day, which should be more lively. |
We saw lots of karaoke joints. I really can't wait to go for some singing sessions with friends again. COVID-19, go away!
We chanced upon the Japan's very first KOI bubble tea store.
Hapi Naha was an entertainment emporium that housed a Pokémon store. Unfortunately, the place has closed down for good, so Pikachu and friends have moved to Ryubo Department Store in Palette Kumoji.
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| There's no Pokémon Centre in Okinawa. |
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| Have you ever seen Pikachu's signature? |
I didn't buy anything from the shop, but I did get myself the following from one of the pressed coin machines.
I bought a yummy snack that's a cross between taiyaki (Japanese sea bream-shaped cake) and croissant from one of the stalls inside Hapi Naha.
In Japan, A&W stores are only available in Okinawa Prefecture.
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| I wonder if they still do free refill of root beer now. |
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| Chili cheese curly fries, anyone? |
Below are a few photos taken after we left
Shuri Castle. The sky wa a tad gloomy that day.
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| It's predicted that the reconstruction of the main building of the castle can be completed by 2026. |
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| Waiting for its friend or lover to come? |
Do try Okinawan
soba, which is different from the buckwheat noodle in mainstream Japanese cuisine. Not far from Shuri Castle is a well-known eatery called
Shuri Soba.
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| I love the rustic ambience of the eatery. |
Even though this post is supposedly about Naha, allow me to share just a few photos of Peace Memorial Park. As mentioned in the previous post on
Okinawa World, we'd actually wanted to explore the park that's situated at the southern tip of Okinawa Island. We actually made our way to the visitor centre by cab.
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| Save the Earth! |
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Cranes are a symbol of peace.
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Not long after we started walking outside, it rained cats and dogs. What a pity!
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| Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum was established on11 June 1975. |
As it was impossible to explore by foot, we took the shuttle service to have a quick look of the vast premise. I'm not sure how much it costs now, but each of us paid ¥100 (~S$1.20) that day. Subsequently, seeing that the rain wasn't going to stop anytime soon, we decided to take a cab to Okinawa World to see the magnificent cave in particular.
Don't forget to drop by my food blog to have a look at some reviews of the eateries in not only Naha, but other places in Okinawa:
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