Okinawa Hai!

For those of you planning a move to Okinawa soon, we hope Marie’s descriptions of the process of their travel and first months of settling in can help you with a few of the “unknowns.”  To read more of their story see links at the bottom of the post. CONTRIBUTED BY MARIE LEWIS It’s been [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY JANNEL KETTENRING Tamaudun Sign Tamaudun Door With the goal to see all nine World Heritage sites on Okinawa, while a friend was visiting, we headed off to find Tamaudun. We had a little difficulty finding this site at first. Most directions we found told us to go to Shuri Castle. After looking at [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY MELISSA MCDANIEL You’re probably aware that Okinawa is the home of nine sites designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and you’ve probably visited the biggies–Shuri-jo, Zakimi-jo, maybe Shikana-en Gardens. But what about that one on the map–the cave-like picture with the cryptic name? In our quest to see all of the nine UNESCO [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY JENNIFER MARTINEZ The KES school bus drives ahead. Meanwhile we’re stuck at a red light in the Tamagusuku area of Nanjo.  My toddler, Justice, is the in backseat bouncing with excitement from our field trip to Okinawa World.  Priding myself on a good sense of direction in Okinawa is pointless as this was [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY DASHA GARIEPY If you’ve been in Okinawa for a while, you may have become jaded to it’s many castle ruins and historical sites. Unless you’ve seen all nine of the World Heritage sites located on this island, you might be thinking, “Why bother? Seen one pile of rocks, seen ‘em all!” While it’s [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY DASHA GARIEPY Are you eager to try the restaurant from Kelly’s last post, but don’t want to drive all-the-way-to-Nago “just” for that? Are you looking for something to do around Nago that doesn’t involve pineapples, citrus fruits, or fish tanks? Then read on, because hiking around Nakijin Castle Ruins and its related Museum is [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY DASHA GARIEPY Sometimes, good ideas get lost in translation.  A local  example of this is T-shirts that bear unusual slogans like “Sunny Day Birds are Happy.” I smile and wonder what the shirt creator was originally thinking. Other times the translation is right on. While the phrasing may be unusual, the idea comes [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY DIANA MIDDLETON  My MIL, my two kids (ages 4 & 6), and I went on a tour of Shurijo Castle and everyone loved it. We left first thing in the morning so that we arrived as soon as they opened. The directions on their web site are perfect. The prices are 800 yen [...]

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