CONTRIBUTED BY KIMBERLY KADIASANG

Video Update by QBNTO1

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Southern Hill Sports World

The is an amazing place for families to have a fun day out.  Okinawa Sports Complex has various activities such as:
Ice skating
Bowling
Batting Cages
Video Arcade
Pool Hall
Kitakeisan

The prices vary with the different activity you choose to do.  The great thing is that if your family chooses to go ice skating first then bowling; they can ice skate, hold their skates (in a locker) while they go bowling & then return to ice skating afterward.

NOTE: It is freezing in the ice arena so I would suggest you bring your sweaters.  Also, you need gloves in order to be in the ice rink, they sell them for 300yen or you can stop at a local 100yen store & buy a couple before heading out there.

Tickets: You can buy tickets at the arena, but they are slightly less expensive if you purchase them at your base. Kadena’s ITT office has tickets for 1,500 Yen/adult; 1,300 Yen/student ages 12-18 and 1,100 Yen/child 7-12.

Directions:
Get on the expressway from where ever you live (North of Naha) and stay on as though you are going to Naha Airport. After paying at the booth, the expressway will continue shortly after leaving the tollbooth you will see a sign for Ext A1 Yonabaru, Exit when it becomes available and it will show 329 at the intersection. After exiting the expressway, At the 329 stop light, Turn Right and make another immediate right as though you are getting back on the Expressway. Do not get on the Expressway; continue on side road until you see a sign for 240, at the light make a Left onto 240 continue up the hill until you see a huge sign on the Left with Cartoon Penguins on it. At night, the top of the build has a red-lit triangle on it. If you go passed the Hospital you have gone too far. (Our thanks to our reader, Albert, for these updated directions.

35 COMMENTS

      • Hi,
        was wondering if you were ever able to track down any info about skating and/or youth hockey? I have sent a message to Okinawa SniperZ FB group and am waiting for a reply. My older son was crazy for hockey when we left Maryland July 2014. Am hoping to find something, at least some skate time for him to keep up with skating for when we go back to states. I saw the post about how much to take for open skating above and was pretty shocked.. 10000 yen for open skate? 100$ per session? thanks!

      • Sorry that I am just now seeing this I used to skate there. Go on Sunday evening and Sensei will be there. You can sign up through Junichisan. Sage knows English, if he still works there. Hikaru and Miumi (my “little sisters” usually do the warm ups with everyone.

        • Hello, I just saw this inquirey that your daughter has been going through skating withdraws, I have played hockey on AAA teams my last 7 years of playing hockey. If you have any questions about coaching let me know.

    • If you have not found how to get to the rink: Take 58 south and turn left on 82, take the left junction for 240, go up the hill and the rink is in the 3 floor building on the right. Park in the parking garage and go to the 2nd floor (there will be a sign). …good memories. That was home every Sunday evening and every day off 😀

  5. Just got back from the rink. I purchased my tickets through ITT on Kadena and was given a pretty good discount. They save you 25% per ticket you buy. The tickets are open ended and do not expire. The directions above were slightly confusing to me, but eventually found it. Not sure if signs changed or not, but after getting of the toll road it drops you off on 82. Take a left and about a quarter mile you want to veer to the left off of 82 towards 221. the road comes to a “T” really fast and turn left again and the rink is on the directly on the right about an eighth of a mile. Hope this helps out a bit.

  8. Is there a specified time for figure skating? I’d love to go, but public sessions drive me nuts! I can’t do around a circle for more than 5 minutes. I stopped competing 10 years ago, but I love going for exercise and training upkeep.

  10. The Directions above are very old and the Facebook site does provide a map to an old facility down off 330 that closed down and boarded up.
    Get on the expressway from where ever you live (North of Naha) and stay on as though you are going to Naha Airport. After paying at the booth, the expressway will continue shortly after leaving the tollbooth you will see a sign for Ext A1 Yonabaru, Exit when it becomes available and it will show 329 at the intersection.. After exiting the expressway, At the 329 stop light, Turn Right and make a another immediate right as though you are getting back on the Expressway. Do not get on the Expressway; continue on side road until you see a sign for 240, at the light make a Left onto 240 continue up the hill until you see a huge sign on the Left with Cartoon Penguins on it. At night, the top of the build has a red-lit triangle on it. If you go passed the Hospital you have gone too far.

    Another important note, bring a lot of money, the cost to skate is 16000 yen or one person and 10000 for a child and to rent a chair for smaller people is 500 yen for 30 minutes. Bring gloves because they are required if you forgot then you will need to buy the ones they have which ranges from 100-500 yen.

    Link to Map
    View Larger Map

  14. Does anyone know if figure skating lessons are available at this rink? My 10 year old is heartbroken at the thought of giving up skating when we arrive there in October. I’m glad to see there is a rink there, but would also love to connect with a coach when we arrive.

  15. Hey everyone! My family (3 year old included) just got back from ice skating at Southern Hill Sports. It was a fantastic afternoon! But it was pretty expensive. 1600Y per adult ticket and 1000Y for a child ticket. There isn’t a whole lot of food option outside of 250Y bowls of cup noodle from a vending machine. So if you think you’re going to be hungry while you’re there, you can bring food in with you, or grab something before hand. They have skates of all sizes and chairs for little ones to push around (for stability) or be pushed around in when they need a rest! Overall a great day ice skating. Make sure you bring a sweatshirt or light jacket as well as gloves. Gloves can be purchased there for any where between 100-300Y a pair. We highly recommend this place for family fun!

  16. Hi everyone. I have some information about Southern Hill. I used to work there.

    Yes, it is still open. Yes, they have hockey. They have about 5 Japanese teams and 1 American team that has members from the local military bases. Practice for the American team is usually between 8-9pm and lasts an hour or an hour and a half.

    The ice arena is usually open around 10-11am until about 8-9pm. On Friday and Saturday, they stay open until 12am.

    If you have a pair of skates, I would suggest that you bring them. It is around 300Yen for the skate rental. And then the admission to skate (for adults) is about 1600Yen. Children are around 1200Yen. So to roughly estimate, it costs about $20 to skate. Remember to bring Yen because the closest place to exchange money is a Jusco that is about 5 minutes down the road and a little difficult to find.

    There is no time limit. You come, pay, and you can skate until they close. They occasionally kick you off the ice (about every 2-3 hours) to resurface the ice.

    Happy skating.

  19. We went yesterday and had a great time. Directions provided were perfect. Expressway is the way to go. Very fast and easy. The batting cages offer about 6 or 7 different speeds and bats are good quality. Restaraunt on top floor was really good and inexpensive. Interesting part was ordering food from machine outside restaraunt and bringing tickets to the waitress. Odd, but interesting.

  24. k, it’s me again. i do see that there are directions – but still not sure exactly what part of town this is in. sounds like a place near me off of 23 but then the directions seem to say stay on the expressway til it ends. is that in naha??
    thanks.