Okinawa Diary

Shurei Gate

I have visited Okinawa four times, in 1967, 1968, 1979 and in about 1983. I spent two to three weeks there in 1967, and I visited Ishigaki and Miyako Islands that time. The following year, I stopped by going to and returning from Taiwan, since I took a flight between Naha and Taipei. Okinawa was under occupation by the US military at that time, and I needed a special permit like a passport and US dollars. The other two times, I went to Okinawa for a conference and to give a lecture. Thus my main memories of Okinawa are 35 years old, and the reversion of Okinawa to Japan from the US military in 1972 changed it a great deal.

Today, it takes only two hours to get to Naha by plane, though it once took more than 60 hours from Kobe or 24 hours from Kagoshima by boat. Nowadays almost everyone flies to Okinawa.

Ryukyu Lunch

Irohatei

lunch

One of the first things we did when we arrived was go to Irohatei, a restaurant in Shuri, which serves home cooked Ryukyu cuisine. There are two types of Ryukyu cuisine, one is court cuisine, which noble people ate, and the other is popular cuisine, which ordinary people ate. The restaurant was an ordinary house, and the lady there explained each dish when we were served. We ate a 1,500 yen set lunch, which they recommended. This is popular cuisine, and even today, many people cook these dishes at home. Since New Year's Day was just around the corner, some of the dishes were special for New Year.

Ryukyu cuisine is quite different from what we eat in Kyoto. More of it is cooked in oil, and has different ingredients. It looks like it would take a lot of time to cook those dishes. However, they probably make large quantities at a time. They use a lot of pork and seaweed. They say that they can eat every part of the pig except the oink. They eat potatoes a lot, too. Beni Imo (Red potato) was interesting. Later we found beniimo in various forms is very popular, and we ate even beniimo soft cream.

Ishidatamimichi (slope paved with rocks)

village house

village house

After lunch, we walked up a slope paved with rocks to the top of the hill. We saw a village house on the way. It had Shoji (paper doors) all around, probably because it is hot there and they can open doors to get good breezes. Though the rooms themselves look very similar to rooms in the rest of Japan, the things they have in a room are quite different.

Because there was a Japanese military headquarters on the top of the hill, Shuri was completely destroyed by bombs and cannons in 1945. However, somehow this road survived. It retains the atmosphere of old Shuri. It is very steep, uneven, and hard to walk up. On the 29th, we walked down, and it was even more difficult to walk down.

Shuri was the capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Shuri Castle was on the top of the hill. This road goes up to the castle and is very steep.

Shurei Gate (Shureinomon)
At the top of the hill, we saw Shureinomon, which was the second gate leading to Shuri Castle. In a sense, it is a symbol of Okinawa, and many of you may have seen it in a picture or on TV. Every tourist visits this gate. It was built in 1529 originally, but the current gate was built in 1958. It is a mixture of Japanese and Chinese architecture. It has Okinawan red tiles on the roof, and it looks very Okinawan. We saw many tourists there, and some of them took pictures with Ryukyu costumes on, which is a big business there.

Sunuhiyan Utaki
Behind Shurei Gate, there is a rock wall and a plain gate, which is called Sunuhiyan Utaki, one of nine world heritage sites in Okinwa. It is small and plain, and if you do not know what it is, you may just pass it by without noticing it.

Utaki are sacred places for prayers. This was built in 1519. The door is wooden, but everything else is made of stone, and we can appreciate the skill in making stone walls. It is an important cultural property. This was king's first stop whenever he left Shuri Castle, and he prayed for the safety of the journey.

Shuri Castle

Kankai Gate

Then we walked to Shuri Castle. We walked through a gate which looked like a Chinese gate. Since Shuri Castle was restored in 1992 and became a world heritage site in 2001, this was my first visit, and today's highlight.

Shuri Castle is quite different from castles in other parts of Japan. Almost everything is red. Some gates look like Chinese gates. The courtyard is red with white stripes and it looked very strange to me. I could tell that there was a strong Chinese influence.

The nanden (south building) is not red at all. There were some exhibits and some videos with some exhibits in the hokuden (north building). What was most interesting was the seiden (main building). It was rebuilt exactly like the original building. It is quite different from other Japanese buildings. Dragons seem to be very important, and they are used inside and outside of the building. They use very bright colors all over.

People who welcomed us at the entrance had a Ryukyu costume, and this is a formal wear for men. We saw the crown of the king as an exhibit. We saw how the king met delegates in the courtyard. The Seiden is really interesting, but it looks very Chinese to me, since it is painted a bright red color all over.

We spent about one and half hours seeing the castle. There was a Ryukyu dance performance in front of the castle. We saw several dances there. Some of them had themes related to romance. There were some happy and sad themes, but for me, most of the music sounded sad.

Tamaudon (Royal Graveyard)
After the tour of the castle, we walked around Ryutan (a pond) and walked to Tamaudon, which is the royal mausoleum. One problem we faced in Okinawa is that it is very difficult to read Chinese characters. Okinawans often use the same characters that are used in the rest of Japan, but with a different pronunciation. No Japanese from other parts of Japan can read ‰¤—Ë as Tamaudon.

Tamaudon is also one of nine world heritage sites in Okinawa. Originally Sougenji Temple was the royal mausoleum, but this became the royal mausoleum. It was built in 1501, and it is an important cultural property.

Tamaudon is a large mausoleum, as some Okinawan mausoleums are, and it is the largest mausoleum in the style of a house. Many people were buried there. They keep the dead body in the center part of the building for several years. Then they wash the bones and put them in an urn, the kings and queens on the left side and other family members were on the right side.

This mausoleum was damaged during World War II, but it has restored over the past three years.

The exhibit included many urns, pictures of funerals, etc. It was a small exhibit, but it was interesting.

Traffic Jam
We took a taxi to get back to our hotel. It took a long time because of bad traffic. One of the big problems in Okinawa is traffic jams. There is only buses for public transportation, and that is not very convenient. So many people own cars and traffic is very bad, particularly in and around Naha around 4-6 o'clock. It takes a lot of time for taxis to move around. At times, buses might be slower than walking on Kokusai dori, which is the main street in Naha.

Now they are building a monorail from the airport to Shuri through Naha for about 13 kilometers. It will open in December 2003, and that may help decrease traffic problems in Naha, but many people are pessimistic.

Bus Transportation
Okinawa does not have any rail transportation. They rely on buses, taxis, and boats. There are four bus companies, and they each have their own routes and schedules. Generally speaking, outside of Naha City, bus transportation is very infrequent and slow, except on some routes such as the Naha-Itoman route.

Most people have their own cars, and it is not unusual for every member of family to have his/her car. That makes it more difficult for bus companies, and they are in the red.

After we rested at our hotel for a while, we walked down Kokusai Dori, the main street, to Naha Bus Terminal to get some information for the following day. Our hotel was at one end of Kokusai Dori, and it is about a mile to the prefectural government building, which is very modern and large. The bus terminal is beyond it. There were many souvenir shops, restaurants, hotels convenient stores, etc., on Kokusai dori. There were many people walking there. Things were not necessarily cheap, and there were some fake suveniors, which you can tell from the quality and price.

Traffic is heavy, and walking was not bad in terms of time. It took about 20 minutes to get to the terminal. There were offices of the four companies, and the problem was that if we stopped by one office to ask the route and the schedule, they could answer the question if their bus serves that route, but otherwise they just tell us to go to another office. We could not get organized information for our sightseeing.

The following evening, we stopped there again. One bus company employee gave us a bus schedule for all of the buses on the main island, but it was too difficult to find the route and the schedule, and we could not use it at all.

Taxis are relatively cheap, but they cost a lot if you are using them all the time. You can hire one for 3,000 yen per hour, but it is a little too expensive for two of us.

Rental cars are cheap and convenient. A small car costs only a little more than 5,000 yen. However, neither of us drives, so that isn't an option.

Yotsutake (Ryukyu Restaurant)
We went to Yotsutake, a Ryukyu Cuisine Restaurant on Kokusai Dori, which has performances of Ryukyu dance. A hotel clerk made a reservation. It is a simple restaurant with many tables and chairs. There is a stage at the end of the large room. We had pork rafute; miminga, which is pigs' ear bones; konbu, which is seaweed imported from the northern seas; tebichi, soup which had pigs' organs; tofuyou, which is beancurd cooked with awamori, etc. We tasted awamori, which is the best known liquor in Okinawa. We found that awamori that is three years old or older is distinguished from new awamori, and it is more expensive. The waitress suggested that we drink it was with ice and water. They were kind enough not to charge for the ice and water.

The performances were similar to the ones we saw at Shuri Castle. I do not understand why even the dances which celebrate something or romantic ones do not show much happiness. I could not tell the differences between the main island and Yaeyama Islands.

At the end of the performance, you can take pictures with dancers. I took this opportunity and got a picture with three female dancers with bingata (Okinawan dyeing) costumes.

I could pay the bill with my credit card there. There are very few places that accept credit cards in Okinawa, and I had to worry about cash until the end of the tour. Some suvenior shops accept credit cards, but if you pay with cash, they may not charge consumption tax (5% of the price).