...and Christmas in Okinawa!

We decided to spend Christmas in Okinawa this year as it is a little warmer there than in the rest of the country.  Okinawa is in the string of islands that trail off the southern tip of Japan toward Taiwan.  It's a three hour plane flight from Tokyo and stays around 65°F in the winter.  Okinawa Island was pretty, with a beautiful rocky coastline that you could see from almost anywhere because the island itself is really mountainous.  It was pretty densely populated with a surprising amount of things to do.

And it made for an interesting holiday--on Christmas Eve we went to a butterfly garden, then to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium which is situated right on the coast and was the largest aquarium in the world until the one in Atlanta was built.

Cape Manzamo

at the butterfly garden--decorated for Christmas

view of the East China Sea from the aquarium

Thousands of years ago Okinawa was separated into several kingdoms.  Eventually the kingdoms combined into one Ryukyuan culture and then around the 1860's all the islands were absorbed into Japan (there are still differences between the islands and the mainland, mainly in food and dialect).  However, most of the castles from the kingdom days are still standing, albeit in ruins.  They are all UNESCO World Heritage sites.  We finished off Christmas Eve day by visiting one of the largest---Nakijin Castle, built in the 13th century.

Nakijin Castle walls and the East China Sea

castle walls & mountains

Christmas Eve dinner was remarkably authentic tacos in a pretty skeevy place next to one of the many US military bases on the island.  We also enjoyed Tony Roma's, A&W and Baskin Robbins while we were there, as well as an elaborate Christmas buffet served at our hotel (and Santa found time to hang out in the hotel lobby). There is a little more American "stuff" on Okinawa because there are so many US soldiers stationed there.

nothing like Christmas Eve dinner at a place where
you can  walk up and order on the street

There is even an area called the American Village that is modeled after American beach towns like Venice Beach.  The shopping was a little disappointing (not much imported stuff) but it is lively, especially at night.

American Village & ferris wheel

an Okinawan shisa, lion-dog guardian statues
that can be found all over the islands
(seriously, they are everywhere)