First things first, to prepare, we got our full Hong Kong and International driver's licenses before leaving so we could rent a car to get around the island. The cars there are SO small (Prius and Corollas are the biggest sedans on the road - except for taxis!). After some usual delays at HK airport (probably due to pre Easter holiday congestion), we finally flew into Naha, about 2-2:15 hours direct flight (the baby did not like the air pressure changes I think!)
The main city in Okinawa Island is Naha, which is a small town and mostly Japanese. It reminds me a lot of Honolulu (they say this is Japan's Hawaii), whereas north of Naha where the U.S. army bases are, remind me more of Maui (which is very American).
We wandered about looking unsuccessfully for some soba or yakiniku (bbq) restaurants near Kokusaidori Street per Lonely Planet but ended up having decent food at two venues as well. In between, there was lots of souvenir browsing, mostly cookies (butter/pineapple - like in Hawaii), packaged soba noodles (not buckwheat unlike the mainland soba).
As with every Japanese city, there is Pachinko gambling buildings galore! Apparently the mob Yazuka run all these joints...
Okinawan people are really short and stout, maybe that's why all the cars are SO small! They eat lots of organic vegetables, fruits and tofu. Surprisingly their native diet does not include much seafood despite being an island as it was difficult to preserve. So while the sashimi and sushi are fresh, they're not native to Okinawa (unlike their comfort food of soba). As a result, Okinawans have the world's longest lifespan (most people live well past 100 years old).
After a relaxing wandering evening around Kokusaidori street and near the Naha port, we drove north of the American Village / Chatan to a beach area called Yomitan (also near another army base). We stayed previously in Ho Chi Minh City at Nikko Hotel, so thought to try this one: Hotel Nikko Alivila - which was very Spanish looking, had wifi, great reviews and a nice beach. In general we were LUCKY not to have been exposed too much to the American joints (I hate that) and struggled like normal tourists since most people spoke only Japanese. One exception: A&W. My burger was SO plain and the free refills were only root beer (dang, no caffeine allowed for me :( ).
We spent two days swimming, local grocery shopping, trying out nearby izakaya's (kind of Japanese tapas bars) and great soba soup joints. Their breakfasts allowed us to sample more local cuisine, tofu and fruits as well!
It was a very relaxing babymoon. You would also think that Japan had a decent birth rate given every family had at least one child under age 3 with them! (their birth rate is world's lowest however i hear)
On the way back to Naha, we took the toll expressway (much faster than Hwy 58, the main route along the coast) and checked out their Factory outlet mall. While nothing is as cheap as U.S. factory outlets, I must say we scored some decent buys in a short amount of time. The sun was baking down on us by then so it was a relief to finally get into their airport.
While Japanese are very friendly people, the Okinawans tend to be slow ("island time?"). With only 3 international airport gates and one flight per hour, somehow they decided only to open one security lane! Argh!
All in all, a great relaxing long weekend. Now I am officially grounded from air travel until... this baby comes out...
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