The Japanese have a certain attachment to the idea of Hawaii. While others share this infatuation, I think the Japanese feel a unique kinship as also people of an island nation. There are obvious differences, but the Hawaiian islands - and its perceived lifestyle - represents an idealized version of island life, a counterpoint to the industrialized Japanese islands.
It is unsurprising then that Okinawa is often packaged and sold as a domestic alternative to Hawaii. Especially on Okinawa's main island, luxury hotels enshroud you in a Hawaiian-like atmosphere, even with hula dances and live Hawaiian music. This was our experience a couple of years ago when we visited Okinawa Honto, the main island.
Okinawa is also comprised of many islands and is itself part of the Ryukyu Islands, which did not become a part of Japan until the 19th century. We decided to visit Ishigaki, one of the southern islands popular to visit despite its relative distance to Tokyo.
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| On our shuttle from the airport to the hotel |
We chose a hotel on the beachfront for convenience - the kids could play all day in the sand and water, they offer a shuttle directly from the airport, and on-site food options were good. While it is beautiful with parts that are very much curated, you could still tell that Ishigaki has a wild quality to it. It's dense with jungly vegetation and the sand is very coarse (and quite painful) being made of broken coral. I couldn't walk bare feet on the beach - it hurt. Bring your water shoes along if you visit! I have heard from other people that the quality of the sand changes depending on which side of the island you are on, but we didn't move around much so all the beaches we saw were similar.
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| Ryukuyan lion dogs call Shisa, derived from Chinese guardian lions |
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| A cute cafe near our hotel where we ate Okinawan noodles - like ramen but thicker and crinkly with more meat. |
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| A nearby factory. The area outside our hotel (or I should say, resort, sat in stark contrast to the resort itself) |
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| Ramen vending machine! The white one dispenses Okinawan desserts |
Last time we went to the main Okinawan island, we went sea kayaking and snorkeling. It was such a fun experience that we decided to do it again. That time, we kayaked to a tiny uninhabited island and snorkeled in the middle of the ocean. Even though we were far from shore, it was a shallow and flat area where the waters ran clear and you could see the ocean floor.
This time, we were shuttled to a beach on the other side of Ishigaki and waded from shore directly into the ocean. It was inauspicious from the beginning. M, who loved snorkeling last time, had a lot of trepidation this time and not minutes after starting, threw up. Back to shore she went with grandma, who seemed a little relieved to return to land.
As we advanced, we could see the ocean floor drop away into its depths. The depth took my breath away. It was beautiful, but also overwhelming. Despite being a decent swimmer, I found myself flailing a bit - the vastness of the ocean made me feel completely vulnerable. Scuba diving is definitely not in my future. After half an hour and two steep drops in the ocean floor, I started feeling seasick, sicker than I have been in a long time.
Around the same time, our guide alerted us to sea turtles swimming around us. E likes sea turtles but I guess not physical contact with them, because she got scared when she thought they were touching her (it was my leg). After calming her down, we decided it was time to return to shore. The return trip was rough because of my seasickness. Then, as we were making our way back to shore, H sprained his ankle on one of the corals near shore.
It was a disaster, though it will be a memorable one. As it turns out, snorkeling can be quite different depending on where you do it.
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| The infamous sea turtle. |
Our excursion to Taketomi was probably the most fun. Taketomi is an even smaller island accessible by a mere 15 minute ferry ride. Its beaches are beautiful - though mostly unswimmable due to strong currents - and its houses characteristically Okinawan with their red tiled roofs. The streets are lined with stone walls that, if you look closely, are actually made of coral.
Taketomi has a permanent population in the low hundreds, but many many more tourists and probably people from Ishigaki who work the tourism in Taketomi during the week. My cursory research of Taketomi history didn't yield much except the somewhat obvious fact that the island was historically isolated. So much so that it remained in the stone age until the 17th century. Agricultural productivity was therefore low and warfare seemingly rare.
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| Walls of coral and red-tiled roofs |
The island is small, and the best way to get around is by bicycle, so we rented a few for the whole family. They even had bicycles with a child seat in the rear and electric assist bicycles. The roads were mostly flat, though sandy, which called for a bit more effort for riding. We went with regular bicycles and were able to see most of the island this way in just a few hours.
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| Water buffalo pulling tourists |
Taketomi has lots of natural beauty to offer but with only a few hundred locals largely overshadowed by rampant tourism from Ishigaki and elsewhere, it's hard to get a feel for the local culture. While I saw tons of tourists like us, I saw only a small handful of locals.
Back in Ishigaki, the clouds moved in on our last day. Despite temperatures in the low 80s, it felt cool, even a bit too cool to swim. So we relented and spent most of the day shuffling between the heated indoor pool and the outdoor pool with the massive slide, which the kids went down again and again.
Ishigaki was good for a family vacation with small kids. Everyday was slow, and the hotel breakfast alone was a two hour affair. Just the sand and the sea (and the heated indoor pool), which, fueled with aforementioned breakfast, is all our kids needed to entertain themselves all day long.
