Okinawa?

[proper_villians]

So for most of my childhood was spent in Okinawa, Japan, however, since I was so young, I never really payed attention to anything. I'm going back in November with one of my friends who used to live there as well when we were young. I heard Okinawa has developed so much that it's hard to recognize the spots I remember. I'll be there for 2 weeks. I definitely want to check out the castles again and do all the touristy things, but as far as good clubs and restaurants, can anyone suggest anything? The only club I know of was Pyramids and I went there on my last night I was there..(I think I was 14 and my older brother snuck me in).

Thanks in advance everyone.

[Appleseed]

There's hundreds of islands in the prefecture, and Honto is pretty big. You just asking around Naha or the bases? Stay away from the Disney-esque areas and you should be fine. Look for local izakayas if you wanna drink. Most of the 'clubs' in Naha get overrun by GI's and their ilk, not such a good time.

If you're mainland jap, stop in an A&W and be amazed by root beer....

[proper_villians]

There's hundreds of islands in the prefecture, and Honto is pretty big. You just asking around Naha or the bases? Stay away from the Disney-esque areas and you should be fine. Look for local izakayas if you wanna drink. Most of the 'clubs' in Naha get overrun by GI's and their ilk, not such a good time.

If you're mainland jap, stop in an A&W and be amazed by root beer....

thanks for the reply appleseed. I guess I'd be asking around the Naha area. The last time I was there, I went to Kokusai Street to get misc. things...again, I was only 14 or so. Now being 26, I want to check out the bars, clubs, nice restaurants, etc. I don't think we'll be making it up to mainland Japan.

[herpsky]

I've only been to Ishigaki and Iriomote jima.

You can see taiwan from the western tip of iriomote. mad hectic.

[proper_villians]

I've only been to Ishigaki and Iriomote jima.

You can see taiwan from the western tip of iriomote. mad hectic.

is it worth it to go to iriomote island? is the hiking difficult? ishigake looks relaxing. to tell you the truth, i never even knew of those places. all i cared about when i was younger was skating all the different military bases..lol.

[herpsky]

the ice cream joint in okinawa is awesome (blue seal?

hiking isn't very difficult because it's farily touristy.

mangrove forests are epic

[proper_villians]

ahhh..do you know of anything i MUST see while I'm there? I know Oki is not like mainland and the reason why I'm going is because I consider it my home. I'm just not familiar with the "older" things people do there.

[salaryman]

So for most of my childhood was spent in Okinawa... can anyone suggest anything? The only club I know of was Pyramids and I went there on my last night I was there..

Pyramids closed a while back. Actually a lot of the Kadena Gate 2 area (and clubs popular with GIs like Pyramids) have suffered or closed under stricter military rules as a result of idiot drunks of perverts who molested Okinawan kids and brought about curfews, etc. The only legit club style nightlife left is in Naha--still, even this is on a small scale compared to the mainland and crowds vary based on whatever kind of event may be happening.

You should definitely check out one of the smaller islands. Miyako, Ishigaki, and Iriomote are best. Kume is alright, but you have to travel by boat to the get to the best beaches.

For restaurants....get the filet at Sam's by the Sea, the original one, otherwise just find small izakaya and grub taco rice and goya champuru.

[proper_villians]

Ha..Sam's by the Sea. I've been there before! I'll be sure to check it out again though. Yes - I'll also be sure to check out the smaller islands. I'll be going in November, but it should still be warm enough to be at the beach.

[herpsky]

taco rice

and eat some okinawan food like tonsoku and champuru

awamori too

[mizanation]

okinawa city is a great place.

like salaryman said, pyramid is no more. but, if you are going to be in koza, the best way to find out what's going on there is to make some drinking buddies. i suggest my friend shige's bar, chemistry, off of park ave. he's kinda like the unofficial mayor of the local scene.

i suggest izakaya samurai for late night eats. you can eat and drink till morning there.

for cheap home cooking, check out yoshimoto bento.

for the best rotisserie chicken you've ever tasted, go to kokko-rokko chicken.

if you are there at the right time in the summer, you should check out the orion beer festival. tons of food, music and limitless cheap beer. held in serveral cities in okinawa, but koza's is supposed to be the best one.

for taco rice or "takosu", go to king taco or senor taco.

of course, don't forget to do the regular activities--eat okinawa soba, drink awamori on the rocks, go to the beach, go to the ruins, etc...

but, by all means, make some friends with some locals. it's pretty easy and they will treat you like fam.

if you need more suggestions, just send me a pm....

[proper_villians]

okinawa city is a great place.

like salaryman said, pyramid is no more. but, if you are going to be in koza, the best way to find out what's going on there is to make some drinking buddies. i suggest my friend shige's bar, chemistry, off of park ave. he's kinda like the unofficial mayor of the local scene.

i suggest izakaya samurai for late night eats. you can eat and drink till morning there.

for cheap home cooking, check out yoshimoto bento.

for the best rotisserie chicken you've ever tasted, go to kokko-rokko chicken.

if you are there at the right time in the summer, you should check out the orion beer festival. tons of food, music and limitless cheap beer. held in serveral cities in okinawa, but koza's is supposed to be the best one.

for taco rice or "takosu", go to king taco or senor taco.

of course, don't forget to do the regular activities--eat okinawa soba, drink awamori on the rocks, go to the beach, go to the ruins, etc...

but, by all means, make some friends with some locals. it's pretty easy and they will treat you like fam.

if you need more suggestions, just send me a pm....

miz...thanks for your help and suggestions. I'm really looking forward to going back to Oki. I just got off the phone with the girl with whom I'll traveling with and told her all of your suggestions. The last time she was there was 2 years ago so she recognized all the places you mentioned.

I didn't know the area outside gate 2 was called koza..i always just called it gate 2 area. I will definitely hit up Chemistry and have a few drinks. Soba and Awamori sounds really good. I definitely will check out the ruins...Shuri castle and all of those places.

Unfortunately, I'll be going in November so no Orion festival in July? I think. My friend told me about the love hotels and how they're themed...I remember only seeing the brochures when my brother would bring them home. I wanna see how crazy they get with the rooms!

Any places to get denim? The only shop I remember is Americaya.

[Appleseed]

Iriomote is ok, but you can hike on any of the islands and it's similar. Ishigaki is great (did some of my highschool there), but weather in Nov. isn't always the best for chilling at the beach. One upside is fewer tourists.

Otherwise, make friends, taco rice, awamori, champloo, sokisoba, anything and everything pork-

[mizanation]

oh, i forgot. you can check out my man, kamida-san. he opened up his new store around gate 2. he makes custom leather goods. there's a thread on here somewhere with his stuff.

koza is the old name for okinawa city, so they are interchangeable. so, it's the name for the whole town, which includes outside gate 2, park avenue, etc.

as far as love hotels, you will not believe how many love hotels there are in okinawa city. miles and miles of castles, rocket ships, giant racoons, etc... it looks like a twisted disneyland. koza actually has the most love hotels in all of japan. not all of them are kinky though, some of the small ones are like little bed and breakfasts.

[Appleseed]

^ Haha, I got lost driving out in the hills last summer, it was so fucking weird seeing all the lh's mixed in with the nice houses. Much more bizzare than Shibuya.

[proper_villians]

ahaha...yeah...november might be a little cold, but i'll bring my boardshorts just in case...i don't wanna miss the opportunity should it be warm enough. really looking forward to the trip! thanks everyone!

[mizanation]

like appleseed said, try getting out to ishigaki and having ishigaki-gyu (ishigaki-beef).

here's a little secret. what is known as kobe-gyu starts out as ishigaki-gyu. the cows are raised on ishigaki island before they are sent to kobe so they can be called kobe-beef.

the cows that don't leave ishigaki are considered by some to be even better than kobe beef.

here's an article on ishigaki beef:

http://www.bunnyeats.com/2008/01/ishigaki-beef.html

[proper_villians]

like appleseed said, try getting out to ishigaki and having ishigaki-gyu (ishigaki-beef).

here's a little secret. what is known as kobe-gyu starts out as ishigaki-gyu. the cows are raised on ishigaki island before they are sent to kobe so they can be called kobe-beef.

the cows that don't leave ishigaki are considered by some to be even better than kobe beef.

here's an article on ishigaki beef:

http://www.bunnyeats.com/2008/01/ishigaki-beef.html

interesting! I want to try this ishigaki-gyu. Does anyone have any info on the reggae scene there? I love reggae music and I'd love to check out any venues...

[Cordwinder]

Late entry

GI's confined to quarters, but Okinawa's sex spots say the show must go on

[red]

shopping wise, definitely check out the mihama/american village area. the store "americaya" is reason enough to go there. they carry most of the clothing branches under toyo enterprises (sugarcane, buzz rickson, etc.) and a surplus store on steroids. it has uniforms from countries all around the world, and has one of the largest A-2 collections ive ever seen. they also sell surplus parachutes, missiles, helmets, and all other sorts of military paraphanelia if youre into that sort of stuff. and its nothing like the surplus stores in the US. its REALLY organized.

while youre in mihama, you should also check out the sea wall. its simply beautiful.

theres also a thrift store i visit regularly, but i forget its name. its also on steroids. they carry selvedge denim from just about all the major manufacturers, and im pretty sure theyre a denime stockist, because they had a shelf full of raw denime. the clothing rack also carries stuff like supreme, undercover, bape, etc. they know theyre shit though so all the really good stuff is high priced. theyre shoe collection is also amazing. i mean, they have a display case full of OG jordans (including an OG canvas AJ1 which cost like 1980980914 yen). and thats only half of of the store. the other half consist of video games, electronics, an arcade and a tiny carousel.

ill call my mom and see if she knows the name of it.

ummm...

okumas pretty nice. but all the gaijin go there, and there are much better spots. waterskis and bananaboats are fun though.

you should also go diving while there. i heard its like in the top 5 best places to dive. and if youre good at killing things underwater, you could usually score a free lobster dinner or 5.

umm....

alcohol.

ummm.....

if you want to go to the bases (dont know why youd want to) kadena and foster are the only ones worth going to. unless youre into single marine men.

uuhhhhh......

cant remember anything else right now.

and my experience is limited to this

area because i couldnt drive when i was there and relied on friends driving me around everywhere. and they usually wouldnt drive any farther than that.

im pretty sure naha is a whole nother beast.

goodnight.

[red]

and eat some goya. them niggas love goya.

[Ahlvahroe]

nothing to add yet, im planning on heading to okinawa in like 2 weeks, beginning of august, so i just need to subscribe to this thread. i know almost nothing about this place so i need to start researching quick. havent even bought my ticket, will do tonight though.

[Ahlvahroe]

how much does scuba diving cost there? ive been searching but i cant find an answer. i also really want to check out the aquarium. but besides that im really unclear an what else i want to check out. i usually just aimlessly wander but i dont want to this time, i want to make the most of my time there.

[salaryman]

how much does scuba diving cost there? ive been searching but i cant find an answer. i also really want to check out the aquarium. but besides that im really unclear an what else i want to check out. i usually just aimlessly wander but i dont want to this time, i want to make the most of my time there.

Ahlvahroe, where are you staying? I may be able to give more local information based on your actual region.

Although the island is relatively small, it can take a while to get from place to place, is not always easy to navigate since its not like everything is one particular area.

You don't plan on renting a car or anything like that right? If you can I would recommend it, but its obviously not always feasible for everyone.

Anyway, if you are into diving you may want to consider just making that the focus of your trip since Okinawa has some of the best diving spots in the world. Taking a course, and getting to some nice spots will occupy enough of your time, and you can plan small stuff around that. I think normally it takes about a week or so to get license, but some tourist types places can definitely do express courses in a shorter amount of time. Prices would vary based on what comes with the course, and stuff like that, but I think I did mine over 6-7 years ago for around $150. That may or may not have included one dive. That sounds cheap to me now, plus it was on a base. I will ask a friend of mine on the island if she has any detailed info she could give me and I'll try and get back to you.

Otherwise, if diving doesn't work, there are still some sick beaches that you could snorkel at and see nearly just as much.

You can just walk out many places, go underwater and start seeing stuff.

To be honest, the best spots are on the smaller islands (Iriomote--great kayaking here too, ishigaki, MIYAKO) and if you have the opportunity or money to go, do it. But there are good places on the mainland too: Maeda point and Oura Wan bay are popular, Sunabe seawall and Kadena steps are also very accessible, Hedo is good. This site has more info on diving spots (http://www.mccsokinawa.com/mccs.asp?id=563) but if you do a course, they will probably just decide for you. But if you decide to just do snorkeling on your own, you could just roll up to any of the places I mentioned and jump in and start finding nemo.

If you can get a day trip/diving group going out to the Kerama islands, they are fantastic. I went there for a diving trip once, and once with a fisherman, both times we stopped on uninhabited islands in the archipelago. Ridiculous.

(not my pic)

[salaryman]

Other stuff to do:

Aquarium like you said

Better yet, swim with whale sharks, (http://www.japanupdate.com/?id=4019)

Mangrove forests (north on the mainland at Gesashi bay, or on Ishigaki/Iriomote)

(Iriomote)

Shuri Castle

Okinawan bull fight

Grub taco rice, okinawa soba, try some habu sake, blue seal ice cream, goya champaru, and anything pork.

Go to a festival (http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/022/en/search/c_e03.html) (Okinawan eisa drumming is dope)

Cop Okinawan denim

Mihama American village

Drink orion on the beach and game dark skinned J girls.

Also, have you ever heard of couchsurfing?http://www.couchsurfing.org/

You can find people willing to let you stay with them, or even just to show you around pretty much anywehere in the world. Obviously it can be hit or miss, but even if you don't stay with them, if you find someone cool, it can be really nice to have an insider showing you around. A lifeguard I knew on Okinawa used to do it and partied with guests while also being kind of tour guide.

Get lost in small towns. Eat a lot. Drink Awamori until you can't stand up. Have fun.

[Ahlvahroe]

ok so im only there very short amount of time, i get almost no time off at this job, so i am only there the 1st to the 4th. im staying at the Kasiwaya Guesthouse, which is in naha city, since i dont know any thing about the lay of teh land i dont know if thats good or not.

swimming with whale sharks, mangrove forest, bull fights, anything pork, dark skinned j beezies, this all sounds awesome!

ill do some research tomorrow, so thanks

[Appleseed]

If you are stuck in Naha, I would HIGHLY suggest following the Kerama day trip advice. Assuming you aren't going to have a car, getting around to some of the better Okinawa Island beaches might be harder. Seeing the whale sharks is pretty dope, and getting to the aquarium should not be too difficult.

tacorice/awamori/ishigakigyuu

^ a couple of random shots from one of the Kerama shits, a couple of years ago.

[salaryman]

Yeah, I would recommend getting out of Naha as much as you can. Sometimes there are festivals there, and ok nightlife, but its probably the least "Okinawa" city on Okinawa.

[herpsky]

Yeah, I would recommend getting out of Naha as much as you can. Sometimes there are festivals there, and ok nightlife, but its probably the least "Okinawa" city on Okinawa.

I have been to Ishigaki and Iriomote Islands.

Food in okinawa is really hit or miss. Those guys make everything extra sweet. Stuff like katsudon taste sweet too.

Mangrove forest / water buffalo is a must see...

Blue seal ice cream is A++++

Ishigaki's beaches are amazing.

Eat some chinsuko while you are there.

not chinko. no homo.

[herpsky]

blue seal used to have a store in shibuya center gai.

it didnt taste as good as the real thing.

i always liked their purple icecream