Off to Okinawa on an $888 adventure
I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN FASCINATED BY JAPAN. IF I had a favorite place in Asia, hands-down it would be the land of ramen and tempura, anime, Uniqlo and Miniso, more heritage sites than you can count, low crime rates, smart toilets, and trains that actually wor
Japan is all over our timeline these days, but who’s complaining? There’s a raging tourism boom going on in that part of the world, which was visited by over 20 million more tourists last year than in 2011.
Last December, I set out for Okinawa, an island in Japan that is famous for beaches, karate, American bases, and… long life! Men in Okinawa live to be 84, while the women outlive the men to reach 90 years old. Also, many of the world’s centenarians come from the island. While some say the secret lies in their staple of mostly organic food from the bounty of nature, some say it’s the laidback island lifestyle, while still others say it’s the close-knit nature of Okinawan families.
A place with more tourists than people, Okinawa is front and center of Japan’s meteoric rise as a tourist destination. In 2017, it was poised to overtake Hawaii as a favorite island destination as Asians from bordering countries come in droves to experience this side of Japan.
Because Filipinos have had longer love affairs with the likes of Tokyo and Osaka, or Hokkaido where it snows and Kyoto which hosts magnificent shrines, we don’t know Okinawa that well.
First off, you can actually get there in only two hours if you take chartered flights through tours offered by Rak- so Travel.
Our group flew to Okinawa via Philippine Airlines last December under this unique arrangement for a 4D/3N tour of Okinawa for only $888 per person (on promotion at the Travel Tour Expo). The all-in fee covers airfare, triple-sharing hotel accommodations, tours and admission fees, transfers, most meals, and an English-speaking guide. Commercial flights otherwise take five hours via Taipei, and when it’s not promo season, the tour is priced above $900.
The Japanese love Okinawa to bits. It is their tropical paradise (the equivalent of our Boracay or Palawan); a place locals and foreign tourists visit when they want to escape the stresses of city life.
Not surprisingly, the world-class Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium (Churaumi means “beautiful ocean”) set against the sea is one of its top tourist draws. The aquarium, which is home to whale sharks measuring as long as 8.7 meters and a host of other large fish species, is among the largest in the world. The facility also takes on the challenge of breeding these whale sharks and manta in captivity.
Okinawa, or formerly the Ryukyu kingdom, was a prosperous trading nation that counted the Philippines among its trade partners. It was only annexed as part of Japan in the late 1800s during the Meiji Restoration – a pe- riod of great advancement in the country.
Owing to its rich heritage, a significant part of the tour offers a peek into life during the Ryukyu era through several attractions notably Shurijo Castle Park, a world heritage site. Like most pompous structures characteristic of the old world, the castle elicits curiosity and imaginings of a bygone era.
Okinawa World and Ryukyu Mura also offer glimpses into old Okinawa.
Most cultural tours begin with an animated Eisa dance performance accompanied by strings and drums. The dance is a tradition to honor the spirits of ancestors, and is performed in most Okinawan rituals and celebrations. Similarly, the ubiquitous shisa is part and parcel of Okinawan culture. The shisa, part dog and part lion, come in pairs and act like guardians – one to ward off evil spirits and the other to keep the good ones. So don’t be surprised if you’re asked to say “shisa” instead of “cheese” when taking photos.
We also got to try our hand at painting our own shisa at Ryukyu Mura, where we were given bare shisa-shaped ceramics that we could paint and design the way we wanted to. If you’re artistically challenged like I am, you get to take home a really lousy-looking shisa as your souvenir. If not, presentable shisa charms and talismans are for sale all over Kokusai Street, Okinawa’s famous shopping district, as are delicacies such as sweet potato tarts, Okinawan donuts and baked must-try chinsuko biscuits.
For those who love shopping but hate mall crowds, Aeon Mall Rycome is the place to get lost in. Or one can go for outlet shopping at the Mihama American Village, which is a hotspot for more than 25,000 US military personnel stationed in Okinawa since it remains a strategic location for US presence in the Pacific.
Getting lost around Okinawa World, we didn’t realize that we were actually walking on underground limestone caves for the length of the park. Spanning 5,000 meters long, the Gyokusendo Caves are said to be over three centuries old but were only discovered by an American exploration team in 1967. Inside the deep and long cavern, one can’t help feasting on the impossible details of the million or so stalactites and stalagmites that continue to form to this day.
The caves, with a steady 21ºC weather all year round, are hugely popular in Okinawa and even became a setting for a scene in “Godzilla” in 1974.
Okinawa also figures prominently in two other major Hollywood productions. In “Karate Kid 1 and 2” (1984), Hollywood pays tribute to Okinawa as the birthplace of karate (Japanese for “empty hands”). Influenced by Chinese martial arts, the sport traces its roots to a time during the Ryukyu kingdom when the use of weapons was banned by the king. Who would have thought that karate would later become a major form of unarmed combat and even an Olympic sport for the first time in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics?
Another major film that thrusts Okinawa to the limelight is “Hacksaw Ridge” (2016). Though filmed entirely in Australia, the Oscar-acclaimed movie depicts chilling scenes from the famous Battle of Okinawa in 1945 as it details the heroics of a young American soldier.
It was actually for the chance to visit the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park that I looked forward to this trip. The site is where scores of Japanese and Americans lost their lives when Japan made its final but futile stand before being overwhelmed by a “rain of steel” unleashed by Allied forces. More than 200,000 lives were lost in the annihilation, most of them Japanese civilians who either died or committed suicide in combined acts of bravery and desperation.
The merciless sound of artillery that bombarded Okinawa has been silenced; in its place an eerie calm and a longing for peace.
Since it turned its back on the horrors and futility of war, the Japanese people have been greatly respected and admired by the rest of the world.
If I have to explain why I find Japan a fascinating place, it’s quite simply because of its people, and how deftly the country blends the ancient Asian mystique on the one hand and the wizardry of the modern world on the other. Oh, and need I mention the weather that lets me breathe the unconditioned air, the food, and how everything seems to fall into place when you’re in Japan?
This Okinawa adventure was no different.
For more information, call Rakso Travel at tel. 651-9000 or visit www.visitokinawa.jp.