Okinawa: Exploring The City

I wasn’t sure how I was going to be feeling, or really what to expect from my first full day in Okinawa, so while I had some things planned, I didn’t want to be too ambitious. Today, I would try to see Shuri Castle and the Okinawa Prefectural Museum while getting a feel for Naha. 

Unlike the sprawling train systems in places like Tokyo, Osaka, or Kyoto, Naha had just a single monorail running through parts of the city. Lucky for me, it stopped right by Shuri castle, and there was a station not too far from my hotel. I made my way over, grabbed a ticket, and headed off towards the castle. 

Once I got to the station, there were signs pointing me towards the castle, and before long I ended up at a park that seemed to go around the outer castle walls. I was the only one in the park, but I happily strolled along, though I was already beginning to sweat. 

I’ve mentioned before summers in Japan are no joke, but until now I’ve mostly been hiding inside with AC when the sun is up. I was worried about the heat before taking this trip, and while not as bad as I feared, I always felt like I had a time limit on my outdoor activities before sun stroke would loom over me. 

I finally got towards the castle proper, taking pictures of the lovely exterior along the way. I skimmed the Wikipedia page before visiting, learning that the castle was once a palace for the Ryukyu Kingdom and was nearly destroyed during World War II. After that it was converted into a university campus, but many of the main structures were destroyed in a fire in 2019. 

In my skimming, I must have either missed, or not really realized that it was still under reconstruction. So while the outer parts were still cool to see, the main area was more akin to a workshop than a castle. You could watch workers in the process of rebuilding the castle, and while interesting, it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I thought about visiting a castle. 

Still, I continued on around the outer edges of the castle, before having to take a break for some lunch. By the time I found a rest center with restaurants, bathrooms, and most of all AC, I was already drenched in sweat. I know everyone else is in the same boat, having to deal with the heat and the sweat, but this level of humidity still seems so absurd to this Canadian. 

I fought off the unpleasant sensations of my sweat soaked shirt, now cold in the AC, pressing against my back as I tried to enjoy my lunch. If I wanted to keep exploring everyday, I was going to have to get used to the heat one way or another. After a pretty good soba lunch, I decided to press on to the museum, feeling more energized with some food in my belly. 

Now, getting to the museum was a little less straightforward. I could either take at least two buses, or backtrack to the station, take the train, and walk from there. The catch was, the train station was about 20 minutes from where I exited the castle. The skies had gotten pretty gray, and while it threatened to rain, I decided to head back to the train station.

It only rained a little on my walk, and when you’re already slick with sweat what difference does a little water make anyways. I grabbed a new ticket, got on the train, and went one whole stop before getting off. I was a little annoyed there wasn’t a more direct way to get around, but this wasn’t intolerable I suppose. 

After a 15 minute walk, I could see the museum coming into view. It was attached to a nice park, and had some interesting art work near the entrance. I’m not usually a huge museum person, but I thought it would pair nicely with seeing a castle. Even if the traditional museum exhibits didn’t work for me, I knew the art museum would be more my speed.

As I went to get my ticket, I was surprised at how the exhibits were broken up. You needed separate tickets for the museum and the art museum, fair enough, but you needed separate tickets for the temporary museum and art museum exhibits. If I purchased all 4 tickets, it would have been around $30, so I grabbed just the normal museum and art museum exhibit tickets for about $10. 

I even got a bit of a discount for showing my ticket stub to Shuri Castle. It probably wasn’t worth the $1 I saved for how long I had to dig in my bag to find it, but I felt proud of my trip planning regardless. I wasn’t sure which exhibit to start with, so I just picked whatever sign I saw first, which happened to be the art exhibit. 

The first area was sculptures, which really didn’t make a huge impression on me. I’m sure they take plenty of skill and craftsmanship, but the statue of David was about the only sculpture that’s ever really wowed me. What I did like far better were the paintings. 

The paintings (I think) were organized by decades, and so I felt like I could get a sense of the culture and history of Okinawa as I walked around. It seemed to show their life, their culture, how it’s changed from factors both internal and external, and how art has evolved over the years. Sadly, I couldn’t take any photos, but there were plenty of paintings I would have loved to capture. 

Unlike the thick glass many museums stick paintings under, here there was just a line of tape on the floor separating me from the art. They had staff members posted in the corner of each room, making sure people weren’t touching anything, but often they were either asleep, or dozing off. It felt like a level of trust you almost certainly wouldn’t see back home, but I appreciate it. 

After leaving the room of paintings, I realized that it was for the art exhibit, the permanent one anyways. I did another lap to make sure I hadn't missed anything. I had to admit, I was a little disappointed, it felt small, and the single room of paintings was the only one I responded to. With a bit of resignation, I decided to go find the main museum exhibit. 

This exhibit felt more familiar, having areas about the geologic history of the area, the wildlife, the people, traditions, and folklore. It was all broken up into different sections, and while there was probably an intended path, I wandered from section to section looking at anything that caught my eye. 

I probably should have made more of an effort to really understand the different things on display, but I mostly looked things up and down, maybe skimmed the description, and moved on. Places like these feel a lot more interesting with company, you can wonder out loud, speculate with each other, then actually seek answers to your questions. On my own I usually thought “Oh that’s neat”, before moving on. 

I really liked the folklore section of the exhibit though, and spent the most time looking at different aspects of Okinawan culture and traditions. I also browsed the world war II areas of the exhibit, since I can only imagine how much influence the war, and the continued presence of the US military in Japan, especially concentrated in Okinawa, has affected Japan. I’ll leave that in-depth examination for the professionals, but I think it’s quite an interesting topic. 

Eventually, my interest waned as my fatigue grew, and I knew it was time to head back to the hotel. Once again, I could hoof it back to the station, take the train, and walk back to the hotel, or I could try a bus. This time, I decided to take the bus, and it was the latest bus I have ever taken here in Japan. 

Dramatics aside, it was only late by about 10 minutes, but I’ve never had transportation be this late in my 9 months here in Japan. One of my coworkers had cautioned me that it might be hard to get around Okinawa without a car. I had initially brushed this off, Japan has great transportation everywhere I’ve been so far, but Okinawa would definitely challenge this assumption. 

While I was cranky waiting in the heat, once the bus showed up I got over it, and headed back to the hotel. Based on today’s excursion, I decided about 4 hours in the heat was all this pasty Canadian could take. In 4 hours I had sweated from probably every pore in my body, and exhausted most of my energy. 

After a brief rest in my hotel room, I set out in search of food, fueling up to revisit the bar from last night. Just in case I got a little carried away, I decided tomorrow would be a relaxing beach day. I’ll spare you the details of my nightlife adventures, but it was a fun time. Having a lighter day planned for tomorrow turned out to be the right move after all. 

This wasn’t the most memorable day of my trip, but it was an important one for helping me find my footing. I got to see some cool places, get a feel for the city, and get a swift reminder about how intense the heat is. Without a day like this, I doubt the rest of my trip would have gone as smoothly as it did.