20 Things to Do in Okinawa, Japan! 🇯🇵 Amazing Cheap Hotel in Naha, Travel Tips, and Flights

ready to roll yeah where are we going we're going to [Music] Okawa let's do it 2023 has been quite a challenging year for us and it was time to create some great memories together by going to Okinawa and relaxing on Japan's beautiful tropical island in this video I'll go through an itenerary of what we did during our one week trip what we liked and also what we didn't like so much I'll include some of the things we ate but my wife Eugene will be going to more detail with a separate video on her channel so stay tuned for that if you're thinking about traveling to Okinawa we hope this video will help a little bit to learn about what to expect on this beautiful tropical island let's begin with flying to Okinawa first of all there are three main airports to choose from located on different islands naha makako and ishigaki naha is the biggest city that most people travel to and it's also located on the biggest island of Okinawa which there are 160 total and this is where we travel to if you're already in Japan there are a ton of airports to fly from but as an example it takes about 2 and 1/2 hours from Tokyo and 2 hours from Osaka there are also a lot of places in Asia with direct flights to naha with the furthest being quala lumur in Malaysia about 7 hours away and the closest being Taipei in Taiwan at an hour and a half we left from Soul South Korea and our flight took just a bit longer than 2 hours so it's about the same distance if you're in Seoul Osaka or Tokyo we booked our tickets for 1 week from November 9th to the 16th with t-way Airlines the website Skyscanner and they ended up being just over 200,000 Korean W each which is just over $150 USD that's incredibly affordable for a tropical vac to escape the cold in November on the way to Okinawa OK it's a pretty new airplane not a ton of legro money for me you're [Music] solid we arrived in naha at about 2:00 p.m. and we were ready to explore survived oh it's a Sho that's crazy actually after being in so yeah it's a hot and humid now we normally have to do the SIM card here but we already did that because we were able to order it from Korea online so we put the SIM card in on the plane uh so we can go right to the monreal which is pretty awesome it felt pretty surreal arriving in a tropical climate just a 2-hour flight away from Soul which was already transitioning to Winter we were headed for the mono rail which is easy to find from the airport by following the signs and we were surprised to find out that our ioka transportation cards we bought in Osaka wouldn't charge up in the machines here so we had to buy a new icy card just for Okinawa the Oka card first ride it's kind of like a mix of Taiwan and Japan so far right we are super excited to be traveling together again after about a year since we last went to saporo we were heading to kokori which is is the main tourist area in naha with tons of restaurants and a vibrant nightlife and just looking out the window of the Montreal you can see the insane organization and cleanliness almost to Perfection a site pretty much unique to [Music] Japan lemonade horim machine so Okinawa is one of the only places in Asia that has A&W which is really popular where I'm from in the west coast of Canada so it's been a while since we've had A&W so we're going to go check it out after eugen's amazement you li me Al that [Music] welcome Cheers [Applause] Cheers got the matah burger it's my favorite burger in Canada see how it compares [Music] thew here is about I'd say 60 to 70% of what you get in Canada it's not the exact same but it's definitely worth a try cuz it's only in Okinawa uh in all of Japan and maybe all of Asia too so now we're going to our hotel and there's a lot of stuff to see our hotel was just a 5-minute walk away from koku haori which we'll get back to soon and we booked it by checking on Google Maps for the hotel prices in the area to find the cheapest price and the best location we found a hotel called the glands in and when we arrived there was nobody at the front desk and there was an error in the system so we didn't get any instructions on how to check in to be honest we were panicking a bit and we thought that we wouldn't be able to check in today but luckily I was able to reach them by phone and immediately he sent an email with a pin number to unlock the mailbox and get our key woohoo wow Yi well actually not bad they balconies nice that's huge it's about $35 American per night here so it's pretty cheap there's a separate [Music] toilet there a microwave [Music] fridge it was now about 5:00 p.m. and time for us to finally start exploring kokui we noticed immediately that there are a ton of used clothing stores around in the back Alleyways and then once you get to the main strip you are surrounded by tons of souvenir stores which are all pretty similar and all have a selection of different Okinawa themed clothing mostly of odion the Okinawa beer brand which is my second favorite Japanese beard of saporo and also blue seal an ice cream company that started in 1948 on the US Army base in Okinawa and spread throughout the island as the most popular ice cream franchise and the ice cream is amazing for those who are wondering instead of going to dinner we ended the night with a convenience store run which is one of our absolute favorite things to do in Japan and we highly recommend it the next day we woke up and decided to get some brunch and on our way we stopped in at the 7-Eleven to withdraw money from the ATM which is an easy recommendation for people with a foreign card like us we then walked through the Alleyways and noticed a a lot of similarities to places like Taiwan and Vietnam naha definitely has a different vibe to it than other Japanese cities like Osaka and Tokyo actually it almost feels like a different country every corner you take which makes the whole experience fun in itself we arrived at CNC breakfast and tried the sule pancakes and eggs benedict which are both amazing and completely worth the 20-minute wait to get inside especially as there aren't that many breakfast places around we then took a walk through hewad DOI a massive covered shopping area with more shops restaurants and even hidden bars at nighttime this is a great place to spend some time in especially if it's raining which Okinawa is known for getting its fair share of especially in May and the summer months we then decided to head towards the ocean to see how the beaches are in Okinawa it's about a 25-minute walk to the beach from koku sadori and we decide to to just kind of wing it and walk in the general direction but we ended up getting lucky in passing by fukushu and garden which we thought was a random Park but it turns out it's actually a pretty famous spot for people to visit it costs 200 yen to enter and when you enter you get the atmosphere that I expected when I think of a Japanese garden it's really relaxing walking around looking at the koifish and the nice balance of the pond the trees and the traditional Japanese pagodas and there's even a little waterfall with a cave that goes behind it which is pretty cool to explore honestly I don't think we would have visited here if we didn't happen to pass by it but it ended up being a lot better than we expected we walked further toward the beach and found a great Mexican restaurant called Amigo tacos and tried taco rice which is an okan specialty and it was really good but our top recommendation would be the chicken tacos which are made with homemade corn tortillas and they were absolutely amazing our next stop was to check out the beach area we went to Nami no beach and it's not the most pH Beach to be honest with a bridge right in front of it but it looks good for a dip in the ocean as it gets pretty hot in Okinawa sometimes and its location is perfect for those who are staying close to koku sadori like us here there are a few things to see you can head West through the park called asaoka Park which is nothing special but it leads to the namu noi Shrine which is free and I always recommend visiting shrines in Japan just to catch a glimpse of the Shinto religion which is pretty unique and to see how people pay their respects and praise [Music] it was time to head to the shoy Castle which is the Palace of the Ruku Kingdom between 1429 and 1879 but unfortunately burnt down in 2019 due to Electric failure however we wanted to check it out anyway so we started by walking from koku sidei which is about 3 km or 45 minutes and we arrived at the kjo Stone Road which is built in the 1400s and used to to connect the shy castle and naha Port the walkway is built of limestone and it's a good way to get some exercise walking uphill to the castle while seeing a pretty unique atmosphere that goes through a nice neighborhood there are also some pretty cool hidden paths and a rest area when you get near the castle with some restaurants and even a blue seal ice cream stand if you're in the mood for one it was time to see what was left to the shoy Castle after the disaster we had to pay 400 Yen each to get in but I'm hoping that our money is being used well to pay the workers to take on the huge task of reconstructing the castle which looks very complex to do at the entrance you can see some of the pieces of the castle that survived the fire it was pretty crazy that these two dragon statues stood standing even when everything else around them disappeared there is also a pretty nice view of naha before you even pay to get into the castle so I'd recommend going up just for the view if you don't want to go inside we got through the main gate and as expected you can see where the castle was and where they're reconstructing it inside a temporary building they show off all of the materials the techniques they use and just how much effort it really takes to build again at the top of the castle grounds you get another nice view of the city and that was about all there is to see so we left the castle grounds through the main gate and that wrapped up our tour of the shooty castle [Music] area during day four it was our relaxing day and also editing for our last video but we came out for a bit back to hwad to try some traditional okina and fast food Jeff Burger we ordered the new yadu burger set which is a burger with Spam egg cheese and Goya the bitter melon it's a vegetable native to Okinawa and looks similar to a cucumber but it's kind of spiky and it's really bitter to be honest it wasn't our favorite but still worth trying just for something local and then we went back to koku haori and suddenly there was a big parade going on I guess sometimes you can just get lucky and see this kind of thing from time to time [Music] [Music] it was now time to head out of naha and explore the island a bit and go to one of the things that Okinawa is most known for the chudi aquarium we found a bus that heads there called the Okinawa airport shuttle and it leaves close to kokori at the kencho kuchi or Okinawa prefectual government office bus stop it leaves about every hour or so but I recommend trying to take the express bus if possible as it takes just under 2 hours instead of the almost 3 hours it takes to catch the normal bus and just so you know this bus is cash only and it's not cheap at all at 2,000 yen to get to the aquarium and on this trip we made the realization that Okinawa is not shaped to do little day trips from naha via bus to see nature around the island that's because it's a very long and skinny Island and as you can see most of the Southern half were naha is located is surrounded mostly by cities we got to the aquarium in about 2 hours and it looked like no other aquarium we had seen before it's almost like a big theme park from the outside and we were pretty hungry and noticed that there aren't that many restaurants near the Aquarium but we found an all you can eat buffet for 2200 Yen each not cheap but it ended up being a really good way to try a bunch of different okan Specialties at the same time to see what stands out and then you can go try one of the places later within the city that you really liked we also got lucky with an amazing view that overlooks the ocean and now it was time to enter the aquarium it cost just over 2,000 Yen Which is less than $15 USD to get inside and we intentionally waited for a weekday in hopes that there would be less people however it was still pretty crowded even in November which isn't exactly peak season in ninawa the the aquarium has a decent assortment of fish tanks to look at but you spend a lot of time waiting in line or trying to see through the crowds it wasn't anything particularly special until we got to the big tank with a whale shark and a few manta rays this was clearly the highlight of the entire experience and it was really cool to look at there was even a cafe called The Ocean Blue Cafe that you can pay 500 yen for 40 minutes A Time In addition to drinks but you have to reserve on site every day starting at 8:30 a.m. and honestly other than that there's a dolphin show with very limited seating and some really small tanks with sea turtles and manatees which was a little depressing to look at to be honest I'd say if you're with a family or love aquariums give it a shot but this is an aquarium only worth going to once in my opinion let's go after spending an entire day traveling to the aquarium we started to realize that it'd probably be best just to check things out within the city of naha Japan has a huge history of electronics and Anime and one of my absolute favorite things to do is to go to secondhand stores to check it all out we took the Montreal about 15 minutes from prefectural Office Station to akam Station to check out mangao a massive secondhand store that has pretty much everything you can think of from old watches and accessories secondhand clothing and shoes anime goods from a variety of generations and of course video games this is a nice place to spend 30 minutes to an hour just to look around if you're interested but we didn't buy anything here because it wasn't that cheap overall we then went all the way up to a place that appeared in one of mar Queen's videos called taka ISU SOA we wanted to do a little test just to see if the places that guy goes to are legit and we were pleasantly surprised we tried the Okinawa soba a local specialty of handmade soba noodles and a light Savory pork broth with egg green onions and very soft and tender pork my St Detroit all right this is one of the best meals we had on our trip and we highly recommend it so thanks for the tip Mark we ended the day by going to the American village a tourist spot in Northern naha that's supposed to replicate America I guess but it's mostly just a shopping area to buy goofy American themed Goods or to take pictures at for Instagram or something it was a bit crowded so we just grabbed some snacks at the convenience store and looked out at the ocean the American village wasn't really our style to be honest but there are a lot of people who enjoy this kind of thing and it even has a Red Lobster if you want to check out some classy American Cuisine at the end of our trip we had a big realization we had been doing a lot of walking in the neighborhoods between tourist spots and just exploring the city was actually one of the most fun things to do so I want to put it out as my absolute top recommendation Japan has its own way of living and you get the strongest sense of it while just roaming around you get to see the regular people what kind of houses they live in the stores that people shop at which are also usually the best places to find hidden gems you can walk through random parks and see people going for walks and living their day-to-day lives and you might find a massive camera store like the big camera store we found here the tourist spots are really similar between each country and I totally understand why people enjoy going to them but walking through the streets is the absolute best way to get a real feel for a country and how it's people live and lastly it's time to end our amazing trip back at kokori to show its true beauty the night life we spent our last night checking out the famous steakhous 88 which isn't the fanciest or most expensive restaurant or anything but it was a great place to spend our last night we both ordered the tenderloin steaks which you can pick your size and how you want it cooked they came fast and they were incredibly juicy came on a hot plate and they were served with mashed potatoes green beans carrots and corn it's not the best steak I've had in my life or anything but worth it just to spend the last night in koku sori style then there's the Main Street itself and just as I was talking about how you shouldn't only go to tourist spots I also don't want to completely steer people away either because koku sori is one of the most fun places we've ever been to and the perfect place to relax and enjoy the nighttime for people of all ages single or not single it's vibrant and filled with a huge variety of things and some things I never thought I'd ever see in Japan like the Stalls selling CBD just like you'd see in Thailand and then there's nangai an indoor place with tons of isak kayas or Japanese bars themed like a food market with tons of vendors trying to get you to stop at the shop kind of like what you'd find in Korea to be honest and then when you venture into the hewad Dori shopping arcade you find little bars tucked away in the corner with small groups of office workers drinking and chatting the night away together which is something almost straight out of the TV show Midnight Diner which is awesome for those who haven't seen it and then on the Main Street there's street food goofy Gift Stores everywhere snake alcohol and of course Don keyote the famous gift shop found all over Japan you can find everything you can think of when you think of Japanese nlife here and our favorite thing to do was just to keep walking around the streets and people watching this is the part we'll remember the most and why I think you should stay near koku sori at least for a couple of nights to soak it all in a Vibe unique to Japan but not uniquely Japanese with tons of influence from the outside world making for an unforgettable experience that we will fly back to Okinawa someday just to see again and that wraps up our trip and the 20 things that we did and recommend we hope this video was helpful to plan your trip to Okinawa someday and if you want to support us you can like the video subscribe to to see more similar videos in the future and consider supporting us on patreon if you have the financial flexibility to do so thank you so much for watching and we'll see you soon in another [Music] video

Channel: Lost Then Found

Views: 20,784

Keywords: lost then found, korea, travelogue, kvlog, 국내여행, 여행, 국제커플, 브이로그, adventure, 세계 여행, LTF, korean vlog, korean life, 한국, living in korea, gukjecouple, 코나다커플, okinawa, naha, japan, naha okinawa, kokusaidori, churaumi aquarium, okinawa aquarium, japan travel tips, what to do in okinawa, what to eat in okinawa, where to go in okinawa, okinawa restaurants, naha restaurants, kokusaidori hotels, japanese food, steak house 88, t'way airlines, seoul to okinawa

Id: _khy2GUmHGk

Length: 22min 26sec (1346 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 26 2023