Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
temperature is around 72 °F (22 °C). Summers are hot, climbing to the mid-90s Fahrenheit
(mid-30s Celsius) (95 °F /35 °C), especially in July and August. But winters are milder than
Orlando's where, as all orange growers know, it can freeze. Because the island is surroun-
ded by the Pacific Ocean's warm Kuroshio Current (
黒潮
; lit. “Black Tide”), in winter it never
drops below 50 °F (10 °C). Humidity and precipitation are high throughout the year. It rains
almost half the days of the year, although much of this is during the rainy season in May and
June. Okinawa lies in the path of the East Asian typhoon system known as “Typhoon Alley,”
and from July through November is often hit by typhoons and monsoon rains.
With the exception of a few of the cooler winter months, Okinawa offers virtually every
type of good weather outdoor activity, from golf and tennis, hiking, biking and rock climbing,
fishing and whale watching to swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving. There are over a
dozen luxury resorts and many more smaller hotels and
minshuku
inns on the island. All fea-
ture a variety of activities for their guests and day visitors, or they can connect you to them.
Okinawa also has a number of oriental gardens, parks and
gusuku
ruins (ancient fortresses).
Finally, and tragically, this wonderful island was the site of the Pacific's most awesome and
terrible battle of World War II. As a result, the lower part of Okinawa is covered with historic
war memorials, monuments and museums.
Okinawa is a big enough place to divide our coverage of its major sights and places of in-
terest into several sections: the Southern part (
南部
; Nan-bu), the Middle section (
中部
; Chu-
bu) and the North (
北部
; Hokubu). There are no markers of any kind indicating these delin-
eations. The divisions are more a matter of custom. So, for example, although the Southern
section only encompasses the lower 9-14 miles (15-22 kilometers) of the island, it includes
the vast majority of the island's population and many, if not the majority, of its best-known
sights.
The South begins, quite logically, at Okinawa's bottom, Cape Kyan (
喜屋武埼
or
喜屋武
岬
; Kyan-zaki or Kyan-misaki). The Southern section of the island includes the major World
War II memorials like the Peace Memorial Park, as well as Okinawa's largest city, Naha, and
the airport. Naha's sights include Shuri Castle, the Japanese Naval Underground Headquar-
ters, the main shopping street, Kokusai-dōri, and several of Okinawa's gardens. The airport is
just below Naha City and can be reached by the metro. Naha also holds three sea ports, two
for long-distance ferries and one for the Kerama Islands and many of the other closer islands.
