Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of a large indoor shopping arcade. If you take a ride, you'll get a great bird's eye view of the
whole area. In addition to restaurants like Tony Roma's and the A&W, you'll find one of the
few “conveyor belt” sushi places on the island. There's a lot here and it's worth checking it out.
Kadena Air Base
(
嘉手納飛行場
)
Kadena Air Base is headquarters to the US Air Force's largest combat group, the 18th Wing. The base
was one of the irst targets in the Batle of Okinawa and the US commandeered it early in the cam-
paign. General Joseph (“Vinegar Joe”) Silwell accepted the inal surrender of the Japanese forces of
the Ryukyu Islands on September 7, 1945. Close to 20,000 Americans and thousands more Japanese
and civilian contractors make Kadena their home.
Ferris wheel at the “American Village” in Chatan.
5
SUNABE DISTRICT
砂辺
One final note, only a little bit up the road, north on Route 58 less than 1.75 miles (3 kilo-
meters) and due west of Kadena Air Base (
嘉手納飛行場
; Kadéna Hikōjō) Gate 1, you'll find
Chatan's Sunabe District (
砂辺
; Sunabé). here are plenty of bars and restaurants here, too,
so it's also an excellent place for going out, although there is not as much shopping as in Mi-
hama. What makes this place special is the scuba diving and snorkeling. It's one of the most
popular spots on the island for divers.
