Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Our line separating the central and northern sections of Okinawa Island can be said to
start on the east coast, at the innermost indentation of Oura Bay (
大浦湾
; Ōurawan), and ex-
tends west to three-quarters of a mile (1 kilometer) below Nago. Conveniently, there's a road
that forms this almost perfect east-west delineation for us. We'll start our line where Route
331 almost touches the inner part of Oura Bay, then runs a bit south until it meets Route 329.
From there the road crosses the island in a fairly straight line northwest to just south of Nago,
at the junction of Routes 329 and 58. Crossing the island here, it's almost exactly 5 miles (8
kilometers) by road; as the crow flies, it's 3.5 miles (5.5 kilometers). Most everything of in-
terest below this line, all the way back to slightly above Naha, we've mentioned previously in
our Central Okinawa chapter. Now, in this chapter we'll cover the last remaining portion of
the island, the North.
From virtually any point along our Route 329 line north to Okinawa's end at the tip of
Cape Hedo, it's a tiny bit more than 25 miles (40 kilometers) as the crow flies. By road, the
distance varies widely. There's a choice, as this uppermost section of the island is entirely en-
circled by a coastal road. If we take the route following the east coast, Route 70, starting at
Oura Bay north to Cape Hedo, it's just under 50 miles (80 kilometers).
However, if we cross the island and travel north to Hedo Point on the west coast road
from the junction of Routes 329 and 58, following Route 58 all the way along the East China
Sea, it's 35 miles (56 kilometers). And that does not include the 5 miles (8 kilometers) from
Oura Bay to the Route 58/329 intersection below Nago.
The distances between the east and west coast routes are very different because the roads
are different. The west coast road is a highway and it tracks a very straight path north. In con-
trast, most of the east coast route is over a small local road and it twists and turns all the way
up the Pacific Coast. Both routes are scenic, and naturally many people will make a day of
it by going round the cape, up one side of the island and then down the other. A complete
circuit of the north section of Okinawa, starting and ending at Nago, is 90 miles (144 kilo-
meters). Count on most of a day to accomplish this.
