沖縄: Some sightseeing!

We managed to drag ourselves away from relaxing at the beach or the hotel to do a little bit of sightseeing. We visited the very famous aquarium, Churaumi, and also Shuri Castle.

Life's a beach...

Yes, this is still Japan! We took a wonderful winter trip to tropical Japan, Okinawa. Mum came to stay and we had a four day weekend we could spend together. So, we booked a relaxing trip to Okinawa... It was incredible.

Yubu Island

The final post about our Okinawan Adventure! When we travelled to Iriomote Island the weather was so bad that we had to take a ferry to a different port. The next bus to take us to the other port - where the hotel staff would pick us up - was not for 2 and a half hours! Needless to say, we were pretty annoyed. But every cloud has a silver lining... Three young Japanese men in a car kindly stopped and said they could take us to Yubu Island - about half way between the two ports. It was a great opportunity for more sightseeing!

Taketomi Island

Four kilometres south of Ishigaki lies Taketomi Island. It is tiny and has a population of just 323 people! We took the 10 minute ferry over crazy huge waves to the small island, and spent the day exploring.

Iriomote Island

After Ishigaki, we headed to Iriomote Island. 90% of the island is jungle and swamps, and Iriomote is also home to the largest river in Okinawa. With terrible weather, again, we took a boat trip on Urauchi river and hiked through the jungle!

Climbing Mount Omoto

We casually decided to climb Okinawa's highest mountain: Mount Omoto.

Ishigaki Island

For our winter vacation we decided to travel to the southernmost islands of Japan - Okinawa.