The views from the coast road were amazing. Miyako's really famous for its snorkelling and scuba diving, and you can see why from all the coral reefs in this photo.

One thing that struck us about Miyako (and Okinawa in general), was how green it is. On the mainland greenery is generally confined to the mountains or the (very rare) urban parks, but Miyako was swathed in colour.

Jeff, the Canadian barman in Bamboo, tipped us off about this beach on the far side of Kurima island. After crossing the bridge to Kurima (see below) and navigating some seldom used farm tracks we emerged to this:

The beach was amazing but completely deserted. Best beach ever? Possibly...

The bridge to Kurima Island is apparently the longest farm road bridge in Japan. It's quite strange to drive across - one minute you're on a narrow road going through sugar cane fields, and the next thing you know you're on an enormous bridge in the middle of the sea.

Sunset at Sunayama beach. Bit cloudy, but hey, you can't win em all...

The Ueno German Village ranks up there as one of the most comical/bizarre tourist attractions I have ever seen. It's a bit like a German Disneyland, complete with frankfurters and oompah music, and it even has a lifesize replica of Marksburg Castle. The reason for all this randomness is that in 1873 the people of Ueno village rescued 8 German sailors who were shipwrecked off the coast, and Emperor Wilhelm was so grateful he sent the islanders a monument (see below). This seemingly insignificant event has been outrageously, and humourously, blown out of all proportion to the extent that the islanders decided to build a German theme park to cement their "ties" to the aforementioned European state. The "ties" between Miyako and Germany reached their peak when Prime Minister Gerhard Schroeder was persuaded to visit the theme park in 2000. I can only imagine what he was thinking.

The (tiny) monument sent by Emperor Wilhelm to the islanders of Miyako. Interestingly, the nearby plaque says that the incident of the shipwreck only "came to the emperor's attention" in 1876 - three years after the event. Obviously Wilhelm was a busy man.

On the third day we took a ferry over to nearby Irabu Island, and found probably the best beach I've ever seen. Again we had to travel through farmland to get there, and again we just couldn't understand why a beach as gorgeous as this wasn't rammed with people.

Coral rocks on the shoreline.

I'm a terrible swimmer, but I plucked up the courage to take a dip in the water. The sea was waist height for what seemed like miles, and it was so clear I could see beautiful white fish swimming round my legs. It was amazing.

Flick looks at the sunset on our last night in Miyako.

There was just time for one last beer before we boarded the ferry back to Naha... [Sigh] I'm going to miss Miyako.

Okinawa Part 1 - Naha

I've just gotten back from a 10 day holiday in Okinawa with Flick - and it was absolutely fantastic. I've got so many photos and things to say about it that I'm going to have to split it into two posts...

First up, geography. If you don't know, Okinawa is the most southern prefecture in Japan, and comprises a chain of islands which stretch down almost to Taiwan. We flew in to Naha, which is on the main island (Okinawa-Honto), then after about 4 days we got a 9 hour ferry to Miyako-jima, which is a much remoter island in the far south.

We almost didn't get to Naha though......

How shall I put this....? Um.....

I made a...errrr.....teensy, weensy......mistake...

It all started because we were invited to a wedding reception on Sunday night, the day before we were due to leave. I was really tired, and I hadn't had time to pack during the day, so I was planning to just turn up, give my congratulations, then leave after about an hour to get a good night's sleep. Our flight left at 8.35am the following morning from Komatsu airport in Ishikawa prefecture, so we were going to have to get an early start.

The first problem occurred when I arrived dressed in a suit and quickly realised that everyone was wearing casual clothes. Even the bridegroom was wearing a hoodie. Obviously Japanese wedding receptions were quite different from English wedding receptions.

The second problem occurred when we were asked to pay 4,000 yen (20 pounds) each for the food and drink. Suddenly the plan of having a coke and then driving home seemed more unlikely. There was no way I was going to pay 20 quid and not have a drink... After a quick planning meeting me and Flick decided we would pay for a daiko* in my car, then pick up her car in the morning.

It turned out to be a fantastic party, and before we knew it 1am had rolled around, which was a little later than we intended to stay out, but what the hell, how many more times am I going to get to go to a wedding in Japan? Packing proved a little difficult in my inebriated state, but I adopted the usual male technique of emptying my clothes drawers into my rucksack, and in no time it was done.

I set the alarm for 4.45am, which would give us plenty of time to pick up Flick's car, then drive to Fukui and get a bus to Komatsu airport. In fact, I set two alarms, just to be sure.


Neither of them worked.


Flick shook me awake and pointed to the clock. The glowing numbers said 7.10am. Our flight was at 8.35am. There was no way we were going to make it. At this point the only thing either of us could say was "Oh my God".

The nightmare situation had happened.

Flick tried calling the airport to put the flight back, but they said there was no way we could do it. In fact, we'd have to pay a cancellation charge if we didn't make the flight, and still have to pay for another flight. We had no choice - we had to try and get on the plane.

I have never driven so fast in all my life.

My car is only a 660cc yellow plate, but I was overtaking BMWs as we raced against time.

I was certain we wouldn't make it, and that Flick was only moments away from dumping and/or murdering me, but then a sign for Komatsu airport drifted into view. It was 8.10am. We could still make it.

Flick was frantically shouting into the phone to tell the airline we were nearly there, but the frankly rather stupid woman on the other end of the line was having trouble grasping the point.

"You want a flight to Okinawa?"

"NO!! We have a flight to Okinawa! We're on the way to the airport!"

"Which airport do you want to fly from?"

Flick hung up as we screamed into the airport car park. She ran off to try and hold the check-in whilst I frantically searched for a parking space. It was 8.33am.

Flick called my mobile just as I parked the car. "You have to run! They're gonna hold it for us, but you have to be here NOW!!!".

I grabbed her rucksack (which incidentally weighed about the same as a semi-detached house) and dashed to the terminal. Exhausted, I made it to the security gate, but, inevitably, it beeped as I went through. After frantically emptying my pockets the machine persisted in its infernal beeping, at which point the security guard asked me to take off my shoes.

Yes, my shoes.

It was 8.36am. I could see the plane through the window. And they asked me to take off my shoes so they could x-ray them. Richard "shoe bomber" Reid has a lot to answer for.

By this point I had a trail of airport staff running along behind me, picking up stuff I was dropping as Flick was yelling "HURRY!!!" from the doorway to the plane. We got on board at 8.39am. I still had my shoes in my hand.

Everyone was staring at us. The two stupid foreigners who couldn't make it to the airport on time. Gingerly, we took our seats, and I entered a state of disbelief - I couldn't believe we'd actually made it. I think I was in a state of shock after that. I remember wondering whether I should put my shoes back on or leave them off. I surmised that in the event of a crash it might be easier to escape the plane with shoes on, but if we crashed over the sea they might be more of a hindrance. Since we were over the ocean I decided to leave them off, and fell into a deep sleep which lasted the whole flight.

After landing the pilot made an announcement apologizing for "the delay".

Whoops.

Still, it all turned out OK in the end (and I still have a girlfriend), and Naha turned out to be a fantastic city. It reminded me a lot of Brighton - there were all sorts of funky cafes and bars as well as loads of cool looking shops hidden away in side streets. Plus it felt so relaxed - altmost the antithesis of Osaka or Tokyo. Anyway, I've banged on enough - enjoy the photos!


*daiko - like a taxi service, but where two people turn up in one car, then one of them drives your car home and the other follows. Great idea, and cheaper than a taxi.

Goyah - my new favourite vegetable. They taste quite bitter when raw, but they're really healthy and delicious if cooked right. And speaking of delicious food, Okinawan cooking is wonderful: it tends to be a lot spicier than the usual Japanese cooking, and uses a lot more vegetables. I wonder if there are any Okinawan restaurants near Fukui...

You know you're in Okinawa when the postboxes have dragons on them.

The city centre of Naha, although quite small, seemed to be fairly standard by Japanese standards - the usual massive pedestrian crossings, office blocks and department stores.

Another shot of Naha city centre.

They had Spar convenience stores in Naha, just like in England! Well, sort of - these are "Hot" Spars. You get the usual sandwiches, bottled drinks and magazines, but the staff are topless and on roller skates.

On our second day we took a trip to one of the main tourist attractions in Naha - Shuri-jo castle. Before the Ryukyu Islands were taken over by the Japanese, the king used to rule from here. Flick is posing in front of one of the many gates leading up to the main building.