Study Abroad in Japan: Exploring Okinawa’s Beaches, Food and Culture

I recently spent just under a week in Okinawa! Despite being the same country, it was twice the degree, and somehow even hill-ier than Tokyo!! This blog will showcase some of my favourite finds and interesting features!

Hamasushi had several Okinawa exclusive items. Whilst the pork + egg nigiri was quite the insult to my taste buds, this roll was incredible!! It consists of avocado, fried tempura shrimp, seaweed and rice, which gets coated in flaky tempura crisps. It was absolutely delicious, mainland really needs to give it a go! 8/10

Other than my friend (who was the reason I ended up there in the first place), this Fanta is most definitely what I’ll be missing most!! Okinawa has a native fruit called シークワーサー (shiikuwaasaa), which sort of tastes like lemon? I didn’t get to try the actual fruit itself, but it certainly makes a delicious flavour of Fanta! 10/10

Blue Seal is Okinawa’s most popular ice cream! There are loads of stores scattered around the island which sell it, and it’s also a very popular brand in the konbini! It was quite creamy, with a range of flavours from mint chocolate chip (left) to cookies and cream (right)! 7/10

Being an island, Okinawa’s coastline was almost entirely beach! We were never not in walking-distance of the ocean! The two I visited were Tropical Island and the American Village beach!Tropical island beach, despite the rain was a beautiful beach, with a sectioned-off area to swim in. As Okinawa has a fair share of dangerous marine life, such as box jellyfish, lionfish and cone snails, amongst many others, it is advised to only swim in the marked area

American village is an American-style entertainment centre, less than an hour’s drive from the airport. It has a variety of shops, American-style restaurants, Blue Seal ice cream joints (of course), and a beautiful beach! My friend and I sat on the beach and enjoyed the sunset, before heading into the village for the evening! As there are more than 70,000 American troops on Okinawa, the place was super busy, but still so cool!

Similarly to Tokyo, mascot culture is very strong in Okinawa. Okinawa is home to the Shisa. The Shisa is a lion mascot, which is believed to ward-off evil and misfortune. There is a male Shisa, with a closed mouth, to protect from evil, and a female Shisa, with an open mouth to let in good. They’re often found outside homes, (which is why I tried not too take too many photos), but also make appearances as souvenirs and parodies of mascots.

The official Pokemon of Okinawa is Growlithe! In part, it is because of his resemblance to the Shisa, but also because its fearless and loyal character. When I went to the Pokecentre in Okinawa’s Raicom mall, I found him at the entrance, next to the Alolan Exeggutor! Many Pokemon have a regional Okinawan version!

Okinawa on the whole is a beautiful subtropical island! Despite visiting at the end of November, it was still shorts-weather (if you can firm the mosquitos!) and the nature was absolutely beautiful. My friend’s campus had a huge bridge overlooking a gorgeous lake, surrounded by vibrant green foliage.  I was so shocked that this was just the campus! Okinawa is also very open, and, as a result, people tend to prefer cars or mopeds, as opposed to public transportation.

That’s not to say there’s no public transportation! In Naha, the capital, there is a monorail with stunning views, as well as a fair bus system! If I lived in Okinawa, I’d walk/ cycle everywhere- I could never get tired of the beautiful views!!

Thank you for reading my post! I hope you find at least some of it interesting. Be sure to look out for that Fanta when you go!

Find out more about studying abroad whilst at York St John