Okinawa - Day 1

With less than one month left in Japan we took another big trip. This time to Okinawa. We've earned plenty of air miles over the last two years and had free flights. A nice benefit! We left early on Saturday the 23rd hoping for sunny, warm weather. Well, it wasn't Maui in August, but it was warmer than Tokyo at this time of year. After arriving at the airport we took a shuttle bus to the rental car terminal - about a 10 to 15-minute ride off-site. The rental car terminal is next to a very large outlet mall. We decided to get some lunch there. After we found this cute kiddie train ride. It cost Addison and I 200 yen (about $2) each to ride.



Then it was off to Kanucha Bay Resort and Villas, our hotel for the next two nights. It was a little more than an hour's drive from the airport. Unlike Tokyo or many of the main island's other large cities, the island of Okinawa doesn't have a train system. At least, not that we found. All travel on the island is by car or bus. But, I digress. We arrived shortly before sunset and were told the entire resort would be illuminated at sunset. We were even given special "viewing" glasses. The glasses looked like the 3-D kind you would get at the movies. When worn, each light looked like little hearts. This is supposed to be very romantic.

We'd never stayed at a resort before and I was very surprised at the size and variety of things to do. There were at least 6 restaurants on-site. The resort also has its own golf course, gift shop, convenience store, gym, and rental car service. Wow. We had dinner at Kusu Kusu, an Okinawan restaurant at the resort. Ian ordered an Okinawan specialty, soki soba. He let me try it and it was delicious. The broth was very light as compared with more soy-based broths for other soba (noodle) dishes. There were also two pork riblets in the dish, which Ian said were very tender and flavorful.



















And finally, a glimpse of our room. It was very spacious with two queen-size beds.