Naha, Okinawa, Japan

                                                      The Island of Okinawa

Saturday, March 8, 2019      Naha, Okinawa, Japan

The ship arrived in the Port of Naha at 8:00am to a wonderful temp of 70 degrees. With overcast skies and spitting rain Larry and I walked a little over a mile into the town to catch the monorail. 

As we hiked into the city we were the two gargoyle dragon type characters. The Legend of the Sheesha said that these iconic dragons would protect the homes of the city. A closed mouth dragon keeps the good spirits in and the open mouthed dragon expels the bad spirits. We spotted these dragons on roofs and entrances in to homes and businesses throughout the city as we ventured. 

I became obsessed with spotting them.

                      Naha has a population of 325,000. One of the smallest cities we have visited.

The homes were concrete white....reminded us of the Arab homes.

This city served as capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom and has been the working port for over 500 years going back to the 15^th century. The Japanese annexed the island in 1879.  Okinawa has been a military stronghold for 139 years enduring the longest, fearful battle in the Pacific during World
War II.

As we walked to the A. Kokusai-Dori Street we passed Kukushuen  Garden with the remains of twisted metal gurders  remaining from the war. 

Larry and I purchased a day ticket for the monorail for 800 jpy ($1USD=112JPY) and rode to the end of the line, stop 15 to tour the Shurijo Castle first built in 1300 and now a UNESCO  World Heritage Site since 2000.

We walked up a steep hill....all these leaders built their homes on top of hilltops for protection.

                                   The walls around the castle....moat like were extremely tall.

                                                                               Soooooo scenic!

This was the residence of governing kings (many sat on the throne over that period of time) and the seat of the local government until 1879 when Okinawa became a prefecture of Japan.

The castle has been burnt to the grown 5 times, the last time obliterated during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945…a few days before the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Each time the Castle was rebuilt to the same original structure with the last restructure being completed to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the return of Okinawa to Japan. The United States retained control of Okinawa after the war, eventually handing it back to Japan in 1972.

We enjoyed walking through the Shureimon Gate, this beautiful portal welcomed Chinese ambassadors in the early 1500’s.

We passed by two original entrances…

                                                                 Shukujunmon Gate

                                                              Roukokumon Gate

We passed through another entrance….the Kankaimon Gate and then another Zuisenmon Gate. This place had more ancient security gates than the Kremlin.

We walked through the castle after purchasing a ticket for around $13 USD. We passed one final gate….

                                                      Houshinmon Gate....the last gate!

                                                                            The Castle

                                      Looking out of the castle grounds, back t where we entered.

When entering inside the castle, we had to take our shoes off in traditional Japanese fashion. They gave us little plastic bags to put them in to carry along with us as we walked through museum portion of the Castle.

These little men were the castle police. They kept us going in the right direction.

We enjoyed seeing the original throne room…it was majestic…but I would have thought that the king would have had a soft cushion to rest upon...note the dragons with the open and closed mouths.

    There was an amazing wall of portraits of all the kings who ruled....around ten of them.

                                                                Ancient Royal Kimono

                                                                  Ancient Fan

Family rock garden behind their living quarters

The castle sat upon a huge mountain with amazing views of the city.

               We saw great displays and a couple of authentic umbrellas used to cover the king.

                 The G8 2000 meeting took place in the castle with then President Clinton.

                 This tiny display showed how the king  had his staff arranged for a meeting.

                                                   An old picture of a gate entrance

Shurijo Castle was a splendid representation of the past history of Okinawa and we enjoyed every minute of it.

After the monorail ride back to the Naha, we walked back to the ship passing  a VAGABON car....looked like someone was living  and traveling in it....stickers on it were from all over the world.

                                                  After walking in the drizzle all day..... 

we arrived back at the ship just as a huge downpour of rain began. Weren't we lucky to have dodged the really bad weather?

Not so lucky the next day…the winds were blowing 39 miles an hour canceling our next arrival day in Ishigaki, Japan. Port Authorities would only allow ships into its harbor with 24 mile an hour winds so we ended having a relaxing day at sea….and that  wasn't really too bad at all.