The Okinawa Islands - Japan's best kept secret

Staggeringly beautiful, the 159 coral-fringed islands of Okinawa are a truly undiscovered haven for those in the know! This Japanese archipelago is set some 600 miles from the closest part of Japan and ranges from large and hilly to remote, jungle-covered outcrops of limestone.

Snorkelling, diving and kayaking over turquoise bays and sparkling reefs are the reason most people travel here. But the traditional Ryukyu culture adds a distinctive flavour to any Okinawan holiday.

For a genuinely remote and luxurious holiday, head for the Okinawa Island... but don't tell the neighbours!

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The sun-drenched Okinawan Islands are Japan’s subtropical flipside. The archipelago’s climate is blissful; its beaches white and powder soft; its seawater translucent; and people famously laid-back, hip and quirky. Leave the salary-man suit in Tokyo; the national dress here is the Hawaiian-style ‘Kariyushi’ shirt.

The 159 coral-fringed islands themselves range from large and hilly to remote, jungle-covered outcrops of limestone. Snorkelling, diving and kayaking over turquoise bays and sparkling reefs are the reason most people travel here. But the traditional Ryukyu culture adds a distinctive flavour to any Okinawan holiday. Until 1879, when they were annexed by Japan, the islands formed a semi-autonomous kingdom, whose multiracial roots remain discernible in the local language (‘Okinawa-ben’), music (played on the three-stringed sanshin), Chinese-influenced architecture and, not least, the local Thai-style rice liquor, awamori.

Okinawa may look like just another idyllic beach haven, but it’s one with its own distinctive style and atmosphere, offering the perfect wind-down after a tour of the country’s heartlands.

 

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