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Published: December 22nd 2020
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Akamata, or Ryukyu odd-tooth snake, Yambaru National Park
There are signs all over Okinawa warning you about the highly venomous habu (a type of pit viper). The akamata is much bigger and actually eats habu. I imagined Okinawa to be a tropical paradise. I was quite shocked while coming in to land to see that much of the island appeared to be urban. Turns out the southern portion of the island is largely one big conurbation. The few patches of green within it are generally air bases. Hence, I was equally shocked to learn that the US military still occupies almost 20% of Okinawa. However, we really enjoyed our 5 days on Okinawa and would recommend a visit. The parts that haven’t been built on are great and there is a lot of interesting history.
Not long after we arrived in Japan in October 2019, Shuri Castle, one of the highlights of Okinawa, was destroyed by fire. It was big news at the time and Japan was very sad, it being a 600-year old wooden castle recognised by UNESCO. Although, as with most of the ancient wooden structures in Japan, it had burnt down and been rebuilt numerous times, most recently following World War 2. It is still worth a visit when in Naha because the grounds and walls remain and the view is great. There are further castle ruins all over Okinawa.
Nakijin Castle Ruins
Probably our favourite of the many castle ruins dotted around the island. We visited quite a few while driving around. Most are little more than walls built of quarried coral blocks but some are quite expansive and all offer great views usually of both coasts. Not far from Shuri Castle in Naha is Shikina-en, a traditional Ryukyu-dynasty palace and gardens, which is also worth calling in. Additionally, a quite moving experience can be had by visiting the nearby tunnels that were the former Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters. What went on down and around there during the final days and weeks of the Battle of Okinawa was harrowing.
We didn’t stay in Naha but stayed in Chatan to be closer to the diving and other attractions in the north. Much of the northern end of the island comprises the Yambaru National Park. There are a few hikes you can take but generally you need a car to get to the trail heads. As the trails are short we did multiple in a day, driving in between. Most tourists seem to stick to the beach so we didn’t see many people in the national park. Consequently, we did see some wildlife. Some rustling in the undergrowth stopped us in our tracks
USS Emmons, a US destroyer sunk by kamikaze planes during the Battle of Okinawa
That's me with my head almost in the gun. Visibility was amazing to say it was a cloudy rainy day and we were 40 m deep. and had us backpedalling quickly when two young wild boar ran across the track in front of us. In case mother was with them we set off in the opposite direction quickly, which was when we came across the snake you can see on the photos. It was really pretty and only later Googling revealed it wasn’t venomous. However, for a time we had the wild boar on one side and the snake on the other, until it slithered off. Some of the paths marked on our map were completely overgrown and hardly used. The wild beasts made us turn back but not before I’d grazed against some evil plant. I ended up with a rash on my arm that got worse on later days and was maddeningly itchy for a couple of weeks. Unless it was one of the fire belly newts that we saw that somehow got me – though these are extremely toxic and Wikipedia is telling me I would have been dead within 6 hours!
The highlight for me of Okinawa was the diving. Scuba diving in Japan is expensive, but it is worth it in the case of Okinawa. There are plenty
Shikina-en, Naha
A palace from the Ryukyu Dynasty times. of English-speaking dive shops and your money does get you 5-star service and good equipment. We were there in April, just as coronavirus was becoming a problem and consequently after international flights to Japan had been halted. Apparently, the best dive sites often contain more divers than fish – Okinawa being a short flight and the closest good diving to South Korea, Taiwan and much of China. However, with the lack of overseas tourists, we were the only dive boat at the sites.
We dived Manza Dream Hole, a great dive where you drop down through a chimney in the reef shelf into a huge cavern, later emerging along a vertical wall. The highlight could have been the cathedral like cavern, it could have been the big schools of fish in the passage out of the reef, it could have been the colourful nudibranchs and pygmy seahorse, or the whale song that we could hear during the whole dive from the migrating humpback whales passing probably a long way offshore. However, while working our way back up the wall I happened to glance away from the interesting little stuff living in the coral crevices and saw a thresher shark.
That may need to be capitalised: A THRESHER SHARK!! If you aren’t aware of these magnificent beasts, they are like a normal shark but with an exaggerated tail fin that is about the length of the shark. It is as if whoever was designing the shark slipped while drawing the tail but created it anyway. We saw it, it saw us, then it swam away. The divemaster chased it for a photo but his camera was still set on macro so you can only just see it on the image. I spent the rest of the dive, and the next dive, looking for my sharky pal. In fact, I was concentrating so much on finding the shark that I hadn’t noticed the banded sea snake that apparently swam alongside me for a while before gliding/slithering over my shoulder right past my ear and away. It made the divemaster pretty nervous anyway as they too are extremely venomous; though they almost never bite and when they do their fangs are generally too short to penetrate a wetsuit. A thresher shark was probably on my list of wildlife I’d like to see but thought I never would. For some perspective, the divemaster
had over 3000 dives in Okinawa and many more dives elsewhere and it was the first thresher shark he’d ever seen as well.
I dived again the next day on the USS Emmons. This is a US destroyer sunk by five kamikaze planes during the Battle of Okinawa. The planes all hit within 2 minutes killing 60 crew and wounding 77. The wreck was located only in 2001. I do like diving wrecks, and war wrecks are particularly thrilling imagining what happened when it went down. The sensation was added to by the eerie deep blue light as a result of USS Emmons lying at a depth of over 40 metres but in water with excellent visibility. The guns, propellor and anchor are still in place and there are still torpedoes and depth charges on the deck. We did two dives on the wreck and being so deep, each is fairly short and requires a few safety stops on the way up. Entertainment was provided during the safety stops by funky little frogfish and their babies living in weed on the mooring buoy rope.
Overall, I’d say Okinawa is worth a trip but only if you
are in Japan already. If you are in Japan on holiday then there are much more interesting and beautiful places to go to on the main four islands but if you live in Japan then I would put Okinawa on your list.
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