We toured Japan Okinawa Island from 8 to 15 Dec 2019 (Beginning of Winter Season)  for 8 days 7 nights with 2 children (11 yrs old & 4 yrs old). Here’s a summary of our Okinawa Island Itinerary. The Airline we took was Scoot Airlines  and the flight hours was about 5 hours.

We visited a total of 20 places. Our Accommodation was Sunshine Coast Homestay Accommodation in Chatan.

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What We Achieved for First Japan Trip to Okinawa Island :

1. Saw whale sharks for the first time.
2. Saw the most beautiful sunset on Sunset beach in Chatan
3. Hiked in a subtropical cool forest on a highland, wearing outer coats and warm clothing.
4. Walked the ruins of an old castle.
5. Walked in an underground limestone cave.
6. Climbed up a lighthouse.
7. Explored some old Okinawan houses.
8. Held a chick for the first time
9. Fed a variety of animals – goats, rabbits, birds,
   guinea pigs, spider monkey
10. The kids painted a clay whale shark for the
    first time.
11. Visited a Japanese war bunker.
12. Learnt about the history of the War in Okinawa.
13. Took a boat ride through beautiful highland lake waters.
14. Toured a pineapple factory.
15. Admired some lightings at night in a
    Ryukyu cultural village.

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8-DAY FAMILY TRAVEL ITINERARY FOR OKINAWA ISLAND

DAY 1  – Chatan

• Flight to Okinawa direct by Scoot Airlines
• Okinawa Accommodation (Sunshine Coast)
• Lunch in Nakagami District near homestay – Ichibantei
• Okinawa Sunset Beach – viewed the most beautiful sunset
• American Village – dinner and shopping

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DAY 2 – Motobu

• Okinawa Village – Explore old houses and fed goats.
• Played in the huge children’s playground.
• Churaumi Aquarium – Saw whale shark for the first time! Watched a dolphin performance and lunch.
• Snack in A&W Chatan
• Dinner takeaway Itchibantei sushi to homestay

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DAY 3 – Nanjo | Itoman | Tomigusuku | Naha

• Gyokusendo Cave – walked in a limestone cave and admired the pool of waters.
• Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum – to understand about the horrors of World War II
• Former Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters – walked in a Japanese bunker to learn about World War II
• Naha Kokusaidori Street Shopping – Tourist shopping area and dinner

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DAY 4 – Nakijin | Nago

• Nakijin Village History and Culture Center – Learn about Okinawa history
• Nakijin Castle Ruin – Scenic spot with old castle walls
• Nago Pineapple Park – take a cute automated pineapple cart and see pineapples growing
• Cape Manzamo – To look at the elephant-shaped rock
• American Village night – shopping

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DAY 5 – Chibana | Yomitan, Nakagami District

• Miyagi Coastal Walk – behind our Sunshine Coast homestay, huge waves crashing
• Southeast Botanical Gardens – feed variety of animals, love the rabbits!
• Cape Zanpa Lighthouse – climbed up the scenic spot to look at overview of ocean / walk among the rocks to view the crashing waves
• Murasaki Mura Lantern Festival – watched a fire-eating performance / walk in beautiful lightings throughout the park at night

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DAY 6 – Goya | Naha

• Wonder Museum in Okinawa Zoo – explore scientific installations, so fun for the kids!
• Okinawa Zoo – took a coin-operated ride that was fun. Some huge animals were caged in concrete and sorry state so I did not want to view them. We fed small animals such as guinea pigs and picked up chicks for the first time!
• Naha Kokusaidori Street Shopping – back to shopping at touristy place

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DAY 7 – Uruma City | Naha

• Bios No Oka – Hike and Boat Ride through a cool forest, Nature Playground made of wood, Pretty Flowers)
• San-A Naha Main Place Shopping Mall – dinner in foodcourt and shopping
• Okinawa Monorail Ride – to satisfy Dar’s transport desire

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DAY 8 – Departure

• Flight back to Singapore ( 9am in the morning) – ate McDonald’s breakfast at Airport terminal before flight

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Travelling with a 4-yr-old and a 11-yr-old in Japan

4 year old – Ling was more active and capable of taking care of herself so this was quite a relaxing trip. She was also able to stay awake for longer in the day so we were able to do more things. While shopping, she would request to purchase things she like, so we bought several little toys and wearable for her. She loves animals and this time, we visited several attractions with animals for her to feed to her delight! I was surprised she enjoyed painting so much and was serious in painting a clay model of the whale shark with her brother in Southeast Botanical Garden.

11 year old – Dar was still more interested in cities and transport so he was a little disappointed as there were not much transportation in Okinawa, except for the monorail. We rented a car for all our seven days there so there was no need to take other transport. There were also no skyscrapers for him to observe and only small street shops which sell almost the same stuff (Okinawa souvenirs). Thus, on the last day, we specially parked our car somewhere to take a round of monorail in the Naha city area for him. He was still interested in the history and natural walks in limestone and subtropical highland forest.

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Exploring in Ever-Changing Weather – Clothing needs

The weather in Okinawa in December was cool and windy so we had to wear layers with coats while we were out and about.

During the day, it was cool and sunny but at night, the temperature dropped, with cold wind. There was also a thunderstorm one night and the rain did not stop for the entire morning. We had to change our itinerary to an indoor one.

As the sun was so bright, our eyes hurt when we did nature walks so we ended up wearing sunglasses. Vin bought a clip-on sunglasses from Daiso to use on his specs but ended up letting Dar use instead.

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Rental Car

We rented our car from OTS Rental Company and it was a comfortable process from the time we alighted. We took a ride to the OTS rental office, processed our documents (show id, international driving license) and got the car pretty fast. It was easy to drive in Okinawa Island with the GPS provided and we managed to visit many places of attraction on Okinawa with the rented car.

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Okinawa Food

Okinawa is quite different from the rest of Japan. It was not easy to find things we would normally eat in Japanese restaurants.

I could not eat gluten food such as bread or wheat noodles so it was difficult to find suitable food for me to eat when most of the places sell Okinawa noodles, their speciality. Barbecue food was not suitable for the kids and there were only very few sushi shops available.

In fact, we only found one sushi restaurant – Ichibantei on the first day in American Village and stuck to it, buying takeouts from it for some days’ dinner or eating in for lunch.

On some occasions, I ate fried rice and shared them with Ling, while the other two ate the Okinawa noodles. Another local food is Taco Rice which was nice too but not exactly filling, with just some small chopped up pieces of beef, vegetables, cheese and rice. We also tried Katsu Don once and ate at A&W in the American Village.

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Toilet Needs

The toilets in Japan are definitely extremely clean and mostly highly automated with washing bidets. The problem is sometimes finding where the button for the flushing is, because of the different system. Once, there was a sign in the toilet telling people to “press there”, because the button was not at the toilet bowl area. Sometimes, the water from the bidet is too warm and Ling would complain “hot!” when I used on her. Sometimes, the seat was even warmed.

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Shopping and Souvenirs

Almost all the shops in the Okinawa Kokusaidori street sell the same souvenirs of food and Okinawa culture souvenirs. We could walk down the entire street and even if you did not buy the foodstuff at this shop, you would definitely see them sold in another. Some even had the entire shop just selling Taro (their speciality sweet potato) products. Pineapple products are everywhere too due to the tropical nature of Okinawa.

To buy clothing and toys, one would need to head to the city area with shopping malls and not the main tourist area. This would require taking the monorail or driving further. We did that on our last night there and headed to Naha’s Main Place Shopping Mall. While there, we ate a good dinner in the foodcourt and I bought a pair of shoes and a hat. The clothing were winter clothing which was not suitable for us and mostly were either quite expensive.

I like their 1.99 dollar store and Daiso were cheaper too at 1.99 (instead of $2). I bought several small items for children from there.

There were also some shops at American Village such as clothing and cute stationeries. I bought a small bag and some stationeries from the shops there.

Things We Bought: