Title says it all. What could I possibly see do and mostly eat in that time.
Thanks everyone. I did a few of these and will save the rest for later as I live in Taiwan and need to renew my Visa every three months.
Cool stuff: kimonos being sold and worn in everyday life, high end snack/coffee shops in malls, pottery/glass/textile museum, people seemed really excited to speak to me, and cute ladies ;)
Posted Nov 20, 2019, 12:44 AM UTC · edited
Pork Tamago Onigiri. There’s one in the airport, and one in Naha if you want to venture out.
Do you like craft beer? What kind of things are you into? For food I definitely recommend grabbing a delicious onigiri at Pork Tamago Onigiri and then eating a nice bowl of Okinawa Soba at one of the thousands of shokudo. Do you speak any Japanese?
Cocoa curry, for dinner, mihama shopping area by the sea wall if you are anywhere near that.
Skip this recommendation. Coco Ichibanya Curry is mediocre at best and is an international chain, hardly unique to Okinawa. As mentioned Pork Tamago Onigiri is amazing and located in terminal as well as just off of Kokusai. You should plan to stay in Naha in area's accessible via the Monorail.
I second this ! Not a fan of cocos
Thanks so much, I will see what I can do
While Mihama and the seawall areas are nice, they’re nearly an hour from the airport and probably the most Americanized part of Japan.
with 8 hours I'd stick to the monorail, it comes right to the airport. I would ride it out to Shuri Castle stop and you can see the walls and garden of the recently burned Shuri Castle, the home of the Ryukyu kings. While in the area if it's between 2 and 7 get a beer or coffee from Wolf Brau if you like german beer(It in google and apple maps). If you are looking from something more okinawian there is a rice liquor distillery that will give you free tastings (Awamori) [ https://goo.gl/maps/6mt4RU7nmm2EDeyx8 ]
Hop back on the train and head to Omoromachi Station where you can hop off and visit the prefectural museum ( https://okimu.jp/en/museum/ ) While there you can shop at San-A Main Place, a good sized Japanese mall that has a lot of good gifts, that aren't "tourist shops" gifts.
If you like looking and buying pottery then head over to pottery street, here is a marking roughly in the middle, it's a 15 minute walk from the nearest train station or take a cab. ( https://goo.gl/maps/FpAZvvYoseHNr1pcA )
In the same general area is Kokusai street, a street dedicated to kitchy tourist stuff, but also a lot of the food in the area is good. Kokusai street proper tends to be a little expensive and touristy for food, but the side streets are chock-full of reasonable ramen, tonkatsu, and oddly pretty good pizza. Google maps has pretty trustworthy reviews and pictures, all the Conbinis and the monorail have free wifi so look up what you're feeling like and let the pictures be your guide.
Make sure to drink a lot of Habushu
Do Kokusai Street. There’s tons to see and do and eat and you won’t be super far from the airport.
Thanks, did this and went to the department store at the end. The kimono store was cool.