We were welcomed to Naha, the main airport in Okinawa, by the sight of the ANA Pokemon plane. If only we could fly on that one!
We were also welcomed by the ground crew at the airport who lined up and waved to our plane as we taxi-ed to the gate. It is standard procedure. The Japanese are really into formal hello's and goodbye's. When our bus pulls out from the hotel, many of the staff line up for the big goodbye wave. It is quite nice actually.
We continue to be very lucky with the weather. After three days of sun in Kagoshima we travelled 800 km south for more sun and 25C temperatures. Okinawa is decribed by some as the Hawaii of Japan. It is certainly quite tropical in terms of the vegetation and coral reefs paralleling the shoreline. It has similar topography to the mainland, very hilly once removed from the coastline. Upon first impression, Okinawa is definitely a less prosperous part of Japan. Naha City is rather grubby and run-down in comparison to anything we experienced prior. The residential architecture is different - flat roofs instead of peaked tiles and the cityscape is very hodge-podge. There is a scarcity of industry and quality farmland. The remoteness from Japan proper really shows.
Just grubby.
ReplyDelete