How much enjoyment you'll get from your tour here depends entirely on what you're looking for and how you approach the place.
To find out more about the cultural, historical and recreational aspects of this island, see the pages to the left and links below.
At first thought, it might seem that a speck of coral 67 miles long and 2-14 miles wide could offer few diversions. Okinawa's size is illusory. There are, literally, hundreds of things to do and to see.
There are mountains to climb, forests to explore, hundreds of miles of beaches to laze on, streams to wade in, rapids to shoot, ancient castles to wonder.
Throughout the prefecture are tiny villages where life is measured only by the planting and the harvest. Narrow pathways separate ancient stone walls, behind which are visible the unique, red-tiled roofs of Okinawa, each topped with its fierce countenanced demon chaser, the "shisa" which, again, are found in Japan only.
Fishing villages abound in the south where the men set out each pre-dawn in tiny, wooden boats called "sabani" to ply the coastal waters and coral reefs for their livelihood, while their wives go to moss-covered shrines to pray for their safe return.
But don't restrict yourself to the main island. Okinawa is a collection of more than four score islands and islets, each offering plenty for adventuresome spirits.
Like flowers? Okinawa is filled with them - cherry blossoms in January, when the rest of Japan still is steeped in winter's iciness; azalea's turning the mountains of the northeast coast into pink flame in March and April; lilies covering the hillsides in spring like an orchestra of white trumpets; blood-red deigo (Indian Coral), the prefectural flower by which the elderly predict the number of typhoons which will threaten the islands each year.
In Autumn, pampas grass covers field and hill with a rolling sea of gold. Poinsettia abound at Christmas, and orchids are becoming more plentiful - and beautiful - here than in Hawaii.
Naha - an amalgam of what once was three settlements - sprawls about the prefecture's major seaport, into which flow goods from around the world...most of them available here at a considerable discount over prices on the Japanese mainland.
There are department stores and boutiques, a teeming farmer's market - with sights you'll not see in other Asian markets (dried, deadly poisonous sea snakes, for example, being sold as a health elixir) - discos, many as chic as those found in the fast lanes back home; hundreds of coffee houses where one can relax for hours for only the price of a cup ; restaurants serving nearly every cuisine known to man; concert hall; parks; theaters, and athletic complexes which rival those anywhere in their modernness.
But, of all Okinawa's beauties, its people are the most beautiful.
They spring from a culture and history that is long and colorful - among the longest and most colorful anywhere in Asia.
They are hard-working, innovative, infinitely friendly.
If you mind your manners here, keep an open mind and have a touch of adventure in your soul, a tour in Okinawa can be the most rewarding and enjoyable you've served anywhere in the world.
How much fun you have, how much you learn and how many fine, bright memories you gather depends entirely on you.
Go out and explore!
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