umi.

For anyone who has as long in Japan to travel as I have, I would say you are missing out if you don’t head over to Okinawa. You can get ultra cheap flights with Jetstar and it’s only a couple of hours’ flight. In those two hours, you go from being in mountainous Honshu to what seems more like Fiji. The day after my last exam I ditched Gifu, hopped on a plane with my pal Jamesie and headed to the summer by the sea I had been longing for (see here). There was a little drama, with me going to the wrong airport (the airport system here makes no sense), but we got our flight, so really it was no big deal.

The first couple of days we stayed in Naha, revelling in our proximity to the beach by day and hanging out at bars at night. 

I won jenga. And darts. Seeing as there is not all that much to do in Naha itself, we took a trip out to the American Village.

Assumedly due to the number of Americans in Okinawa because of the U.S. military base there, the American Village was created to cater to their entertainment needs. Filled with everything imaginable (cinema, shops, bowling, beach, bars, restaurants), it remains a rather odd place. Despite its name, it very much felt more like an American themed park in Japan than something truly American. 

It was, however, a nice spot to watch the sun go down.