OL Okinawa Lovers
Okinawa's main island seen from the walls of Shuri Castle, with the sea beyond the rooftops
Town by town

The towns,
one at a time

Six guides to Okinawa's main island. Each one is built around a single thing the other guides have wrong — a price that moved, a bus that stopped, a castle that is free.

6 towns Official sources Checked August 2026

Guidebook prices go stale quietly. Nobody publishes a correction when a castle raises its admission or a free shuttle bus stops running — the old figure just sits there, being copied.

So each of these town guides is written around one thing we could show had changed, checked against the operator's own page rather than against other guides. The date we last confirmed it is on every page. Where the Japanese-language version of a site disagrees with the English one, we have gone with the operator.

The north

the aquarium end of the island
The curved stone walls of Nakijin Castle above the sea
Nakijin VillageThe castle and the bridge

A World Heritage castle whose walls curve down toward the sea, the bridge to Kouri Island, and three roadside stops within fifteen minutes of each other.

The correction: castle admission went from ¥600 to ¥1,000 on 1 September 2025. Most English pages still say ¥600.
A fukugi tree avenue in Motobu
Motobu TownThe town around Churaumi

Everyone comes for the aquarium and leaves. Behind it are the fukugi lanes at Bise, Emerald Beach and the bridge to Sesoko Island.

Worth knowing: most of the park around the aquarium — the dolphin show included — is free. You pay only for the tanks.

The west coast

resorts, pottery and the walkable one
The elephant-trunk rock formation at Manzamo in Onna
Onna VillageThe coast in the middle

The resort strip: Manzamo, the blue cave, and the hotels that most people book without knowing which village they are in.

The correction: Manzamo has charged ¥100 since October 2020. A great many guides still call it free.
The curved walls of Zakimi Castle against the sky
Yomitan VillageThe one we live in

Japan's most populous village. A World Heritage castle you can walk on top of, nineteen pottery studios, and a lighthouse you can climb.

The correction: Zakimi Castle is free — the ¥500 you may have seen is the museum next door.
The seafront promenade at Chatan
Chatan TownThe base you can walk

American Village, the sunset promenade and the one place outside Naha where you can stay without hiring a car.

The correction: the free Mihama shuttle bus stopped running on 31 March 2026. English pages still promise it every 15 minutes.

The south

the capital
Banners and palms along Kokusai-dori in Naha
Naha CityAnd the date on the castle

The airport, the shopping mile, the rebuilt market — and the only part of Okinawa you can cover without a car.

The correction: Shuri Castle's main hall opens on 23 November 2026, and admission goes from ¥400 to ¥1,000 the same day.
Michi-no-Eki Kyoda, the first roadside station in Okinawa
The other seriesAll 20 roadside stations

Every roadside station, farm market and sea station on the main island, with opening hours checked against each operator.

Useful because: only ten of them are actually registered michi-no-eki. The rest are something else, and we say which.