Watch my first day in Okinawa here!

Hi everyone! So sorry about the lack of updates, I’ve been in Okinawa and didn’t bring my computer with me. But I’m back and ready to share my adventures in Okinawa!

GETTING TO OKINAWA:

On Friday, I had to wake up at 5AM to catch my bus to Narita Airport. I was accompanied by my friend Sarah (who you will see a lot of in my vlog) and we arrived at the airport fairly early. We ate lunch at the food court (I ate one of my favorite Japanese meals: udon with tempura) and then caught our Jetstar flight to Naha, Okinawa.

ARRIVING IN OKINAWA:

Cleanest hostel by far!

We checked into our hostel, Guest House Umikaji, and were pleasantly surprised. This was not only the cheapest hostel I’ve stayed in during my time in Japan but it was also the cleanest one I’ve seen yet! It was also right next to the monorail station which made getting around the city very convenient.

After locking our things up in the provided lockers, Sarah and I took to the town to find a place to eat. We found ourselves at the Kokusai Street Food Village and ended up in a fantastic okonomiyaki place. The restaurant was very small and only about 7 people could fit in it all at once. The Street Food Village itself is very narrow so you have to do a lot of squeezing by people. Every restaurant had a Japanese, English and Korean menu so for those who are worried about ordering food, do not fear! The menus also come with pictures just in case the word “okonomiyaki” doesn’t mean anything to you. Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savory pancake-like dish and the word literally translates to “Grilled as you like” so there are many ways to eat it. I ate the very typical Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki with batter, cabbage, and pork but there are so many more variations of this dish that I have yet to try!

Once more people come, this places gets really packed!

DAY 1 IN OKINAWA:

A typhoon was scheduled to hit Okinawa and hit it did. Saturday was filled with ominous looking clouds and strong wind. So instead of heading to the beach, we decided to shop around in the different tourist shops. Every few hours, it rained really hard and Sarah and I had to quickly escaped into different stores to avoid getting soaked.

A giant beni imo tart display. That purple is the same exact color of the tart itself!

While in the shops, we tried a belly-bursting amount of beni imo snack samples. What is beni imo? Only the most beautifully colored purple sweet potato ever. There were so many shops sprinkled all over Naha dedicated to this wonderful sweet. I made sure to buy several boxes of the treat for my host family.

After sampling until we were about to explode, Sarah and I escaped from another sudden downpour into a Don Quijote, a discount chain store known for its overwhelming amount of goods and loud music and announcements that never cease. We wandered around for a while before finding PINK hair dye. So of course, I bought it and immediately rushed back to the hostel with Sarah to try it out.

Long story short, I’m pink now!!

Huge thanks to Sarah for helping me turn into my favorite color! Ft. hair curler.

Stay tuned for Okinawa Day 2! The weather cleared up the next day so we were able to do and see a lot more!

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