Naha, Japan

If we had done some research we would have been aware that our breakfast at the ryokan was going to be a traditional Japanese-style breakfast with multiple dishes. But alas we did not.

At least we wore our yukata (traditional robe and pants). We just wore our own socks though, the ryokan-provided ones were very uncomfortable.

The presentation of the food was again amazing, with everything just so. We’re rather provincial in our breakfast preferences, but it was cool to try. We actually made quite a dent in the food. The salad and in particular the cherry tomatoes were amazing.

The forecast was rainy and windy all day. So we decided to skip on a couple other castles and just drive back to Naha.

A couple of random things I forgot to mention previously. The safety video for Korean Air featured BTS and a couple other K-pop artists. It’s our 2nd favourite after the Lego-themed video for Turkish Airlines.

Also realized that AirTags don’t work in Korea, for security reasons. I had to google to figure out why my phone thought our luggage was still in Canada. The tags are working again now that we’re in Japan.

So we drove back to Naha in the rain. The Avis folks had warned us to use the GPS when returning the car, or we'd end up at Avis Total Landscaping. We followed Google Maps for most of the 90 minute drive back, switching over to the GPS about 20 minutes out from Naha. It promptly took us on a toll highway. The toll instructions were only in Japanese so we guessed at what to do. After about 15 minutes we reached another toll booth where we handed our ticket and 1000 yen (about 10 CAD) and hoped for the best. Got back about 700 yen and a receipt, so we guessed well :)

We returned the car, got the shuttle to the terminal and grabbed a taxi to our hotel. We debated taking the monorail but didn’t want to pull our suitcases through the rain and puddles.

We arrived at the hotel at 1pm. Our room would only be ready at 3pm, so we left our luggage and headed out for lunch. We walked through some charming side streets with little restaurants all along. We had a classic Naha lunch of pork and rice. Okinawa Agu Pork is locally famous - there’s pork dishes everywhere here.

After lunch we stopped in at a 7-Eleven yet again, this time for a type A USB-C adaptor to charge our phones. (Type A is the standard in North America.) I had packed chargers & adaptors for everything except what we used at home.

We really liked our brief walk around Naha. It has a nice vibe to it.

On the way back to the hotel stopped in at a cute little coffee shop for a double espresso and a slice of cheesecake, mmm good.

That took us to exactly 3pm. We checked in, and then relaxed the rest of the day. We had been on the go pretty much since we left Toronto so it was good to do nothing for a few hours.

It was still raining sideways around dinner time so just had some snacks in the lounge and called it a day.