Okinawa, Japan | Naha and American Village
Good morning from Okinawa. We just arrived to the mainland, Mir Naha. So, we came from Makajima this morning and now we have all day to explore Okinawa. We’re staying here for 4 days and there is a ton to see and a ton to do on Okinawa. So, we’re really excited to get going. We’re starting off here at Namino Shrine, which is in downtown Naha. It’s a shrine that overlooks the ocean, and there’s some beaches to the side. I don’t know all that much about it, but we’re going to find out. So, let’s get going. [Music] [Music] We’ve been to a lot of shrines in Japan, but this one, I think, is actually one of the smaller ones that we’ve been to before. There’s not a lot of large temples on the island. I think the main like palace area sadly burned down a little while ago. So, all of the largest areas are either ruins or there’s like some smaller shrines, but that’s okay. It’s really interesting. And what’s more impressive is the view of it from the sea because it’s built on this cliff and it looks really cool. So, we’re going to go down there and try and take a picture from down there. And just so you know, it is currently a feels like temperature of 105°. It’s very hot today even though it is mid-occtober. So we are going to push through. [Music] [Music] Look at this view. You can tell why this is a famous temple now with this amazing view. I don’t know why they had to build a highway right in front of it. That was probably pretty controversial when they did that, but it’s still really cool and you can get an amazing view from up on the highway. So, I recommend you go up on the highway cuz it’s pretty cool. So, we’re going to head towards another famous garden. So far, this does not feel like Japan even in the slightest. We’ve been all over Japan in Kyoto, Osaka, Okyama, Tokyo, everywhere in the middle. Tiny little towns. Mocha. No one goes to mocha. It is really nice. There’s palm trees everywhere. It just doesn’t seem right. And it’s hot, but Japan is usually hot. And then I have to remind myself, oh yeah, it should be like fall. Back home in Korea, it’s like 70° F and rainy every day. And here it’s blisteringly hot. Forget that it’s fall right now. [Music] All right, we just walked a few minutes from the temple and now we are at Fukushun Garden. This garden is actually not Japanese, it’s Chinese. This is actually a gift from Naha Sister City in China. This was actually made in the late 1990s and it’s rather new and a lot of it is shaded as well. So that’s really nice to get away from this blistering here. Yeah. [Music] We’re at the top of this little pagota and the view is lovely and also the breeze is very nice. It’s hot but at least there’s a lot of shade and it’s very breezy here. I had no idea what it was. I kind of assumed it was like a Japanese garden of some kind. Actually quite nice. Very surprising. I didn’t expect to see this here. Kind of reminds me a little bit of like of Hong Kong cuz this garden is in the middle of the city. Yeah. But Naha is actually like the least popular place for people to go in Okinawa. We’re spending most of our day here and the rest of our trip we’re not going to be in Naha at all. There’s a few really cool things to see and this is one of them. So, we’re going to spend a little bit more time exploring Naha before we make our way north where all of the tourists usually go. [Music] Oh my gosh. So, I just dump it all. Yep. If I was fish food, I’d be fish cutting. Okay, this place is really nice, but it is so hot and sweaty. So, I think we’re done. [Music] Before we left Naha, we thought it would probably be good to stop by Kokusai Dori. This is the main shopping area and it is a huge covered street and all of the streets surrounding it are all blocked off and there’s tons of shops and stalls and lots of merch and everything. I think we’re going to get our spam shirts here. [Music] It’s really reminds me of like the Jedju market except this is like 10 times bigger. Obviously almost everybody here is a tourist. Even if they’re Japanese, they’re usually tourists. But it’s really cool though. It’s really nice. Great place to escape the heat. It is hot out right now, but thankfully because of the roof, we aren’t dying. The two types of merch that you buy here is Spam and Orion. Orion is the beer company from Okinawa and it spam is really popular here just like it is in all sorts of other Asian and Pacific island places. So, we’re getting spam shirts because we’re not so much beer people, but we really like spam. So, what can you do? We did it. We fell into the tourist trap and we got our spam shirts. We’re going to wear them on one day and I’m really excited. [Music] We’re at Morning Balls which is near Chhatan and they have asai here and you can never get acai in Korea. So I’m trying to eat as much asai as I can in Japan. We got this like nutty bowl, which is like Nutella and chocolate chips. Acai and banana with condensed milk. Oh my gosh. I found my specialty acai bowl. Oh my gosh. I think it’s one of the best bowls I’ve had in Asia because I was really worried about ordering at the same time cuz I thought my acai was going to melt, but it’s actually like really frozen. So even if I ate all my food first, the acai wall would have stayed perfectly intact. They did great. That was really good. I haven’t had those flavors in a while. Super recommend bowls. Way better than I thought it was going to be. I’m really stuffed. They gave you a lot of food for the amount of money that we paid. Now, you may have noticed we are no longer in Naha. We are in Chhatan. And what is Chhatan famous for? The military base which has the American village. By nationality, we are Americans. So, I don’t know. It’s been a really long time since you’ve been back in America. Both of us have not lived in America for over 2 years and we’re like six for you. So, I don’t know. This will be interesting. We’re going back home. We will tell you exactly how American it is. Let’s go. [Music] [Applause] [Music] We’re just driving on the way to the American village and Yumi was like, “Stop.” Oh, there’s a cat. Yumi was like, “Stop. There’s a coffee shop.” and she saw a coffee shop and just her spidey senses were tingling. And guess what? They had specialty coffee. I was just like, “This looks like a vibe. You can’t just have a vibe and have bad coffee.” That’s not true. But I know what you mean. I was right. The first thing on their menu was hand drip. This is stylish coffee roastery. It is a tiny little itty bitty hole in the wall. And yeah, he just roasts out of there. This is really, really great coffee. I just got a mango juice cuz you know I’m not a coffee drinker. Yeah, but this is a this is a top five coffee for me for the year so far. It’s re it’s perfectly roasted. It is so fruity and super sweet. Anyway, no more distractions or diversions onto the American Village before the sun goes down. Okay, we have made it to the American village and as soon as we got here, we saw like five white guys and they looked real American. So, I think we’re in good company. It’s really weird. I think my West Coast accent might come out because here I can talk really comfortably. It’s really weird. I’ve never been like an insider. I don’t think that it’s going to feel all that American though. I do think the question is more will this feel more like America than America in Osaka, which was not very American at all. [Music] So far, I’m thinking this is maybe what would happen if Disney was not American and tried to make a Q- line based off of what they thought America was like and used a lot of stereotypes. It is a really cool area though. Lots of shopping. I think this is definitely one of the best American places that we’ve been to compared to the one in Korea. This feels very American. Lots of license plates. Even Americans love putting license plates on everything. Howdy, partner. Howdy, y’all. [Music] [Applause] [Music] I guess I haven’t been everywhere in America, so I can’t confirm, but I don’t think this looks like exactly like anywhere in America. I think so. It looks a lot like the West Coast, honestly. Honestly, I was thinking that this would be the least cool day because I just didn’t think the American village would be interesting at all. I really loved it. It’s been a while. I was wrong. This is cool. It’s a lot bigger than I thought. There’s a lot more shops, a lot more to do, and a lot of variety as well. We weren’t planning on seeing a sunset, but we could watch a sunset from here. Like, the sun’s directly going to the ocean here. [Music] The sun is going down. In Korea, we have a saying when something is very relaxing or touching, we call it healing. And then this is definitely the right environment and moment to say that this is really a healing adventure. I feel really bad that I was judging it so harshly before we came cuz we’ve been to so many American style tourist trap places in Asia and they never feel right. Very lively. It’s got so much more to do than I thought and it’s really beautiful. Anyway, we’re just going to watch the sunset and then we’re going to continue with our ice cream journey. [Music] [Music] We are at the Blue Seal in America. And what’s more American than getting a banana split? We got three flavors. So, we got pineapple, coconut, strawberry cheesecake, and brown sugar. This looks over the top. I don’t know when the last time if I’ve ever had a banana split. Oh, wait. We had a banana split in a cow. Yes, but this is Michael’s second banana split ever in his life. Cheers. Cheers. Yeah, American Mura is not disappointing. I thought this is cheesecake. Oh, there’s like frosted flakes at the bottom. Yeah, there’s frost flakes in this. Okay. Well, we’re going to devour this. This is a great way to celebrate American Yeehaw freedom or something. [Music] Wow. All right. After night, this place really comes alive. It’s still popping late into the night, unlike most other places in Okinawa. I really love this more than I thought. We haven’t seen diversity like this in years. And it’s just really nice to see, you know, different kinds of people, different languages, different colors, and fashion especially. So, this is kind of like a cure to the homesickness a little bit. I’m from the Midwest, so this doesn’t remind me of my home at all, but you could totally drop me here and I would be very convinced that I was on some pier on the West Coast. So, now we are going to go out because we’ve been here for like 3 or 4 hours and we just can’t spend any more time here. It’s getting late. So, we have one more cool American stop before we end our day. [Music] All right, we made it to our last stop. A&W. I’m sure you know what A&W root beer is, but it’s not in Asia. It’s not like around. But in Okinawa, they do have a lot of A&Ws because I guess it’s a base or whatever. So yeah, here you can get classic American root beer in a chilled mug. So uh, cheers. Cheers. [Music] Root beer is not popular in Asia. In Korea, I don’t even know if you can buy root beer. Like you definitely can’t buy root beer at the convenience store. That’s good. I’m not hungry, but I’m really curious because like burgers in Japan are usually not that good. They’re usually pretty sweet. M. That’s not sweet. That’s really not bad. I mean, it’s an A&W burger, but it is an A&W burger. There are a lot of A&Ws, but this one is the best one with like the massive sign. So, we wanted to come here at night. This A&W is really cool. They have the old fashioned like drive-ins. You can get around with the Montreal, but if you want to do almost anything you’re going to see us do today or the next few days, you really need a car. And they also have this really cool outdoor seating. and like playground for the kids. So, this is the end of our first full day in Okinawa. There’s so many things coming up, so stay tuned for the next vlogs. All right, thanks for watching and uh good night and sleep well and take care of yourself and drink water or root beer. Or root beer. All right, bye. [Music]
Hey guys! Today we are exploring Naha and Chatan in Okinawa. The famous American Village is even cooler than we imagined, and Naha has plenty to offer. With beautiful temples, gardens, and beaches, it’s a unique hidden gem of Japan
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We’re Michael and Yemisi, two kids with a dream to see as many countries as we can. 🌏 Even though we work 9-5, we use every spare moment to explore beyond our home. Join us as we document our world travels, personal interests, and more! 🗺️
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Music Provided by Master Planned Music: @masterplannedmusic
0:00 Intro
0:30 Naminoue Shrine
2:40 Fukushuen Garden
4:45 Naha Kokusai Dori Shopping Street
6:10 Morning Bowls
7:32 Stylish Coffee ROastEry
9:14 Mihama American Village
14:11 A&W Makiminato Branch
#travel #travelvlog #japan
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