New Year's in Okinawa!

Left snowy Niigata...

...for sunny Okinawa!

The hibiscus is Okinawa's prefectural flower.

Although I've been to Okinawa once before (on tour), I found that I learnt more about Okinawa this time round.

First stop, my youth hostel! For only 1,500-yen (S$21) a night, I got myself a cozy partitioned area with a futon, TV and enough space for my bag. Quite happy with it!

Next stop, lunch! Traditional Okinawan cuisine is different from mainland Japan...so had to try it while I was there. Had ソーキ そば so-ki soba (pork rib soba), a traditional Okinawan dish. Not sure why they call it soba...looks more like ramen to me. It was good! The meat was so tender it just slid off the bone.

After lunch, I headed to Shuri Castle, the former palace of the Ryukyu kingdom (prior to Japan's occupation of the Okinawan islands in 1879).

Shureimon (name of gate)

Zuisenmon

There was a traditional 正月 shogatsu (New Year's) dance performance. There were about 20 different dances; all with their own special meaning. Quite interesting.

The original Shuri Castle has been destroyed, but you can wander around the ruins.

Or you can pay a fee to see a reconstruction of it (which I saw during my first visit to Okinawa). Here's a peek at it from the site of the ruins.

Building a humongous shisa bonsai at the courtyard. The shisa is the Okinawan guardian lion statue.

View of Naha (capital city of Okinawa) from the Shuri Castle.

Lion head taps at the public toilets. (The taps at the toilets in the reconstructed Shuri Castle is even nicer...dragon head with a marble ball from what I recall)

The biggest church I've seen in Japan so far.
Check out this pair of Hello Kitty shisas I found outside the Sanrio shop!