Our Day in Naha: Exploring Our First Port in Japan

After eight days at sea, we finally woke up in Japan.

Naha, on the island of Okinawa, was our first Japanese port on our transpacific cruise and we'd deliberately made very few plans for the day. No shore excursion, no long list of places we absolutely had to see and no rushing around trying to squeeze everything in.

As it turned out, that was probably the perfect way for us to spend our first day back on land.

Because Naha was our first port in Japan, everyone onboard needed to complete Japanese immigration before heading ashore.

Passengers were called by deck and, as luck would have it, ours was last.

This understandably caused some frustration for people who'd booked private tours and were watching their planned meeting times getting closer while they waited to be called.

Thankfully, we had nowhere we needed to be.

Our entire plan for Naha was essentially get off the ship and have a look around, so waiting didn't bother us in the slightest.

By the time we'd made our way through immigration and stepped outside, it was a little before lunchtime and we were very ready to start exploring.

Our first stop was Fukushuen Garden.

After eight straight days surrounded by ocean, walking into a lush garden filled with ponds, waterfalls, bridges and greenery felt wonderful.

Fukushuen is a traditional Chinese-style garden opened in 1992 to recognise the relationship between Naha and its sister city, Fuzhou in China. The connection between the two cities stretches back centuries, when the Ryukyu Kingdom traded extensively with China.

We weren't particularly interested in racing through it.

We wandered.

The garden was tranquil, incredibly green and exactly what we needed after so many days onboard. It gave us a chance to slow down and feel like we were properly back amongst nature again.

It was also where the kids had their first encounter with another very important part of Japanese culture:

the vending machines.

Ice creams were purchased.

Obviously. 😂

We would see approximately eight billion more vending machines during our time in Japan, but when you've only just arrived, even buying an ice cream from one is a novelty.

From the garden we headed towards the busier Kumoji area, where another important Japanese first awaited us.

A konbini.

Specifically, 7-Eleven.

I don't think any of us were prepared for how much we'd enjoy Japanese convenience stores.

The range of food was incredible. This wasn't simply somewhere to buy chips and a bottle of Coke. There were sandwiches, rice dishes, onigiri, noodles, sweets, snacks and all sorts of things we'd never seen before.

And that's where we discovered the ichigo sando.

A strawberry sandwich.

Soft white bread, cream and beautiful fresh strawberries.

We bought one without realising we'd stumbled across something seasonal.

This was our mistake.

It was delicious, so naturally we assumed we'd simply buy another one at our next Japanese port.

And then the next one.

And the next one.

We searched convenience stores throughout the rest of our Japan stops and from memory we only found them once more - in Hiroshima. 

Had we realised that at the time, I'm fairly certain we would have bought considerably more than one in both Naha and Hiroshima.

Our wandering eventually brought us to Naminoue Shrine and Naminoue Beach.

Naminoue Shrine sits on a cliff overlooking the water, with the beach tucked below. Naminoue is also Naha's only designated swimming beach, despite being right in the middle of the city.

The kids had initially been slightly disappointed that I hadn't brought their swimmers.

Then they saw the marine-stinger warnings.

Suddenly Mum's failure to pack swimwear wasn't quite so disappointing. 😂

We spent some time looking around the shrine and beach before continuing our walk back towards the cruise terminal.

And that's when we encountered one of those completely unplanned moments that ends up becoming part of the memory of a place.

As we headed towards the ship, we noticed a crowd gathered near the water.

Naturally, we had to investigate.

A group of young boys were taking turns jumping from a bridge into the water below, and judging by the performance they'd clearly done this once or twice before.

Before each jump they'd throw their slides into the water.

Then they'd launch themselves off the bridge, retrieve their shoes and put them back on for the climb up to do it all again.

Practical.

And apparently very entertaining. 😂

A growing group of people had stopped to watch, us included.

It obviously wasn't something we'd planned to see in Naha, and you won't find watch local teenagers repeatedly leap off a bridge after throwing their shoes in first on many shore excursion itineraries.

But that's one of the things I like about exploring a port without a rigid plan.

Sometimes you just stumble across things.

By the time we made our way back to the cruise terminal, we'd spent the afternoon walking through gardens, exploring shops, visiting a shrine and beach, trying Japanese convenience-store food and watching some fairly fearless kids jump off a bridge.

Nothing about the day had been particularly complicated.

And after eight days at sea, that was exactly what we wanted.

We hadn't tried to see every major attraction in Naha or travelled far outside the city. We'd simply walked, stopped when something looked interesting, ate things we hadn't tried before and gradually found our way back to the ship.

It was our first taste of Japan, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Although I still think we should have bought more strawberry sandwiches.

We were perfectly happy exploring Naha independently, but if you’d prefer a more structured day or want to see more of Okinawa beyond the areas around the port, a private guide can be a great option.

After using a government-licensed private guide during our visit to Tokyo, I’ve had quite a few people ask for his contact details. I’m now also in contact with other licensed guides who can provide private tours in different parts of Japan.

If you’re planning a visit to Naha, Tokyo, Hiroshima or elsewhere in Japan, tell me where and when you’re travelling and I’ll help connect you with a licensed guide who may be a good fit.