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Japan regions - Okinawa
The crystal blue sea with white-sand beaches and colorful fishes dancing
- through corals Shuri Castle, the castle of the King of Ryuku, registered
as a World Cultural Heritage.
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Okinawa, lying nearly halfway between Kyushu and Taiwan, consists
of more than 100 islands and isles of different sizes and is situated
at the southern extremity of the Japanese Archipelago. The climate
there is mild and comfortable to live, with temperatures not falling
below the springtime levels in Tokyo and Osaka even in winter.
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Click here for a map of Okinawa
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On the islands grow gregariously tropical and semitropical plants,
like banyan trees, blooming one after another all the year round.
The features of Okinawa also include the inhabitation of many rare
living things, such as Iriomote wildcats registered as a natural
monument and living on the Iriomote-jima Island.
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The crystal blue sea with white-sand beaches and colorful fishes
dancing through coral attracts vacationers as a holiday resort with
many diving spots.
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For about 400 years from the 15th century to the middle of the 19th
century, Okinawa had seen prosperity as the Kingdom of Ryuku, a
prosperous state independent of Japan's central government.
Cultural properties and conventions born through the intercourse
with foreign countries in those days still survive in such interesting
forms as artifacts and festivals, giving additional charm to Okinawa.
Especially, Shuri Castle (the castle of the King of Ryuku), reconstructed
in Naha City and registered as a World Cultural Heritage in 1992,
attracts many visitors.
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Okinawa boasts of many traditional public-entertaining arts of its own
that have been handed down to this day, like the Ryukyu dance gracefully
performed by female dancers in red-patterned costume expressing the feelings
of a woman over her lover or husband, the shishi-mai (lion dance) said
to have been introduced from China and performed with the mask of a lion
with a colorful mane and the Eisa in which a group of dancers dance to
the accompaniment of soul-stirring drums and shamisen (a three-stringed
Japanese instrument).
Getting to Okinawa
Two hours and 45 minutes to Naha Airport from Tokyo Haneda Airport. Two
hours and 10 minutes from Kansai International Airport. Two hours and
15 minutes from Osaka Itami Airport. Twenty minutes to Naha Bus Terminal
from Naha Airport by bus.
previous: Kyushu region
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