Okinawa has two traditional-culture theme parks: Okinawa World and Ryukyu Mura. Since I’d come all the way to Okinawa, I decided to visit one of them, and went with Okinawa World because it’s closer to Naha.
The entrance
The Kingdom Village, the limestone cave (Gyokusendo) and the Habu snake park are 600 yen each. I wasn’t really interested in the snake show, so I bought tickets for the Kingdom Village and the cave, but the cave was nothing special. It was long, sure, but not very big.
The weather’s fairly clear today.
Shame it wasn’t this nice the day I went to the aquarium, I could have seen a gorgeous beach.
Inside the cave
It’s nowhere near Akiyoshido Cave in Yamaguchi. If you’ve never been to a limestone cave, it might be worth a stop, but that’s about it…
The path up out of the cave
A glass artisan
Okinawa is famous for its glasswork. The pieces were pretty, but I had nowhere to put them in my room, so I left empty-handed.
The Kingdom Village mascot, a lion (shisa)
The shisa is the symbol of Okinawa.
A traditional costume photo studio
There were all sorts of hands-on workshops, but I was short on time so I just wandered around. It was smaller than I expected. I took my time walking around, but there wasn’t much to see. The staff were all friendly, but somehow… it felt like a school-trip destination.
As I was wandering, I heard music, so I went to take a look.
Eisa, a traditional Okinawan performance
Apparently there are four shows a day. It was really powerful. Most of the audience in the seats were grandpas and grandmas.
The people at the back playing and singing folk songs were great too. “Iyasasa!” You can’t help getting into it.
The young performers put on a passionate show carrying some pretty heavy drums.
An amazing show. Okinawa World is worth visiting for this performance alone.
When it was over, everyone danced to the traditional music. I was short on time, so I headed straight to my next stop.
Bougainvillea near the exit. It was blooming all over Okinawa.