Okinawa is the Japan almost nobody expects: instead of skyscrapers, ancient temples and winter cold, you find white-sand beaches, an incredibly turquoise sea, coral reefs full of life and a serene pace of life under the subtropical sun. This archipelago at the country's far south was for centuries an independent kingdom, the Ryukyu Kingdom, and that history of its own left a distinct culture —in its music, food, crafts and character— that you feel as soon as you arrive. People here say 'nankurunaisa', something like 'everything will be fine', and that philosophy is in the air.
There are two Okinawas living side by side. On one hand, the tropical paradise: the spectacular Churaumi Aquarium with its whale sharks, world-famous beaches and dive sites —especially on the smaller islands, like the Kerama Islands or Ishigaki—, and lush nature that makes this one of the places on the planet where people live the longest. On the other, the Okinawa of memory: in 1945 one of the most terrible battles of the Second World War was fought here, and the island spent decades under US administration. Both sides are part of its identity.
This guide covers Okinawa with a practical, respectful eye: how to get there and get around, what to see on the main island —from Naha to the aquarium, from the beaches to the memorials—, how to escape to the dreamy islands, where to dive and what to eat from its unique cuisine. And it treats the war memorial sites with the sobriety they deserve. Okinawa is beaches and culture, but also history: understanding it fully is part of truly enjoying it.
Okinawa wasn't always part of Japan. For centuries, these islands formed the Ryukyu Kingdom, an independent state that from the 15th century, unified under the Sho dynasty with its capital at Shuri Castle, thrived as a prosperous trading intermediary between Japan, China, Korea and Southeast Asia. From that trade and from Chinese and Japanese influence a unique Ryukyuan culture was born, with its own language, religion, music (the sanshin) and crafts. In 1609, the kingdom fell under the control of the Japanese Satsuma domain, although it kept formal autonomy and its tributary relationship with China, in a delicate double game. In 1879, modern Meiji-era Japan abolished the kingdom and annexed the islands as Okinawa Prefecture, beginning an assimilation that suppressed local culture. The most tragic chapter came in 1945, when Okinawa was the scene of one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War, with an enormous civilian death toll. After the war, the islands remained under US military administration until 1972, when they were returned to Japan; the presence of US bases is still a sensitive issue. The full history, from the Ryukyu Kingdom to today, is on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The far ends of Japan: Hokkaido, ancestral land of the Ainu colonised in the 19th century, and Okinawa, the former Ryukyu Kingdom and scene of the bloodiest battle of 1945.
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Origins, formation and what the sources say.
To understand Okinawa, you have to start with an idea that surprises many people: for centuries, these islands were not Japan. They were an independent kingdom with a name of its own, the Ryukyu Kingdom. The Ryukyu Islands form a chain that stretches from southern Kyushu to near Taiwan, and peoples with their own language and culture have lived there since ancient times. By the 14th century, the main island, Okinawa, was split into three small warring principalities. In 1429 a king named Sho Hashi united them under a single crown, with its capital at Shuri Castle. That was the birth of the Ryukyu Kingdom.
The extraordinary thing about Ryukyu is how such a small kingdom, with so few natural resources, managed to prosper: it became a skilled commercial middleman. It sat where the sea routes of East Asia crossed, and it built a dense trade network linking China, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia (Siam, Malacca, Java). Its ships carried goods from one place to another, such as silk, porcelain, spices and metals, and from that trade the kingdom gained wealth and influence far beyond its size. It kept up a tributary relationship with imperial China, which brought it prestige, privileged trade and a strong cultural influence.
Out of that meeting of worlds came a unique and refined Ryukyuan culture, distinct from Japanese culture. It had its own religion centred on nature and the ancestors, in which women held spiritual power as priestesses. It had music played on the sanshin, a three-stringed instrument covered in snakeskin and the ancestor of the Japanese shamisen. It also had court dances, its own language, a cuisine based on pork, and remarkable textiles and ceramics. Shuri Castle, with its brightly coloured, Chinese-influenced architecture, was the heart of that cultured trading kingdom.
Ryukyu's independence began to crack in the early 17th century. In 1609 Satsuma, a powerful Japanese feudal domain in southern Kyushu, invaded the islands with a well-armed force and conquered the kingdom. From then on, Ryukyu was under the effective control of Satsuma and, through it, of the Tokugawa shogunate that ruled Japan. It had to pay tribute and accept Satsuma's oversight. Yet, and this is what made its situation so unusual, the kingdom was neither annexed nor dissolved. It was allowed to go on as a kingdom, with its court and its king, and to keep its tributary relationship with China.
This double dependence served Satsuma's own interests. As long as Ryukyu still looked like an independent kingdom paying tribute to China, Japan could profit through it from the lucrative trade with the Chinese empire, which limited direct dealings with the Japanese. So for more than two and a half centuries Ryukyu led an ambiguous, balancing-act existence. On paper it was a kingdom that paid homage to China. In practice it was a territory under Japanese control, forced to hide that subjection from Chinese envoys. It was a delicate game of masks that, paradoxically, helped Ryukyuan culture and institutions survive longer.
The end came with Japan's modernisation. After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the new Japanese state was set on defining and securing its borders, and it would not tolerate a kingdom that was only half its own. In a process that culminated in 1879, Japan formally abolished the Ryukyu Kingdom, deposed its last king, Sho Tai, and annexed the islands as one more prefecture: Okinawa Prefecture. Four and a half centuries of independent kingdom came to an end. A period of forced assimilation began, in which the Ryukyuan language, religion and customs were suppressed and looked down on in the name of joining modern Japan.
The most tragic chapter in Okinawa's history was written in the spring of 1945, in the last months of the Second World War. As US forces advanced on the Japanese archipelago, Okinawa became the scene of the last great land battle of the Pacific War. From 1 April to late June 1945, the island was devastated by extremely violent fighting between the US military and dug-in Japanese forces. Because the bombardment was so intense, it became known as the 'typhoon of steel'. The battle left almost total devastation behind: whole villages disappeared, Shuri Castle was destroyed and much of the island was reduced to ruins.
The most heartbreaking part was the human cost, above all for civilians. Around 200,000 people are estimated to have died in the battle. They included tens of thousands of soldiers from both sides, but above all a huge number of Okinawan civilians: close to a quarter of the island's population is thought to have died. Many were caught in the crossfire, others died of hunger and disease, and there were tragic cases of civilians dying in horrific circumstances. These included mass suicides driven by propaganda and coercion, and by the terror people had been taught to feel about what would happen when the enemy arrived. Groups of students were mobilised for the war, such as the young women of the Himeyuri nursing corps, many of whom died. This civilian suffering left a deep and lasting wound in Okinawa's memory.
Today that memory is honoured quietly at the battle sites. They include the Peace Memorial Park, whose 'Cornerstone of Peace' monument carries the names of every victim, whatever their side or nationality, and the Himeyuri Monument. No victory is celebrated. Instead, these places honour the dead and carry an anti-war message. For Okinawa, the 1945 battle is not a distant episode. It marked generations and underpins a strong pacifist feeling in the islands.
When the war ended, Okinawa did not follow the same path as the rest of Japan. Mainland Japan regained its sovereignty in 1952, but Okinawa stayed under direct US military administration, and that lasted twenty-seven years. For the US military, the islands' strategic position was too valuable to give up. They sit at the heart of the western Pacific, close to China, Korea and Southeast Asia, and this was the height of the Cold War, with the Korean and Vietnam wars under way. Okinawa became one giant military base, with large facilities covering a significant part of the main island.
Those decades under US administration were a mixed experience for Okinawans. On one hand, they left a distinctive cultural mark, from driving on the right (later switched back to the left) to influences on music, food and daily life, along with some economic activity tied to the bases. On the other, they caused tension and grievances. Land was seized for military facilities, and the accidents, noise and crimes linked to the troops fuelled deep resentment and a strong movement for the return to Japan.
That wish came true in 1972, when the United States returned Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty in what is known as the 'reversion'. It was a historic and emotional moment. Still, the reversion did not settle the question of the bases. Much of the US military presence in Japan is still concentrated in Okinawa, which carries a burden out of proportion to its size and population. The debate over the bases, covering their impact, the incidents and the relocation plans, is still one of the most sensitive and lasting political issues in the islands. It is a recurring source of friction between Okinawa, the government in Tokyo and the United States.
Today's Okinawa is a Japanese prefecture, yet it keeps an unmistakable identity of its own, inherited from the old Ryukyu Kingdom. After decades in which its culture was looked down on, Ryukyuan pride has come back strongly in recent years. Sanshin music, traditional dances, textiles and ceramics, food and even the language are all being reclaimed as a valuable heritage. The language is endangered, but there are efforts to revive it. In 2000, several castles (gusuku) and sites linked to the kingdom, Shuri among them, were declared a World Heritage Site in recognition of that unique history.
At the same time, Okinawa has become Japan's top tropical destination. Its white-sand beaches, turquoise sea, coral reefs and dreamlike islands (the Kerama Islands, Ishigaki, Miyako, Iriomote) draw Japanese and foreign travellers looking for sun, diving and rest, a complete contrast with the cities further north. The island is also famous for how long its people live. For a long time it was studied as one of the world's 'blue zones', places where people live longer, partly thanks to their diet, the climate and a relaxed way of life summed up in the local saying 'nankurunaisa'.
But Okinawa is not just beaches. It is also a place of memory, shaped by the tragedy of 1945 and by the long post-war years under US administration. Their mark, including the ongoing question of the military bases, is still present in the islands' life and politics. Being both a subtropical paradise and a land that suffered the horrors of war like few others is part of its character. To really visit Okinawa is to enjoy its nature and vibrant culture, yes, but also to approach its history with respect. That history belongs to a kingdom that was a bridge between civilisations, a people who proudly keep their identity, and islands that went through the hell of war and today champion a message of peace, knowing exactly what it means.
