Okinawa, the Beautiful Island - Dining @ Ryukyu Onsen - Senagajima Hotel, Okinawa

What can you have if you order a sushi set in the hotel?

Sushi of course. Right, here are the delicious sushi made with fresh sashimi. In addition to food quality, tableware presentation is another important element in Japanese cuisine. Just like the sushi is nicely presented on a beautiful leaf shaped plate. The orange maple shaped plate reminds the customers fall has arrived.
















The set also comes with a number of  dishes, including:

salad and appetizer; yummy fish and egg roll with sweet potato;



healthy steamed veggie; delicious tempura (note that the sweet potato on the left and the bitter melon on the right are both significant ingredients in Okinawa; salt is a famous local ingredient as well, the green color is from green tea powder;



miso soup; and ends with common tropical fruits in Okinawa, pineapple and orange; the yummy biscuits on the bottom left are salt-flavored. 

 

The complimentary buffet breakfast provides a wide variety of options from local  picks, traditional Japanese and Western style.



 






 

Okinawa, the Beautiful Island - Ryukyu Onsen - Senagajima Hotel, Okinawa

I love to enjoy onsen (hot spring) in Japan because it's authentic and Japaneses have high standard of personal hygiene. Unlike sunshine and beach, onsen is not very common in Okinawa. Luckily, I found the Ryukyu Onsen - Senagajima Hotel, Okinawa when I conducted research. The hotel features 2 public onsen which is free to guests who stay over. For other guests, a small fee is applied.
















A pair of shisa protects the hotel and its people. The left one keeps good spirit in while the right one scare the bad ones away.
 














The hotel is very close to the Okinawa airport (it takes around 15mins to travel between the points by car) and locates on a hill, making it an ideal location to watch plane landing. It's very exciting to see and hear planes flying over and next to you. Besides of commercial aircrafts, military aircrafts can also be found.
 































A shrine outside the hotel.
















The hotel also serves as a good host to several kawai kitties. Paparazzi awoke this little thing from sweet dream. It tried to hide its face but the paparazzi's cameras were still attracted to it.

Okimawa, the Beautiful Island - ラーメン暖暮 (Danbo)

Danbo is the No. 1 ramen in Kyushu. Given the honor, how can we not to give it a try?

To place your order, simply pick your choice via this vending machine. Then circle your preferred hardness of ramen, etc. and pass it to a staff. The chef will prepare the ramen accordingly.

Here's the sesame ramen with Japanese bbq pork. The sesame certainly enhances the smell and flavor of the pig bone made soup base. Strong taste but not salty. Together with the chewing ramen and tender pork, no wonder it is named as the best.
















The onsen tamago set comes with a bowl of rice with an onsen egg and a bowl of ramen in mini size. It's recommended to mix the half-cooked egg with the rice before tasting it. Onsen tamago looks and tastes like poached egg. In the past, it was cooked slowly in onsen.

Okinawa, the Beautiful Island - Guest Room @ Ryukyu Onsen - Senagajima Hotel, Okinawa

Guest rooms in hot spring hotels usually are more spacious, and those in this hotel is not an exception.

Sleeping area in western style. There are 2 sets of evening gowns on the left corner of the bed. One is for in room use, another one is for in hotel use. Don't mix them up.















Sitting area in Japanese style.















And the area is connected to an outdoor balcony,

where you can appreciate the sunset and blue sky over the Pacific Ocean.
















 














Or you can appreciate the view while relaxing in this private outdoor onsen.















It's connected to the bath room and washing room.















Where is the toilet? It's close to the entrance. Note that water will come out from the tape on the top of the toilet automatically during flushing.

Okinawa, the Beautiful Island - Takoyaki

Imagine that you have just stepped out from a warm shopping mall after a big and hot dinner, the chill urges you to go back to your hotel as soon as possible. Suddenly, something catch your attention, what can it be?

Our answer for the night is the Simplified Chinese message (well, Traditional Chinese is the authentic Chinese) on the white paper. It said "it's a pity if you don't try (takoyaki) as you have arrived Japan." According to the owner, the message was taught by a Taiwan customer (but why a Taiwanese wrote in Simplified Chinese?) To show our appreciation for this brilliant marketing message, we order a box of takoyaki or octopus ball, a typical Japanese street food.

The chef wore a smile when we taking pictures. What a professional model! In addition, he can speak some English, Mandarin and Cantonese.















We also took pictures of the food truck and read the messages on it while waiting our takoyaki. Does it look like a member of transformer?















Finally, we got our fresh and hot cook to order Takoyaki. It tasted yummy!















The food truck is located at the opposite side of Naha Main Place. Well, it's better to try its takoyaki at night. It was closed when we passed by around 12pm on the next day.

Okinawa, the Beautiful Island - Enjoy Authentic Okinawa Gourmet in a Sophisticated Garden @ Ahibuna

The entrance  of Ahibuna looks like an ordinary house which quietly sitting on a road. It took us several minutes to recognize it's the restaurant we were looking for.















It's so relaxing to appreciate the greenery Japanese-style garden while having a meal. 

Okinawa soba is a signature dish of Okinawa. Unlike the soba in the rest of Japan, the texture of Okinawa soba is relatively chewy, tastes like ramen more. The standard toppings as shown in the picture including stewed pork belly is influenced by China , kamaboko (fish cake) and sliced scallion. The rice at the bottom right corner mixed with various sliced veggies which is more attractive than the Okinawa soba to me.

Simmered pork leg is another local dish I highly recommend. After long hour of stewing, all the skin, meat and fat are so soft to melt in your mouth.  The sauce tastes bit sweet which is good to add into rice. Yummy yummy!

Okinawa, the Beautiful Island - Shuri Castle

If you only can go one sightseeing spot in Naba, Okinawa, I would recommend you to go Shuri Castle for this palace of Ryukyu Kingdom is welly maintained. In addition, it organizes various activities which may surprise you. 

A picture at Shuri Station reminds people the area is where the  palace located.























I love this book exchange idea very much.















There are many landmarks along the way from the station to the Shuri Castle. This is Benzai Sanctuary of God, where a goddess is responsible for voyage security.















The outer gate  finally appears while we kept walking up.















The Chinese words on plaque of this gate means Okinawa is a country respects courtesy.















In the past, this dragon gutter provides drinkable water to the royalties.















View of Naba from the Castle.















The Shuri Castle arranges dancing performance regularly. You can check out the details from its website if you are interested. In comparison with the powerful and dramatic dancing performance in Okinawa World and Ryukyu Muru, the dancing shows here are more gentle.






Purchase a ticket if you wanna explore further.















The palace is decorated with many dragons, a symbol of power.















The palace is guarded a pair of shisa.


The throne and the crown of Ryukyu King.


The Ryukyu Kingdom was a tributary country of China. Therefore, the Chinese emperor had the right to formally appoint Ryukyu King. This model sets simulates the ritual of which Chinese officials represented their emperor to name the heir as Ryukyu King.