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WHAT
TO
SEE
I
WHAT
TO
DO
I
WHERE
TO
VISIT
I
WORLD
HERITAGES |
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Tokyo
I
Kyoto
I Hiroshima
I Nagasaki
I Okinawa
I Kanazawa |
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Mt. Fuji I
Hokkaido
I Nikko I Hakone I Takayama I Nara |
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Crystal
blue
seas,
white-sand
beaches
and
colorful
marine
life.
Shuri
Castle,
home
of
the
King
of
Ryukyu. |
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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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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.
The
crystal
blue
sea
with
white-sand
beaches
and
colorful
fishes
dancing
through
coral
attracts
vacationers
as a
holiday
resort
with
many
diving
spots.
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). |
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