Okinawa

Okinawa offers a subtropical interpretation of Japan, shaped by coral seas, Ryukyu heritage and a slower island rhythm. Its culture, cuisine and coastal landscapes create a destination distinct from both mainland Japan and the wider Pacific.

Okinawa Prefecture spans more than 160 islands stretching some 1,000 kilometres between Kyushu and Taiwan. Okinawa Island, the largest, holds Naha, the prefectural capital, and most of the population; beyond it lie the Kerama Islands, a short ferry ride west, and far to the south-west the Miyako and Yaeyama groups, including Ishigaki, Iriomote and Taketomi.

For four and a half centuries the Ryukyu Kingdom traded with China, Japan and South-East Asia from its court at Shuri in Naha, until annexation by Japan in 1879. That heritage survives in the gusuku castle sites listed by UNESCO, in bingata textiles and Ryukyu glass, in the sanshin lute and eisa drum dances, and in a long-lived cuisine of pork, bitter melon and awamori.

Okinawa is warm year round. Beach season runs from April to October, with sea temperatures well above 25°C through summer; the rainy season arrives earlier than in mainland Japan, from roughly mid-May to late June. July to September is hot and humid and the period of greatest typhoon risk, when storms can interrupt flights and ferries for a day or two.

Autumn and winter are mild and dry, comfortable for walking the castle sites and old villages. Cherry blossom comes in late January, the earliest in Japan, and humpback whales gather around the Kerama Islands from January to March. Early May brings the Naha Hari dragon-boat races, and late summer the eisa drum dances of the Obon season.

Okinawa’s leading hotels are on the west coast of the main island. The Ritz-Carlton, Okinawa stands beside a golf course near Nago, looking towards the East China Sea; Halekulani Okinawa, the Honolulu house’s first hotel outside Hawaii, faces the sea at Onna; and Hoshinoya Okinawa follows the shoreline at Yomitan behind its gusuku-style walls. Far to the south-west, Hoshinoya Taketomi Island recreates a Yaeyama village of red-tiled houses.

LVXVRY books The Ritz-Carlton through Marriott STARS & Luminous — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges the programme attaches to the stay. For Halekulani and the two Hoshinoya, LVXVRY advises on and arranges the stay, combines the main island with the Yaeyama Islands, and plans early for Golden Week and the summer holidays, when the choice is limited.