Okinawa Sunrise

Monday, January 28, 2008

Cherry Blossoms again!






As an eternal optimist, I hedged my bets this past weekend and dragged Adrian north of Nago to (hopefully) see cherry blossoms in bloom by Nakijin castle. As faithful readers will recall, 2007 did not prove an auspicious year for punctual flowers!!!

The Nakijin Cherry trees were a little more prompt although not out in full force as you can see from the pictures! It has been very cold by Okinawan standards in the past few weeks (low 60s) so I think they retreated back into their buds to wait it out!

Nakijin castle however is very impressive. It is also a UNESCO world heritage site for those of you keeping track. It was built in the 13th century and was the seat of power for the Northern most principality on the island, Hokuzan. It traded independently with China until the central principality, Chuzan, invaded in the early 1400s. It then became the seat of the central area's Governor of the north. Now it serves mostly as a spiritual center and is a working archaeological site. Also as you can see it was a popular spot for tourists like us!

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi,

I came across your website because I was looking for information about Okinawa, where I will be going in the first half of March. I noticed you mentioned booking an aerial tour earlier. Could you perhaps tell me where you booked that?

Thanks.

4:24 AM  
Blogger Okikitten said...

hi sven,
sorry to take so long to reply. I am a deliquent blogger. the kadena aerial tours are done through the kadena Aero club. I don't have their number anymore but they are in the okinawa yellow pages. Mensore in advance!

7:07 PM  

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