This story starts with an international licence. Or more accurately, a lack of one. 

There are some experiences when travelling that make you sit back and say “Yep. Absolutely. This is what it’s alll about”. I’m talking… riding a rusty old pushbike to the beach in a sundress, being the sole customers in a shell-adorned Nepalese restaurant on the sand, sipping cheap beers and then racing home before a tropical storm drenches everything. 

There are also the lows. Arriving (via a definitely-not-short) shuttle bus ride from the airport to the hire car place and realising that you forgot to get your international licence. Or, the lowest of lows, receiving a missile launch warning as you’re trying to drift to sleep on your tatami mat in the evening.

But let me start from the start. 

My partner chose to take a sabbatical from work recently, and while I did not, I am also incapable of saying no – particularly when it comes to a holiday, and even if I am not explicitly invited. So off to Japan we went. As this was not really my trip, I tried to take a step back from bulldozing my way through the plans. Brandon had recently watched that documentary on the world’s blue zones on Netflix, and he was keen to check out just what made Okinawa so special. I didn’t really know anything about it, but upon a quick google search was met with images of aquamarine water and sandy beaches, so was immediately sold. 

A quick flight from Fukuoka via a Peach domestic flight (cutest airline name ever!!) and we arrived in Naha. After taking a 30 minute cab to our first Airbnb, we were dropped off by our lovely but very confused taxi driver in what appeared to be the middle of the jungle. That’s an exaggeration, but it was very jungle-y.

At about 100% humidity even before it started raining, Okinawa’s climate in May is like existing in a greenhouse.

Our first stop was Bashou Noie (airbnb link here) – a secluded cabin tucked in between banana trees with glimpses of the bay down below. Crafted by host Miho’s husband himself, it was the kind of place that made you think “You know what? I really should sell all of my possessions and move into an off grid cabin in the wilderness”. Relaxed, beautiful and simple, Bashou Noie epitomised the things I love about discovering Airbnbs and private home rentals. Aside from the ambience, there was delicious local coffee beans ready to be freshly ground each morning. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again – good coffee is a must. There were also other perks – boring ones, like how the washing machine gave us a chance to do the unglamorous task of catching up on washing mid-trip, and more fun ones, such as the shelves being stacked with drop-dead-gorgeous locally made pottery.

To put so much trust in your guests that you leave (very expensive) pottery for their enjoyment is just so special, and as a pottery lover it really elevated the experience. Plating up some supermarket sashimi on one of those pieces and teaming it with an Orion lager (Okinawa’s famous brew) was a hard to beat dinner. It was just such a nice time to sit on the deck, do nothing much at all, enjoy some ridiculously delicious but simple food and take it all in. 

Speaking of the supermarket – while we could have walked, the aforementioned humidity would have made it not super enjoyable, and Miho was so kind. Once we let her know that we’d made it to the property, she came to greet us and then insisted that she drive us down to the local supermarket so that we could stock up. 

Aside from our supermarket trip – which I was actually very interesting and I definitely could have dragged out for longer, Miho also had the pottery intel (of course). A few of her pieces I particularly fell in love with were by Migyagi Pottery, who was also funnily enough one of her friends, but unfortunately was away during our stay. Luckily, Miho directed us to Tamagusu Shokudo, a cafe and gallery space that displayed a few local potters and artisan wares. Hire car off the table, we found ourselves trudging uphill in a torrential tropical downpour to wait for the local bus. Bus taken and two local grandmas befriended with nothing more than single words and hand gestures, we eventually made it to our quaint cafe destination. We headed there for a Taiwanese lunch, my first experience with Taiwanese food, and also my first taste of the dangerously delicious (and alcohol heavy) apple cider. The journey was absolutely worth it for an unforgettable lunch and – of course – nabbing a piece or two from the gallery space. 

Completely unintentionally, the two homes we chose to stay in were actually quite close to each other, and the hosts ended up being friends! After Bashou Noie, we headed across to Sister’s House (airbnb link here) also – maybe less of a coincidence and more a reflection of my personal taste – a wooden home. 

Featuring an indoor hammock and climbing wall along with an elevated reading room looking out over the verdant garden below, this was another inspirational abode. The sunken seats by the kitchen bench, traditional tatami room and open-plan internal spaces made Sister’s House feel like the kind of place you could absolutely stay a while. I also loved the faint scent of cedar that permeated the home. 

Slightly closer to beachfront restaurants and cafes, when not reading in the hammock and feeding the resident cats Chobbi and ‘Chobbi’s Friend’ (name unknown), we were riding our bikes around to the family-run pottery shops and restaurants dotting the neighbourhood surrounding the house. One family home and studio was just around the corner and manned by multiple generations, where we picked up a couple of sets of handmade sake glasses (maps link here). Slightly further on our pushbikes was Craft Pottery Studio K’s (maps link here), featuring a lot of shisha designs – legendary creatures of Okinawa sometimes referred to as “guardian lions,” and are said to drive away demons and bad luck. Here, we selected an (iconic) oversized mug with retro fish motif for Brandon’s dad (I can confirm that it is now John’s chosen Moccona mug), along with vases and handpainted cups. 

While I absolutely have plenty of machine or batch-made pottery in my collection, there’s something you cannot go past in purchasing from small handmade studios. It may just be me, but I think of the place I bought it from whenever I use the piece – which is particularly nice when I’m brewing my coffee on a rainy 5c Melbourne morning, reminiscing on my travels. Anyway, I digress (again). 

Sister’s House was perfectly located with three great spots nearby: Tamagusu Shokudo, Hamabe no Chaya and Karika Canteen. We only had the chance to visit Tamagusu Shokudo once for Taiwanese food, but found ourselves heading back to Hamabe no Chaya for many iced lattes, juices and breakfasts watching the immense changes to the shoreline as the tide came in and out. 

Meanwhile, Karika Canteen was the Nepalese restaurant on Mibaru Beach. I didn’t expect to indulge in momos and veggie curry whilst in Okinawa, but I certainly wasn’t mad about it! The shell-adorned exterior, cheeky resident cat, cutest little vintage / secondhand shop off to the side of it and the striped umbrellas rippling in the pre-downpour breeze had me head over heels.

We had unknowingly booked in typhoon season, and narrowly missed two typhoons both before and after our stay. Even so, the heat and humidity were sweltering, and found us retreating inside to the hammock to read our books or stare out across the treetops. One day we only ventured as far as the vending machine around the corner (sweet iced coffee at the press of a button only a few steps away – dangerous) and to the shop at the top of the hill for an ice cream. Big vacay energy. 

As mentioned at the start, we did have one experience on Okinawa that I don’t care to relive at any point in my life. We were falling asleep late on our final evening, when the safety warning app that I’d downloaded on my phone (in case of tsunamis, as we were staying at sea level) suddenly went off. This was followed by a loud siren throughout our accomodation, speaking in Japanese. The warning on my phone read: “Missile launch. Missile launch. A missile has been possibly launched from North Korea. Please take shelter inside a building or underground.” Needless to say, the next 15 minutes sheltering in the house were terrifying, until a further warning sounded to let us know that the evacuation order had been lifted. Absolutely crazy experience even though nothing actually happened!! It would have definitely been a less stressful experience had I known that these launches occur at semi-regular intervals throughout the year, but I guess we know now. 

Okinawa, and particularly Nanjo, on the southern end of the island where we stayed, is such a unique place. Local cafes and restaurants along with quiet little villages, the historical influence of American army bases that remain to this day, and the tropical vibe all combine to garner it the nickname as ‘Japan’s Hawaii’. Even so, I feel like that doesn’t come close to summing up the quirky island. It’s a place that makers and creatives seem to thrive in, and a definite must-visit to add a different perspective to any Japan trip.