My Favorite Place: Okinawa

Okinawa Prefecture is a Japanese island that I have only been able to visit twice in my life, but I have grown extremely fond of it. A quarter of my family lives there and being able to see the island as both a tourist and a resident has made it an intriguing and lovely place for me. It is filled with beaches, castles, and Okinawa-specific food (my favorite being sata andagi, which are Okinawan donuts). Many people see Okinawa as an almost separate entity from Japan because its culture and food are so different from the main land's. Here you can see that it is a long but small island:

(Okinawa Island: Wikimedia Commons)

My favorite part of visiting is just walking down the streets. The atmosphere is very calm and friendly. Here is a picture of one of the streets I walked dozens of times on my last visit.

(Personal image of an Okinawa street taken December 2017.)

This elephant trunk-shaped cliff is a popular tourist destination and a really beautiful place to visit.

(Personal image of the elephant rock at Cape Manzamo, taken December 2017.)

Okinawa has many castles, but the most popular one is Shurijo Castle. Here is a picture taken from inside the walls of the castle. The castle was actually recently destroyed in a fire so they are working on rebuilding it. The castle seems very prone to fires...it has actually been burnt down 5 times in the past 600 years. 

(Personal image from Shurijo Castle taken December 2017.)