Certain places you go to once and know you never need to go back again. But some places get embedded deep inside of you and you always carry a piece of it. Tokyo and Hong Kong are two of those places for me. Okinawa is another. I only lived there for about a year, but it’s a magic island. Since moving to Canada in 2017, I haven’t been back to Okinawa until this year. And like seeing an old friend and simply picking up where you left off, it was like I had never left.

Even after being away for almost nine years, the streets of Naha felt so familiar and welcoming. I still remembered the stores, the driving routes, the parking spots, the favourite shops, the spots that had something interesting to see. And my daughter, now 12, has no memory of her early days in Okinawa, and saw it all this time with fresh eyes, which was very cool. “It has such a vibe,” she simply said, as she bought a Hawaiian-style shirt that Okinawans like to wear called kariyushi. “This is not like Tokyo at all!”

Our home for the next three days would be the top floor of an apartment building right on Araha Beach, one of the most popular spots on the island, especially with American service members with the military. Okinawa hosts approximately 30,000 active military members, and it’s commonplace to see fighter jets flying past the beach and helicopters buzzing around the sky. Lean, muscular soldiers jog along the beach, which made us Neo-Canadians, who were just emerging from our wintery cocoon, feel a bit pale and pear-shaped. “We’ve got to get our beach bodies back!” my husband remarked. I simply sipped my Orion beer.

Near to Chatan is the Miyagi Seawall, a place popular with scuba diving and snorkelling. There are wide concrete steps that lead down into the ocean, which makes it easy to get in, and the swim to the reef is quite short. The water in May however is a bit cold, I have to admit! But incredible sea life was everywhere. How fantastic that this reef is right next to such a built up area.

Okinawa is also famous for arts and crafts, so we popped over to Murasaki Mura to paint a whale shark (though you could choose other things, like shisa), and try some screen printing. It was a weekday and there was literally nobody there so it was very peaceful and we could look around at everything on offer.

Sigh. Three nights is not nearly enough time. There are so many, many things to do on this island. You need at least one week. Two would be better.

Till next time, Okinawa.