(琉球村) Ryukyu Mura

An immersive experience for the kingdom of Ryukyu, from the money and trade, to music and royalty. 

Interestingly, the Ryukyu Kingdom ruled Okinawa until Okinawa was unified with Japan. The heir to the kingdom lives today, and I sometimes see him in the news pushing for the independence of Okinawa and the reestablishment of his kingdom. 

Budget: JPY (~USD)

• JPY2,500. Okinawa Bus Pass.
• JPY1,500. Entrance fee. 

Visit Date

• March 2, 2017

When to Go
Anytime during the year!

Special Notes

• Website (English). The activities are available in the website, but when I went I just used the English brochure they had. 
• The English website seems to be a work in progress, so check the Japanese one.
• Access. Easily navigated with Google maps (google maps pin here)
• JPY1,180, 1h31m from Naha Airport. 
• For those doing their pottery, there is an hour "cooking" time. So go there first so you can explore the rest of the village while waiting for it to cook. 

Itinerary

• 01:00pm. Arrived at Ryukyumura, paid, and basically just tried to visit all the stops! I checked the schedule for the performances and tried my hand at whichever activity interested me. 
• 04:50pm. I was done, and soon headed out. 

The bus stop was a bit far from the entrance. 

Plenty of stores with activities too. 

The entrance!

Entering a different Japan!

There's this game like tug of war - and see that rope behind the lion? They use that rope. 

BIG rope. 

There was already some performance when I got in. 

Food!

It was ok. But the blue seal ice cream... darn. 

A water buffalo being used to crush canes. 

Hello Mr. Carabao! (we call them carabaos in the Philippines)

The sugar cane being crushed. Back home, we use water buffalos to tend to our farms. 

The weaving house. You can try your hand at weaving for a fee. 

Golden coins!

A favorite activity - just sitting there and listening to their music. 

The target for the day - pottery!

Me hard at work. 

Identical, ain't it? They need to "cook" this for an hour. So either they ship it to me (and I pay the fees), or wait an hour. I went back after an hour. 

Watched the performance with their royalty.

At the end, everyone gets to join in on a dance circling around. That was so fun!