Tarto in Japan

It's already the end of october and temperatures have dropped. Last year at the same period, I spent my last ten days of vacations visiting the Ryukyu archipelago, more commonly known as Okinawa.

In fact, it would more accurate to talk about the "Okinawa prefecture", which is composed of three archipelagos, Okinawa being the one to the north. However, the north in this context is a relative notion as it is still much more southern than the rest of the country. This is very interesting for tourists, as october and november are excellent periods for sightseeing...and enjoying the sea!

Further to the south are Miyako and Yaeyama archipelagos, still in the same prefecture. This page shows the positions of the different islands. With enough time (I guess a month would be enough), the best itinerary consists in leaving from the southern tip of Kyushu and island-hop down to Iriomote, allowing for a great variety of atmospheres.

The local culture is very specific and landscapes, food, the local dialect one can sometimes hear, everything makes you feel almost like you are in another country! And as one can expect from islands, life is veeeeery relaxed.

Contrary to the rest of the country, it is a bit difficult to gather detailed information about Okinawa, and therefore I asked my friend Romain for advice, as he had already been there...but I don't have time to translate all the emails we exchanged.

To sum it up, it convinced me to do the necessary paperwork so I would be able to rent a car. As a Frenchman, I cannot use an international license here, but instead I had to get an official translation of my license. At least that's the theory! Practically, all I needed to do was to show my French license. And that's it! Yes, Okinawa is definitely quite different from the rest of Japan!

About the islands themselves...well, you'll have to wait for the next posts! Of course, pictures are coming!