Day 22 - Traveling to Okinawa

Lauren and I had to be in Nagoya for a 3PM flight to Okinawa, so our morning started early, waking up just after 6 to pack. The family at Shiroyamakan had our breakfast ready at 7AM, and served it to us in a private dining room. We enjoyed our hearty breakfast of fish, hot pot, rice and chawanmushi, but soon had to bid our kind hosts farewell. We will never forget them!

Our last meal at Shiroyamakan

The only way to get to Nagoya from Shirakawa-go that early in the morning is to get to the city of Takayama, about 50 minutes away by car and catch a train. There were no buses available so early in the day, so we had to take a taxi, at a cost of $175. Our taxi driver was friendly, and got us to Takayama station efficiently, dropping us at the front. Lauren and I entered the station and were directed to a waiting area by a guard, as the train wouldn't board until 9:15. We purchased some waters, and enjoyed the people watching until 9:15 rolled around. There was a massive line of people waiting to board our train, so we filed along behind them and down to the platform, where our train hadn't yet arrived. The train had to shunt and connect to additional cars, so we were all asked to stand back and wait for this to happen. After about ten minutes of waiting, the train was ready for boarding and we took our seats, departing shortly thereafter.

The train ride from Takayama to Nagoya takes about 2.5 hours, and is an incredibly scenic ride. The majority of the ride is spent in beautiful mountain valleys, with dense forest on either side and water below. We both enjoyed the scenery and napped a little along the way, and soon arrived in Nagoya.

From Nagoya station, Lauren and I would have to catch a separate train line to the airport, about 30 minutes away. We were able to make our way through the very crowded Nagoya station to our train and board just before it departed, only to realize we had purchased the wrong tickets as the entire train was reserved. We hung around for a couple of stops until they started doing ticket checks, and were able to pay the difference to the conductor and take some seats.

We arrived at the airport just after 1PM, and made our way to departures, where the ANA check-in staff were friendly and efficient, checking most of our baggage for us. We proceeded to security, which is very similar to the states, and on to the departures lounge. We were both famished at this point, and opted to purchase some pork katsu sandwiches for lunch. The little cafe near our seats also sold Cremia ice cream, a favorite from Tokyo, so we had a cone to wrap up lunch and meandered over to our gate to await boarding.

Our plane boarded at 2:45PM, and was one of the fastest 737 boardings I've experienced, taking only 10 minutes to get the entire plane filled up. We took off and were in the air for a couple of hours, landing in Okinawa just after 5. Our baggage came out quite promptly, so we headed for the rental car shuttles. Lauren had arranged a car rental for us while here, and we were soon provided with our burgundy Toyota Corolla. I was a bit nervous about driving in Japan, largely because of the different traffic rules, but also because the roads can be incredibly narrow. We made our way from the airport to the AirBnB's area quite easily, only to discover that there was no parking to be found, and that we didn't know which building was the AirBnB. We circled the area a few times on very narrow roads before eventually spotting our accommodations, so Lauren hopped out and grabbed the bags, leaving me to park.

When I finally found parking, I snapped a picture of the sign for memory's sake.

I would never have imagined that parking in Okinawa would be so difficult, but it turns out that public parking is basically a massive collection of tiny parking lots rather than the more modern parking structures we are used to. You have to back into spots that are often very narrow, and unless your car is very maneuverable, this can be a real challenge.  I tried four different parking spots and struck out each time, either finding it too small for my car or full. Eventually, I found a parking lot about 400 meters from our accommodations that had a spot available, and backed my car in feeling very relieved. I walked to our temporary home in Naha City, Okinawa with my bag in tow, and met up with a very relieved Lauren.

Our cheese plate at Tedakotei

We both decided that walking to dinner would be a lot less stressful, and headed out shortly to find some food. The first place we tried was closed, so we kept walking, stumbling across Heiwa Dori, a large shotengai, before ultimately stopping at a local Italian joint called Tedakotei, where the proprietress greeted us warmly and seated us. Her menu consisted of local produce and the place smelled amazing, so we ordered a cheese platter (imported), a local sun salad, some bread, and a carbonara pasta to share. The food was delicious, and went down well with the very affordable bottle of Spanish wine we paired it with. We finished our meal with a slice of crepe cake and a piece of beet pound cake for dessert, then paid our bill and left just before 10PM. We were both exhausted, and had very little energy to do more that day, so we grabbed some water at a conbini and made our way home to get some rest.