Tour report on 22 April 2017, Saturday

We thank guests from all over the world who joined the tour on that day.

66 people joined us from Germany, Portugal, USA, Israel, Malaysia, Australia, Argentina, Spain, Czech, France, Mexico, U.K. Croatia, and Italy. We divided into 5 groups.

Now the cherry blossom season is over. The flower is known to be short-lived so we learn the lesson that happiness is a sudden gift and never last forever. It seems spring is gradually turning to summer as it gets warmer day by day in Tokyo. But in Japan, up north you can still go skiing. In Yuzawa town, Niigata Prefecture, 1 and half hour bullet-train ride from Tokyo Station, there still remained good amount of snow and ski resorts are open until May.

But down south, in Okinawa Prefecture, 3 hour flight from Tokyo is already in summer season so you can swim in the sea. Recently Okinawa has become popular among foreign tourists visiting Japan. If you want to fly there from Tokyo, right wing side window seat is recommended. You can view Mt. Fuji from the window during the flight.

Okinawa is southernmost prefecture and consists of several islands surrounded by coral reef.

The climate is different from mainland Japan, subtropical. It may be like Hawaii in U.S.A. Like Hawaii, the prefecture went through different historical path. There used to be independent kingdoms. But in late 19^th century when Japan became modern state, it was annexed to Japan Nation like Kamehameha dynasty. So not only the climate is different but identities and cultures are as well.

Tourist attractions include not only beautiful coral sea and beaches but old kingdom remains like the one we introduce in the East Garden. The most famous one is Nakagusuku castle, which was designated as one of the World Heritage sites. Stone base and gates have remained from the middle age. When the castle was actually used, it was not part of Japan. The kingdom was not actually under governance of Tokugawa Shogun who had resided in the East Garden.

There you can find different feeling from mainland Japan. Why not visit there to experience different climate, different look, different identity, different culture within territory of Japan?