Experience the best of Tomigusuku

Tomigusuku lies on the south side of Naha, on the coast between the airport and the southern end of Okinawa Island. Its hills hold the ruins of Tomigusuku Castle and the underground headquarters of the Japanese navy, dug out in 1944, whose tunnels have been partly restored and are a quiet reminder of the war in Okinawa.

Senaga Island, a small rise joined to the mainland by a causeway, has white-walled terraces of shops and cafés that look toward aircraft landing at Naha Airport. The reclaimed Toyosaki waterfront has a swimming beach and shops. Naha's Kokusai-dori shopping street and the hill of Shuri Castle are a short way north, while Itoman, with its fish market, and the Peace Memorial Park lie south.

Okinawan cooking here leans on fish from the nearby harbours, tofu and island vegetables, with goya champuru, the bitter melon stir-fry, a staple. Tomigusuku is close enough to Naha that a morning at the market and an evening on the terraces fit in one day.