Good afternoon,
It is rainy on my last day here in Tokashiki,1 but I have no complaints—as long as the ferry operates regularly and I make it to Naha to catch my flight back to Tokyo, which I hope will depart on time—the irreplaceable joys of making summer plans in Japan, when the weather is at its most unpredictable.
This is the second post in my Okinawa diaries series. You can read the first post, which I finished at a hotel room in Naha, here: Okinawa Diaries—En Route to Tokashiki.
After a very short stay in Naha, the main city on mainland Okinawa—which is an entertaining town but might disappoint if you’re expecting to experience the region`s famous subtropical charm— I took the 10 a.m. car ferry to Tokashiki.
The ferry was full, and most passengers, with their small bags, looked like daytrippers. Only 35 minutes away from Naha by fast boat (or 70 minutes by car ferry), Tokashiki attracts many daytrippers, unlike the larger and more remote Okinawa islands like Ishigaki, Iriomote, and Miyako, which mainly cater to multi-day visitors. On weekends, I suspect that the number of day visitors to the island nearly matches its population of 700 residents.
Once the ferry docked at Tokashiki Port, I had just one mission in mind, divided into two acts: drop my bag at the hotel’s reception and sprint to Tokashiku Beach. So, when the receptionist at Hotel Kanaloa told me I could check in and take my bag to my room four hours before the official check-in time—a rare display of flexibility in Japan but a not-so-rare act of kindness—I felt a little disappointed, as it would cause me a whole five-minute delay.
The only thing I struggle with about Tokashiki is the overwhelming sense of urgency created by its almost ridiculously transparent blue waters—similar to how I feel during the autumn colors season in Japan. Every minute away from the beach feels like a waste, and when I am by those “Kerama Blue” waters, I act like a maniac—one moment in the water, the next taking photos from the viewpoint along the beach, feeling frustrated that I cannot perform those two actions simultaneously. Whenever I visit Tokashiku Beach, it takes me a couple of hours to calm down—once I am reassured that the ocean will not go anywhere and will remain just as blue—and start behaving like a more relaxed beach-goer.