Island Hopping around Japan's Ryukuu Islands

At the end of August I was on the Sapphire Princess to work on a Chinese Chartered Cruise like I did last summer. Although I have been to Japan a few times already I have never been to the tropical islands of Japan's Ryukuu Islands which the Sapphire Princess was visiting. The ship's itinerary also afforded me the chance to experience Taiwan for the first time too.

Cruise 1
Okinawa:
The most famous street in Okinawa for buying souvenirs is Kokusai-dori which we got to by walking 20 minutes from the cruise terminal (Wakasa berth number 8). Alternatively, a 10 minute taxi ride (for approximately 620 yen) will take you to Kokusai-dori.
Note: To get to Kokusai-dori turn right upon leaving the cruise terminal and walk towards the two large dragon statues. Continue along this street until you see Kokusai-dori (on the left).

View from the entrance of Kokusai-dori

This street was full of all kinds of souvenirs ranging from shirts to key chains to food and everything in between. The shops selling food items often had samples you could try which came in useful when deciding between all the different snacks they were selling.
Since the Ryukuu Islands are regarded as the Hawaii of Japan we saw a lot of beach wear and beach themed souvenirs being sold in the shops in Okinawa.

Miyakojima (Port of Hirara):
(This is a tendered port and requires a 15 minute tender ride to get to shore.)
We went on the Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour which made 3 stops.
The first stop was a photo stop by a long bridge built along the sea.

The second stop was a beach.
The third stop was at the shopping complex Aeon which included electronic stores, clothing stores, supermarkets, a Daiso, and a few restaurants. The supermarket was a great place for me to buy snacks to take home.

Ishigaki:
(This is a tendered port and requires a 25 minute tender ride to get to shore.)
Tip: There is free Wi-Fi available at the cruise terminal when you get to shore.
We bought tickets to take the ferry (1150 yen roundtrip) to Taketomi Island. The ferry leaves from shore and takes about 15 minutes to get there.
The highlight of my one week contract on the Sapphire Princess was the water buffalo cart ride (tickets are 1200 yen). We were given a tiny bag of star-shaped sand to take home as a souvenir for purchasing tickets. The water buffalo pulled us along in the cart for a scenic tour around the island. We were also treated to a musical performance by the "driver" of the water buffalo cart ride who sang and played on his ukulele-like instrument while we took in the sights of this small island.

After the ride we walked to the beach famous for having star-shaped sand. We saw people looking through the sand to find the star-shaped ones and we were able to see it for ourselves as well. From the beach we took the bus back to the ferry terminal (310 yen).
We caught the ferry from Taketomi Island back to Ishigaki where we went to eat pork bone noodle soup at a Japanese restaurant before calling it a day and taking the tender back to the ship.


Cruise 2
Keelung, Taiwan:

This was the turnaround port for the Sapphire Princess. We went for a bubble tea and sampled some chicken at a local market. There was also time for us to check out the cute items they sold at the shops before we went for lunch.
Not too far from the cruise terminal is an all-you-can-eat hot pot restaurant for a very reasonable price. They also had eight different ice cream flavours and waffle cones available for dessert (included in the price of the meal). I had the mango and green tea flavoured ice cream after finishing my hot pot and it was the perfect dessert for my meal.

Okinawa:
The last cruise when we were in Okinawa we didn't get a chance to finish exploring the entire length of Kokusai-dori so this time we went inside the shops we missed out on the first time around.
Believe it or not I have never had sushi in Japan even though I have been to Japan at least 3 times in the last 3 years. You would think sushi would be everywhere but sushi restaurants are harder to come by then you may think. I finally decided to just get sushi from the supermarket just to be able to say I have had sushi in Japan. I was blown away by how good this supermarket sushi was! It is easily in my top 3 list of the best sushi I have ever eaten.

Ishigaki:
We went to try the famous Ishigaki beef (not as infamous as Kobe beef but still tasty!). There is a do-it-yourself barbecue place called Outlet not too far from the cruise terminal which we went to. We ordered their lunch set combo which comes with different cuts of raw Ishigaki beef to barbecue as well as miso soup, salad and a bowl of rice. It was a very nice meal for my last day in Japan.


This contract was full of good food and good memories. Japan never disappoints me and I loved every minute of my time here!