KANI RYOKAN YAMAUCHISOU Yamauchi Simple Inn (簡易旅館山内荘) is a great cheap place to stay on the beach in Okinawa. The place is right on the sea wall and beach of Nakadomari in Onna-son, Okinawa. There are some really huge and expensive resorts on Nakadomari Beach (like Moon Beach Resort and Renaissance Beach Resort Okinawa) but this Yamauchi Inn is simple and inexpensive, much like a pension or hostel. The Yamauchi Inn is next door to the Nakadomari Fresh Seafood Restaurant which has the best fresh seafood in Okinawa and our favorite place for large parties, Casa la Tida Mediterranean Tapas Cafe Restaurant, is within stumbling distance via the stairs under the HWY 58 bridge on the hill overlooking Nakadomari. There are also two small “mom and pop” food and beverage shops within less than a block. Each of the 8 rooms has a balcony on the water and a small kitchenette area for cooking that includes a refrigerator, stove, microwave and rice cooker. The bathrooms are modern and separated between the American-style toilet with small sink and the larger sink with a deep bathtub/shower which is typical for Okinawa. There is also a clothes washing machine in the room, but like most places in Okinawa you have to hang the clothes to dry. The single American style bed was too small for both of us so we created two beds out of the frame with some padding and put the mattress on the floor. The rooms have a large Tatami (畳) (originally meaning "folded and piled") Japanese flooring made of woven straw and packed with styrofoam for sleeping on traditional Japanese mats. The price for the room (off-season at least) is only 4,500 Yen per person (yes, most places charge by the person). One couple from Kyoto checking out the same day we did had been staying there an entire month, and we're sure they received a discount due to the length of their stay. Of course, nobody could afford to stay a month at the other beach resort hotels on the same beach! The only detractor from the price besides the small American bed is the air conditioner cost 100 Yen for two hours when necessary during the summer months. Having to "feed the meter" to run the air conditioning can get expensive but costs for electricity in Okinawa are very high and it is understandable that the inn needs to recoup this cost, especially if you want the air on all day while you are not in the room. You can't beat the views and location for the price (including the kitchen and in-room washing machine amenities) anywhere in Okinawa! Stay at 簡易旅館山内荘 KANI RYOKAN YAMAUCHISOU Yamauchi Inn!

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Casa la Tida カサ ラ ティーダ has excellent food, a wonderful view, wine bar and an extensive wine selection, plenty of room including group, outdoor, indoor and multiple private dining areas in a Spanish-style interior. Western-style seating and traditional tatami mat floor cushion seating are available. The menu and wine list are available in both Japanese and English. They even have FREE WI-FI internet access! Large selection of jazz records and juke box in the bar area. Awamori storage and tasting is also a Casa la Tida specialty. A trained sommelier on staff with a huge wine cooler and red wine selection including European, South American and South Australian wines. Wines can get a bit pricy, with a 2005 Windham Estate Bin 555 from South Australia running about 4,000 Yen ($40 USD), but keep in mind wine is not normally carried at most Okinawan restaurants. Other hotel wine lists will price European wines well above 100,000 Yen ($100 USD). This is our favorite place in Okinawa to have a party or sample a wide variety of Mediterranean tapas-style food with an Okinawan flair. The owners and staff are very friendly and helpful. Service is always superb! We've had three huge parties in the group dining area...fantastic setting for up to 30 people. The views of Nakadomari Beach and Maeda Point. My favorite appetizer tapas is the Okinawan Beef Sashimi. This is thin slices of Okinawan corn-fed raw beef, soaked in olive oil, and topped with large shavings of Parmesan cheese. All three pizzas were good, although the shrimp and oyster with basil pizza may be a bit unusual for some tastes. When we lived in Nakadomari from 2003-2005, we went to Casa la Tida every weekend for food and drinks until 0300L so we could stumble home. During our visit and another huge party in March 2008, we noticed the place is no longer open past midnight, even on weekends, which was slightly disappointing but definitely still open later than anything else in the area. For your next big party or cozy evening sipping wine, be sure to select Casa la Tida Restaurant and Wine Bar for your special occasion--you won't be disappointed!

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For the best fresh seafood in Okinawa, you have to visit the Nakadomari Fresh Seafood Restaurant in Onna-san near the intersection of HWY 58 and Route 6. This family-owned establishment carries the finest seafood for the price in the area. The Yamashiro Family travels daily to the Nago Fisheries Cooperative Association (Nago FCA) at the Nago Fish Market to get the food right off the boat. You can't get it any fresher than catching it yourself! My favorite meal at Nakadomari Restaurant is a fried octopus (Japanese: tako) starter with draft Orion Beer, followed by a half lobster al gratin set meal, which comes with a small sashimi, misso tofu soup, desert and two types of seaweed. The Nakadomari Restaurant makes the best lobster al gratin out of the 12+ places I've had it in Okinawa! If I want to change it up a bit, I'll order the special sea cucumber appetizer which comes with Okinawan leeks, oinions and garlic. For my meal, I'll order a fried shrimp (Japanese: ebi, pronounced AY-bee) set meal of which you get about 5 huge prawn-sized shrimp in addition to the items mentioned in the lobster set, plus a small Thousand Island dressing salad. These meal sets run about 1,500 Yen or $15 USD plus 400 Yen ($4 USD) per each Orion draft beer in a icy glass mug. Jenny's favorite is the "Nakadomari Fish Special" set meal which is a large white fish broiled in lemon, butter and sea salt. I've had it before and it is delicious, but I usually don't eat the crispy tail like Jenny does. The Nakadomari Restaurant also serves more traditional local Okinawan selections like fish head soup, noodle-based dishes, and "green caviar" which is a special seaweed with little bubbles on the end of parsley- looking seaweed stalks. The draft Orion Beer in ice cold glasses is always a hit, but be sure to try the Awamori which is an Okinawan specialty liquor served with water and ice cubes. They also serve many types of tea (green and barley teas are popular) and sodas. The interior is modern Okinawan with both a Western-style table/chairs area and a traditional totami mat and cushion area behind rice paper sliding screens. The view of Nakadomari Beach, especially from the balcony which has a few white cast iron bistro sets, provides a fantastic view of Okinawa's turquoise-blue waters and local fishing boats. When the tide is low, you can watch the locals gather seaweed and shellfish out to about a mile from the shoreline. The restaurant is also normally still open during typhoons, protected by huge aluminum shutters and the cold Orion is still on tap. The staff is friendly but may be lacking in robust English skills during certain shifts, but don’t let that stop you from pointing at the pictures on the menu. They also do not take credit cards, so be prepared with Yen. The meals are reasonably priced, especially compared to the adjacent tourist restaurants at Renaissance Beach Resort and the Moon Beach area on the same bay. It is also close to the famous snorkeling, diving, surfing and sunset place on Maeda Point which can be seen to the left of the Nakadomari Bay view. Try Nakadomari Fresh Seafood Restaurant for some of the best seafood Okinawa has to offer--and tell them Jenny and Jeff sent you!

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These are some of the first daytime views of the crystal clear turquoise blue waters on Nakadomari Beach, Okinawa, Japan from our beach house balcony.

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These are the first sunset shots  from the balcony of our new home in Nakadomari, Okinawa, Japan.  The house was not yet finnished but we were able to take a look at the house we found within 24 hours of arriving via Central Housing Office and our new best friend in Okinawa, Emika, who showed it to us.  We wanted a dream house on the beach with 110V electricity, all-American fixtures, 3 bedroom, 2 baths...and we found it!  This was the best place we have lived in the world!  Our Okinawan landlords also owned the fresh seafood restaurant below us and there was plenty of parking on the first floor.  We had the most amazing sunsets for 2 years of beach living!  Despite the 13 typhoons (including 3 where you could go outside and look up into the bright, sunny eye of the storm!) we were well protected by the shallowness of the bay, a large reef about a mile out from the beach and huge steel shutter dorrs to protect the windows up to 150+ mph winds.

Our views of Nakadomari Beach on the East China Sea our some of our favorite memories of Okinawa.

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The crystal turquoise-blue waters off Okinawa, especially at sunset, should be viewed from this little traditional Okinawan village. But, you can also see the same stretch of beach from the Renaissance Okinawa Resort and Moon Beach Hotel. Nakadomari Beach is protected by an off-shore shelf about 2 miles out and is relatively shallow, allowing people to walk out to the drop off and harvest seaweed/shellfish during low tide. Nakadomari Beach in on the East China Sea or West side of Okinawa, about half way along the west coast. It is also registered as a National Seashore. The beach has powered paragliders, horses, parasailing, fishing and scuba/snorkelling activities. The famous entrance to the bay is called Maeda Point, where there are stairs carved out of the rocks to allow you to step into the water for surfing, snorkelling and scuba diving. There are some underwater caves to explore in this area and the sealife is incredible, especially the colorful tropical fish you can let eat of of your hand! In August 2004 we had 12 sea turtle (Japanese Kame) mothers give birth to about 1,000 baby sea turtles that made thier way out into the Pacific Ocaean. All the schools let out so the kids could watch this event of nature. The marine biologists and volunteers had moved the sea turtle nests inland and marked them so they would not be disturbed. Then they checked on all the nests and helped some of the baby sea turtles who got disoriented and tried to move inland vice out to sea. Nakadomari also has local dragon boat races and the Renaissance Okinawa Resort even has an underwater restaurant and swimming with bottle-nosed dolphins on this beach. We loved the sunsets on Nakadomari Beach and we were thankful for the reef protection during the 12 typhoons we had that year. The beach is not a very sandy consistancy, more like small pieces of seashells so I can't give it a top recommendation rating. If you like to collect seashells though, you'll also like Nakadomari Beach.

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