Okinawa Day 2, Part 1a: Shuri Castle

Jetlag is a wonderful thing, especially when there's planned touring involved.  After waking up well before 6 am, we enjoyed our daily complimentary breakfast- a spread of American and Japanese food.  There's nothing like miso soup and french fries for breakfast...j/k.

The first area of Okinawa that we toured was Shuri, more specifically, Shuri Castle.  Shuri is a special place to me.  It's where I lived and attended school for a year when I was a mere teenager.  Okay, I was nineteen going on twenty, but still, an impressionable age to be independently living overseas.

Most tour groups visiting Okinawa will always go to Shuri for its cultural and historical importance. Okinawa, before being "returned" back to Japan, was its own independent kingdom, known as Ryukyu (I say "returned" because technically, the Ryukyu Islands never really belonged to Japan...but that's a whole other blog entry).

For the entire year that I studied in Okinawa, I never once took an official tour of Shuri Castle.  It's kinda shameful on my part (actually pathetic) because Shuri Castle is situated on the same block as the Okinawa Prefectural University of the Arts (where I was attending school).  Anyways, it was great to actually step foot into the castle and really absorb what royal living was like back in the day.

 (in front of Shuri Castle, please excuse the construction)

 (inside Shuri Castle)

 (the original first floor of the castle)

(water located on castle grounds)

(a view from the highest point in Shuri)

(my old stomping grounds)

(view of the Okinawa Prefectural University of the Arts...and my messy hair)