A Stroll Around Hyakuna Garan

This year Okinawa’s rainy season ended late, and even then the damp, unsettled weather soon returned in what people here call modori-tsuyu, the “returning rains”.

At last the rains were over and summer had properly begun, or so we thought, when along came a typhoon…

In this first year of the Reiwa era, the skies have been wilful indeed, refusing to do as we would like.

Even so, when it comes to nature, I don’t think being wilful is entirely a bad thing.

If we take “wilful” to mean simply being as it is, following its own nature and its own rhythm, then it is precisely because of the long, damp rainy season that the trees can draw up all the nourishment they need, and keep their leaves lush and fresh even under the fierce midsummer sun.

And it is thanks to these wilful rains that we can look up at today’s blue sky and say, all the more gladly, “Oh, how beautiful!”

The sea from Kakinohana Hija, a spring near Hyakuna Garan chosen among Japan’s hundred finest waters

Seeing a maya (Okinawan for “cat”) lazing by the path, I realised that, as a grown-up, I had forgotten how important it is to listen to my own feelings.

A maya living a carefree, unhurried life near Hyakuna Garan

At this time of year, one of my pleasures on a fine day is a trip to Ojima.

Now that the rainy season is over, the island’s ladies have started drying squid in the sun again.

Daily life on Ojima, the island next door, joined to the shore by a bridge

Squid floating against the blue sky after the rains (Ojima)

At the market nearby, fish caught in the waters around Okinawa are laid out side by side, filling every inch of space.

When you are tired after a leisurely stroll at your own pace, why not treat yourself to a moment of luxury at our spa, with a pleasant sea breeze on your skin?

Since July, our treatment rooms, too, let you unwind with Okinawa’s beautiful sea close at hand. Please enjoy a refined holiday made for grown-ups.