Location - Naha, south of Shuri castle; follow signs on the 82
This is the reconstruction of a garden and villa that belonged to the Ryukyu royal family. Admission is 300Y. There is a pleasant and ridiculously well signposted route through the garden, around the pond, over the stone bridges, through the villa and back to the gate. We spent a pleasant hour or two wandering around. There is a viewpoint over the densely populated area south of here.
North of Shikina-en and south of Shuri there is the Kinjo dam and the Kinjo stone pavement walkway. The former appears to have been a large reservoir in the past, but now serves more as a park. A brief drive on the east-west road north of the dam showed promise for a return visit - there was a gallery cafe overlooking the dam, a fancy chocolate shop, and a cute looking A-frame bar. Along that road you see signs for the cobblestone path up the hill. This is the last bit of a road that supposedly connected Shuri and Shikina-en and passed through an upper-class neighborhood. Now you have to stretch your imagination - the houses are of modern construction, the cobbling tapers off on the side roads, but you can picture how lovely it was before the firestorm of WWII.
Shuri is discussed at length everywhere else, so we will not provide details. We did the obligatory visit, which was interesting but set up to funnel you around a course, as typical for a check box on the tour group itinerary.
