Location: Naha - if going south on the 330, turn R just after Oromomachi station at the huge DFS mall. Drive past DFS, Naha main place, and you'll see the huge cream coloured building that has been described as a pyramid with the top cut off.
Hours: 9a-6p; open until 8p on Friday and Saturday. Closed Mondays.
The building itself is quite impressive, with an outdoor display showing thatched roof, a typical traditional home, and a kiln, and out back a sculpture garden.
Inside, you buy admission to one of three different exhibits: the permanent exhibit (400Y), a contemporary art exhibit (1200Y) and when we went an anthropological exhibit (?1000Y). We did the permanent exhibit, which is a history of the Ryukyus. The installation is really modern, with touch-screen videos, lots of photos, and quite well organized and informative exhibits, with English translations. There are rooms dedicated to the flora/fauna, archaeological finds on the island, typical arts/craft, daily life incorporating a fascinating discussion of burial traditions. Highly recommended as an overview of your host island.
We also visited the very civilised cafe, which has a selection of coffees from around the world, but unfortunately charges 680Y for a cup of coffee (which is admittedly the best coffee we've had in Okinawa so far). The chocolate cake was not great, but went well with the coffee.
In typical fashion, the museum also offers lovely toilet facilities with warmed magic seats and completely touchless soup/water/hand dryers.
So many reasons to visit.
