Location: on the 81 at its intersection with the 330
Old in history, new in structure, this is one of the larger shrines on Okinawa. We went for the new year's festivities, which were carnivalesque. The standard street food vendors were there - they seem to make a circuit, last seen by us at the Itoman light festival. Each vendor offers the same Okinawan take on carnival food - french fries topped in fried chicken, tako-yaki, yakisoba and assorted other stir-fried meals, corn dogs, corn-on-the-cob, and pancakey things with or without bean paste, and deep-fried sesame-coated mochis. Items unusual to this festival were oden with sausages, deep fried cheese and meat pockets, and quite nice looking steamed mochi balls. The food is accompanied by an array of games with prizes and trinket stalls.
The people watching was great - Japanese families line up for an hour or more to get into the shrine. There kids were dressed up in a variety of Sunday-best outfits, from kimonos to getups that involve tweed skirt and vest with beret and knee-high boots.
On normal days one can explore the shrine grounds more thoroughly. MCCS has a reasonable article about this with photos at http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/public%20affairs%20info/archive%20news%20pages/2006/060505-shrine.html
