Saturday, May 3, 2008

Golden week in Okinawa

Okinawa is on the receiving end of lots of Golden Week (April 29-May 5) tourism. An internet search on the topic yield a brief description of the holidays comprising Golden Week, and a description of the Dragon Boat races, but little else. http://japanupdate.com/?id=8620
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Week_(Japan)
What do Japanese people do during Golden Week? Where do they go? How might a traveler avoid traffic jams and other frustrations?
Mihama village was strangely tranquil during the day, and traffic in the Ginowan to Kadena strip seemed no worse than usual. However, in the afternoon/evening, Mihama turned into a parking lot, especially towards the end of the holiday. Youth seemed to swarm to the area, and the parking lots at Jusco and Makeman were at capacity.
During pleasant days, every local scuba operator was running tours at Sunabe, and parking was tight but still manageable along the seawall. Several intrepid families were camped out on the beach north of Junkyard, and large numbers of people were trolling the reefs.
On Saturday, the entire area around Nago was gridlocked, starting about 10km from the Kyoda IC exit, and continuing into Nago as far as the eye could see. Other than that, the IC north from Kitanakagusuku ran well.
The east coast of the island did not suffer significant traffic jams. All along the northeastern coast the motorcyclists were out in full force. The public beach areas from Kin to Higashi were tight for parking. It seems many Japanese families camp out on the beach for Golden Week. It is a scene to behold - amazing collections of camping gear, along with generators, griddles, BBQs, fire pits, solar-heated showers, pool toys and sporting equipment for the kids - load and loads of stuff under oversize tents and canopies. In addition, the kayak activity at Higashi was impressive.