Audio walking guides in Okinawa
Photo: Unknown photographer · Public domain
These are self-guided audio walks around Okinawa. You pick a route, put one earbud in, and the guide talks you through it stop by stop — what you are looking at, and why it is there. There is no group to keep up with and no meeting time. 10 walks covering The Battle, The Bases, Naha, The North, Where Karate Comes From, Yanbaru and more, 328 minutes of narration in total.
Start your free guideA free account is needed before a guide plays. Hear a minute first if you would rather try it than sign up for it.
Every walk in Okinawa
Shuri Castle & the Kingdom That Was Not Japan
The first thing to understand about this place is that almost nothing you have learned on any other walk in Japan applies here. The gate in front of…
The Battle: Eighty-Two Days in 1945
A word before we start. This walk covers a battle in which somewhere between a hundred thousand and a hundred and fifty thousand Okinawan civilians died, out of…
The Bases: Twenty-Seven Years and Counting
From the observation point on the hill above Ginowan you are looking down at a working military airfield with a city built tight against its fence on every…
Naha: Kokusai-dōri and the Market
Kokusai-dōri runs for roughly a mile and a half through central Naha and it is the commercial spine of the prefecture. Shops, restaurants, bars, souvenir stores, department stores,…
Pork, Bitter Melon and the Longevity Question
The first thing to understand about eating in Okinawa is that you have left Japanese cuisine behind. There is sushi, because there is sushi everywhere, but the local…
The North: Churaumi, Nakijin and the Coral Sea
Let me give you the tank properly, because the numbers are worth having before you walk in. The Kuroshio Sea tank holds around seven and a half million…
Sacred Groves and the Women Who Ran Them
Sefa-utaki is the holiest site in Okinawa and when you arrive at the centre of it there is nothing to look at in the way you are expecting.…
Where Karate Comes From
There are somewhere in the region of a hundred million karate practitioners worldwide, in every country, and all of them are practising something that was developed on this…
Yanbaru: The Forest at the Top of the Island
Drive north from Nago and at some point the character of the island changes completely. The concrete thins out, the road starts to bend around ridges, and dense…
Bingata, Lacquer and the Drums of Eisa
Bingata is the signature textile of these islands and it is unmistakable: brilliant yellows, scarlets, deep blues and greens, in patterns of flowers, birds, water and clouds, laid…
Questions about walking Okinawa
What is the best self-guided walking tour in Okinawa?
It depends how long you have. Shuri Castle & the Kingdom That Was Not Japan (35 minutes, 6 stops) starts at Shureimon gate, Shuri and is the one most people begin with. The Battle: Eighty-Two Days in 1945 covers a different part of the city in about 31 minutes. All 10 walks in Okinawa are listed on this page with their length and starting point.
Do I need to book a walking tour in Okinawa?
No. Every wanderaudio walk is self-guided, so there is nothing to book and no departure time. You start whenever you arrive, and you can stop halfway and pick it up the next day.
How much do the Okinawa audio guides cost?
Your first guide is free. You make a free account before it plays, with an email address or a Google login, and no card. After that a single guide is $4.99, a 30-guide pass, spendable on any guides in any cities, is $29.99, and every guide in Japan is $59.99. It is a one-off payment, not a subscription.
Are these tours in English?
Yes, all 10 Okinawa walks are narrated in English. Other languages are not available yet.
Can I do these walks alone?
Yes — that is what they are built for. There is no group and no guide waiting for you, so walking alone works exactly the same as walking with someone. You choose the pace and the order.