I used to think beaches like this weren't real when I saw them in the UK on pictures and stuff
I thought they were just photoshopped
Oh my god
Appetizing
...is not a word I would use
to describe this
I recently packed my bags, put on my cheap sunglasses and flew through the sky
1500 km south to the islands of Okinawa
It was here on my trip with Odigo Travel that I would discover a culture that was like Japan
but not like Japan
A culture where people get drunk off alcoholic snakes
and the lots and lots of spam!
And no sooner we had landed the first opportunity to experience Okinawan culture presented itself!
In Beer form!
So we just arrived in Naha the capital city of Okinawa and what better way to kick things off
than by trying the beer of Okinawa
Orion...Orion
Original Brew
Supposed to be quite good this is the local beer!
Never had it before!
Tastes a lot like Asahi
But little bit more citrusy, little bit more fruity!
In a good way! I find Asahi beers a bit boring..
If I was gonna rank the mainstream Japanese beers :
Asahi, Kirin, Orion, and Sapporo, the number one!
Good! Let's go and check out Okinawa
...by walking over here
This is probably the best beach I've been to
...ever!
It looks like someone's tipped hundreds of barrels of blue dye into the sea to make it look so perfect
I used to think beaches like this weren't real when I saw them in the UK in pictures and stuff, I thought they were just photoshopped
And to be fair, I'm right to be pessimistic, especially given how British beaches look compared to this
In the UK, you can't see through the water at all
And the sand looks like mud, this sand is white and the water is really really warm
Again, if you go in the sea anywhere in the UK, it's always freezing or cold, here it's like being in a hot bath!
That is ridiculous!
But was the beach really that good? I decided to ask some fellow tourists for their opinions
If you could describe this beach in one word, what would that word be?
Wet!
And you?
Hot!
Hot?
Such boring words
No, hot and wet beach!
Disgusting!
If you could rate this beach on a scale of 1 to 10, what would it be?
Errr like 20!
It's off the charts!!
Oh my god!!!
Why do you think Japanese women don't really wear bikinis that much?
There's like barely anyone on here
They don't want to get tanned and I think they embarrassed about showing skin
It's the sort of beach that makes me frustrated coz I know I'm never gonna be able to do it justice on camera
You need some sort of 4D VR Super Dooper Beach Experience
To be able to capture it!
This beach is amazing Jun
Yeah!
There's no one!
Absolutely no one!
Just you and me
So romantic!
Apart from the towel, the towel kind of removes the element of romance out of the equation
I wish I'd bloody brought one
Sweating like a ....donkey!
It seems the best way to appreciate the waters of Okinawa though is to get under it
So we're about to hop on this banana boat
Go out into the bay and check out some coral
Got some snorkeling gear
Let's go!
Having spent an hour flailing about under water like a porpus
We traded the photoshopped Okinawan waters for the bustling streets of downtown Naha
In order to taste another Okinawan cultural icon
So this is Blue Seal, apparently it's the ice-cream of Okinawa
It started out in America a few decades ago then came to Okinawa and now they just call it Okinawa Ice-Cream
I don't normally like ice-cream at all, but I'm willing to give it a shot!
What do you recommend Chris?
Salted Cookie!
It's an Okinawan local specialty
Banana Suzanna
What's that all about?
We're getting Shio Chinsuko
Which is Okinawa Salt Cookie
Is it the same as Chocolate Chip Cookie? Normal Cookie?
It's like a white sugar cookie
White sugar cookie??
Like all the cookie inside is like a vanilla ice-cream
Blue Seal Memorabilia
Here we go!
Oh yeah I like that!
That's really good!
It's really really thick and there seams to be like
lumps of biscuit in it!
Salted Cookie! It tastes a bit like Hershey's Chocolate Cookie chocolate
But in ice-cream form
Quite chewy!
It's like chewy ice-cream
So one of the national dishes of Okinawa is Spam
I'm not even joking, apparently after WWII it was really popular during rations
And they still eat it now, they have it fried
And it tastes pretty good
I actually had it in an Okinawan restaurant in Tokyo, and I thought someone was playing a prank on me or something
when I saw it on the menu
It actually tasted surprisingly good!
And look it's Rachel! Do you like Spam?
I'm not sure I've actually ever had Spam
It's like cheap luncheon meat
It doesn't look good, it looks like cancer
It looks like cancer and diabetes all rolled in one package
but tastes pretty good!
And then over here
there's Snake sake!
Look at his little face!
This is actually a drink
What is it? What's in there?
Part of me wants to try it, the other part is incredibly disgusted
The fact that the snake's face is in there
I hate it when people put snake in my drink
But if I thought snakes and spam were weird enough
nothing could prepare me for the frog purses
Oh my god!
This is a frog purse
I'm not even joking
What does it smell like?
It doesn't smell like anything
Nothing
That was a jolly good sniff!
Disgusting!
It's the sort of thing you can hide in someone's bed
and have a lot of fun!
Somehow despite the drowned vipers and the odorless frog purses we were still hungry!
So we headed to a nearby restaurant where I was able to try a popular Okinawan dish that had been recommended to me by a friend
So having some Okinawan food for lunch, we're kicking things off with Rafute which is kind of
Soy sauce marinated pork and it's very very fatty!
But looks pretty good!
Let's check it out!
There you go! You can't go wrong with pork
Oh hell yeah!
That's so good!
The pork is so tender!
And the fat, the fat isn't like horrible fat
Because it marinates in soy sauce it's quite a nice flavor!
Lucky Okinawans who can eat this regularly
9 out of 10
And Chris got some sake
Snake Sake!
Let's watch him get drunk and be sick everywhere
45 %
This is Snake Venom Sake
You can't even drink beer, little alone 45% Snake Sake
It's gonna be messy
Wanna do Kanpai with snake venom sake?
That's a really strong flavor!
It actually tastes kind of nice!
It does?
Chris has gone quiet
Too strong!
I wouldn't help you coz I'm driving!
Oh I totally forgot!
I was gonna offer it to you!
No
You're on your own mate good luck
Okinawa was a lot of fun, but I knew the trip wouldn't feel complete without eating some spam
Fortunately I came across some at the airport on the way home
So finally tracked down some spam
It costs 290 yen which is about 2 or 3 dollars
And smells rather spectacular
Appetizing
Is not a word I would use to describe this but..
There you go!
It looks like someone's cut out its tongue off
and put it over some rice
It's very very salty
It tastes very very cheap
I don't mind spam it's quite a nice surprise
But....yeah this is a bit dodgy
It tastes like the sort of thing you'd eat if you're hungover
I've tried to spice things up
By putting some sauce in it but it still pretty bland!
That said, this is a pretty cheap place so this could be a poor reflexion on spam
Weirdly addictive
Must be all the salt
I had an amazing time in Okinawa
For me, the beaches were my personal highlight and I hope to go back some time soon
Probably during the disturbingly snow-filled winter months in North Japan
To see more videos of my journey around Japan with Odigo Travel, be sure to check out the Odigo YouTube Channel
And if you wanna see where we visited on our trip to Okinawa, or get ideas for places to visit on your trip to Japan
You should visit the Odigo website at the link below
Many thanks for watching guys, I'll see you next time!
You're looking to improve your marriage Chris?
I'm single, ladies!
On Chris' Channel
There's actually two snakes in here
Can you see those?
They're like kissing
Well isn't that cute?