I went to Okinawa in February 2016 on a whim after seeing ads for a flat £60 tourist fare for any domestic Japan flight. We were on a weeklong trip seeing the WHSs of mainland Japan, but I thought it'd make a nice break to fly to Naha for the day and see the 4 subcomponents situated in the city.

Naha is served by a single monorail line that connects its airport, at one end of the line, to Shuri Castle, at the other. It is 820 yen at time of writing, and the largest of the Naha Ryukyu sites. It was completely destroyed in the fierce WWII Battle of Okinawa when the Japanese used it as a defensive position. The castle was rebuilt in the 1990s from historical records, as faithfully as possible.

Next to the castle is another WHS subcomponent, in the form of a gate protecting a sacred grove of trees (free to see). The gate, known as Sonohyan-utaki Ishimon, used to be opened only for the king. There being no Ryukyuan king these days, it is never opened any more.

Just a few metres down the road is the third subcomponent – a mausoleum called Tamaudan. It consists of two stone-walled enclosures, and was the burial site of Ryukyu kings and queens. It costs a nominal 300 yen to get into, and although there is not much to see the guest centre does have a small information room.

The final Ryukyuan site for us was to be the royal garden of Skininaen (400 yen). Whilst still within Naha city, this necessitated a walk of perhaps 45 minutes across town. Using the free GPS function on Google Maps I was able to navigate us down charming back-streets in Naha’s quiet suburbs. We saw turtles basking in the sun and enjoyed walking amongst the trees and seeing the views afforded by the park’s elevated position.