--- title: Motobu url: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/places/motobu/ lang: en --- # Motobu Travel journal from Motobu, with 25 notes on the places I ate, the dishes I cooked and the sights: Yanbaru, Kouri Bridge, Bise Fukugi Tree Path, Ie Island and Mt. Gusuku. ## Journeys - [Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/episodes/okinawa-kominka/index.md): Slow Living in Okinawa（2023-02-12） - [Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/episodes/okinawa-sakura/index.md): Japan's Earliest Cherry Blossoms（2023-02-04） ## Cook the local flavors once more - [Spam musubi](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/spam-musubi/index.md): In postwar Okinawa, when meat was hard to come by, canned pork became a widely used source of protein that kept well and was easy to prepare, and serving it with fried or rolled egg took root in homes… - [Goya chanpuru](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/goya-chanpuru/index.md): Chanpuru, Okinawa's everyday stir-fry, combines seared island tofu with seasonal vegetables, and goya chanpuru is its best-known form. - [Jushi](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/jushi/index.md): Jushi is the Okinawan word for seasoned rice. - [Stone-roasted sweet potatoes](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/stone-roasted-sweet-potatoes/index.md): The sweet potato is said to have reached the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1605, when Noguni Sokan brought seedlings back from Fujian in China. - [Rice with sea grapes and egg yolk](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/rice-with-sea-grapes-and-egg/index.md): Sea grapes (umibudo) rank third in Okinawa's aquaculture by both volume and value and are known as one of the prefecture's signature products. - [Motobu bonito sashimi](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/motobu-bonito-sashimi/index.md): Freshly landed bonito from a fish shop in Motobu, the only town on Okinawa's main island where pole-and-line bonito fishing survives, where the fish is fresh enough to eat raw. - [Okinawa soba yakisoba](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/okinawa-soba-yakisoba/index.md): Okinawa soba is a noodle dish made with wheat flour rather than buckwheat. ## A little of each town’s story - [Yanbaru](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/yanbaru/index.md): Yanbaru, written with the characters for mountain and field, means a region of connected mountains and spreading forest, and refers to the north of Okinawa Island, covered in subtropical evergreen for… - [Fukugi windbreaks](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/fukugi-windbreaks/index.md): In Okinawa, fukugi trees have long been planted around homes to shield them from typhoon winds. - [Kouri Bridge](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/kouri-bridge/index.md): A 1,960-meter bridge linking Yagaji Island in Nago with Kouri Island in Nakijin. - [Okinawan zenzai](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/okinawan-zenzai/index.md): In Okinawa, zenzai is a cold dessert: shaved ice piled over sweetly simmered kintoki beans. - [Gurukun, the prefectural fish](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/gurukun-the-prefectural-fish/index.md): Gurukun is the Okinawan name for the double-lined fusilier, called takasago in standard Japanese. - [Sea grapes and mozuku](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/sea-grapes-and-mozuku/index.md): Sea grapes (umibudo) rank third among Okinawa's aquaculture products in both volume and value. - [Bise Fukugi Tree Path](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/bise-fukugi-tree-path/index.md): In the village of Bise, at the northwestern tip of the Motobu Peninsula, fukugi trees planted as windbreaks around the houses form the largest tree-lined paths on Okinawa's main island. - [Ie Island and Mt. Gusuku](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/ie-island-and-mt-gusuku/index.md): An island about 5 kilometers west of the Motobu Peninsula, forming the village of Ie. - [Ryukyu kanhizakura cherry](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/ryukyu-kanhizakura-cherry/index.md): In Okinawa, cherry blossom means kanhizakura, whose deep pink flowers hang downward like little bells. - [Yaedake Sakura no Mori Park and the Motobu Yaedake Cherry Blossom Festival](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/yaedake-sakura-no-mori-park/index.md): Mt. - [Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/okinawa-churaumi-aquarium/index.md): An aquarium inside Ocean Expo Park; the present building opened in November 2002. - [Motobu, the bonito town](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/motobu-the-bonito-town/index.md): A town where people say: if bonito, then Motobu; if Motobu, then bonito. - [Orion Clear Free](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/orion-clear-free/index.md): A non-alcoholic beer-style drink (0.00% alcohol) made by Orion Breweries of Okinawa, with zero sugar, calories and purines, brewed with locally grown barley. - [Yushidofu](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/yushidofu/index.md): Okinawan tofu is sold warm, and because it holds together it is prized for stir-fries. ## Places we stopped along the way - [Kinokawa Shokudo](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/kinokawa-shokudo/index.md): A diner in a quiet residential area a short way in from the coast road. - [Nago Municipal Market](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/nago-municipal-market/index.md): A market in the center of Nago, dating back to the Taisho era; the current building was completed in 2010. - [Okinawa Soba Mori no Ie](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/okinawa-soba-mori-no-ie/index.md): An Okinawa soba restaurant hidden among the trees beside the mountain road up Mt. - [Motobu Town Market](https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/motobu-town-market/index.md): An old-style public market in Toguchi, the center of Motobu.