Okinawa has the earliest blooming cherry blossoms in Japan. At the end of January, we headed north to see them at Nakijin Castle Ruins. Nakijin  is a great site in its own right, but we were hoping to catch the Sakura (Cherry Blossom) festival and the ruins on the same day. The ruins look very similar to the ones we visited at Zakimi on New Year’s Day, because both castles were built by the same man.

It looked promising as we drove up the hill to the small parking area. The road was lined with trees touched with soft pink blooms.

We parked, paid our yen (¥2000 for the family), and headed for the ruins.

I would like to tell you that we did not hear protests like, “This looks like the rocks from that other place” or “How long is this gonna take?”I’ll just say we persevered.

At the entrance of Nakijin-Jo Castle Ruins.

Through the arch and up the stairs.

Views worth the climb…and the protests.

There were not very many blooms, because the trees sustained damage from the multiple typhoons this past year. It was still a beautiful site, and the rain held off long enough for us to explore the grounds. Hope to revisit this site next year. Fingers crossed that we might have a less ferocious storm season, and the trees will be in full bloom next January/ February.