On day 8 of our travels in Okinawa, we checked into Hotel Maruki and tasted Okinawa’s famed Motobu Beef. We then strolled the International Street of Okinawa before doing one of Singaporean’s favourite activity – shopping!

We woke up at 7:30 this morning, had breakfast before heading to the rooftop pool of Hotel Aqua Citta Naha to enjoy a glass of Asti at 10am in the morning 😛

We checked out of Hotel Aqua Citta Naha at 11 and reached Hotel Maruki at 1120, a short walk away. As we were pretty early and hotels are strict about their check-in timings at 3pm, we headed over to Motobu Beef Restaurant for lunch…

Lunch at Motobu Beef Restaurant Okinawa (もとぶ牧場 那覇店)

While Takayama has its A5 Hidagyu beef, Okinawa has its Motobu Beef. Although it seemed that Motobu Beef Restaurant is tucked away at level 3 of an obscured building, it is actually quite a high class venue…

The restaurant was beautifully decorated and accolades of the restaurant could be easily seen as you enter. Not long after we were seated, a group of businessmen also came in and sat on a table next to us. This time, we ordered the set lunch of regular motobu beef BBQ set (1800 yen) and pork ribs set (1000)…

We were glad that we were able to visit during lunch as the set lunch was pretty reasonably priced. The beef, as expected, was tender with a slight hint of gamey-ness. The pork on the other hand, was generously coated with miso. After BBQ, the meats tasted great over rice. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the vicinity. As part of the set lunch, you’d also be able to complete the meal with a glass of iced coffee…

Hotel Maruki Okinawa

After our sumptuous meal at Motobu Beef Restaurant, we were still a little early for our check-in at 3pm. So we sat in the lobby and contemplated whether we should rent a car for the next day. If we did, where would we park? Turns out that Hotel Maruki has a carpark that allows a grand total of…6 cars to be parked opposite the hotel – on a first-come-first-serve basis. Once you’re parked, you’ll just have to leave your keys with the reception so that they know a parking spot has been taken. Before long, it was time to check out our room at Hotel Maruki!

One of the reasons why we chose Hotel Maruki was because of its location, just across from Prefectural Office monorail station. This allowed us to easily access the monorail and reach Naha Airport on our last day. Moreover, it is also just a short walk away from a huge shopping mall across the street. Last but not least, if you’re a monorail fan, you’ll be able to catch them pass by your window at regular intervals!

In the evenings, we would watch TV and at the same time do some “train-spotting”. Besides the Little Twin Star Monorail, we also liked the Okinawa Aquarium advertisement with a cute versions of the underwater sand worm.

International Street Okinawa

In the evening, we headed to International Street to check out this tourist trap attraction of Okinawa…

This time, we headed to Aeon where we got all of our tax-free shopping done – all 6000 yen of it. This included Okinawa foods, black sugar, biscuits and face masks for our friends and family back home in Singapore. We also got to try out a Okinawan delight – known as the jimami tofu.

It has a peanuty taste and is slightly chewy in texture, almost like a mochi. In the pack that we bought, a packet of soya sauce was included. Somehow, it tasted quite good in a “salty” taste as well. However, we preferred to have it all on its own.

After placing back all our “treasures” back in our room, we headed out for dinner at the basement of the shopping mall next to Prefectural Office Station. It was to share a pork cutlet, pasta salad and a cold dish of sliced lotus root. Thereafter, we headed back to International Street again to feel the vibe at night. The streets were more crowded and the lights by now, were brightly litted. We headed to Lawson to try out a new beverage that had recently made the headlines in the culinary world…

The beverage was actually a milk/yoghurt beverage. We could taste that the milk was super rich and fresh. Within a short time, it was all devoured clean. Good recommendation by one of the magazines that we came across in Okinawa.

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Stay tuned as we watched our first Japanese movie (without English subtitles) on day 9 of our travels in Okinawa!

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Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 1: Driving North and Checking Out the Attractions of Henza Island

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 2: Tasting Okinawa Soba, Driving on Melody Road Okinawa and Seeing the Yambaru Kuina (Rail)!

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 3: Playing Putt Golf, Visiting Cape Hedo and Checking in to Westeria Condominium Okinawa!

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 4: Visiting Okinawa Ocean Expo Park, Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, Tropical Dream Center and Okichan Dolphin Theater

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 5: Visiting Okinawa Fruits Land, Daiso, Orion Happy Park and Capes Manzamo, Maeda and Zanpa!

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 6: Okinawa Outlet Mall and Free Flow Awamori at Hotel Aqua Citta Naha!

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 7: Cooking Experience at Taste of Okinawa and Dinner at Akamaru Ramen Shop

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 8: Hotel Maruki, Motobu Beef Restaurant and International Street Okinawa

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 9: Chillaxing in Naha City and Watching the Japanese “Bucket List” Movie (最高の人生の見つけ方)

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 10: Shurijo Castle, Nishihara Marine Park, Cape Chinen, Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Park and Umikaji Terrace Senagajima