Kouri Island
The big island of Okinawa is surrounded by dozens of smaller islands. Some require a ferry ride to visit and others are more easily accessed via a bridge. My family and I recently took a day trip up to one of these bridged islands known as Kouri Island.
Even after having driven up Okinawa’s coasts dozens of times, the drive from Kadena to Nago still amazes me. Kouri Island is just above the city of Nago and it takes around an hour and a half avoiding the toll road to drive there. To get to Kouri, you actually have to cross over to Yagaji Island and possibly the much smaller Ojima Island depending on the route you take. The Island of Yagaji is particularly beautiful, as it has many rocks structures jutting out and dotting the waters off its coast.
Kouri Island’s Big Bridge
The bridge to Kouri Island has the record for being Japan’s longest toll free bridge. At 1,960 meters, the bridge allowed us ample time to take in it the beautiful sights of clear blue water to the sides and sandy beaches on both ends.
Kouri beach at the end of the bridge looked nice with good clear water and soft sand, but it was a kind of a small area and surprising almost full for it being a Monday. While Google reviews rate it highly, I would say it probably wouldn’t be worth the drive for just the beach alone. Especially for us, when there are so many closer and less crowded beaches we can go to.
Ocean Tower
The island itself is quite small and the perimeter can be driven around in just 10 – 15 minutes. A great lookout location called the Ocean Tower is just a short drive up a hill after getting over the bridge. After parking and eating some konbini lunch, we got our tickets for 800 yen per ticket. We proceeded to the entrance by walking towards a ramp and got on what was essentially a self-driving golf cart. The cart didn’t have a driver and just followed a narrow path that zig-zagged up the hill. A speaker played some informational facts in English about Kouri Island as we looked out over the hill, getting sneak peeks of the sights we’d soon see from atop the tower.
After a few minutes of fun, albeit very slow, driving, we arrived at the top and made our way inside. Like an amusement park ride, they had taken our picture at the beginning and end of the “ride” and had the pictures of us printed and available for purchase when we walked inside. We politely declined and entered the shell museum, which contained so many huge and perfectly intact shells of all kinds. It was a pretty amazing collection. There was also a small shop selling shells, jewelry and other trinkets at the end of the museum.
In the next room was the stairs and elevator to ascend the tower. There were several levels to the tower, two of which seemed almost the same and had similar large glass windows for viewing the island and ocean. The one floor had signs for food and drinks that were normally for sale; however, they were closed due to COVID-19. The top floor lead outside with another platform you could ascend and get an extra 10 or so feet higher. Normally there is a bell at the top, but again due to COVID they had temporarily removed the string to ring it. Regardless, the view was stunning. Okinawa is so beautiful, but it can be hard to get unobstructed views from high up. There are hills, but with how thick the vegetation grows, getting a wide open and clear view of everything can be surprisingly difficult.
After taking a couple minutes to just stand there and enjoy the wind and sights, we descended the tower and made our way out. There was another gift shop and a lady handing out samples of sweet pastries with kabucha (Japanese pumpkin) filling. Oishi! That aside, there were a number of gifts, but a lot of them were things we had seen elsewhere and were actually a little pricier than usual. The only thing left after the gift shop was an ice cream stand and a restaurant. The ice cream stand was actually open, but the restaurant, which looked like it would have been pretty cool, was unfortunately closed. Ready to move on, we hopped back on the self-driving golf cart and made our way back to our car.
Heart Rock
Another interesting thing on Kouri Island that we found on Google was the scenic spot known as Heart Rock. It was only a 5 or so minute drive from the Ocean Tower. After parking and getting out of the car we found the path required a bit more walking. First down a road, then onto a narrow gravel path, then an even narrower dirt path with plants that had long leafs with jagged edges spanning across, and finally down a steep, uneven, very rocky, natural staircase. All of which ended with us plopping out on a very sandy, and surprising very crowded beach…
The beach was super secluded looking, emphasis on looking, with tall rocky cape walls that surrounded fine, soft sand and beautiful ocean water. The Heart Rock itself sat out about 10 or so meters into the water and was actually a little underwhelming. It was two rocks jutting up, both of which barely looked heart shaped on their own, but with the right sight-line they formed one decent looking heart shaped rock.
Heart Rock ended up feeling more like a hidden gem that had been found a long time ago and ruined by way too many people. A secretive-looking unkempt path leading downward to rocky walls that seclude a beach with perfect sand and water doesn’t mean as much when there are 30 other people there with you.
Thoughts on Kouri Island
Kouri is a small island with a good amount going for it, at least for its size. The sand and water here were great and I can see why they are so popular. There is lodging on island and nearby, restaurants and even some shops. It felt surprising populated for being at the top edge of where most people live on Okinawa. While that fact made some things feel less special then they probably used to feel, I still had a great time and would definitely say the trip was well worth it. The one thing I’d say we did miss out on was the food here. There were some good looking places to eat and from what I’ve heard Kouri Island shrimp is almost worth the trip alone. Oh well, I guess it’s just one more reason to come back and explore more!
