Shurijo Castle, Naha

Shurijo Castle was listed as one of the places to visit. Personally, I was a little disappointed with Shurijo Castle. The only thing that is authentic and endorsed by UNESCO is right at the entrance before you head into the castle. The surroundings around the castle has been transformed into a park, that has other stuff to see and do. But how they reconstructed the palace, the very fresh and new coat of paint just made this historical site lose its appeal (which explains why I did not take any photos of the main palace area). The brand new tatami mats. Putting a restaurant in there to have Ryukyu style dessert and tea. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of history to be gleaned here of the Ryukyu dynasty.

This Castle is well worth the visit, quite a good view from below the hill and you can experience the peaceful neighborhood surrounding the castle. The interior and exterior are all renovated, actually rebuilt many times because of the war back in the days, but the structure and the architecture holds true to the past. It is a must visit as it is one of the best castles on the island.

An awesome reconstruction of the Ryukyu Kingdom's centerpiece. You can see the Chinese and Japanese influences everywhere. It's now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Great place, visit is well arranged with signed guiding you all the way. In itself the place is fairly small though and sadly there isn't much translated so it may be a little hard to make sense of all the information in Japanese for tourists.

Must see when you are in Okinawa. Beautifully rebuilt (fully destroyed during WWII). Good place to understand the ancient history of Okinawa.