Fantastic Okinawa

Nago Cherry Blossom Festival

Cherry blossoms invite to Nago this weekend.

By Jun Ikemura

Okinawa’s Nago City tothe north is the largestautonomous communityon the island, and spans

the breadth of the island fromPacific Ocean on its easternboundary to the China Sea on itswest coast.

With the exception of a tinypart of Kunigami Village in thefarthest north, and a sliver of landin Itoman City at the southern-most tip, Nago boasts being theonly municipality that reachesboth coasts. The BankokuShinryokan resort MICE facilitylocated next to Busena TerraceHotel in Nago has the braggingrights for having been the venuefor the G8 Summit held in 2000,which made Nago very popular.

Nago’s Henoko district isprobably currently the mostfamous area in Nago because ofthe Futenma base move contro-versy. For those new to Okinawa,Henoko and the Marines’ CampSchwab is the designated site fora replacement airfield facility, anew home for the contentiousMCAS Futenma, now located inGinowan City in central Okinawa.The project is under way,although Nago City’s mayor, theOkinawa governor and a consid-erable number of Okinawans areopposed to the project.Nonetheless, the project blessedand paid for by the Japanese cen-tral government is under way.

The northern part ofOkinawa, including Nago City, iscalled “Yanbaru” in Okinawandialect. It means forest field andmuch nature. There are a lot ofrare species inhabiting the north-ern forests like the Yanbaru kuina(Okinawa rail), YanbaruTenagakogane, and Noguchigerathat are all assigned the natural

monument status. Even in the cityresidential area, there is muchnature close by, and easy accessto big forests, with rivers andwaterfalls just 10 minutes fromthe city area. The Nangusuku, orNago castle ruins, also calledNago Central Park; is the mainvenue of the Nago CherryBlossom Festival held the last

Saturday and Sunday of January.every year. The 53rd iteration ofthe festival runs the 31st ofJanuary and February 1st thisyear.

During the festival manystage events take place at the baseof Mt. Nago, and the main streetrunning through the center of thecity will become a pedestrian par-

adise on both days. You will finda huge banyan tree called HinpunGajumaru at the entrance of themain street. It’s about 300 yearsold and one of the most famoussightseeing spots in Nago City.There are many more sightseeingspots in Nago like Neo ParkOkinawa, Nago Pineapple Park,Goya park, Okinawa Fruits Land,

21st Century Forest Park,Underwater Observatory, Hanejiinland sea and much, much more!

There is also a special com-pany located in Nago City thateverybody in Okinawa knows.That is Orion Beer Co. All whodrink Orion beer know it is pro-duced in Nago. Visitors can join

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The 53rd Nago Sakura Festival is infull swing this weekend, with visi-tors having the chance to play, seeand do more than just gaze at the

colorful pink cherry blossoms in Nago’sCentral Park.

In addition to the Sakura viewing,Nago organizers have created a festivalwith dozens of events around the siteSaturday and Sunday. For example, at thespecial stage of Sakura Park, there are per-formances of local kindergartens, a brassband, folk songs and drums. At the sitebetween Nago Museum and recycle shopNandemo-ya, the transit mall will be inoperation. Local people and shops will pro-mote music and entertainment stages andhave food stalls. There will also be a

Classic bike exhibition, drum show, icecarving show, band show and a streetdance show to warm up the festival.

The main venues are Nago CentralPark, Matsuri Hirobra special stage(Festival Space) at Sakura Park, CrossRoad, and Nago Fishing Port. Admissionis free to all venues and events, althoughfees are charged for food, beverages andproduct sales. Parking is available at NagoFishing Port. Be aware there are trafficrestrictions in place on Saturday from 11a.m. ~ 9 p.m. between Nago Museum andrecycle shop Nandemo-ya, and Sunday 11a.m. ~ 9 p.m. in the Nandemo-ya ~Oominami Police Box. There will also berestrictions on Anada Bridge (HinpunGajumaru at the entrance of Nago Castle

11 a.m. ~ 9 p.m. both Saturday andSunday.

Opening ceremonies at the entrance ofNago Castle are Saturday at 11 a.m., fol-lowed by the Okinawa folk song ‘Futami-

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Nago City is large, beautiful and center of controversy

Sakura lure visitors, and then the festival begins

The stairs leading to the Nago Castle Ruins Park on the top of the hill is the focus point of the annual Nago Cherry Blossom Festival.

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Cherry Blossom FestContinued from page 1jowa’ competition at a special stage inSakura Park

On Sunday, there’s a Sakura viewinghealth walk at Nago Central Park, and theGarden Festa at Nago Fishing Port. Thefestival parade starts Saturday at 2 p.m.,running until 8:30 p.m. at the transit mall.The school kids’ elementary, junior highand high school brass band parade, alongwith the women’s society dance parade, isat 1 p.m. Saturday.

A costume and dance Kwadisaa’ enter-tainment is Sunday at 1 p.m. Activitiestake place at the transit mall all daySunday.

Okinawans love OrionBeer!!! It’ s been 57years since the companywas established in 1957,

a homegrown Okinawa brewery.It’s absolutely three-star tastingand its refreshing clean taste verymuch suits this Okinawan sub-tropical island, whether it’s on abeach in the summer time or anywinter season occasion, Orion issynonymous with a party.

Orion’s six beers, plus a non-alcoholic variety as well, arebrewed in a modern, computer-controlled brewery in the heart ofNago City, where employees dili-gently toil to create the fresh drafttaste tens of thousands of beerlovers love. More staff areinvolved in administration, salesand management, many at thecompany’s corporate headquartersin Urasoe City, but all are com-mitted to the task of making thecompany’s Pilsner-type beers ‘Foryour Happy Time’ as the compa-ny7s current slogan states.

Mountain spring water—Orion’s water comes from springsbeneath the mountains of

Yanbaru—is one of the vital ele-ments in the Okinawan-producedbeer’s arsenal of ingredients andtechniques that make it special.Virtually all beers are made frombeer malt, hops and water, withthe brew masters applying theirspecial expertise in varying thoseingredients to produce each beer’sunique taste. Orion goes a stepfurther, choosing only the highestquality beer malt grown primarilyin Germany, and selecting hopsgrown in the Czech Republic’sSaaz and Germany’s Hallertauregion. Those hops are nurtured astep further, as they’ re fullyripened during the controlled pro-duction process to bring out theirfull flavor.

Orion beer goes in more thanone million bottles each year, butthat is just the tip of it! Orion offi-cials say that for each bottle ofbeer, the company produces threekegs of draft beer or six cans of anOrion product. To accomplishthat, Orion bottles 19,200 bottleseach hour, along with 72,000 cansof Orion and 720 kegs per hour.That’s a lot of taste going into

Orion Draft, Southern Star, OrionSpecial X, Mugi Shokunin, Mugino Shizuku and Zero Life, thelight, low calorie, the non-alcoholoffering. In addition, OrionBrewery began producing AsahiSuper Dry, after Asahi bought thecompany in 2002. Okinawansconsume about 90% of the Orionbeers produced, with the other10% being shipped to mainlandJapan, Hawaii and other interna-tional destinations.

The Orion Happy Parkopened in 2011 offers visitors abackyard tour of Orion BeerCompany on its facilities in Nago.The tours are available 23 times aday from 9:20 a.m.– 4:40 p.m., anew tour starting every 20 min-utes. Up to 35 people can joineach tour. It takes about 60 min-utes --40 minutes for the tour and20 minutes for beer tasting—withexplanations of how beer isprocessed. The tour lectures arebasically in Japanese only, butsome flip charts in English areready for foreigners. Visitors whodon’t speak Japanese say theyunderstood the tours quite wellthanks to the charts.

The Orion brewery is veryclean and equipment and walls arepainted in Okinawan colors. Atthe entryway to the tasting restau-rant, you will hear some funsounds. At the tasting time, visi-tors can try two glasses of beerwith some snacks for free! Duringthis season, visitors can try allmalt 100% beer its called “IchibanZakura” which is sold in quanti-ties every November throughFebruary. Orion AdministrationDivision Manager Akira Oshirosays “Actually, you can get acanned Ichiban Zakura at anysupermarket until the season ends,but there’s no Ichiban Zakuradraft beer in any outside market.You can only taste it only in thisfacility, and only during the limit-ed season. The volume we breweach year is limited, and we aresorry if it runs out of before youcome. After we run out, of courseyou can taste two glasses of anyother freshest Orion beer there isfor free. At tasting, you can get anon-alcohol beer or soft drink,too, so drivers and kids can alsoenjoy our tasting event.”

The tasting is always in the

restaurant inside the facility, andtour participants can stay andorder additional fresh beers, andalso special dishes, which aremade using ingredients from theYanbaru area.

On Fridays, Saturdays andSundays visitors can have a buffet

lunch for ¥1,600 for adults, ¥800for kids 6~11, and ¥400 foryoungsters 3-5. Kids under threeare free. Lunch time is 11:00 a.m.~ 3 p.m. Monday through Friday,and the buffet is available Fridaythrough Sunday 11:30 a.m. ~ 2p.m. Orion draft beer at therestaurant is ¥2,200 for a 1.8 literpitcher after the free samples. A900ml mug is ¥950, a middle size435ml mug is ¥500, a 330ml pil-sner is ¥460, soft drinks are ¥250and ice coffee is ¥300.

The Orion Beer backyardtour has been ranked 4th by TripAdviser in Japan Backyard toursection in 2013, and manytourists, not only from mainlandJapan but also foreign countriesvisit the brewery every year. Thetours do not require advancebooking but it’s recommended tomake reservations in advance.Reservations are available threemonths in advance. Tel: 0980-54-4103 The Orion Happy Park islocated at 2-2-1 Agarie, NagoCity. Map:https://goo.gl/maps/BIFaK

Orion Beer has been Okinawan icon for 57 years

Nago CityContinued from page 1a backyard tour every day at the brewery, but thetour is even better if you book in advance. NoEnglish coordinator is on the tour, but it’s goodenough to enjoy just looking, and a glass of beervisitors can rink for free at the end of the tour.

Yagaji island is also one part of Nago Cityand its connected by two bridges with Okinawamain island now. One is Yagaji bridge, which ifvery old been in use for a long time. After Kouribridge was built connecting to Yagaji and Kouriislands, many people visit Yagaji for the beauti-ful view and easy access to Kouri island.Another bridge called Warumi bridge connectsto Yagaji island to Nakijin village.Thousands will visit Nago this this weekend to enjoy the festival, which is also

the first large-scale Okinawan festival of the year.

Orion Brewery entrance in Nago.

Orion-themed T-shirts, towels and other accessories are for sale.

The beer is born here.