Ringo Cafe

Do you want to enjoy macaroons with Okinawan nature? Have you ever eaten a genuine macaroon? You can enjoy them at the same time in Ringo café on Sesoko Island. Macaroons are the representative sweet of France. Ringo café’s owner and pastry chef is French. He started making sweets when he was 13 years old. After he trained in France, he opened his own shop with his wife in Miyagi. And last year, they moved to the new shop in Okinawa because they love Okinawa. Ringo café is surrounded with Fukugi trees. So you can see beautiful nature from the windows.

The café is narrow. But it is really comfortable there.  ‘’Choose your macaroon’’ is an invitation repeated several times on the Ringo café menu, and there are indeed several different flavors of macaroons. All of them are sweet, but there are many different flavors.

Take a look at the Macaroon flavor list:

-       Salted Zunda

-       Rum Raisin

-       Island banana and caramel

-       Chocolate Ganache

-       Strawberry and Raspberry

Ringo Cafe's selection

-       Salted caramel

-       Salted pistachio

-       Awamori

-       Almond Praline

-       Jasmin tea

-       Slated peanut

-       Caramel wasabi

-       Coffee

-       French rose

-       Vanilla bean

-       Blackcurrant and blueberry

You can buy one for 150 yen .

The highlight of Ringo’s café is macaroon, but there are also delightful and rich sweets: cakes, donuts, parim puffs, pies, cheesescake, paris brests, and mousses.

Ringo Café is located around 24 minutes drive from Meio university on Sesoko island

Open: 9:00 ～ 18:00       Close: Monday

Tell: 0980-47-6377

Address: 〒905－0227　279　Aza-Sesoko Kunigami, Motobu, Okinawa Japan.

Katsuu-Dake

Have you ever seen Nago from the top of a mountain? We recommend Katsuu-Dake. Dake means “mountain” in Japanese. So we call it Katsuu-Dake.

View from the top

Do you know that in Okinawa, on the top of Katsuu-dake, you can see Nago’s beautiful city and also the Nago Sea. On the way to the top, the road is so hard to climb because of the bad state of the ground, so be careful on your feet and keep up the effort! There, strong wind blows. That’s why you don’t get too close to the cliff edge. It’s too dangerous to get close to it.  If you reach the top of the mountain you can get a good encounter:) 

Equipment and caution!

Before going to the mountain, there are three things you need to equip. Firstly, you need to wear long sleeves and long trousers. There are a lot of insects that an hurt us. By wearing them, you can protect your skin from bugs. Good clothes will also protect you from sharp rocks and broken trees. Secondly, some water is necessary. On the way to the top of the mountain, the air around you is very humid. Moreover, you have to keep walking, but as you walk, you will sweat. At the same time, you would be deprived of moisture. Then you need to drink some water frequently. Lastly, don’t forget a towel. As I said, you will sweat a lot. If you don’t take care about sweat, your temperature will go down. It is not a big deal, but if it is over a long time, that would be a big problem. These three things are absolutely necessary to climb Katsuu-dake. All of these are not expensive, you can get soon!

Discovery

On the way to the top of mountain, there is a strange hole. It is like an air-raid shelter in the Okinawa war. It is so deep that we can’t see the bottom of that hole clearly. To my surprise, there was a trace like a bullet mark. It’s evidence to prove the hole was a thing in the era of war.

Katsuu-yama Shikuasa

After climbing, we went to this shop for a break. They have a variety of products made from shikuasa, which is an Okinawan lemon. Finally, we had sherbet and enjoyed that time.

How to get there

How to access it? Katsuu-dake is located to the west of Nago city. It takes 15 minutes from Meio University.

Here is the route! Have fun!

Nago Castle Site Park (Nangusuku)

Nago Castle is Nangusuku. Nangusuku is one of the famous parks in Nago. Nan means Nago, and gusuku means castle. Nangusuku is located in Nago Castle Site Park. The map shows the position of Nangusuku. The park is open 24 hours, 365 days a year.

There is a very long stairway, about 630 steps, in the Nago Castle Site Park. It is very hard to climb these stairs, but Nangusuku is at the top. Also, because there are cherry trees beside the stairs, when spring comes, the cherry trees bloom, and it is very beautiful.

At the top of the stairs, there is a shrine, and Nangusuku is behind the shrine. Actually, Nangusuku does not have a castle, and there are only the ruins of the castle. There is an open space and a worship place there. We can overlook Nago from the open space.

 

Furthermore, there is a café inside the park. The appearance of the café is very attractive, and the interior decoration is beautiful. In the café, we can order chipped ice and cold drinks. They’re very delicious! Japanese traditional toys are also sold in the café, for example, taketombo, spinning, flying propellers, and tops. The café is a very comfortable place. This café is open every day from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Nangusuku is a splendid place with a history. Please go!

by Ryunoshin, Issei, and Yubin

Okashigoten

Okashigoten

Introduction of Okashigoten Nago Shop

We would like to introduce the Okashigoten Nago Shop. It contains a restaurant, a museum, a sweets factory, and the Yanbaru Subtropical Park (Dino Park).

Restaurant

The restaurant area is spacious and comfortable, and the menu is varied: they serve Okinawa dishes, Japanese dishes, and Western dishes.

↑Restaurant entrance

Opening hours: 11:30~15:00

Rate (without tax): 
Adult (more than junior high school student)￥1,556

Child (elementary students): ￥926

Museum

↑Museum entrance

The museum help customers feel Okinawan history. Dolls are displayed representing a Ryukyu king line, traditional Okinawan events, and people who have left their name in Ryukyu Kingdom history. Okinawan pottery, called yachimun, is also displayed.

Opening hours: 10:00～18:00 (Oct.~ Mar. : ~19:00)

Rate: 
Adult (more than 16 years old): \ 50
Child (more than 4 years old): \300

Sweets Factory

The sweets factory is located in the Dino Park Shop. Okashigoten’s original sweets are made there, and you can see how to make them.

Yanbaru Subtropical Park (Dino Park)

↑Dinosaur statue

Dinosaur statues and playground equipment are located among the Flying Monkey Tree Ferns―a kind of plant that has propagated since prehistoric time―in the park. Of course, children are likely to enjoy them. If you use a rental tablet, you can see moving 3D dinosaurs; accordingly, even adults have a good time.

Opening hours: 10:00～18:00 (last admissions: 17:30)

Rate:
Adult (over 16 years old): ￥800

Child (more than 4 years old): ￥500

Rental tablet: ￥300

Beni-Imo tarts  

Beni-imo tarts are very popular in Okinawa, and they were first made by Okashigoten. They use the perfect taste of 100% Okinawan beni-imo, purple sweet potato paste, and tart dough. Okashigoten has committed to using quality materials and not using artificial preservatives or coloring. The beni-imo tarts won the Monde Selection Gold Quality Award for six consecutive years. They are delicious to eat as is, but warming them up in the oven is more delicious for tasting freshly baked. They are also delicious to eat cold in the summer. The Okashigoten Onna Store, Yomitan head office, and Matsuo store have a confectionery factory line, so we can watch through the glass as the beni-imo tarts are produced.

↑Beni-imo tarts

Product Lineup

First, among the top five products, the most popular product is “beni-imo purple sweet potato tarts.” In second place is “benizukushi.” This contains assorted sweets: “beni-imo tarts,” “forest pie,” “galette,” “milk manju,” “imon,” and “karukan.” All of these are beni-imo. In third place is “benizutsumi.” This is a confection made from sweet potatoes. In fourth place is “salt and sesame chinsuko.” Okashigoten also produces other chinsuko flavors such as brown sugar, coconut, beni-imo, and island red pepper. In fifth place is “forest pie.” This contains three pie flavors: shikuwasa, mango, and beni-imo flavors.

Forest pie

Salt and sesame chinsuko

Second, Okashigoten sells fresh cakes, for example, roll cakes, mont blanc, mousse, and cream puffs. All of these are beni-imo fiavors. 

Fresh cakes

Third, Okashigoten produced some new products. “Imo imo tart” is different from “beni-imo tart.” This is a mixture of beni-imo and akane-imo. “Kongari pine” is pineapples and blue papayas wrapped with tart dough. Furthermore, beni-imo biscuits for dogs were produced last year.

Beni-imo dog biscuits

Okashigoten Nago Shop

Address: 1024-1 Nakayama, Nago City, Okinawa 905-0004

Tel: 0980-54-8515

　Opening hours: 10：00～18：00 (Oct.~ Mar. : ~19:00)
Payment method: cash, credit card

Muffin & Macrame LOGGY

Muffin & Macrame LOGGY 

               in Nago, Okinawa, Japan

 
There are several shops like hiding places in Nago. We will introduce a shop named LOGGY, one of them. Muffins and macrames are on sale in LOGGY. It is located near the municipal market in the alley behind the fishing port of Nago. Because it is in the alley behind, it may be a little hard to find. In the market you can borrow a bicycle for free, so please try looking for LOGGY as you explore. If you use the parking lot of the municipal market, it is free for less than one hour. The Opening hours for LOGGY are from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm. It is closed on Mondays and the second and fourth Sundays.

They have more than 10 kinds of muffin flavors, and some are seasonal. For example, in spring you can eat cherry muffins. You can also eat muffins with a red tongue taste unique to Okinawa. The price is around 200 yen. The muffins are big, and their flavor is very moist and tasty. It is possible that popular flavors may sell out sooner.

Do you know “macrame”? The definition is “tying strings decoratively.” Cute handmade accessories made of knitting strings fashionably decorate the shop!

In addition, handmade accessories like pierced earrings and necklaces are on sale. LOGGY also wraps muffins for gifts, so it’s also good to take them for souvenirs or the celebration!

Please try visiting LOGGY!  

A cute shiisa will welcome you.