About 10 minutes by car from Naha Airport. It is a family-run hotel located in an alley off Naha Kokusai Dori. The hotel is small, with only 5 rooms in total, and the rooms are in a classic style. The breakfast is served in a small bowl of beautiful yachimun (traditional Japanese ceramics), and some guests come just for the breakfast.
Point 1: What is the outline of “Okinawa Daiichi Hotel”?
Okinawa Daiichi Hotel” was the first hotel established in Okinawa in 1955. The hotel is located about 100 meters from the center of Kokusai-dori Avenue, in such a quiet location! The location is surprisingly quiet!
The hotel is a family-run, cozy pension with only five rooms.
There are only 5 rooms in total.
I was surprised when I saw the exterior of the hotel! I was expecting a concrete building, but instead I was surprised to see a red-tiled house at the end of a gate that looked like a “miniature Gurei no Mon (Gate of the Guardians)! I enter the building at the end of a quiet, secluded alleyway, making sure that there is no mistaking the sign that says “Okinawa Daiichi Hotel” on it.
After the previous proprietress retired in 2011, the hotel was taken over by the second-generation proprietress, Katsue Watanabe, who was a freelance announcer.
With that, the hotel moved from Asato to Makishi, near Kokusai-dori Avenue.
Regulars asked her to keep the previous atmosphere, so she created a garden despite being in the middle of the city, and kept the antique furniture from before. I think that is how we were able to create a one-of-a-kind, unique atmosphere that is unlike anywhere else.
Point 2: What are the guest rooms like at “Okinawa Daiichi Hotel”?
The guest rooms at the Okinawa Daiichi Hotel are, in a word, antique-style.
The beds have massive headboards with legs, the reception set is massive, and the dresser chairs are also sturdy. The antiques from the time of the hotel’s founding have been well maintained and are used in the rooms.
The walls are decorated with atmospheric paintings, and the bath is a half-open-air bathtub with cat’s legs! Wouldn’t women like to spend their bath time in such a bathtub at least once?
The room is also quite spacious. The room has light coming in from all sides, giving it a very open feeling.
Point 3: What is the breakfast like at the rumored “Okinawa Daiichi Hotel”?
When Okinawa Daiichi Hotel was first established, it was an ordinary American breakfast, but the first proprietress changed it to the breakfast style that Okinawans have eaten for a long time, and the second proprietress improved it while obtaining qualifications as a vegetable sommelier and an international Chinese herbalist. She improved it while obtaining qualifications as a vegetable sommelier and an international Chinese herbal medicine cook.
Breakfast is not a buffet, but is served in small bowls and on small plates made of Yachimun.
The beautifully presented dishes are all lined up in a single place, and that alone is enough to cheer you up.
There are 50 dishes in all, all made with Okinawan ingredients such as green papaya, sakuna (long-life grass), nigana, island carrots, island rakkyo, taimo, and red potatoes, and seasoned lightly to bring out the flavor of the ingredients.
The dishes are prepared in a way that is as easy on the body as possible, such as stir-fried, vinegared, or dressed with tofu paste, and instead of lacking in flavor, the five tastes are fully appreciated and the body feels as if it is happy to be eating!
The hotel breakfast of Okinawan medicinal herbs, served while looking out over a garden thick with tropical plants.
It is probably the only one and only one of its kind in Okinawa.
