See here for my Okinawa with kids article – as this article only covers time in Ishigaki with kids.
Please that Okinawa is 3.5 hours on a plane from Tokyo. Many families have grand plans for visiting Okinawa at the end of a Japan trip – but I, personally, only recommend visiting Ishigaki and/or other parts of Okinawa is you have a minimum of 5 days to spend here.
A little caveat from me:
**While Okinawa is so beautiful and we have had an incredible time here – please also note that some families are surprised that Okinawa accommodation options for families aren’t always very well-kept or very modern. This means that it can feel like you are paying for luxury accommodation while the actual facilities aren’t always as fancy as the price tag might have you imagine.
There are also a lot of pool rules at many resorts in Japan (even when it comes to swimming timings at the beach) which can make it hard if you have kids who enjoy rough play in the pool (children’s pools and waterslide areas are, of course, fine though). If you have bigger kids who like jumping, splashing, rough play or diving – a private villa may be a better option.
The main reason for many of these rules is because a large number of Japanese children and adults aren’t such confident swimmers and, as a result, pool lifeguards are quite nervous when it comes to keeping everyone safe. This can be a bit of a culture shock for those who are visiting from overseas. This hasn’t impacted our time in Okinawa at all but I did watch other families look confused and a bit frustrated so I think I wouldn’t be including the whole picture if I didn’t take the time to include this information here for families to take on board before making family vacation plans.
The weather in Okinawa is significantly warmer in the summer months – which is fabulous – but it is not unusual for pools and outdoor activities to be closed or flights to be delayed due to bad weather / typhoons in June – Oct. We were so so lucky that we didn’t see a single drop of rain in late-Jun through early July but I do encourage you to have travel insurance sorted ahead of time and to pack a few indoor activities for kids.
If you are worried about any of the things I have mentioned above – you may want to compare options (and prices) for taking a week in Bali, Vietnam or Thailand after all of your mainland Japan adventures instead**
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PLEASE NOTE: This article contains some affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of these links, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
