By Peter Ellegard

My first view of Kanucha Resort is not quite what I expect. I’m on Okinawa, often called Japan’s Hawaii for its climate and beauty and the main island of a chain making up Japan’s southernmost prefecture, also called Okinawa.

After an 80km drive from the capital, Naha, to the subtropical forests and mangroves of Okinawa island’s northern Yambaru region, my tourist office companion Hinako and I don lifejackets and help launch our double kayak into the blue waters of a small, sandy cove.

Our guide, Ryo, then leads us on a two-and-a-half-hour paddling trip along the coast and back, stopping off at a promontory where he brews up tea and offers us snacks before we relaunch our kayaks and the resort comes into view a couple of bays further along.



What strikes me is how big it is, with rows of buildings stretching up the tree-covered slopes beyond the beach. I can also make out some of the holes of its golf course with several that come right down almost to the water.

We don’t arrive by sea, however. After a quick change out of our swimming costumes in a pop-up tent back at the cove, we continue by road to check in conventionally. I’m met with a tropical fruit welcome drink and my luggage is transferred to a golf buggy that takes me to my room.



Rooms

There are nine accommodation blocks, all with balconies, as well as individual cottages. My room is on the top floor of the four-storey block closest to the sea and I have a wonderful view over palm trees to the nearby beach and the Pacific Ocean. The room is huge.

The twin beds look out to Oura Bay through floor-to ceiling sliding glass doors, beyond which is a secluded balcony complete with hot tub. I’m trying it out before you can say Jack Flash, soaking up the glorious vista in the late afternoon despite the heavy cloud cover.



Back in the room, there’s a sofa at the foot of the beds to sit on and gaze out at the ocean, with another sofa along a side wall. The dark wood furniture includes a desk and chest of drawers, complementing the wooden floor and panelling on the wall behind the beds.

What I take to be a dressing gown on each bed turns out to be a long, stripey nightshirt. I try one on and make a very passable impression of Wee Willie Winkie!



The toilet is one of those all-singing, all-dancing ones you find in all Japanese hotels featuring an electronic pad for flushing the loo and spraying various jets of water on and up your bottom. The instructions are in Japanese, but the pictures give a graphic idea of what each button does. There is a separate wet room with a screenless shower and a bath.

The resort has 295 rooms and a host of different types to choose from, including suites and cottages sleeping from two to 12. Some rooms have four-poster beds. An optional Premium Service offers upgraded rooms, bathrobes, travel amenities and free use of a rental buggy to get around the resort. I decide against renting a buggy as my room is close to most facilities.



Restaurants and bars

Kanucha has plenty of dining options, with seven restaurants spread around the resort as well as a bar in the hotel. The Kusu Kusu Japanese restaurant is set away from the main hotel building. I walk there for dinner, although others are driving their buggies or taking the shuttle to it. It is simply furnished with wooden floors and furniture and very popular.

After a 20-minute wait I am ushered to my table. I go for a starter of Mozuku seaweed with vinegar followed by Okinawan Agu pork and noodles with a citrus ponzu sauce, washed down with a local beer – and it’s delicious.



After my round of golf on the hilly course I join my hosts for lunch in the clubhouse Chinese restaurant, Ryukyu. Again the food is wonderful, as I have come to expect everywhere I go in Okinawa.

Another Japanese restaurant, Kanucha, is in the main building and has a live show kitchen. In addition, there is the Kuuwa Kuuwa BBQ Terrace restaurant, the Paradis and Open Terrace Café for casual dining and the Beachside Terrace Lanai.



Spa and wellness

The resort has extensive spa and wellness facilities, although sadly I didn’t have time to use them myself. The Kanucha Pro Lab Spa is proclaimed to be Okinawa’s first “inner beauty spa” and offers facial, body and head treatments. There are also chiropractic and foot reflexology treatments available, and a sauna in a tent.

And if you still need relaxing after all those, you can also take part in yoga sessions held on the beach, in the rainforest-like space of its indoor pool, where you can also do yoga on stand-up paddleboards, and even air yoga, suspended from the ceiling in material slings.



Activities

Besides the picturesque and hilly golf course that surrounds the resort, which you play in a buggy for four players and their bags, guests have many other activity options at Kanucha.

There are three pools: a beach pool, a garden pool and the indoor pool that is lit up at night. Guests using the sandy beach are permitted to swim in a specially cordoned off area.

Activities that cost extra include a water park in front of the beach, jet skiing, banana boats, snorkelling, diving, fishing, e-biking, tennis, wake boarding, parasailing, glass-bottomed boat trips, water-powered fly boards, jet packs and hoverboards. Kayaks can be rented and you can go on guided kayaking tours at dawn and through mangroves by day and at night.



For families, there is a games room and children’s water park. You can also rent a karaoke room, and there are many experiences to try, such as gel candle making and being a sushi chef. Beyond the resort, there’s ziplining, pineapple picking, buggy adventure tours and trekking in Yanbaru’s pristine forests. Just half an hour north of Kanucha, the rainforested Yanbaru National Park was created a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021. Guests should note that no tattoos are allowed in all the resort’s facilities.

Conclusion

I have always had a yen for the sea, and Kanucha Resort fits the bill wonderfully for me with its setting on a beautiful bay in a subtropical paradise. It also sums up Okinawa’s moniker as the “land of immortals”, because of the longevity of its population. Time just seems to stand still.

Kanucha Resort
156-2 Abe, Nago City
Okinawa 905-2263, Japan

T: +81 570 018880
W: kanucha.jp