How food in Japan’s Okinawa evolved with Chinese influences to become ‘truly unique’

Name: How Okinawa’s past shaped a food culture distinct from the main islands of Japan
Uploaded: 2026-04-05T09:15:08.000Z
Duration: 12 min 6 s
Description: How Okinawa’s past shaped a food culture distinct from the main islands of Japan

Long ago, Okinawa was part of the Ryukyu Kingdom, a trade hub linking Japan to Asia. Today, dishes like goya champuru reflect this history

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Champuru is a representative dish of Okinawa, Japan. Its use of goya, or bitter melon, reveals its Chinese influences. Photo: Getty Images

Lisa Cam

Published: 5:15pm, 5 Apr 2026

Okinawa is famous today for its pristine waters, gaudy Orion beer T-shirts, stone lions and dishes such as taco rice, but in centuries past it was better known as the centre of the independent Ryukyu Kingdom, which thrived as a maritime trade hub from 1429 to 1879.

The Ryukyu Kingdom connected Southeast Asia, China and Korea with Japan through trade, which included Chinese ceramics and Japanese silver. Over 450 years, these exchanges led to the development of the kingdom’s unique culture.

Ryukyu was also a tributary state of the Chinese Ming and Qing dynasties. But despite these links to China, it remained a distinct entity with its own language until Japan annexed it in 1879.

“Even during Japan’s Sakoku isolationist period [during the Edo period, when the government drastically restricted foreign trade and the movement of people in and out of the country], Okinawa maintained trade and cultural exchange with other places,” says Yoshiko Iha, the owner of Shuri Tunda Dining, a restaurant dedicated to recreating the Ryukyu Kingdom’s court cuisine for the general public.

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How Okinawa’s past shaped a food culture distinct from the main islands of Japan

The restaurant, which is located in Naha, Okinawa’s biggest city, serves meals in ornate hexagonal Okinawan lacquer boxes called tundabun, which have separate compartments for each dish. Tunda (meaning “eastern road”) is said to be derived from the phrase “lord of the eastern road” in reference to the host.

How food in Japan’s Okinawa evolved with Chinese influences to become ‘truly unique’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Long ago, Okinawa was part of the Ryukyu Kingdom, a trade hub linking Japan to Asia. Today, dishes like goya champuru reflect this history

Long ago, Okinawa was part of the Ryukyu Kingdom, a trade hub linking Japan to Asia. Today, dishes like goya champuru reflect this history