Itoman

Itoman's fishermen once sailed sabani canoes across the South Seas, the men driving fish into nets and the women peddling the catch, and the town still lives by the port. Itoman fishing port opened its big-ship harbour in 1982, and its auction runs from about 5:00, with visitors allowed on the upstairs gallery from 8:30 to 12:00 on market days. The Itoman Haare boat race on the fourth day of the fifth lunar month and the great tug-of-war on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month are the town's big festivals.

The south of the city, the old village of Miwa, saw the fiercest and final fighting of the Battle of Okinawa. The Himeyuri memorial and the Peace Memorial Park at Mabuni stand here, inside the Okinawa Senseki Quasi-National Park created in 1965, the only quasi-national park in Japan dedicated to battle sites. Cape Kyan and the cliffs of Arasaki mark the island's southern edge.

For riders Itoman is the turnaround of the west-coast ride from Naha through Tomigusuku, with Michi-no-Eki Itoman and Itoman Gyomin Shokudo for lunch. Kita-Nashiro Beach, down a farm road on the west coast, makes a sunset stop on the way back.