Okinawa Travel Guide - Japan description

Okinawa is an island in the Ryukyu Islands chain, and is at the southern end of Japan. There are hundreds of islands in this chain and it stretches for more than one thousand kilometers. The capital is Naha and it sits on the southern side of the island. Since the island is made of coral rock, it has many caves formed from rain that has fallen over the centuries.

Everyone must be aware of the Vietnam War, and Okinawa was the point where Americans based themselves to bomb North Vietnam. The US still has installations on the island today, with more than forty thousand troops based there at any one time.