After a bus ridedownHeiwa Dori (“Peace Street”) and a stroll
throughMakishi PublicMarket, a colorful, chock-a-block, cov- ered shopping arcade—wherewe sampled salt ice cream, a pop- ular local treat—wedrove an hour and a half north to Bankoku Shinryokan (www.shinryokan.com), a conference venue on a small, breezy peninsula overlooking the sea.Thesmall, well-man- icured conference center, which hosted the G-8 Summit in 2000, has six different meeting and event spaces, the largest of which, Summit Hall, is 4,747 square feet. There are about 1,500 guest rooms in proximity to Bankoku
Shinryokan, so it wasn’t surprising that our final two stops for the day were both hotels: The Busena Terrace (www.terrace.co.jp/busena), an elegant and expansive beach property with an open-air lobby looking out over the EastChina Sea. The 410-room resort has just one small meeting room, but its restaurants and bars can accommodate larger groups—including up to 250 people for a buffet-style dinner at the café terrace restaurant La Tida. The Atta Terrace Club Towers (www.terrace .co.jp/clubtowers), where we stayed overnight. Although the 78-room resort is more of a leisure- travel property, it’s a beautiful, tranquil place, secluded amid lush greenery. Its infinity-edge pool is a particularly nice touch.
Tuesday After a lovely open-air breakfast of cold green tea, grapefruit juice, French toast,
potatoes, sausages, and really good coffee with cream, our group departed the Atta Terrace Club Towers for inspections of three Okinawan hotels, all in the vicinity of Bankoku Shinryokan: SpaResort EXES (www.exes-kariyushi.com/english), a luxurious, 90-room boutique hotel built two years ago, and its older, skybridge-connected sister, the Okinawa Kariyushi Beach Resort Ocean Spa (www.kariyushi.co.jp/beach/ english). All of Kariyushi’s 515 guest rooms were renovated three years ago, and the property has meeting space for both hotels, including the 6,889-square-foot Nirai Kanai banquet hall.
150 pcmaconvene December 2010
HISTORY COMES ALIVE:Above,Murasaki Mura, a replica 14th-/15th-century Okinawan village, where groups can take part in traditional arts and crafts, including glass- blowing (at left). Each of us on the trip were assisted in making our own drinking glass — a memorable souvenir for attendees. Below is a ticket stub from Tokyo City View at Roppongi Hills.
ANA InterContinental Manza Beach Hotel & Resort (www.ichotelsgroup.com/intercontinental/en/gb/locations/ana intercontinentalmanzabeach), a399-roombeachproperty that’s perfect for incentive groups, offering a wide range of outdoor activities, from sea kayaking to scuba diving. The hotel, which was renovated in April 2010, has two meeting rooms, totaling 6,695 square feet of space. Following the inspections,wehopped back on the bus
for a trip south to Murasaki Mura (www.mura sakimura.com), which felt like an Okinawan Colo- nialWilliamsburg. The replica 14th-/15th-century vil- lage, whose architecture is characterized by distinct Okinawan features such as open walls and over- hanging eaves (to facilitate breezes and keep out rain, respectively), was originally built as the setting for aTVseries about the history of Okinawa.Today the village hosts groupswho take part in traditional arts and crafts such as glass-blowing and weaving. Nextwe toured the OkinawaConventionCen-
ter (www.oki-conven.jp/en), 30 minutes from Naha Airport and right on the water, next to a small, pretty beach. The center has three main spaces: an 1,800-seat theater, a 26,910-square- foot exhibition hall, and a variety of conference halls. Each of the three buildings is located off a central plaza, and is designed to symbolize one aspect of Okinawa: The theater represents land,
the exhibition hall sky, and the conference center sea. Our last stop on Tuesday was Shurijo Castle Park
(http://oki-park.jp/shurijo-park/english), an impressive restored hilltop-castle complex that once served as the capital of the King- dom of the Ryukyus, who ruled Japan’s southwestern islands from1429 to 1879. The castle, a UNESCOWorld Heritage site