Premium tour plan to Okinawa sanctuary shelved following local opposition

Entry to the Sangui innermost area of Sefa Utaki is sealed off, with a sign reading “No entry, due to sanctuary preservation and risk of falling rock” in Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture. This picture was taken with permission from the Nanjo board of education. | The Okinawa Times

THE OKINAWA TIMES

Oct 26, 2026

A tourism company in Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture, has shelved a plan for an exclusive early-morning tour of Sefa Utaki, a natural sanctuary in the city and a UNESCO World Heritage site, amid opposition from local stakeholders.

Operator DMO Nanjo, which had hoped to launch the tour as early as January, decided at its board meeting on Oct. 5 that it would scrap the plan for the current fiscal year, which runs through the end of March. The company, which was established this year by public-private investments, said it would reconsider the plan after working to build consensus among those concerned.

Under the originally proposed plan, visitors would have experienced a premium dawn prayer at Sefa Utaki while accompanied by a guide dressed in the ceremonial attire of Kikoe Okimi, the highest-ranking priestess of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The experience would then have been followed by an elaborate Ryukyuan royal-style meal at a restaurant in the city. The package would have carried a price tag of ¥100,000 ($633) or more per person.

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