Japan - 2025/11/17 Okinawa Tour (LOTUS と沖縄を満喫するツーリングの旅)

[virtualmacho]

Prologue:
2025/11/14 (fri) Met up with @Tokion at 09:00 near the Tokyo Ariake port to load our Emiras onto a Roll-on / Roll-off (RoRo) vessel headed for the tropical island of Okinawa. I'm thinking the loading door of this vessel is much higher above waterline than that of the vessel that brought our cars from the UK. As a result, depending on the height of the pier and tide, it would be difficult to RoRo the Emira. We were instructed to mount the cars on steel pallets, and forklift them into the cargo bay.

And away they go! These forklifts are awsome. I want one.

Everything went smoothly and we were in and out in about an hour.

The boat will reach Okinawa on Monday, where we will fly in to pick them up!

.

 

[virtualmacho]

The "NIRAIKANAI 2" is a RoRo vessel built in 2017, operated by Ryukyu Kaiun Kaisha (RKK) and flying under the flag of Japan. Gross tonnage 11,637t, length 181m, width 26m.

 

[geoffbland]

Wow - I just checked out Okinawa on Google Maps and street view - it looks awesome - I can see some amazing places to drive there. You're going to have an amazing tour by the looks of it - I wish I were there, very jealous. Please make sure you post up loads of pics here.

 

[PS1_Emira]

Wow, very much looking forward to seeing more of this trip.

 

[Andrew25]

The RoRo experience alone was already worth the trip. And now the incredible Okinawa! Keep us posted!

 

[Beachbum]

Honestly, not jealous at all, no I'm not.................. Oh sod it, yes I am

 

[JaviLM]

@virtualmacho I love this, and I think I want to take mine to Okinawa too at some point. What's the process for shipping the car, and what are more or less the costs involved?

 

[virtualmacho]

@virtualmacho I love this, and I think I want to take mine to Okinawa too at some point. What's the process for shipping the car, and what are more or less the costs involved?

The car will need to be shipped on a cargo ship. This means you will have to travel separately (most likely by air). RKK runs 3 boats each week, and アイランデクス can coordinate everything for you. It usually takes 3 days each way, but can vary depending on the weather.

We paid about 270,000 JPY round trip for each car, including insurance.

アイランデクス ==> https://car-okinawa.com/estimation/?ref=okinawa

 

[virtualmacho]

We have touchdown.

 

[virtualmacho]

Joined by the local Emira team.

 

[virtualmacho]

Tropical rain.