The Haunted Hotel

From the main gate at Nakagusuku Ruins you can see one of Okinawa's strangest landmarks, The Royal Hotel. While there are many version of this story, some of the "facts" are consistent.

In the 1970's a Naha businessman saw an opportunity to make some money off the tourists coming to visit Okinawa. He thought a luxury hotel, casino and waterpark was exactly what people needed. He acquired some land and hired some workers, despite the warnings from a nearby monastary that the site was sacred.

He began construction without any blueprints, which is pretty obvious upon walking into the building. There are staircases and hallways that don't go anywhere and rooms that don't seem to have any purpose. Soon after starting this building the workmen began having accidents and dying. Eventually the business man fell ill, went bankrupt and eventually insane.

The building was never finished or inhabited. One version of the story says one of the monks from the monastary lives in the building to maintain a shrine, easing the angry spirits.

This has definitely become the spot for local kids to hangout, with graffiti covering almost every surface. There is even the body of a rusted out car on the second floor!

Lyle and the kids made it to the top, I refused to go down the dark hallway, littered with trash (rats, ya know!). They say I was scared, I say I was safety conscious :)

After the hotel, we headed off for a late lunch.