Naha Bus 125 from Naha Bus Terminal to AEON MALL Okinawa Rycom
AEON MALL Okinawa Rycom is the biggest shopping mall in Okinawa, built on the site of the former U.S. Marine Corps’ Awase Meadows Golf Course. The name “RYCOM” is taken from the name of the former U.S. military headquarters “Ryukyu Command”. Heading to AEON MALL Okinawa Rycom, there were no highway buses departing soon, so I headed in to the tourist information counter in Naha Bus Terminal to get some information.
Naha Bus Terminal Bus Tourism Information
Heading into the waiting area at Naha Bus Terminal.
There is a Bus Tourism Information counter here with staff on hand to assist with queries.
Unfortunately, there was no highway bus 152 departing soon, so I had to take a local bus. The next departing bus was Naha Bus 125.
Seats are also available in this waiting area to wait for the bus at.
A FamilyMart is also available here.
Naha Bus 125 departs from Platform 9 at Naha Bus Terminal.
My Naha Bus 125 was arriving on time at 3.52pm.
Naha Bus 125
Boarding and alighting is done from the front door.
Naha Bus 125 is fully covered by the Okinawa Bus Pass.
The interior of the Naha Bus. The middle door is not in use in regular operation. This bus has the middle door blocked off with additional handle bars.
Naha Bus 125 goes through the full length of Kokusai-dori on departure from Naha Bus Terminal.
Along the way, Naha Bus 125 makes many stops on local roads. The bus also got quite crowded midway.
Passing under the Yui Rail tracks at Gibo Station.
Along the way, there are quite a few U.S. military camps.
The long stopping journey was made worse with traffic jams along the way, delaying my bus’ schedule.
Arriving in AEON MALL Okinawa Rycom.
My Naha Bus 125 arrived at AEON MALL Okinawa Rycom at 5.34pm, making this a journey a whopping 1 hour and 42 minutes. To make things worse, this was only a 16-minute delay from scheduled arrival time at 5.18pm, which means that this is a scheduled long and stopping bus ride.
This long journey time was not what I had expected for a distance of only 20km from the city. This means the bus had an average speed of around only 11.7km/h with the many stops and traffic jams along the way.
The alighting point is at the arrival bus stop.
To alight, I simply flashed my Okinawa Bus Pass to the driver.
If paying by OKICA, tap your OKICA onto the reader when alighting.
If paying by cash, check the fare displayed on the screen above and drop the fare and numbered ticket into the coin box.
The bus fare from Naha Bus Terminal to AEON MALL Okinawa Rycom costs ¥800.
Heading into AEON MALL Okinawa Rycom.
The next and last highway bus back to Naha is at 7.15pm, which I made sure to catch. There are only 4 highway buses a day. This leaves me with about 1 and a half hours to explore AEON MALL Okinawa Rycom.
AEON MALL Okinawa Rycom is a 5-storey shopping complex with some outdoor villages with more shops and restaurants.
AEON MALL Okinawa Rycom is also home to Pokémon Center Okinawa.
Conclusion
Naha Bus 125 is a slow and agonising way to travel from Naha Bus Terminal. The frequency is also not that good with a bus only every around 40 to 60 minutes, with my bus getting quite crowded in the middle of the journey. I’m quite surprised that even though Okinawa consists mainly of bus-based public transport, the frequency and priority of buses is still quite low.
If you are travelling to AEON MALL Okinawa Rycom from the city, try to get the 4x daily highway bus 152, or reconsider your journey.