HakoFugu
Registered
Hey all!
I have a terribly broad, terribly general question to ask those of you that are living & diving in Okinawa, or are very familiar with the diving/living situation there, and I'd appreciate any information.
I've been living up in Yamanashi prefecture for about six years now, with a year in Tokyo prior to that. If you're not sure where Yamanashi is, do the following: Find a map of Honshu and stick a pin into the one point on the map that is as far from any ocean as any point can be while still being in Honshu. That would be Yamanashi.
Anyway, my wife and I are discussing pursuing a dream: closing our school in Kofu, grabbing the kid, moving to the coast, and opening a minshuku. As a diver, I'd like to open an inn that caters to divers, but I wouldn't call it a dive resort. I'm not planning on diving professionally myself, beyond some part-time guiding in the future, but I'd really like my inn to serve the dive community. And of course, one of the points of this move is so that I can be closer to dive sites!
I've done all of my diving in Izu, east and west. We're considering moving to east Izu, because of the flood of divers all season long, but that flood does become a mere trickle during the off-season. Which brings us to the question at hand. We also want to consider Okinawa, but we don't have any experience with the place. What I'd like to know is:
1. Location, location, location. If you were looking for a place to open an inn, knowing what you do about Okinawa diving and tourism, where would you choose to do it? What areas would you stay away from? We have a 1-yr-old boy, so I'd need a place that has good access to schools and all the other standard family trappings. Would you stick to the main island? Is it worth it to consider some of the outlying islands?
2. In Izu, during diving season, it can be almost impossible to find a place to stay. Every room is booked. It seems to me that there's ample room for more rooms, so to speak, especially in eastern Izu. How about Okinawa? Is there room for more lodging? Or is it already saturated? We're not looking to get rich, so we're willing to settle someplace off the beaten path if there's a reasonable expectation of business. One advantage we have is the ability to serve our customers in both native English and native Japanese, so that may be a niche that needs filling, or maybe not. Since the dive tourists in the area are primarily Japanese, I imagine there aren't too many English-speaking hotels. But again, I can only speculate.
3. The X Factor. These are the questions an out-of-towner wouldn't even know to ask. This is where I really need advice. Potential showstoppers. The stuff only the locals know. Considerations about weather, real estate, killer robots, cannibals, sea monsters that eat small children, etc.
Obviously such a venture will require a few trips to scout things out and get a feel for the place, or even decide whether we really want to live there, but we need a starting point.
Any and all advice will be valued.
Thanks in advance!
Joel
Kofu, Yamanashi
I have a terribly broad, terribly general question to ask those of you that are living & diving in Okinawa, or are very familiar with the diving/living situation there, and I'd appreciate any information.
I've been living up in Yamanashi prefecture for about six years now, with a year in Tokyo prior to that. If you're not sure where Yamanashi is, do the following: Find a map of Honshu and stick a pin into the one point on the map that is as far from any ocean as any point can be while still being in Honshu. That would be Yamanashi.
Anyway, my wife and I are discussing pursuing a dream: closing our school in Kofu, grabbing the kid, moving to the coast, and opening a minshuku. As a diver, I'd like to open an inn that caters to divers, but I wouldn't call it a dive resort. I'm not planning on diving professionally myself, beyond some part-time guiding in the future, but I'd really like my inn to serve the dive community. And of course, one of the points of this move is so that I can be closer to dive sites!
I've done all of my diving in Izu, east and west. We're considering moving to east Izu, because of the flood of divers all season long, but that flood does become a mere trickle during the off-season. Which brings us to the question at hand. We also want to consider Okinawa, but we don't have any experience with the place. What I'd like to know is:
1. Location, location, location. If you were looking for a place to open an inn, knowing what you do about Okinawa diving and tourism, where would you choose to do it? What areas would you stay away from? We have a 1-yr-old boy, so I'd need a place that has good access to schools and all the other standard family trappings. Would you stick to the main island? Is it worth it to consider some of the outlying islands?
2. In Izu, during diving season, it can be almost impossible to find a place to stay. Every room is booked. It seems to me that there's ample room for more rooms, so to speak, especially in eastern Izu. How about Okinawa? Is there room for more lodging? Or is it already saturated? We're not looking to get rich, so we're willing to settle someplace off the beaten path if there's a reasonable expectation of business. One advantage we have is the ability to serve our customers in both native English and native Japanese, so that may be a niche that needs filling, or maybe not. Since the dive tourists in the area are primarily Japanese, I imagine there aren't too many English-speaking hotels. But again, I can only speculate.
3. The X Factor. These are the questions an out-of-towner wouldn't even know to ask. This is where I really need advice. Potential showstoppers. The stuff only the locals know. Considerations about weather, real estate, killer robots, cannibals, sea monsters that eat small children, etc.
Obviously such a venture will require a few trips to scout things out and get a feel for the place, or even decide whether we really want to live there, but we need a starting point.
Any and all advice will be valued.
Thanks in advance!
Joel
Kofu, Yamanashi
