05‏/09‏/2013

A Peek Inside the Okinawa Grand Mer

Tokyo Dai-ichi Hotel's Okinawa City Resort

By Michael Flemming

Community writer

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The Tokyo Dai-ichi Hotel Okinawa Grand Mer Resort is one of the only resort hotels in Okinawa City

Shisa Dogs are lion dog talismans believed to ward off evil spirits in Ryukyuan mythology

The load-bearing columns inside the hotel lobby lead to artfully designed lighting along the entrance ceiling

Ryukyuan tile red and brown is a common color scheme at the Grand Mer Resort

A gift store now takes up a considerable amount of the hotel lobby, but there are colorful eye-catcing items on sale there such as these Ryukyuan stained glass chili pepper chop stick holders

The friendly staff will literally help a guest no matter how small and no matter how small the question

Outside of Naha and the resort areas on the western shoreline of the main island - and excluding the many love hotels - there aren't too many hotels in Okinawa. This is especially true in Okinawa City where only one's two hands are needed to count hotels. The Tokyo Daichi Hotel Okinawa Grand Mer Resort is one of those few hotels and is very popular with business travelers and tourists visiting central Okinawa. Most locals know about this hotel for the scrumptious spread at it's lunch and dinner buffets in its Dress Diner Restaurant. The hotel sits high on a hillside overlooking the Awase neighborhood, the Okinawa Prefectural Comprehensive Athletic Park, and the Pacific Ocean. Living in Okinawa City myself I've never had the opportunity to stay in the hotel's rooms, but I do go a couple of times a year to the buffet, and to enjoy the beautiful scenery inside and outside of the hotel.