Bus loads of tourists vacationing from China, Korea and Japan swarm the ticket booth on any given day, some on guided tours, while others have ventured by car on their own to tour the pineapple-themed mountainside attraction. 

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Brilliant yellow and green-colored pineapple statues dominate the entrance as you drive the winding country road, so it would be impossible to drive by the park without noticing. There is ample parking for buses and cars; attendants guide you to available parking spaces and control the traffic coming and going. It’s somehow never congested but always busy. 

"Papimaru" the statue greets visitors to the Nago Park Pineapple field.

The park features about 100 types of pineapple plants from around the world, flowers, ferns, tropical trees, seashells and, of course a gift shop and restaurant. One of the biggest draws for crowds, though, is the “all you can eat, all you can drink” offer you receive with the purchase of a ticket to tour the facility. There are pastries, cakes, snacks, candies and all sort of pineapple whatnots to be munched on, but the most popular item by far has to be the pineapple wine. Shot-glass-sized plastic cups are provided and you can help yourself at the tap of a wooden keg. 

Kiss Wine -- free samples.

A tour of this vineyard-less winery will soon have you wondering how it is possible for so many thousands of wine bottles to be filled with such a limited acreage of fields within the facility. The truth: pineapple fields are scattered throughout the northern mountains of Okinawa. The acid-rich, red clay soil is ideal for their growth. You would have to go way off the beaten path to find them. They are grown on patches of land and hillsides that have never been graced with the presence of tour buses, taxis or rental cars. Some of the fields are off-road while others lie on trails accessible only by wheelbarrow.

Red pineapples and banana trees in the mountains.

Rows of red pineapples.

Natural light shot of red pineapple with blue skies.

The wine-making process

Photos taken in the Winery Museum, with captions translated by Mitsuko Maezato. Here is a description of how Pineapple Wine is made.

1. Raw Materials: The fresh pineapples are brought in for processing on a conveyor belt.
2. Cutting: The pineapples are skinned and the core is removed.
3. Crushing: The fruit is crushed under pressure by a machine and the juice collected.

4. The juice is sterilized by heating it to 90 degrees Centigrade for 30 seconds. Then it is cooled to a temperature of 15 degrees Centigrade.
5. Yeast is added and the juice is fermented for two weeks, producing alcohol.
6. At the end of the fermentation process, wine fills the top of the container, while impurities settle to the bottom.

7. Carbonation (gases) dissipates from the mixture and the wine is then filtered.
8. The Pineapple Wine is bottled and capped by machine.
9. After being stored and aged for three months, the wine is ready for sale.

The tour of the facilities

Near the ticket booth, just inside the entrance, you are directed to the pineapple cart (golf cart) ride through a covered, shaded tropical garden. This lasts about ten minutes and you’ll see various types of pineapples at different stages of growth, including miniature pineapples and various ferns and flowers.

The rest of the tour is on foot and can you can proceed at your leisure. It’s easy to spend an hour strolling through the gardens and looking at all the wine making equipment and historical photos, signs and processes involved in the wine making. The production of pineapple wine is seasonal so, you may or may not get to see the winery in operation, depending on the most recent weather. The wine is only made from fresh pineapples, grown outdoors. Pineapples available year round are farmed in greenhouses and they would not be suitable for the wine making process.

Sweet, light and dry, pineapple wine contains 5 percent alcohol.

1195 Bimata, Nago City, Okinawa 905-0005 Japan; tel. +81 (0)9 8053 3659; Open all year round 9am-6pm; www.nagopain.com

Cost: Adult (Junior High Students and above) ¥500; Children (Elementary School Students) ¥250; Free for pre-school children; 10 percent discount for groups of 15 people or more.

Local Drivers:
Nago Pineapple Park is easy to find by car. Take HWY 58 North to Nago following the sharp, right bend in HWY 58 above the city limits, move to the left hand lane. A few signal lights farther, you will see signs for HWY 84. Turn left on HWY 84 and as you drive up the hill, huge pineapple statues will appear on the right side of the road just a few kilometers up the mountain.

About the author: Michael Lynch is a photographer and freelance writer living in Okinawa, Japan. Published in numerous magazines, he is a regular contributor to Apogee Photo Magazine, The Matador Travel Network, Pocket Cultures and writes the weekly Camera Talk Blog for In The Know Traveler.


For more information, visit www.mikesryukyugallery.com.


Michael submitted this piece as part of CNNGo’s CityPulse section. To find out what other stories we are looking for, go to our CityPulse page.