Okinawa

Is Okinawa safe?

Yes. Okinawa is a safe place for a holiday, and we score it 86 out of 100, three points below Fukuoka and one below Osaka. This page covers Naha, the capital, and the rest of Okinawa's main island, including the resort coast to the north. The police figures we quote cover the whole prefecture, so they also include Miyako and Ishigaki.

Violent crime is rare. Police across the prefecture, home to about 1.47 million people, recorded 13 homicide cases in 2025, a Japanese count that includes attempts, and 17 robberies. The catch is the trend. Recorded crime has nearly doubled in four years, from 5,833 offences in 2021 to 10,677 in 2025, or 728 per 100,000 people, now the seventh-highest rate of Japan's 47 prefectures and above Tokyo's 701 (National Police Agency). Violent offences and serious crime both reached ten-year highs in 2025. For most visitors, though, the sea and the roads are the bigger risks.

The sea is the main danger

More people die in the water around Okinawa than in its crimes. Police recorded 51 drowning deaths in 2025, a provisional figure, out of 114 water accidents.

Visitors are a large share. In the first nine months of 2026, police counted 61 water accidents involving tourists, with 17 dead or missing. Snorkelling was the biggest cause: 27 accidents and 11 dead or missing, and 9 of those 11 were not wearing a life jacket. About a third of tourist accidents involved foreign visitors. To stay safe:

• Wear a life jacket for snorkelling, however well you swim.
• Use beaches with lifeguards and jellyfish nets, and stay inside the swimming area.
• Book diving and snorkelling with operators that brief you on currents, and do not go out alone.

Naha, nightlife and theft

Kokusai-dori, the street where Naha's tourist information centre stands, and the bar districts nearby are where most visitors spend their evenings. Naha's police district recorded 2,624 offences in 2025, up from 2,331, or about 840 per 100,000 residents, more than Tokyo. Most were thefts and minor offences, and street theft stays low: the whole prefecture had 6 pickpocketings and 13 bag snatchings all year.

The UK Foreign Office warns that drink spiking and very large card bills happen in nightlife districts across Japan, not only in Tokyo. Choose bars yourself, check prices and cover charges before ordering, and keep your drink in sight.

Women should know that sexual offences are rising faster here than elsewhere. Police recorded 81 rapes in 2025, against 55 in 2024 and 30 in 2023, and 72 indecent assaults. In July 2023 Japan widened the legal definition of rape, and recorded rapes nationwide rose from 1,655 in 2022 to 4,177 in 2025 (National Police Agency). That explains part of Okinawa's jump, but not the 2025 rise of 47%, against 6% for Japan as a whole. Counting indecent assaults too, the Okinawa figure is about 10 per 100,000 people, a little above Fukuoka. Gallup's 2025 report found 78% of Japanese adults feel safe walking alone at night.

Roads and driving

Okinawa's roads are safe by world standards but less safe than Japan's big cities. The prefecture recorded 40 road deaths in 2025, about 2.7 per 100,000 people, against 0.9 in Tokyo. If you rent a car for the north of the island, you need the 1949 international driving permit, and the legal alcohol limit is about a third of the UK's. Take junctions slowly: more than half of all injury crashes in 2025 happened at or near one.

Typhoons, earthquakes and heat

The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says typhoon risk in Japan is highest in the south, with the season running from June to December and peaking from July to September. A direct hit can stop flights and ferries for a day or more, so leave slack in your plans.

Earthquakes are a smaller worry than in Tokyo or Osaka. The J-SHIS hazard model gives central Naha a 21% chance of intensity 6-lower shaking or stronger within 30 years, and Nago 30%. Damaging quakes on the main island are rare in the historical record, but tsunamis are possible: the 1960 Chile tsunami killed 3 people on Okinawa Island and nearby islands. If a tsunami warning sounds while you are on the beach, move to high ground or the upper floors of a concrete building at once.

The air is clean, with all five monitors meeting Japan's PM2.5PM2.5Tiny airborne particles 2.5 micrometres across or smaller. They reach deep into the lungs and are the air pollutant most linked to early death.More in the glossary standard in the 2024 financial year. Summer heat is the everyday health risk: the FCDO warns of temperatures above 35°C with high humidity across Japan in July and August.

For the rest of the country, see our Japan page.

How we scored it

Violent crime (94), theft and scams (88) and walking at night (88) are high, a little below Fukuoka because crime is rising. Traffic (86) loses points for road deaths, and health and environment (87) for summer heat. Natural hazards (60) is the weakest factor: drownings, the highest typhoon risk in Japan and a moderate earthquake and tsunami risk. As on our Phuket and Bali pages, sea deaths count here rather than under health.