Signs

1. めんそーれ

   Men-soo-re

   Welcome

   Usage

   Almost every piece of written Uchinaaguchi a visitor sees is this one word: the red-tiled welcome board in the Naha Airport arrivals hall, the standing sign at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium entrance, hotel and souvenir-shop doorways, market entrances, and the welcome boards at expressway and municipal boundaries. Some Naha arcades even carry it in their name. Everything else inside those buildings is signed in Japanese

2. マチグワカイユーメンソーチェービーサヤー

   Ma-chi-gu-wa-kai yuu men-soo-chee-bii-sa-yaa

   Welcome to the market

   Usage

   The painted welcome board at the entrance of Naha's Makishi First Public Market: this single line in red katakana, with the Japanese gloss "welcome to the market" in blue underneath. Mensoocheebiisayaa is the long, polite form of mensoore. At markets and small shops it is only the hand-painted boards that carry Uchinaaguchi — price tags and directions stay in Japanese. Machiguwaa (market) is also the local name for Naha's arcade district

3. にふぇーでーびる

   Ni-fee-dee-bi-ru

   Thank you

   Usage

   Added beside exits and registers at shops and tourist facilities, and printed on souvenir wrapping and paper bags. The pattern is a Japanese "thank you" carrying the Uchinaaguchi line as a decorative aside; receipts, notices and opening hours stay entirely in Japanese

4. やんばる

   Yan-ba-ru

   Yanbaru — the forested north of Okinawa Island

   Usage

   The Ryukyuan reading of 山原. Because the national park is officially named やんばる国立公園 in hiragana, the word covers road signs, park boards and World Natural Heritage notices across the northern half of Okinawa Island — a single Ryukyuan word embedded in otherwise Japanese text. It also appears on expressway guidance north of Kyoda interchange

5. グスク

   Gu-su-ku

   Gusuku — a Ryukyuan castle site

   Usage

   Written in katakana on the heritage boards at Shuri, Nakijin, Zakimi, Katsuren and Nakagusuku, because the UNESCO listing is officially "Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu" — a Ryukyuan word taken directly into the official Japanese name instead of 城 (shiro). In place names it is read gusuku, which also explains readings such as Tomigusuku

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