Naha

The capital of Okinawa Prefecture, on the East China Sea coast of the southern part of Okinawa Island, with 317,405 people packed into 39.98 square kilometres, 7,939 to the square kilometre. The modern city was founded on 20 May 1921, but Naha had already been one of the most important and populous places in Okinawa for centuries, and in the medieval and early modern periods it was the commercial centre of the Ryukyu Kingdom. It remains the political, economic and educational centre of the prefecture. The name is said to come from Naba, a large mushroom-shaped stone in the city.