The Busena Terrace — Hotel in Nago

Busena discriminated against me based on my religion, denying me the use of their hotel services based on my religious beliefs, setting the stage to ruin a long-awaited and costly Okinawan vacation.

Busena proudly proclaims many principles on their multilingual website and in person, portraying themselves as an elevated, international travel destination. They boast of hosting the 2000 G8, where some of the world's greatest leaders united in an attempt to fix numerous international issues, yet Busena actively and unapologetically suppresses the individuality, diversity, and personal freedoms these great people strove to embrace in the spirit of unification for progress.

Busena blindly adheres to an antiquated Japanese policy prohibiting the display of tattoos in and around their pool area, the crown jewel of their isolated kingdom and the proud face of their international advertising. My tattoo, however, is religious in nature, and to ask me to cover it up would be similar to asking a Muslim woman to remove her headdress during her stay. Accordingly, I was not allowed the use of this facility (yet could have used the beach, where 9 types of poisonous animals awaited me, based on their signage) setting the stage for a nightmare of a vacation filled with feelings of discrimination and segregation for me and my family, with no apology issued in the least on Busena's behalf.

The ancient argument is "when you are in someone's house, you abide by their rules." This antiquated sentiment doesn't apply, however, when you've branded yourself as an international travel destination, accepting of international patrons. When your "house" is branded as a room in an international museum, showcasing a unique, Okinawan aspect of the world's beauty which you beckon all to come and view, every citizen, from every country in that world has a right to pay admission to come and experience what you so proudly offer. We all have the inherent right to appreciate the bounty of natural beauty our shared planet is fleetingly offering, without fear of discrimination based on who we are, the color of our skin, or our deeply held personal or religious beliefs. When you accept a guest, you accept all of that guest; you cannot deconstruct that guest, asking them to leave their skin color, mannerisms, or philosophies at the door based on outdated and unjustifiable social policy.

When you claim to be an international travel destination of the highest repute, you must demonstrate that claim through action, not simply words used to draw people in, like a spider awaiting prey in its web. In spite of hosting G8 leaders whose goal was to fix issues based on these premises, Busena's polished, superficial exterior hides the fact that their deeply held, monocultural viewpoints allow them a legal loophole to part guests from vast amounts of their money (easily $600-$800 a night, plus expenditures), and reap extreme profits from international business while completely denying all of the moral tenants governing it. In doing so, they embrace the highest levels of hypocrisy.

It is the year 2018, not 1018; Japan is no longer an island, instead finding itself a respected part of a global community and economy, yet Busena refuses to look past ink on an arm or attempt to appreciate the value inherent in each and every guest they claim to accept, with their petty policies proudly supporting and prolonging the underlying intolerance that plagues the country as a whole, which should have been left to die long ago. The reality is, Busena is a Japanese resort masquerading as an international destination, who in reality, caters to, prefers, and makes Japanese travelers without the social or linguistic skills to travel internationally feel welcome, while maintaining policies which segregate the less desirable foreign clientele to places out of view. They will take your money, however, then show you to a corner where you can sit in...

Please save yourself the trouble and do NOT waste your money here. I traveled with my husband and 3 teenage children. We are from NYC area and happen to be very well traveled. We came to Okinawa to visit close family friends and booked Busena Terrace based on location and reviews. This is my first time ever writing a trip advisor review, which I have felt compelled to do as a result of how exceptionally awful this experience has been.|1. The rooms are old and clearly need updating. Rugs are worn and stained. Bathrooms have metal and plastic doors for the showers, single sink and cracking stonework. Aesthetically unappealing. Found long hairs on our bathtub and stains on the stone floor as we walked into the room for the first time.|2. NO ONE spoke clear English. We needed to use Google translator with everyone on the property despite it advertising that staff speaks English. This is not true.|3. The water in the pools are not kept cool. In fact, water was over 90 degrees F in both pools yesterday which did not provide relief from the nearly 100 degree temps!|4. Food is not regularly available at this resort nor is drink! I cannot stress this enough. There is no food or drink service by the pool and the one bar by the pool tended to be closed. If you wanted a snack or cocktail at 3pm, there was no way to get one! Never in our lives have we stayed at a “luxury” resort where quite literally no one waits on you, asks if you’d like a drink or food, etc.|5. We tried to get a reservation at one of the restaurants and was told “no - too busy.” Walked over and it was EMPTY!|6. Two of the restaurants we wanted to eat at we were told were closed “for good” (Italian and French).|7. We asked for water bottles in the lobby and were asked to pay for them! When I said we were guests at the hotel, we had to show our key in order to get free water. On that note - the hotel is so old, they still use room keys and the key chain is a big wooden fish - it won’t fit in a pocket|8. Hotel is not near anything. And if you need a taxi, it can take 5 minutes or over 30 minutes to wait for one.|9. The quality of the food is what you might find at a cafeteria style restaurant. Good luck if you have food allergies or dairy allergies: they absolutely do NOT cater to this.|Ultimately, don’t be fooled, as we were, by the website or photos! This is not a luxury resort and the staff is not helpful or particularly friendly. We have been approached by British families and a Korean family while her who have ALL expressed the same shock and upset. The Ritz Carlton across the street was closed while we were here but I would highly encourage anyone reading this to book that...

My wife, son and myself stayed at the Busena for six nights in June 2024 at the end of a trip to Japan. ||Our overall impression is that this is a fantastic hotel for the price we paid. We would definitely return here again without hesitation. ||Highlights of the resort for us were:||There is an onsite convenience store if you need to get and drinks or snacks.||The hotel grounds were well maintained. ||Having breakfast at the terrace café overlooking the beach and ocean with lots of choice to eat.||Staff were very helpful, friendly and professional and they should be very proud of themselves in the jobs they do. ||OK some of them were not so good in speaking English but we are in Japan and the communication barrier could be quickly overcome through using the translator app on our mobile, so this was not an issue for us. In fact, my son used the opportunity to practice his Japanese. ||We hired a car from a rental company just outside Okinawa. If you stay here and want to explore you will need a car. The hotel provides valet parking so all you have to do is go to reception and ask for your car and they bring it right outside the main entrance for you and likewise when you return to the hotel, just step out of the car, and the staff take it away to be parked for you. ||The beach was good and the water clean, warm and calm. We did not check out the water sport options but believe there were a number of options available. ||The lobby area and general hotel building was in good condition. I saw no signs of disrepair anywhere of any significance. The lobby was large and very well designed with a tropical luxury feeling to it. This is followed up through the rest of the hotel building and grounds. ||Our rooms were large and spacious and again designed to reflect a luxurious tropical feel. They did not necessarily have the most up to date tech in the rooms but in terms of the space, storage, bed, bathroom all excellent, clean and well maintained. Our rooms had a balcony that was a good size to sit down in. ||We did not really visit any of the restaurants to make any comments but noticed that two restaurants were closed. ||We visited a number of comparable hotels whilst in Okinawa out of interest to check whether we had made the right decision to stay at the Busena. These were all 4 star hotels and I can say that in my opinion the Busena was far better than any of them.||Thank you to all the staff at the Busena for...