Sweet and protein-rich, brown sugar is a favorite souvenir item. This brown sugar comes from sugar cane that's grown on the islands. Tours to take part in its harvest and see how brown sugar is made are available for those with interest.

Sugarcane is a perennial of the rice family. It is one of Okinawa's leading agricultural products. Planting is done both in spring or summer. By fall, the stalks will be two to three meters tall with a white feathery flower blooming at the tips. Sugarcane is harvested from January to April. Before harvesting, farmers will explain the methods of cutting sugarcane. Here visitors will have to pay special attention because you'll need extra care and concentration when using the sickle.

After the instructions you're ready to start harvesting. You enter the fields and stand in front of your very first cane. Bend down and cut the cane close to the root with the sickle. Like bamboo, there are hard joints in a stalk of cane, so the job will probably be a little difficult until you get used to it. After the stalks are cut, you'll learn how to carefully strip off the ears and leaves. The cane stalks are then bundled up and loaded onto trucks heading to the refining plant.

Here at the refining plant, you'll learn how brown sugar is made. The cane is first put into a compressor to squeeze out the juice. Then the juice is boiled down in a big pot. Lime is added to the juice that is now sticky and this mixture is poured into a vat coated with oil and allowed to cool and harden to complete the process.