but ryukyuan culture hasn't always been embraced by the mainland.after it became part ofjapan, there was a crackdown on local customs. next on my tour, chiyako takes me 30km down the road to shuri castle. it's on the top of a steep hill, so i've brought along an extra set of wheels. so here we are, then. that was a big entrance into an open space. what happened here? i've come through and it's just a construction site. that is the only way i can explain it. that was what i was expecting to see. and it's such a shame. when it was standing, shuri castle drew around two million people a year. then, in october 2019, a fire blamed on a faulty electrical system tore through the wooden palace, destroying all the main buildings. the debris has been cleared away and the site is once again open to tourists, where they can find out about an ambitious new reconstruction that's currently under way. so this is smoke damage? yes. you can feel the weight of them. they were a real, solid piece. how many are you going to need to make? it's not the first time the cast