Kokusai Street - Shopping galore!

The boys in my office had mentioned that I needed to go to the "shopping mecca" of Okinawa last week but, after they told it it was "the" shopping destination for tourists, I essentially crossed it off my list thinking it would be another dreadful endless stretch of over-priced junk shops.....sort of like airport gift shops.  Then I met a neighbor in my housing complex who also mentioned that he had been to Kokusai.......and in 4 hours had only managed to see a small portion of what was there....I was  little more intrigued.  On Wednesday afternoon, after I finished my morning adventure (stay tuned for a separate post on Shuri Castle)......I tried to find my way to Kokusai street.  The major roads here do a decent job with signs alerting tourists and visitors to historic, cultural and tourist destinations.  That is, they do a good job until you turn OFF the main road and onto the innumerable tiny side streets!  I circled for what felt like hours - going through the same streets but somehow always managing to miss what I was looking for.  Then, magically, I turned left instead of right and there is was....spread out in all its' glory!  Literally a mile of nothing but shops, one after another........

First priority - parking!  Just for the record, parking is a premium item around here, and failure to adhere to the rules will reward unlucky lawbreakers with a $180 (American dollar) parking ticket!  So, being the good citizen I am, I followed the signs (the "international" sign for parking happens to be a road sign with a blue "P", just in case you're wondering....honest, I read it in a guide book!) and ventured into a underground parking garage.  To my amazement...the parking garage had a automated "car rack" in it - to maximize the number of cars it could hold.  A nice attendant waved me to back my car into a slot, folded my side view mirrors in for me and handed me a ticket. 

This is my cute little rental car being swept away into the storage racks.......it was sort of like the dry cleaners when it was time to return the car to me, LOL!  They checked my ticket, pushed a few buttons and the racks re-arranged themselves until my car popped out.




Kokusai is called the "Miracle Mile" by many....it is literally a mile long length of road that houses thousands of stores and shops.  This was one of the fastest areas of recovery following WWII and it originally started as a black market for goods.  As the island further recovered from the devastation of the war, legitimate trade replaced the black markets and today it is renown shopping area know throughout Asia.  The stores range from very high end department stores akin to Neiman-Marcus or Saks in the states down to shops that are akin to being on the back streets of Mexico - complete with dirt floors!  The main street itself consists of actual stores fronts....but spaced throughout the street are entrances to the back market alley.  These markets are roughly divided into districts - I only made it as far as the Heiwa-dori street which houses many clothing shops including stores with seamstresses standing by to make any alternations on the spot. 

 These picture were all taken from a single spot - I just turned 90 degrees to the four corridors and took the pictures. 

 I was scared to venture too far....it seemed like there was a new corridor every hundred yards or so...I was convinced if I went too far into the side alleys, I would be lost forever in there.....it felt remarkably like Alice in the rabbits hole!  I'll be back though, and next time I'll be a little more adventurous in my explorations.....

I've been told that further along the way, there is a street/alleyway that specializes in foodstuffs including fresh fish and meats that can be taken into many of the restaurants on location and cooked to order, and finally at the very end, an area of pottery shops.

Speaking of food - lunch was my first stop once I finally made inside to Kokusai....this was one of the best and cheapest lunches I've had so far - it was 720 yen - about $10 and included a salad, miso soba noodle soup, rice, tuna sashimi, shrimp tempura and some strange pickled vegetable....no idea what the veggies were but they were delicious!

I also had my first experience with a "traditional" Japanese toilet at the market.  Thankfully I had done some research before I left Arizona and I knew what to do when I saw the toilet, LOL!

For those of you who may be wondering, you crouch over the bowl and do your thing - hanging onto the water line is encouraged because losing your balance could result in a very unfortunate experience.  And yes, there was a stall with a "western" style toilet in the restroom however, it was occupied when I entered the bathroom....and when you need to go, you take what's available.......