Kokusai Street in Downtown Naha

October 26, 2008

While we waited for the parade to reach us and after it was over, we checked out Kokusai Street. We had been down there to watch the parade prior to the Naha Tug-of-War, but didn't get a chance to see any of what it had to offer.

To the left you can see one of the shopping "alleys". From the street here, there are lots of little side streets and alley ways. It is like a maze! You can see Matt and David on the right side of the photo- David is in a grey shirt and Matt is wearing a blue and white hat.

Kokusai Street is a major shopping area- not only the main street but off side streets and alleys. That was my hook to get the boys excited and out the door for the parade- "There's shopping guys!" (for those of you who don't know, Matt LOVES to shop-especially shoes and clothes)

David with one of the "cutesy" statues along the street.

There are tons and tons of shops - you could spend forever puttering around! Lots of interesting things to see! I could have spent a lot longer looking around.
This is what Okinawa Tourist Information says about Kokusai Street: "If any street qualifies as Naha's main street, it is Kokusai Dori (literally “International Street”), running 1.6 kilometers.... Nearby are the Prefectural Office building, Prefectural Assembly Hall, Naha City Hall, central police station, and newspaper offices. Kokusai Street itself is lined with banks, hotels, variety and clothing stores, bars and restaurants, tourist agencies and, of course, lots and lots of souvenir shops."

I loved all the colors and bright signs!




















Shi-sas (lion dog)
Along the streets, there are "Smoking Stations". They appeared to be well used! I have yet to see cigarette butts in the streets or along the sidewalk (except in areas heavily frequented by Americans). In general, the streets here are much cleaner then in the states. The Okinawans pick up their trash and sort the trash into the recycle containers while doing it.

This was one of our favorite shops we came across! This is "Habu Sake". It's not actually sake- it is awamori which is a stronger liquor created through a distilling process of rice. The worm at the bottle of tequila is bad enough...but a snake (or two!)?? It is believed to be a health drink here- to give better stamina. Here is an interesting article with information on Habu Saku: Stars and Stripes
They have a shop on base which carries this drink- we always have to stop and look. I just shudder to think of drinking any of this stuff! Ugh. Not to mention the price- even on base the larger jars are over $600.























This group of young ladies was there spreading some cheer during the parade!














Taxis are a common means of transportation- as you can see here from the lineup of taxis waiting for parade goers to head out.



This little guy was attracting a lot of attention! The best we could figure, the kitty was helping promote their sales of the flowers. That is one tolerant cat! He was just hanging out on the step stool, with his paws over the top. If we had seen this down on the wharf in Seattle, we would have thought they were panhandling, but that wasn't the case here.


Matt and David with one of the statues along the street.