Okinawa Trip without Car: Part 5: Kokusai Street

[Introduction]

I traveled to Okinawa for four days and three nights. This time, I visited Okinawa Main Island, mainly Naha area. My concern was that I don’t drive, which might make my trip difficult, but I enjoyed the trip very much by using monorail and taking bus tours. In this article, I will write about Kokusai street as part of Day 2.

[Visit Places (series of articles)]
* Day 1: Fly to Okinawa
* Day 1: Surijo Castle Park
* Day 1: Surijo Castle Park (Light-up)
* Day 2: Naminoue Beach & Fukushuen Garden & Shikinaen Garden
* Day 2: Kokusai Street [This article]
* Day 2: Kokusai Street (Night Walk)
* Day 3: Kouri Island
* Day 3: Churaumi Aquarium
* Day 3: Busena Marine Park
* Day 3: Mihama American Village
* Day 4: Sefa-utaki & Mibaru Beach & Himeyuri Peace Museum
* Day 4: Ashibinaa & Chura Sun Beach
* Day 4: Senagajima Umikaji Terrace & Return Home

[Travel Date]
2017.07.01-04

[Main Part]

I returned from Shikinaen garden. I will walk around Kokusai street in the afternoon.

Miyako Soba “Doraemon”

Before walking around Kokusai street, I wii have a lunch. I would like to eat Okinawa soba during the trip and I visited “Doraemon”, which was a Miyako Soba restaurant.

In the restaurant. As you can see, the restaurant was full.

Here is the menu.

I ordered “Doraemon Soba”, the signature menu of the restaurant.

Walking around Naha Kokusai Shopping Street

After lunch, I started to walk around Kokusai street.

Kokusai street is the most famous tourist street which runs from Okinawa prefectural office for 1.6km (1 mile). Kokusai street is often called “The miracle one mile” due to its rapid development after the World War II.

It was in the afternoon on Sunday when I visited Kokusai street and the street was free of vehicles at that time.

There were a variety of souvenir shops and restaurants along the street and their appearance was very unique (Okonawa taste).

The final spot of Kokusai street was at Makishi station.

There was a Shisa (lion-shaped ornament) near the station.

Tsuboya Yachimun Street

I left Kokusai street temporarily and visited Tsuboya Yachimun Street. There are 20 shops and galleries of pottery art along the street. Here are some snap photos of Tsuboya Yachimun Street.

Makishi Public Market

Then, I visited Makishi Public Market.

Makishi Public Market was opened in 1950. The first floor was a the market area.

The second floor was the restaurant area.

I stopped by “H&B Gela Okinawa”.

“H&B Gela Okinawa” is a gelato shop that uses fruits made in Okinawa. I ordered this fruit parfait.

Vita Smoothies

After I left Makishi Public Market, I strolled around Kokusai street again to find souvenirs. I dropped “Vita Smoothies” by for a rest.

In the shop.

I ordered a limited-time-only smoothie with mango.

Then, I returned to the hotel. After a quick rest, I walked around Kokusai street for night walk and I will write about it in the next article.

[Closing]

That’s it for the article about Kokusai street as part of Day 2 of my Okinawa trip.

Kokusai street is full of buildings and objects with unique appearance, so I enjoyed walking around the street. While Okinawa has lots of things to do, I would recommend visitng Kokusai street if you have a chance 🙂

In the next article, I will write about night walk at Kokusai street as part of Day 2.

[Map]

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