Kokusai Street!

This past weekend we explored a tourist location in downtown Naha, Okinawa called Kokusai Dori street - Kokusai street for short. It is said that in English, it means "International Street" and it is the main street in Naha. The street is filled with lots of shops and street vendors. These shops and vendors have many, many treasures, including jewelry, crackers, chips, candy, souvenir gifts, custom made t-shirts, and TONS of Shisa (Japanese lion dogs).

Kokusai Street view…Complete with rubber chickens!

Many Japanese treasure stores

Okinawa condoms - a popular souvenir. The boxes are kind of creepy…

Shisa were everywhere!!

 I had to take a picture of the vending machines on the street. They can be found all over Okinawa and in the weirdest locations. I've never seen so many vending machines in my life. Mike even has one right outside his office. 

T-shirt store. Their popular sellers are dog t-shirts.

Okinawan jewelry. Many places sell these bracelets.

Taco rice kits for sale

Habusake shot - snake venom. Each container has a real (dead) snake inside.

Many of the shops that sold cookies, chips, and crackers had samples out. The samples are in the little containers that you can open up and try!

We went full-out touristy today and got our name in Kanji.

Our finished product. The guy spoke very little English and asked us to remove our sunglasses to get inspiration to write all the words on the right of the picture. Supposedly the big letters say "Martin" and we have no idea what the rest says. Maybe something about blue eyed people. Who knows! Haha.

Store called "hard donuts." Sounds appetizing ;)

About halfway down Kokusai street was a covered market area that branches off the main street. There was a giant yellow sign at the entrance to the market and it is referred to as the "arcades" (if the translation is correct…) We are unsure if there are multiple "arcades" in this one area or which one begins/ends where, but I can tell you they are called Heiwadori, Mutsumidori, and Ichiba Hondori. This area was filled with many more vendors selling souvenirs and such and also had mini markets with fresh vegetables, fruits, and fish. These are much smaller than the large shops on Kokusai, often with one or two people manning the booths. 

This was pictured on the ground in the market area. I'm assuming the little black dot is where we were standing. There are a lot of assumptions when you're in a foreign country ;)

Walking down the inside market

There are also plenty of restaurants to choose from on Kokusai street. The workers attempt to entice you in by standing outside and having you look at their menu as you're walking by. The one we chose on our first trip to Kokusai had two characters on top of the building laughing and holding beers. It's really hard to figure out the name of the restaurants here because many of them are not written in English. Oh well…that's what pictures are for!

The restaurant

The inside of the restaurant

Lots of drinks!

The food menu. This is a typical English restaurant menu in Okinawa. There are usually descriptions of the food items in English. But, sometimes you have to ask for the English menu.

Inside again

Here is a picture of our order. I ordered the taco rice - a very popular Okinawan dish (pictured at the bottom). It is taking the inside of a taco (lettuce, cheese, beans, meat and whatever else you want) and serving it over rice instead of in a taco shell. You can find it at many restaurants and there are even kits sold in the markets (see photo above). It's pretty delicious, although I hardly think you would need a kit to make it. Haha. The taco rice order came with a side of vinegar soup that was pretty good and a small dish of salsa - pace picante probably ;) Mike ordered the Yakisoba (stir-fry soba noodles). We also ventured out a bit and ordered squid ink soba. Those are the black noodles in the picture. They come cold and have a very familiar taste that we cannot put our finger on. Maybe similar to a seaweed salad, if you have ever that. Anyways, overall the food was pretty good. You have to try new things, otherwise what's the point of exploring?!

We spent 2 hours walking around Kokusai street, but there are so many shops and restaurants that you could literally be there all day. Needless to say, we will be back for another trip! I think next time will be at night. I have heard they have live Okinawan music and many of the shops stay open until 11pm. Plus, in the middle of summer it is soooo hot during the day!

Cell Phones, Cable, and Cars in Japan...

This day and age we need a car and a cell phone to 1. feel connected to the world and 2. explore a new country and to explore it safely! And as Americans, we need our televised entertainment! We have had our phones for about a week now and just got both of our cars and cable service, so here are some things we learned...

Cell phones: Getting a phone here in Okinawa was pretty easy. We had our military sponsor (and friend, Jeff) take us to the phone carrier he uses. There are three main carriers here - two of them I have seen on the bases (SoftBank and AU) and one I've seen plenty of locations out in town - Docomo. Jeff has Docomo (the average AT&T) and is happy with it, so we went with Docomo as well. We have heard some not-so-good things about the other companies, but I'm sure they're all the same. It's like picking between AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile… So, we were able to get an iPhone through Docomo. They don't have family plans and you pay for the phone on your monthly bill instead of up front like back home. They also lock you into a two year contract. There's a hefty fee for canceling your contract early, but if you are on a 3-year tour then you don't really have a choice. Oh well.

They were very friendly. We had to wait about half an hour for an English speaking rep.

Their plans are pretty simple. For the one we have there is unlimited Docomo-Docomo calling and 2GB of data. Everyone is super concerned about being able to call home. There are several ways to do this (e.g., magic jack, Voxer, etc.). Mike and I use an app called Viber. It is an awesome text/voice messaging/calling app that works off wi-fi so it doesn't cost anything to use if you are connected. Otherwise you eat into your data, which is also not that big of a deal. The other person you want to talk to/text must also have Viber downloaded on their phone too. I also use Skype on my computer, but it's more of a personal preference. There are plenty of options!

So far we have been pretty pleased with the Docomo service. Sometimes there's no signal - typical of any company - but the majority of the time our phones work great. My favorite part is when you place a call the ringer makes a funny sound and a little voice sings, "Docomo!" I love it; it makes me happy. Haha!

Cars: Buying a car here in Japan is VERY stressful. Although they are surprisingly cheap (seriously…We paid less than $5000 for two cars), it's so complicated. At the newcomer's brief we learned about a resource you can use to buy a car…A piece of paper. Great. Here's the picture of the paper. I'm not even going to attempt to explain the car-buying process here…It's insane. So, if you need some advice, then feel free to contact me…Or check out this paper. Haha.

Once we did everything that is required of both parties, we finally felt comfortable to drive around. After we got our Japanese drivers license, of course. That's another feat in itself. Geez, so much to do in order to gain your mobility in this country! Well, here's a pic of our little Japanese cars. They are both Nissans and we love them. They are so cute and so much fun to drive around :)

My Nissan March

Driver's side is on the right :)

Mike's Nissan Cube

Cable service: There are two cable services here on Okinawa - Mediatti and Konnect. I am not sure which is the better one, but we went with Mediatti. It's again like picking a cable company back home - Time Warner cable, Cox Communications, Hargray, etc. We opted for the combo internet and tv package with 70+ channels. We also have a subscription to Netflix. This was the most comfortable to us because it mirrored our services back home. Some people choose to do just internet with them and then use Netflix or Hulu…again, it's personal preference on these things. People talk about having to get some sort of VPN that supports the Netflix/Hulu service back home, depending on where you live. This is again another thing that's very confusing for me. I let the man do that stuff. Here's Mediatti's brochure, in case you're interested:

American Village, Okinawa - So many fun things!!!

The Okinawans have gone so far to make Americans feel at home that they have built a place called Mihama American Village located in central Okinawa. It emulates San Diego's seaport village - an outdoor mall with shops and restaurants. I am from the OC, CA and to me it reminds me of the Irvine Spectrum. Complete with a ferris wheel and all ;)

Anyways, we have ventured here a few times. This is where we went the first night in town to eat at the Ramen Noodle House, which we now know the name to be Hayatemaru Ramen. We recently went there to explore a little more.

Our first stop was Starbucks. Yes, Starbucks. They have an English menu here, but you need to keep it simple…Ordering a drink from Starbucks can be complicated in America, let alone with a language barrier. We ordered one drink - a blended soy matcha (also spelled maccha) frappuccino. We didn't know what it was but saw a guy carrying one out of the store and wanted to try it. It tasted like soy beans to me but apparently it's powdered green tea. It was delicious, if you like edamame.

There are tons of restaurants to choose from in American Village…In fact, we are going back for dinner tonight to try a new spot! The restaurant that got our attention that particular evening was a "Yakiniku" style restaurant, which means grilled meat and is often referred to those restaurants where you cook your own food on the grill embedded into your table. If you have ever been to a do-it-yourself Korean bbq, then you know what I am talking about. This place was way more authentic than the ones in the states - rightfully so.

The restaurant is called Yumemaru and is located on the second floor by Sega. They do have their menu on display, like many restaurants here, but they also offered an English menu. When you enter you place your order at the front and pay first. We went for the all-you-can-eat level-1 (can't remember the name).

Once you have paid, you are taken to your table. The server instructs you to remove your shoes and place them in the cubby before entering your dining area. They provide house slippers outside your dining area in order for you to walk to the beverage station without having to get your shoes out. The majority of restaurants in Okinawa have self-service beverage stations, so you end up using their slippers.

Remove your shoes before entering the dining area

Beverage station - The "white water" aka Calpis was delicious

We then placed our order. We ordered a combo platter with pork, loin, and chicken, an order of lemon chicken, an order of boneless short ribs, and an order of hot stone bibimbap - a delicious rice and veggie dish. We will be back just for the boneless short ribs (melt in your mouth) and the bibimbap! Once our order came we began cooking. Surprisingly, we were full quicker than we thought. Of course we had to order dessert…a waffle with ice cream and an imagawayaki - a pastry filled with sweet azuki bean paste. It tasted like bean paste wrapped in a pancake. Haha. Since we were so full so fast, next time we will not do the all-you-can-eat and just order off the menu!

Imagawayaki - Sometimes you have to try the not-so-delicious things too!

After dinner we ventured into Sega, a main attraction in American Village. One word to describe it - AMAZING! We were immediately greeted by the Okinawan workers. They were so friendly, even though we had no idea what they were saying and no interest in playing any games. We just had to venture inside to have a look around. There were games everywhere…Like heaven for any video game player.

The first thing we saw was 4 guys playing a game like Guitar Hero but for your hands on a screen (sorry, I'm not a gaming person). These guys were great entertainment. I really wanted to try, but they were way too intense. Haha. We also saw lots of casino-like games and claw crane games - you know, the ones you put tons of money in to try to win the 10 cent stuffed animal inside.

Guys playing hand music game...

Claw crane games - they had 3 rows of them!

They even had one with Ninja swords inside!

One of the greatest things we saw, however, was the picture booths - also known as Sticky Pics. Sticky Pics are very popular here in Japan. And they are so much fun! It's hard to figure out at first because it's in Japanese…But, hey, that makes it more entertaining. You can choose if you want make-up added, you can add drawings and stamps, and other features all through the computerized screen!

We actually did Sticky Pics in the Dragon Palace. It's another gaming place in American Village. 

Card shop where the guys play and trade cards (don't know the name)

I met a friend sitting all alone on the bench

Sticky Pic booths - lots of options!!

The costumes. Only saw these at Sega though, not at Dragon Palace (but I wasn't looking for them)

 Us!!! They added make-up to Mike's face! Haha!! He told me not to post this, but I couldn't resist!

After our Sticky Pics were ventured a little more through the mini mall called Mihama Carnival Park, which is also at American Village. Here we found some very interesting places - including a Sbarro restaurant at the top of the stairs. Haha. We probably will be in there at some point, just to try it out! The first store we came across was filled with glorious Japanese treasures. I was in heaven! I love the bright colors and all the things to look at, it's so captivating!

Japanese treasure stores - my favorite!

Look at all the Shisa!!

Okinawa condom?? Not sure exactly what these are, but they look like crackers that you eat. Haha. We will be back to investigate!

Then we went upstairs in the mini mall and found more hidden treasures…Dr. Fish. What is Dr. Fish you ask…They are small species of carp that eat the dead skin off your feet! Awesome…We had to try it! They don't have teeth and can't bite you; they act as a suction vacuum cleaner to suck the dead parts off your skin. It was very tickly at first, just like any foot massage. Then once you relaxed into it, it was like tiny vibrations on your feet. We only did a 5 minute trial run, but next time we will be there longer :)

The description

The fish are eating the dead skin off our feet!

They also have a massage/salon place, restaurants, and other stores for shopping in the Mihama Carnival Park mall. There's so much to do in AV! After our Dr. Fish session we went to grab some frozen yogurt outside the mall next to Dragon Palace. It's just like a Yogurtland back home and it's called Partyland. The kind of place where you fill your cup with your yogurt flavor and then add the toppings. They charge you based on how much it weighs. This place is not cheap. We did not overload our yogurts and it came out to 1350 Yen ($13.50)! They have some interesting flavors and toppings though, so even if you have been to a place like this before, you should still go.

In case you didn't know what you were doing...

They have some fun flavors - Maccha, purple sweet potato, milk tea...

They have some fun toppings - Aloe, rice flour dumplings, condensed milk...

And just in case you were caught in a tsunami warning while at AV, this is where you need to go…This has been my worst fear since I was a child. A giant wave consuming everything in its way. And now I live in Japan. Great.