Tomigusuku City

Matt and I set out on a little drive last weekend that ended up being a long drive. We had never been further south than Naha before, so once we went farther than that, we just decided to keep on going. We eventually drove along the whole southern coast of Okinawa, which may not seem like too far of a drive on a small island, but It was about a 6 hour trip for us (including a few stops). It was windy, chilly, and slightly rainy this day (like many of our days here have been lately). We stayed along the coast, making little stops here and there to get a snack at the Family Mart or check out different spots we might be able to bring our jet-skis to. We also passed a few tourist spots that we want to come back and visit another day - when the rain doesn't feel like shards of glass falling from the sky... maybe?

We ended up in Tomigusuku City, which had a big shopping area called Tomiton and an outlet mall called Ashibanaa. The outlet mall was outdoors and very nice (similar to Carlsbad Outlet Mall in California, or Aurora Premium Outlets in Chicago)... and we both agreed that we almost felt like we were back in America while walking through it. It even had many American stores - Nine West, Armani Exchange, Coach, etc. We went into the Nine West store to check out the selection of shoes. They were a bit more expensive than an outlet store in America would be. The largest shoe size they sell is a 25, which translates to a women's size 8! Lucky for me, I just made the cut-off at 7.5, otherwise, I wouldn't be able to find a pair of shoes here in Japan that weren't meant for Men! Shoe stores here, as well as this Nine West outlet, do not display shoes the same either. In American shoe stores, they display one type of shoe, and underneath it, there are all the different sizes that shoe comes in. In Japan, they have sections of the store dedicated to different sizes. You go to your size section (mine would be 7.5), and they have all the shoes out on display that they have available in that size. So, you will see the same shoe displayed around the store multiple times in most cases - this confused me when we first got here! Anyway, the shoes in Nine West were cute, and I recognized some of them, but others seemed different than American Nine West shoes somehow... I couldn't quite put my finger on why.

Over at the shopping center called Tomiton, Matt and I checked out the amazingly large Sports Depot store and then got something to eat at a restaurant called Cafe Jr. Italian Tomato. It was a little soup, sandwich and pasta place, and it was delicious! The ingredients were all super fresh, and they put so much effort into making the dishes for us. Afterward, we stopped into another store in Tomiton called My Kitchen, which was a very large and upscale grocery store/bakery. They also sold a lot of kitchen utensils and had an area in the center of the store where they gave cooking classes. We shopped for some produce - they had such a fresh selection - and then headed over to the bakery section. There were so many amazing pastries and breads. We chose a few treats for dessert, and we also bought a loaf of freshly baked french bread to take home. Mmmmm ... so good!

In Sports Depot, they had an area to "test" out their hiking shoes

Me trying on some AWESOME Stitch earmuffs

They love their cantaloupes

Little turtle bread - we couldn't resist the cuteness!

Thanks for following!

-C