ItsJustMeHeather: Kokusai Street

We had heard about Kokusai Street from EVERYONE! This is a popular shopping district for both locals and tourists alike. It is so popular that on Sundays they shut down the entire street to motorized traffic, and turn it into a giant outdoor market.

We finally had a Sunday free a few weekends back and decided to head down and check it out. We soon discovered that this street is a major artery from highway to highway on Okinawa. So shutting it down meant that it wasn't easy to find our way there. We took a few small side streets that might not have been streets, and were informed at one point that we were going the wrong way down a one way. This helpful taxi driver ended his bit of wisdom with the word, "dummy". Like we were supposed to know.... there weren't any signs, and doesn't our American only Y numbered license plate give us the right to screw up now and again?

AnyHoo, we finally found our way close to the street, found a pay-by-the-hour lot and parked.

This parking lot didn't need an attendant since it had these handy devices:

As you pull into the parking space you have to drive over this "speed bump" About 30 seconds later it raises itself up to the frame of your car, booting you in place:

When you are ready to leave, you pump your yen coins into the parking meter and it lowers the boot, allowing you to back out of your spot!

Because we could park on Kokusai street itself and since we can't read any Japanese (okay I understand a few symbols, but not enough to "read" it), when we walked out from our side street onto the main drag I snapped a picture of the building on the corner just so we could find our way back to our car!

We spent the afternoon browsing through little shops, including a maze of alleys that were all covered to create an indoor shopping feel. We enjoyed watching the street performers and even stopped for a little snack (at McDonalds - McFlurries for all!)