CONTRIBUTED BY KAHO

My_bag_2

Have you read Meredith’s “me & my PCS: VI“? My family and I are also moving from Okinawa back to the U.S. this summer like Meredith and her family. I should be thinking about our move, but I realize that my brain is in such a different place… I’m usually like “things will be fine”, “I’ll figure it out”, and in the end I’ll drive my husband crazy.  I’m in denial since I am not ready to leave this beautiful island. At the same time, I’m excited to see what will unfold in front of us. For now I’m going to enjoy the pleasant time here and am going to shop while I carry a 3-month-old in a car seat like a shopping bag.

My friend and Oki Hai!’s new writer, Staci, has a very cool black bag with flower prints that she bought from the store, Plaza House G-AREA with which I fell in love.  I have walked into the store before and always liked the ambiance, so I went there today to take pictures so that I can write about the store.  Long story short, I wasn’t able to see the person who would give permission, so I had to postpone the photo taking, but I also found out that they were going to have a major change in the store and will reopen on the 20th of this month.  So, I decided to wait to write about them.  They will have the store as they are until the 10th.

I looked around in the store to see if they still carry the bags.  I spotted them in the shopping bag area.  These bags are made by reisenthel in Germany and are designed for grocery shopping.  Very cool! I bought this bag not to put my groceries, but to carry as a diaper bag.  In addition to that bag, I also bought a foldable grocery bag to keep in my bag to use for grocery shopping.  (It’s always handy to have one in my bag in case I forget to bring my shopping bags that I keep in my car. I like the fact that my new bag has many pockets.  I don’t have to put my head in the bag to dig and look for my ID at the gate any more! There are six outside pockets and I can even put my tumbler in one. It cost me 3,000 yen.  I find the price reasonable.

Plaza House G-AREA is a chic store with imported items and has an art gallery at the back.  It also carries some fancy Okinawan items, but unfortunately, after the change, they will no longer carry Okinawan original items that they do now. The reisenthel products will be moved to “Rogers” in the Plaza House Shopping Center after the change. G-AREA is located in the Plaza House Shopping Center right next to the Chinese Restaurant.  For the directions to the Plaza House Shopping Center, please see the directions below.

Directions
From Kadena Gate 2: Drive out of the Gate 2 and continue until the big junction with Rt. 330.  Take a right onto 330 to go south.  This is the direction toward Camp Foster.   Drive pass the Zoo, a big pachinko parlor, and a junction for the Rt. 24 and the Plaza House Shopping Center will be on your left.  This is a shopping center right before the Awase Golf Course on the left and Camp Butler on the right coming from the north of 330.

3 COMMENTS

  1. love the bag, kaho! cute bags are my weakness… uh oh. at the ETWS store, i purchased several reusable grocery bags that roll up into a little pouch that i always have with me to avoid getting plastic bags. they have several designs now, it’s hard not to collect them all (it’s all for reducing global warming, right?!).
    as for diaper bags, there are several people here on the island who have custom-made bags with a variety of fabric selections and even with the option of using a uniform for the lining. i’ve also found (too) many bags and baby items on etsy.com. i could go on… 😉

  2. I love that shop. Looking forward to your review on it. And I love the bags from that shop. (BTW, you can also find that brand at the Cafe Unizon/Mix Store) I bought one of those grocery bags for a friend there few months ago. And it’s funny ’cause I was looking at the larger bags there like the one you bought and thinking about using it for a diaper bag. Let me know how it works out for you! Also, I went to the Babies R Us out in Naha a few weeks ago and was impressed with the diaper bag selection there. Much cuter than PX offerings and inexpensive too.

  3. LOVE LOVE LOVE those bags!!! Everytime I go in there I get the “gotta have that bag” feeling:)! They also have some cool German keychains in there and I love the fact that they carry odd misc. foods there from all over including a good old fashioned Betty Crocker brownie mix. The food section makes me feel like I’m in a mini Willams-Sonoma.