CONTRIBUTED BY KAHO
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.