Editor’s Note: Uniqlo was originally reviewed on Okinawa Hai on August 14, 2009; you can read a PDF copy of that original review HERE. The post below is an updated take on this attraction, published April 18, 2016.
CONTRIBUTED BY LOUISE DUPUY
Uniqlo is an internationally recognized Japanese clothing brand. With several locations on Okinawa, there’s no excuse not to give it a look!
Uniqlo specializes in casual cool styles for men, women, and children. Their laid-back lines and comfy designs make a lot of pieces timeless and fit for any occasion. Year round you can shop staple items such as jeans, plain t-shirts, office wear, and cardigans, to name but a few.
They also do regular collaborations with up and coming designers, as well as licensed products such as Disney, Hello Kitty and Moomins. These are transient, so get them while you can! Their t-shirt lines especially are fabulous, super comfy, original, and fun! I’m a big fan of their jeans, too; they have a wide variety and these are also really comfortable.
The prices are hard to resist. You can buy items from 300 yen, which is insanely low. They carry higher end stuff, like cashmere sweaters, but even these are cheaper than a lot of the shops back home would retail them at. They have regular “bargain bin” style sales to clear out previous lines, and a lot of these go for half or sometimes less of the original price. I’ve gotten some beautiful things from these. You get good quality for the price you pay. I have items I bought from the Uniqlo close to me back home from 5 or 6 years ago, still in great condition and things I wear very often.
Another feature I love is the tax-free shopping for visitors. If you have family or friends visiting, so long as they bring a passport as proof of visitor status, everything they buy is tax-free! Sadly this doesn’t apply to Japanese nationals or SOFA status personnel, although a bit of money off for your guests is a nice welcome to Japan in my opinion.
Sizes are surprisingly generous, a rarity for Japan, a nation of teeny tiny folks! In most Japanese stores I have to go to a large or even extra large, in Uniqlo I’m mostly a medium, sometimes a small. Which is a big ego boost!
As I mentioned previously, they have several locations on the island. Most notably in Ginowan, the big Aeon Mall on Rycom, and of course, Naha. I love the Ginowan store. nestled in the corner of the same shopping park that houses shoe plaza, Daiso, and Aeon big express, it has a decent selection and is easily accessible. It’s always clean, the staffs are helpful, and you can usually get a parking space! They open 10 am to 10 pm 7 days a week, allowing you plenty of shopping time.
A go-to for casual, office, and loungewear, why not check it out and share your favorite buys with us?
Uniqlo
Payment: Yen and credit card
Location information:
Naha (2 locations):
1st location
2nd location
Directions to UNIQLO in Ginowan
From Lester: Take 58 south. After passing stop light at Gate 1 for Foster, stay on the right lane. Highway 58 splits into regular one and bypass one. You will need to take a bypass one which is the direction of “Convention Center”. You will drive pass a big shopping center on your right and immediately after this shopping center is a stop light. At this stoplight, you will see the sign of UNIQLO ahead of you. There is a black cat delivery services company warehouse with a black cat painted on the door on the right side at this stop light. Turn left here. The entry way for the shopping center parking lot is behind the store.
you can also turn off the by-pass at the light just before the shopping plaza and onto this little alley-like street. There will be an entrance to the shopping plaza on your left. There is a long turn lane and you might see the San-A shopping plaza through the trees. I think it is the 3rd light after you turn onto the bypass.
Sarah-
It is actually on the 58 Bypass, of course not marked! Just past the commissary gate of camp Foster on 58 ( heading towards Naha, so Foster will be on your left) there will be a turn off to your right, I believe there is a sign mentioning the convention center. Take that right hand turn at the light. If you pass the end of Foster you have gone too far. The 100 yen store is still there. You will pass the shopping center on your right but the median will prevent you from entering so go to the next opening in the median and make a u turn, it will then be on our left. Good luck.
There is one in the Gushikawa JUSCO just off the 85.
After searching for about an hour up and down 58 for the shopping center, I gave up and went to Jusco. I am really new (10 days) to the island and definitely don’t claim to know my way around, but I could not find this place to save my LIFE yesterday!! I noticed today that all the posts are about 2 years old…IS there still a UNIQLO in Ginowan at this same location??? The 100 Yen shop is what I was really looking for because I needed crayons and such for my son to start preschool.
In terms of sizes, you just have to go see. They have cool T-shirts that are unisex. UNIQLO is definitely worth checking out. The store also has 500 yen umbrellas, nice purses, towels, etc.
FREE ALTERATIONS?!! Woo hoo! I’m just under 4’11”. Impossible to find my inseam.
Don’t forget to mention the free alterations – especially if you are vertically challenged like me (5’3″). I bought a couple pairs of jeans there recently – The salesperson hemmed them for me in the dressing room, I paid for them at the counter and they were ready for me in 15 minutes!! Fabulous for a pair of cute $40 pair jeans. I’m still trying to figure out the sizing – jeans went by waist size (i.e. 27, 28…), but I was stumped a few weeks ago with a pair of dress pants which appeared to be in a totally different size range (40??). I bought them and even took them in to my Japanese teacher to have her read the washing/care instructions – I don’t need a dry clean only pair of pants with a toddler in the house! My teacher said the warm wash cycle and line dry would be best since American dryers are much stronger than the Japanese style.
Tara — EXACTLY my question — thanks for asking!
Soooo… I haven’t been to this store yet, but I like what I’ve seen so far. But my question is, do they sell women’s sizes? Or do you pretty much have to be a single-digit to shop there? I don’t want to go just to see cute stuff that I have no hope of fitting into. I need XL-equivalent clothing. I’m not opposed to buying men’s shirts for myself, if I can at least find some of those that fit.
Being in more of a shopping mood, I just checked out the Uniqlo site and the one pieces with the bras sewn in easily give Victoria’s secret a run for their money! Thanks for this great post, Kaho!