Sze Kei Ho Art Blog

We did buy stationary bits here and there when we went to the Aquarium and Shurijo castle but of course when it comes to souvenirs in Japan, you should expect to fill a whole suitcase full of snacks.

We stopped into a Calbee shop and one of the best things about Japan is its culture to celebrate local produce, so naturally the Calbee shops had special Okinawan flavours.

We grabbed the sweet potatoe one.

As I mentioned in earlier posts, the area of Makishi Market and the road leading up to it - Kokusai Dori, are all pretty touristy, with many of the shops selling the same things. So we went with the street staple shop, the reputable one where the prices are probably slightly inflated but it had EVERY kind of souvenir you would want from Okinawa. Every item also had samples, so you can try everything before you buy it and the shop offers Tax-free for foreigners, so long as your purchase is over 5000 JPY.

Here is what I got -

Another sweet potatoe crisp. I bought 4 boxes of this stuff (1 box has 6 packets) and I already wish I bought more!

Brown sugar, Kokuto, is another speciality of Okinawa. We bought a large packet of the original plain brown sugar, that I've already started to dig into . A little piece for herbal teas, adds a lovely mellow sweetness that reminds me of a toffee/caramel taste. Above on the screen left are peanuts covered in brown sugar and the one on the right is mint flavoured. Both lovely and snackable and won't last long in my cupboard.

I originally wanted to avoid buying mineral salt from Okinawa because I remember from my research it was another popular souvenir but it didn't tickle my fancy. However after an afternoon at Makishi market, I saw packets of this stuff EVERYWHERE, so I knew I had to buy one, haven't tried it yet, I'm sure I wouldn't really be able to tell it apart from regular stuff.

The packet on the right is Goya Tea/Bitter Melon Tea. There were samples of this tea too and it was a lightly fragrant tea that only had hints of that bitterness. I'm definitely inspired to try and cook some bitter melon at home now - we really did eat this stuff every day and the health benefits from this vegetable are too many to count.

Other Posts:

- Blogmas Day 08: Shibuya!

- Blogmas Day 06: Queen of live Koda Kumi 倖田來未

- Blogmas Intro: Japan Trip

After a busy weekend, our last stop in Okinawa was the Makishi Public Market.

So I'll admit my failures on this one - the above picture is the only picture I took of the Market. This market is a really touristy place and actually I don't know how I even managed this shot because not long after this image the Market became far far busier! And well I do have some images of the food we ate on the 2nd floor, which was seafood that we picked fresh from the market on the 1st floor. However, these pictures may just contribute to the fail of a day we had.

Now all the food was good, the seafood was fresh but I had read up on the market and had hoped to try other types of fish and shellfish, and I was achingly reminded of the things I really wanted to try when the family next to us was greeted by a huge sashimi boat with fresh lobster arranged on it and some sort of giant shellfish - it was really big! Then not long after devouring the fresh sashimi, the cook took the lobster head into the kitchen only to come back out with a large bowl of steaming lobster-seafood congee!

So the market is an OVERWHELMING place. I'm sure the main market is a great place to buy souvenirs, although a lot of the shops did sell the same stuff, if you have the time and are money-savy, I'm sure you could find some great deals. We were far too tired for that sort of thing so all my sister and I really did was wander and take note of the popular things that kept popping up.

The fish market was a cramped space with tanks full of fresh seafood, unique seafood that you will never have seen before, all gathered together with many fishmongers trying there best to attract you to it. It was quite rowdy indeed but no rowdier than any other market place.

The main problem that we faced was that, a little back story here, my sister and I are Chinese, however we were born and raised in Scotland, and it turns out, I'm guessing because of the many Chinese tourists combined with the strong Chinese influence on Okinawa, almost all of the fishmongers spoke mandarin but my sister and I don't speak a lick of it! So they kept throwing mandarin at us and eventually one fishmonger got the point and turned to English mode and before you know it, he was recommending what looked like the most 'foreigner-friendly' fish and he kept suggesting grilled or steamed.

It was of course not his fault, we were simply too overwhelmed by it all and should I get the chance to go back, I would definitely make an effort to talk more and find out a bit more about the different Okinawan fish. Also, I will DEFINITELY ask for something sashimi, I'm sure there would be nothing better than sashimi at a fish market! I'd also recommend going to the market with at least 3 or 4 people so you can try more variety!

Dessert we grabbed at the market called Sata andagi サーターアンダーギー, I grabbed the brown sugar flavour and again, this tasted WAY better than it looks. Sata andagi is a deep fried dough, a little denser than doughnuts but not in a gummy, sickening way and the brown sugar flavour tasted like caramel. Probably the best thing of the market that day.

Blogmas Day 07: Okinawan Souvenirs

Blogmas Day 05: Makishi Market