WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2007
While walking around the tourist area in Naha, we found some interesting things for sale... Can't say we bought anything though...
PIG FACES - Yup... in the meat market area you can purchase all manner of pig parts! Including... wait for it... Pig Faces! They're prepackaged and come marinated in three different flavors! In this picture, Dan and Shu are posing with a pig's head, and you can see the prepackaged pig faces on the display case behind them.
FROG WALLETS - These wallets are shaped like frogs because... well, they once were. These frogs had their limbs lobbed off; their skin removed; their eyes taken out and replaced by google eyes; and for the final humiliation, zippers were sewn into their back sides. Actually, I think the final humiliation is that they were sold for about $1 a piece. 
SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN - This product, like the frog wallets, also uses animal skin, but while the frog wallets are a cheesy souvenir concocted for the tourist industry, the snakeskin shamisen has its roots Okinawan culture. Prices seemed to range from $300 to $1000. The shopkeeper explained the price range was based on the fact that some skins have a more desirable look or sound quality. These instruments are played quite differently from regular shamisen, and they sound different too... maybe because regular shamisen use cat skins...MEOW!
HABUSHU - I know that I already talked about habushu on the food page, but I thought it deserved to be on this page as well. For those who haven't seen our Okinawan food page, Habushu is exactly what it looks like... a snake in a big jar of hard liquor.
TROPICAL FISH - My Japanese friends summoned their best English to describe the Okinawan fish market as a "Dead Aquarium." I thought that was a pretty accurate description. The fish are so beautiful that you expect to see them swimming in a big fish tank. Most of the "mainland" Japanese people shied away from buying the fish. My friends said that the fish didn't look tasty... which naturally leads me to ask, "What does a tasty fish look like?"
Want to see more from Okinawa? Click here:
Okinawa? Hawaii?
Eating in Okinawa
Okinawan Goods... many sad animals
