Yonabaru Champuru Market displaying wares Sunday

NO DATA

Yonabaru Keibin Market has handifrafts, recycled goods and much more.

It’s a unique market that puts everyday citizens in direct contact with all the goodies of a traditional food market, plus a flea market, gardening and fabrics, a fresh juice parlor and even entertainment.

The Yonabaru Champuru Market & Small Truck Market at Yonabaru Town is a bi-monthly market coming up this Sunday, November 4^th. Normally it would have been October 28^th, but everyone in Okinawa made adjustments to attend the largest industrial fair on Okinawa last weekend. This

Most sellers hawk their wares from mini trucks along the streets.

market features the products, goods and services of Yonabaru Town merchants, vendors and artisans.

Seafoods, fresh vegetables and food booths are well known, but there are many local services provided, too. The Small Truck Market –meaning mini-trucks farmers and small businesses use to transport their goods—has the original fabric shops and infant goods, sometimes gardening utensils and goods, and even fresh fruits.

There’s plenty of entertainment at the Yonabaru Champuru Market, including eisa, stage shows, live concerts, raffle drawings, a tug of war and more. This week’s market, the organizers say, is a prelude to the annual market they promise will be bigger and more famous, and capable of attracting more visitors to Yonabaru.

There are events like tug-of-war and other games for the public and various groups to engage in.

Yonabaru Town is only 5.02 square kilometers, the second smallest autonomous community in Okinawa. Located by Nakagusuku Bay, it was one of the island’s most important maritime transportation areas before World War II, when it lost its seaport. Today, Yonabaru Town is juggling concerns about modern society that brings some large shopping malls into the community, while making sure that small shops and businesses in the community get even breaks. That, says the community, is the purpose of the Yonabaru Champuru Market and Small Truck Market.

The market is located at Oyakawa Street and Ebisu Street in Yonabaru Town. To get to the market, go south on Route 329 to Yonabaru intersection, the turn left onto Route 331 toward Sashiki and Chinen. The market streets are immediately to the left. Parking is available on the opposite side of Route 331 a block away.