Sakaemachi Market Route

Senbero lanes at night

By day Sakaemachi is an ordinary market of produce and fish, but at dusk it changes face. Red lanterns light the shops in the narrow alleys, and a corner of the market becomes a run of small izakaya. What is rooted here is senbero, the culture of drinking about three glasses of awamori or beer with a snack for around a thousand yen. You crowd shoulder to shoulder in counter-only shops, have a glass and move on to the next. Visitors and local regulars mix at the same tables, and the bustle grows as the night deepens. A market of the Showa era turned drinking quarter, a place distinctive even in Naha.

Awamori and Okinawa night food

For the first glass, order awamori, Okinawa's spirit of Thai rice and black koji, cut with water or ice, the three-year kusu mellow. Start the snacks with Okinawan oden: tebichi trotter, sausage and greens simmered long in a strong bonito-and-pork broth, the bone-soft trotter its signature. Strong-smelling goat soup divides people yet is loved as a nourishing bowl. Peanut-set jimami-dofu is chewy and sweet, good as a pause. Salted or tempura island scallions go well with awamori. All can be ordered in small amounts, suited to crossing from shop to shop with your drink.

How to walk this route

Start at Asato on the Yui Rail. Step off and the arcades and alleys of Sakaemachi open out. By day it is still quiet; the real hours begin after dark. Enter in the evening, settle at a first shop with awamori and Okinawan oden, then cross the alleys as the mood takes you. Senbero means not lingering at one place but moving on after two or three glasses. Pick at each shop's one plate, goat soup, jimami-dofu, island scallions, as you go. Close with cold Okinawa zenzai to cool a flushed body. The alleys are narrow and many small shops crowd with regulars, so one or a few move most easily. Some take cash only, so come prepared. Prices and hours are a guide, so check before you duck under the curtain.