Heiwa Dori

This guide to Heiwa Dori in Naha traces the covered market back to 1947, when Naha lay in ashes after the Battle of Okinawa and women with no house or money began laying out scavenged goods on the bare dirt. It follows how that black-market strip won a name in a public competition by 1951, and how the trade in whole butchered pigs and fresh juice took hold long before today's izakayas and bars. A decade ago half these shopfronts sat empty; stand in the arcade now and listen to the smoke and noise a new generation has brought back.