A Visit to the Monkey Man

by Pa Rock

The Monkey-Man Store

Cultural Explorer


Usually the weekdays are nice on Okinawa, and the weekends are crappy - but not this week!  Thursday and Friday were cold (low 50's F) and rainy, but today, Saturday, is beautiful!  Thank you Jesus!  Or Allah!  Or Elvis!  The sunshine is much appreciated!

I began the day with a drive to Lawson's Quick Stop to pay my monthly electric bill - which came in at a reasonable 4,100 yen.  (I haven't had to use air conditioning or the heater, so the main drain on the electricity is the clothes dryer.  Many of the locals hang their wash out on the patios and balconies to dry, but not this extravagant American!)

Monkey-Man:  Another View

After Lawson's, I turned the corner and drove into American Village - a first, because traffic there is normally  awful so I usually make that trek on foot.  I wanted to visit the Make-Man Store, a local version of a Lowe's, where I was looking for a large plant for my office.  The sign out front of the Make-Man Store features a large monkey home re-modeler, so Americans often refer to it as the Monkey-Man Store.  The store had some beautiful plants, but I had parked too far away and decided that I didn't want to shuffle a plant, pot, and bags of potting soil several blocks to my car.

The next stop was at the Base Exchange on Kadena where I picked up a couple of small holiday gifts for friends.  Then it was off to the gym at Camp Foster, and finally home.

If the weather had been cold and rainy today, I would have never left my apartment!

The New Base Exchange at Kadena