Another entry in the Okinawa cafe culture: Why settle for too many franchisey choices when you can find eclectic cafes like this tiny shop serving almost nothing but freshly made scones.
One of Misako’s friends exposed us to this miniature place, with its collection of mini-artifacts of pop culture. We return often. So do many of the locals who keep the entry crowded. Four or five people work in the back preparing the little munchies. Scone-making must have a good effect; the servers are always smiling.
A place like this would make a mint at Elon or at most other American college neighborhoods. Oddly enough, Ryukyu Daigaku (university) is such a commuter campus that it lacks an adjoining retail district for the college crowd.
This shop is about a mile from the campus in a retail cluster, just in front of a public library. Parking is always an adventure around here, but there are two spaces in a gravel and dirt lot across the side street roped off just for scones-seekers.
Misako is modeling a typically cute scone-of-the-day.
That’s Naoya Gokita, a family friend, at left with Kevin and me at the main place to sit in the shop. Naoya, from Chiba prefecture east of Tokyo, spent a few months in a home stay in rural Alamance County (North Carolina, where we live) a year ago. We met him then and were glad to see him again when he visited Okinawa with friends after finishing his university studies.
We’re waiting in the photo because good things need patience. They heat up the scones and brew fresh coffee. You can almost smell the aromas from here, yes? Enough to make a writer smile.
