South Okinawa · TomigusukuNo.1028★★★Open in map →

Goya

— Okinawa's bitter melon, cropped all year

foodThe classic — done right

Goya, Okinawa's bitter melon, is raised under cover and in the open so that it crops all year, and JA Okinawa's southern block ships more of it than anywhere else. Its own farm shop stands inside the roadside station at Toyosaki, one bus from the airport.

FromNaha Airport
~20 minNaha Bus 95 from the airport
Get off atOutlet Mall Ashibinaa (bus 95, Airport-Ashibinaa Line)
On foot
Goya

Directions ↗

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Michi-no-Eki ToyosakiKugel / Public domain

Outlet Mall Ashibinaathe arrival side; the roadside station is across the road from the bus stand
Information stationthe front hall, carrying road, weather, flight and island-wide tourist information
Nanairo-batake farm shopJA Okinawa's direct-sales hall for the southern block, run with its women's association
Vegetable aislesisland produce brought in by growers from the districts around Naha and the south

How to actually get there

Naha Airport → Outlet Mall Ashibinaa (Naha Bus 95, Airport-Ashibinaa Line, about twenty minutes).
Cross the road to the roadside station: the information hall first, the farm shop behind it.
Through the vegetable aisles, where the southern block's growers bring their produce in.
Back to the same stand for route 95 to the airport.

Naha Bus 95 from the airport: Naha Airport →(Naha Bus 95, Airport-Ashibinaa Line, about twenty minutes)→ Outlet Mall Ashibinaa, which is the end of the line. The roadside station is across the road from the stand, a few minutes on foot.
Return to the airport: Take the same route 95 service back from Ashibinaa; it runs to the airport directly. Departures stop in the evening, so read the posted time before you start shopping rather than after.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Goya is the Okinawan name for bitter melon, a ridged green gourd of the cucumber family that came from tropical Asia. It is not a garnish here but the base of the cooking: sliced thin, salted, then fried with tofu, egg and pork. Growers work under cover and in the open, so the crop runs right through the year instead of arriving in one short season. It carries 76 milligrams of vitamin C in every hundred grams. JA Okinawa's southern block, from Naha down through Tomigusuku, Itoman, Yaese, Nanjo, Yonabaru, Haebaru and Kumejima, ships more of it than any other district in the prefecture.

How to enjoy it

The farm shop keeps 9:00 to 18:00, which makes it a workable first stop on the way out of the airport or a last one before a flight. Goya is on sale through the year, but May to July is when the volume and the choice are at their best. Half an hour covers it unless you cross to the mall as well.

Background & history

Bitter melon originates in tropical Asia and reached the Ryukyu islands centuries ago, where it settled into home cooking rather than staying a curiosity. In 1997 Okinawa Prefecture and its agricultural federation named 8 May Goya Day, reading the numerals as go-ya and picking that date because shipments start climbing then. The roadside station itself is recent. It opened in 2008 as the sixth registered in the prefecture, on a strip at Toyosaki where a farm shop, an information hall and an outlet mall now stand side by side.

Before you go

Cash: There is no charge to enter the roadside station, and you pay only for what you buy. Okinawan city buses are paid on board, so carry coins and small notes as well as a card.
Good to know: This is a highway site with a wide car park, not a station forecourt, and the walk over from the bus stand crosses open road. The halls keep their own hours and shut well before the car park empties, so plan around the last bus rather than the last purchase.
Another way: From central Naha, ride the Yui Rail monorail to Akamine, then a Ryukyu Bus service on route 56 or 87 to the Michi-no-Eki Toyosaki stop, which is at the door. By car it is a short run south from the airport on Route 331.
After you get off: Route 95 sets down on the mall side. Cross at the marked crossing and the roadside station stands opposite, with the information hall in front of the farm shop.