Articles
Serial: Auxiliary Lines for Things & People #07: A Trip to Okinawa Made Complete by "LIQUID"
PROFILE
Mai Tsunoo / Design Writer
After graduating from Keio University’s Faculty of Environmental Information, I worked for a manufacturer and then served as an assistant to design engineer Shunji Yamanaka from 2012 to 2016. After that, I spent a year in Scotland, and now I am active as a freelancer.
While exploring expressions to convey what needs to be shared without hesitation, I write for media such as "Nikkei Design" and also work on exhibition curation and copywriting.
Some of my main works include the curation of the 70th Anniversary Exhibition of the University of Tokyo's Institute of Industrial Science, titled "POTENTIALITIES: Exhibition For A Possible Future" (National Art Center, Tokyo, 2018) and writing texts for "Insects: Models for Design" (21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, 2019).
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After nearly 10 years, I visited Okinawa again. I initially intended to keep it completely private, so I didn’t plan to conduct any interviews. However, the shops I visited left a deep impression on me, prompting me to write about them here. This time, the focus is on alcohol.
While traveling with children, it is quite difficult to visit local bars at night. Instead, I always make it a point to find good beer or wine to enjoy in my hotel room, so I invariably stop by liquor stores while traveling. It was originally for this purpose that I visited "LIQUID THE STORE" in Naha City, Okinawa.
“LIQUID” opened in 2017 in Ginowan City as a specialty store related to items and experiences for drinking. It relocated to Tsuji-cho in Naha City in November 2021. The store features not only alcohol but also tea and the tools for drinking it, along with a tasting space for trying drinks.
Junji Murakami, the representative, is not originally from Okinawa. Through several work visits, he realized what he wanted to do in Okinawa. The region attracts 10 million tourists annually, one-fifth of whom are foreign visitors. He envisioned creating a store where one could find “the good things of Japan.”
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