Not a roadside station — better
So-re is a farmers market, not an official michi-no-eki. The village built it, then couldn't find anyone to run it. Twelve local women took it on.
How So-re happened
Twelve women,
and nobody else
Nakijin Village built the building after residents asked for a place to sell what they grew. Then it advertised for someone to run it — and nobody applied. The job came with no salary: whatever you sold was what you earned.
Who stepped up
12 anmā"Anmā" is Okinawan for mother. Twelve women from the village lifestyle-improvement group volunteered, on the condition that sales were the only income.The first problem
No vegetablesA farm shop with no farmers. They drove to neighbouring farms one by one and talked growers into bringing produce in.Where it got to
600–700 farmsThat's the register today — the oldest supplier is 98 years old. A quarter-century later, So-re is village infrastructure.The company that runs it — incorporated in 2006, still women-run — describes the culture behind it plainly on its own website: in Nakijin, when someone arrives from outside, you don't ask questions. You say "come in, come in," and you make hirayachi pancakes or sata andagi doughnuts from whatever is in the house. So-re is that instinct, given a car park.
