Green Okinawa(12) Furniture in Okinawa: secondhand; locally made; rental and repairs
Dear OISTers,
the Resource Center is compiling information on how to be more environmentally friendly in Okinawa. In the spirit of learning from each other, please share your knowledge with us and we'll share it with fellow OISTers!
Here is one which we hope is useful for anyone setting up their home in Okinawa.
Secondhand furniture in Okinawa .
Furniture stores selling secondhand items
Re-OK is a store in Square Awase mall in Okinawa city. It sells secondhand furniture, including beds, wardrobes, dressers, tables, chairs, etc. They can deliver furniture to your home for a small charge.
Today OK is also located in the Square Awase mall in Okinawa city is an outlet store that sells new furniture that is slightly damaged or defective at reduced prices.
Pebble is in Yomitan. It sells wooden traditional Japanese furniture.
- Seikatsu kan website link
Here you can find almost everything you need to set up a new home from beds, wardrobes, tables, chairs, etc. as well as home appliances such as TVs, fridges, washing machines, microwaves, and ACs. Seikatsu kan delivers to your home. This store is a favourite of the OIST relocation team!
There are several Seikatsu kan shops on the island:
- Okinawa city store website and Google map link
- Yonabaru town store website and Google map link
- Naha city store website and Google map link
- Itoman city store website and Google map link
General second hand stores
There are second hand stores dotted around Okinawa. These stores buy and sell all kinds of things from clothes, to kitchen ware, to musical instruments and pieces of furniture too.
- Manga Souko
Manga Souko are popular stores for buying and selling second hand items, including furniture and homeware. Two Manga Souko stores in Okinawa carry furniture:
- Awase, Okinawa City, website link and Google map link
- Naha, website link and Google map link
- Off House
This is another chain selling a variety of secondhand items. Off House sell furniture and stores are often combined with Hard Off which sells appliances.
- Awase, Okinawa city, website link and Google map link
- Ginowan city website link and Google map link
- Second Street Recycle Shop website link
Second Street is a chain with stores all over Okinawa and most of them carry furniture. The closest stores to OIST campus are Uruma/Ishikawa and Awase in Okinawa City.
- Uruma, Google map link
- Awase, Google map link
- Minatogawa, Urasoe city, Google map link
- Nishihara, Google map link
- Kanagusuku, Naha, Google map link
- Akamine, Naha, Google map link
- Itoman, Google map link
- FromB website link
FromB stores sell a wide range of second hand items, including kitchenware and small pieces of furniture, like foldable tables, chairs, etc. They don't sell large items of furniture. FromB is part of the nation-wide chain called Bookoff group.
Below are fromB's locations in Okinawa:
- Gushikawa, Uruma city, Google map link
- Higashi, Okinawa city, Google map link
- Oroku, Naha city, Google map link
- Yogi, Naha city, Google map link
Online
- TIDA
You can buy and sell via the OIST intranet, where your fellow OISTers buy and sell homewares, furniture and other things.
- Okinawa BooKoo
This website allows people living in Okinawa can buy and sell secondhand goods, including furniture, kitchenware, etc. The buyer and seller arrange a time and a place to meet.
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Okinawa Treasure Island
This site lists all kinds of used items including furniture.
- Mottainai Japan
This is a Japan-wide Facebook group where people can offer items that they no longer want free of charge. Furniture such as beds, chests of drawers, kitchen tables, chairs, shelves are posted as items to giveaway. The receiver must arrange pickup or pay for postage.
- Mercari
Mercari is an online platform to buy and sell used items within Japan. Furniture is listed as well as all sorts of other things. Users need to sign up to be a member. The person selling the items posts them to you and the listed price includes shipping. Most of the communication is in Japanese.
- Jimoty
This website is for buying and selling furniture, household appliances, bicycles, etc all over Japan, including Okinawa. People sell or giveaway things they don't need anymore on the site. Prices are quite reasonable and also sometimes negotiable.
Locally made furniture
Heibeiworks in Ishikawa is a partnership of two furniture makers in Okinawa that create elegant furniture and homeware.
Indigo is a family business making furniture in a small workshop in Yomitan. Yomitan. They have some pieces for sale in their shop but mostly they make furniture to order. They have recently started to make small furniture items made from timber offcuts from construction sites in Okinawa. Indigo delivers to you. Make an enquiry in the store or send them a message via their webform for enquiries and estimates. OISTers, if you don't read or write in Japanese, please ask the Resource Center to help you with your enquiry.
- Miwa carpentry shop website link and Google map link
Custommade furniture in Ginowan.
Located in Ginowan, makes wooden furniture.
- Kagu-ya shop facebook page and Google map link
Located in Tomigusuku
This furniture workshop makes custom made furniture. Tables, chairs, dressers, chest of drawers, etc. See below for info on repairs*.
Based in Naha, Takara make custommade furniture. See below for info on repairs*.
Repairs and upcycling
*Takara (above), KAN (above) also repair furniture.
- Miyagi chair repair shop Google map link
Chair repair workshop located in Kohatsu, Nishihara.
- King furniture repair FaceBook page
King furniture in Ginowan repairs any type of furniture whether its old or has been damaged during relocation. Please consult with King Furniture over the phone or email before bringing the furniture into the shop. For non-Japanese speaking OISTers, please contact the resource centre for assistance.
- OIST’s Woodworking Club
To repair your own furniture you can use the workshop space at OIST. First, you need to register as a member of the OIST Woodworking Club. See here for contact info.
Renting items
- Rental First website link
You can rent furniture and large home appliances through Rental First. Rental First delivers, installs and collects the furniture. Items include sofas, tables, to large appliances like fridges, TVs and washing machines. Items have to be rented for a minimum of 30 days.
- Duskin Baby Kasite website link.
Babies and children grow so fast, so you may choose to rent some items and return them when no longer need them. You can rent items for your child, like car seats, cribs, weighing scales, etc. You can pick up your item in a store or organise delivery to your home.
Picking up furniture
If you can't manage transporting the furniture in your car, please ask us at the Resource Center and we can help you to hire a small truck through a rental company. You can contact the Resource Center by email, via this webform, or in person in Lab 4.
Was this post helpful? Do you know of other places that sell secondhand furniture? How about furniture makers or places that do repairs? Please let us know and we’ll update this post.
Read other Green Okinawa posts in the series here
Photo credit: Indigo
The post was developed in collaboration with Yoshimasa Nakamura (OIST Resource Center), Michiyo Renquist (OIST Relocation Team), Yoko Higa (Indigo), and Kate Whitfield.
Tips/comments shared by the OIST community members
Name: Anonymous
Good morning !
thank you for the nice Green Okinawa article on Tida.
I would like to recommend http://kishimoto-isu.com for repairing chairs.
We used it for a kind of cushioned long bench and were very happy of their services.