Changes

The three neighborhoods of Tsuji, Watanji, and Nakashima served as the kingdom's chief pleasure districts. According to one source, there may have been as many as 3,000 [[courtesans]] operating in Naha at the beginning of the 19th century.<ref>Ono Masako, Tomita Chinatsu, Kanna Keiko, Taguchi Kei, "Shiryô shôkai Kishi Akimasa bunko Satsuyû kikô," ''Shiryôhenshûshitsu kiyô'' 31 (2006), 233.</ref>

The three neighborhoods of Tsuji, Watanji, and Nakashima served as the kingdom's chief pleasure districts. According to one source, there may have been as many as 3,000 [[courtesans]] operating in Naha at the beginning of the 19th century.<ref>Ono Masako, Tomita Chinatsu, Kanna Keiko, Taguchi Kei, "Shiryô shôkai Kishi Akimasa bunko Satsuyû kikô," ''Shiryôhenshûshitsu kiyô'' 31 (2006), 233.</ref>

Following the fall of the kingdom in the 1870s and its annexation as Okinawa prefecture, Naha absorbed Shuri and became the prefectural capital. Combining with Kumemura and Tomari, it was first designated Naha-ku (Naha Ward), and then in 1921, after absorbing the towns of Kakinohana and Makishi, was named Naha City.<ref name=mai/> As the city modernized, Higashi and Nishi remained the center of political and commercial activity through the prewar period, and into the 1940s. In the 1920s to early 1940s, the main avenue of the city center was ''Ufujômee dûi'' (大門前通り, J: ''Ômon mae dôri'', lit. "Avenue in front of the Great Gate"), which ran roughly along the border between Nishi and Higashi, at a diagonal to today's street grid. The street took its name from the Kumemura Great Gate (O: ''Kuninda ufujô'', J: ''Kumemura ômon'') Three of the chief landmarks along the road were the Naha City Post Office (today, the Higashi-machi post office), Naha City Hall, and the Yamagata-ya department store. The neighborhood immediately around the City Hall was also home to the Naha City Auditorium (那覇市公会堂, ''Naha shi kôkaidô''), police and fire stations, banks, theatres, and numerous notable shops and businesses. This incarnation of the Naha City Hall, designed by Takeda Goichi, was completed in 1919, in what Takeda termed a "tropical Spanish mission style." This was the first building in Okinawa to be built in steel-reinforced concrete, and was the tallest in Naha; its 23-meter tower, which quickly became a landmark and symbol of the city, was used as a watchtower by the local fire department, and featured sirens which would be used to announce the time.<ref name=showanonaha/>

Following the fall of the kingdom in the 1870s and its annexation as Okinawa prefecture, Naha absorbed Shuri and became the prefectural capital. Combining with Kumemura and Tomari, it was first designated Naha-ku (Naha Ward), and then in 1921, after absorbing the towns of Kakinohana and Makishi, was named Naha City.<ref name=mai/> As the city modernized, Higashi and Nishi remained the center of political and commercial activity through the prewar period, and into the 1940s. In the 1920s to early 1940s, the main avenue of the city center was ''Ufujômee dûi'' (大門前通り, J: ''Ômon mae dôri'', lit. "Avenue in front of the Great Gate"), which ran roughly along the border between Nishi and Higashi, at a diagonal to today's street grid. The street took its name from the Kumemura Great Gate (O: ''Kuninda ufujô'', J: ''Kumemura ômon'') Three of the chief landmarks along the road were the Naha City Post Office (today, the Higashi-machi post office), Naha City Hall, and the Yamagata-ya department store. The neighborhood immediately around the City Hall was also home to the Naha City Auditorium (那覇市公会堂, ''Naha shi kôkaidô''), police and fire stations, banks, theatres, and numerous notable shops and businesses. This incarnation of the Naha City Hall, designed by Takeda Goichi, was completed in 1919, in what Takeda termed a "tropical Spanish mission style." This was the first building in Okinawa to be built in steel-reinforced concrete, and was the tallest in Naha; its 23-meter tower, which quickly became a landmark and symbol of the city, was used as a watchtower by the local fire department, and featured sirens which would be used to announce the time.<ref name=showanonaha/>