When dear daughter was in middle school, she didn’t want to go anywhere with her parents. The idea of going up to Seattle was abhorrent to her, but we dragged her along anyway. We stopped at Uwajimaya and the Kinokuniya Bookstore (525 S Weller St
Seattle, WA 98104) and she fell for it — hard. Ever since we have been visiting Seattle’s International District at least once a quarter. Today, my now happy travel companion and I went up to Uwajimaya because we were having an udon craving. We can’t go to Uwajimaya without buying those little chocolate mushroom cookie treats and visiting Kinokuniya. She walked away with a present for her friend, a manga and a CD. The store is packed with manga and all types of traditional, Japanese language books (novels, cookbooks, art, history, etc.). We found both The Hobbit and 50 Shades of Grey in Japanese! There is also a large music selection and plenty of adorable stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, stickers, pens and miscellaneous. Parking is free for up to two hours with store validation.  http://www.kinokuniya.com/us/

By the way, when we got home… she thanked me for taking her!