As many as 500,000 shoppers visited Aeon Mall Okinawa Rycom during the first week of its opening in Kitanakagusuku, central Okinawa, on April 25, turning it into one of the most popular places for shoppers in the prefecture.

But the complex is not just another shopping mall.

Aeon Rycom has been built on the site of a former golf course used by the U.S. military, which occupied the land during World War II. The site was returned to the prefecture in 2010.