I guess I’ll try to play catch-up with what’s been going on in My Crazy Life™ here in Japan. The last cool thing I did was pay a visit to Okinawa, that fine American military base to the south of Japan (which also happens to have a few Japanese people living on it apparently?). To be brief, we went over New Year’s break, and it was a little cold, a little cloudy, a lot windy, but overall nicer weather-wise than where I’m living now. Here come a few shots from the trip! Follow me if you want to check out more shots from Okinawa and the rest of Japan.
During our brief visit to Emerald Beach in Okinawa
Cliffside in Okinawa on a crazy windy day
On the way to Churaumi Aquarium
At a really amazing Chinese Garden in Naha
But the really great thing about the trip, and the thing I’ve enjoyed the most about Japan in general, is just how open and friendly everyone was. I went with two friends and fellow teachers, and wherever we went people couldn’t have been nicer. I think in Okinawa it’s a combination of things: First, since it’s such a huge tourist destination, the people that live there are used to seeing and talking with people not from there. Second, the vacationers (most of whom were Japanese) are all really interested in talking to other people from different places. This is especially true when it’s obvious you’re not from somewhere in Asia (red hair and freckles does a good job of giving one away). In the five days we were there, we only talked with one native English speaker, and she was a Japanese girl born in Texas who was fluent in both languages. Other than that, it was all Japanese all the time, and everyone was positively elated to practice their English on us, and have us test our own (meager, in my case) Japanese on them.
The prime example of this is when our group stumbled on a traveling booze-mobile stationed in a parking lot near our hostel. These two guys rolled in every night with his little flatbed truck (imagine a very small pickup with no cab) that had been converted to fold out and serve drinks and food from a hot plate. So you wander up, take a seat, and just shoot the breeze with whoever’s sitting down or passing by. It’s an amazing way to create community out of nowhere, and these guys had at least half a dozen regulars who came out every night and were absolutely awesome and nice to us. Lots of the people there had visited the States or other English-speaking countries for school or business, and were eager to hear our stories and share their own. I’m sure it sounds like not a big deal, but for three people traveling an area where they know no one, it was a really amazing experience.
Also, the two guys who ran the foodery are about 30 years old and are childhood friends who decided to drop everything and move to Okinawa a few years ago to do this. They didn’t know anyone there, they didn’t have anywhere to live, no plan to make it work, nothing. They just carted themselves out there and did what they wanted. Personally, I find that incredibly inspiring.
Mr. Yoshio, owner of the fine mobile drinking establishment.
And they, along with just about everyone else I’ve met since arriving in Japan, could not have been more open and welcoming, and it really is just cool as hell.
