As Hanukkah kicked off with a flicker (and hopefully a badass party involving Costco-sized jugs of Manischewitz) on Dec. 8, I found myself in what has been described variously as the Florida, Hawaii, Nebraska, and Alabama of Japan. Now go ahead and imagine a bunch of Japanese guys in Def Leppard sleeveless tees, floral-patterned shirts, flannel shirts tucked into jeans, and Def Leppard sleeveless tees (respectively).
This is Okinawa, a peaceful little island way down south below the mainland — like 3-hour-flight-from-Tokyo south.
I’m here for work at Kadena Air Force Base, which is located on the southern end of this southern-ass island…and yes, it’s top secret, so don’t ask me about anything. (Psych — I’m here for mental health research. Get it? Psych? (Sorry…))
Anyway…so Okinawa is beautiful and rainy and spring-weathery and full of a million identical gray Hondas and Nissans, and everybody drives on the left side of the road. People wear surgical masks in public when they’re sick and drive through red lights as though they signify “But seriously, keep going” and slurp noodles in alleys really loudly and delightfully. It seems like a pretty great place.
It’s such a great place, in fact, that my grandpa was stationed here way back during the Korean War, after America had politely (i.e., with threat of further nuclear holocaust) converted Okinawa into a military base with fantastic beaches. Back then people had driven Ford Fairlanes on the right side of the road and said “Gee whiz!” and smoked Lucky Strikes while pregnant. A better time, for sure.
Side note: My mom used to tell me the only thing her dad could say in Japanese was “Good morning” and “I’m drunk and need to find a bathroom.” I wonder which phrase he used more often…
So then LBJ (that’s a president) was nice enough to give the island back in 1972, except for lots of big patches of land where various military installations would be kept. The Okinawans had no real choice in the matter, and so they went along with it. The US bases and the local communities developed a wary but necessary symbiosis with one another, with the military pumping lots of money into the Okinawan economy, but also periodically assaulting/raping/injuring various Japanese townsfolk.
Fast forward to December 2012, and here I am. The political climate is interesting — a nation-wide curfew is in effect for active duty military members from 1100-0500, due to some high-profile assaults and rapes (by Americans on the Japanese). The Okinawans publish literally everything the Americans do on the front pages of their newspapers, and they can arrest anyone caught out after curfew. However, restricting the Americans to base has hurt the Okinawan economy severely, since they rely on the relative wealth of the service members — Okinawa is the poorest prefecture in Japan. Yeesh. The atmospheric climate is much nicer.
See?
(Check out that dog btw.)
More Japan-ish stuff to come!
–Joe