Cowing Around: Okinawa

For the first time, I don’t really know what to write about a destination. How would you describe a bowl of sea weed miso soup? It’s pleasant, smoothing, comforting, but far from exciting or stimulating. Perhaps this is what makes Okinawa a place where second visits are always welcomed.

Immediately welcomed by a Taiwanese bubble tea franchise.

I didn’t know much about Okinawa. I looked it up on Google map for the first time a few days before the trip and was thinking if it will be warm or cold since it’s located just north of Taiwan. We were having long periods of miserable wet cold rainy days, and just a bit of sunshine would be worth the flight. The first impression of Okinawa was the shallow ocean floor of coral reefs as seen on the plane before landing. However it was companied by rough turbulence and a puking passenger behind me, so that’s that. The second immediate impression of Okinawa was… the most budget airport terminal I’ve seen. We flew via Peach Airline, supposedly a Japanese budget airline. The plane landed and pulled up on the big empty concrete lot. We walked down the stairs and into a hanger…. Actually, it was a warehouse. Literally, a warehouse. This “terminal” was converted into an immigration station from an air cargo warehouse. There was one souvenir store which looked more like a convenient store, without the conveniences we would expect to see. There was no taxi waiting, or any private car for that matter. The only way you can get to and from this terminal is by shuttle buses, either to the main terminal or to the car rental places. Truly budget.

REAL DRAGON BALLS!!!

Dinner!

The third impression of Okinawa is driving on the right hand side, and to work with absolutely atrocious GPS navigation interface. This GPS yells at you “TURN RIGHT NOW!!!” 300 meters before it’s supposed to happen. Then it’s just the matter of getting used to it, both driving on the right side and this ridiculous GPS. I actually got so comfortable driving in Okinawa that I’ve started to terrorize a few local drivers!

A bit of Okinawa history… Okinawa is a part of the Ryuku Islands, which used to be its own kingdom a few hundred years ago before Japan took it by force. The Ryuku Kingdom prosperous by serving as the trading hub between China and Japan, and was more closely tied to China than Japanese. Culturally speaking, it is definitely more Chinese than Japanese, even the geography and natural habitat are similar to Taiwan. Since post WWII, the dominant American military presence in Okinawa and its effects have created a love-hate relationship. The American military presence is like an uninvited and sometimes rowdy tenant, but also the one who pays for the majority of the maintenance. There are indeed many many American military bases in Okinawa. We kept driving past them, all different ones, like Walmarts in the states.

Pigs head skin and Bitter gourds are Okinawa’s local delicacies.

Apparently Spam is a thing in Okinawa too!

And the rest of Okinawa are polite Japanese folks, blue sky and turquoise waters with endless coral reef shorelines and traffic. I’d never expect such heavy traffic on an island like this, but as always, all Japanese wait for their turn and it was more like riding on a slow moving train than being stuck in a parking lot. This made me wonder, where to those owners of sports cars take their cars to have fun?

One observation of Okinawa, which is probably true for the rest of Japan, is that there are always at least one person assigned at every job posts. What I mean is, there will be a dedicated person to guide cars into the parking lot when there are plenty of signage already. There will be a person at the door to show you where the door is. There will be a person to tell where to go when there’s only one way to take. Japan, being the culture that celebrates automation and robots more actively than any other in the world, maintains its employment rate by assigning humans to be the redundancy.

Staying in the hotel I can’t help but notice something that is highly worth sharing Japanese parents. Japan is one of the countries with the lowest birth rates. Even so I’ve seen numerous young parents taking their very young toddlers on vacation. What I admire is how they interact with their 1~2 year old, barely walking toddlers. Unlike Taiwanese, or even American parents who rely on baby strollers, Japanese toddlers are rarely seen being held or put in strollers. In fact, I don’t really see any stroller at all! Japanese toddlers walk by themselves, sometimes left to wander and explore this exciting world on their own, sometimes with hands held by their parents. However their feet are always on the ground, solid ground. I find this impressive because this is the most basic trust a parent can offer a child, that he can do it on his own, that he is capable, and that he deserves this respect. I don’t see Japanese parents yell at their kids for doing something “wrong”, or nag at them to do what’s “right”. I just see them quietly watch their kids as the toddlers explore, and talk to them at eye level like an adult. I think this is also such an irony in contrast to Taiwanese, that Taiwanese parents impose so many dos and don’ts on their children since birth that no one really respects each other’s rights when they are adults, whereas Japanese children grow up to form a unified society coming from a childhood that allows them much space to develop independence.

And the rest are all easily found on travel guides, so I will just leave this with what matters, photos.