JAWing On – Life on Okinawa

Although the Ryukyu Islands were returned to Japan in 1972, there are still some basics that provide a contrast in the two main islands. When I was in the Fussa area outside Tokyo in 1981, I saw my first Japanese 7-Eleven. Having lived only in the Okinawan Prefecture of Japan, I was very surprised to see the store. Here it is almost 25 years later and below is a listing of the addresses of the current 7-Elevens we have on island (that I know of):

You got it, a big fat zero!!! There has been an influx of large mainland Japanese companies on island over the past 5 to 10 years, but not one 7-Eleven! So it came quite the surprise to see this article in the news today.

These days so much seems to be going on all at once. And if a person only has time for a brief rundown of the news, one might think there’s nothing but negative events in our daily lives. Of all the online major news sources, I choose Yahoo News for having the easiest and most complete site. And even though the site is extremely thorough in providing a wide range of general topics and sources, what is lacking on that and other main sites is a category for the positive daily events. I ran across this smaller, somewhat biased (I think I would change the title of the “Unhappy News” category to “Standard News”), site that seems to understand the need for a balance in the human psyche.

Seems that not everything in Japan is as black and white as the image held by many people. No longer do the simple terms conservative, liberal, and radical depict the typical politician. In these times terms that could be included are is one a radical conservative, a conservative radical, an authoritative liberal, or a liberal authoritarian.

I was reading about Starbucks’ quotes. I think the quotes have achieved what was initially intended. People are discussing differing points of view. What’s wrong with that as long as the list of quotes is diverse?

We were watching satellite TV for about 5 minutes, and then a bulletin came on that mainland had a 5.0 quake in the Kanto area. The plates sure are on the move this year. Between the shaking and Wilma, looks like we’re headed for another active weekend from Mom Nature.

I was watching a program on the psychology of beauty on CNN today. Joan Rivers was the chosen Queen of “reality” advice. I’ve taken Psych 101 and am familiar with the statistics of the reality of beauty. But, as most people are aware of, humans tend not be ruled only by the encoded behaviors that have been passed down through the generations. True there is a statistically proven attraction to symmetrical images, including those of humans. Also true, at least statistically, those who possess higher symmetries are at an advantage. But to say that a society is doing a disservice by trying to instill a sense of being, I don’t buy that. Every day an untold sum of money is spent on people trying to get “an edge”. Promoting the belief that the outer person is more important than what a person’s behaviors indicate is leading to nothing more than trouble. I’m not a person who follows the tabloids, or any other fad for that matter. Maybe part of the trouble of society in this day is that they are always looking for the immediate payoff. And if everything is about beauty, than why were so many people such big fans of George Burns, Jessica Tandy, and look at Art Linkletter! (The man is 93 and still as astute and entertaining in his observations as he was 40 years ago.) And what about Oprah? Do you really think that she has made it so far by falling back on the typical image of beauty? She’s so popular because she is a smart everyday person that people can connect to without feeling that they have to degrade who they are as person. Let’s face it, the reason many men dislike Jon Bon Jovi is because he is a threat with all his talent and looks. And women like him because he is one of those lucky people who didn’t let that interfere with being a down to earth person. I think to say that people should go under the knife to remain physically attractive to the opposite sex is nothing more than a superficial sellout to the pressures of modern business. Very few of us are lucky enough to have it all, but the key should be how to accentuate the strengths, not annihilate the perceived weaknesses, of each person

Have you ever wondered why it’s so hard to predict exactly which direction a tropical storm is going to take? If you have Google Earth and installed the “live hurricane” tracker, then you should take a look at the route of Typhoon Kirogi. It’s almost going in circles.

Today I heard the first migrating hawk of the season. We get a few stragglers every year about this time, a sure sign that autumn is arriving. It hardly feels like it has already been one year since I peered up at the magnificent specimen of fowl last year as it eyed me with that “what’s this” stare. Time seems to go so quickly as the years add up. Maybe that’s why some people freak over getting older. Adding another number to my image doesn’t bother me in the least. While some people try to fight off graying hair; I look at it as “I’ve been a redhead all my life, now maybe I finally get to see what it’s like to be a blonde!” Others cringe at the thought of possibly losing teeth to Father Time; I view it as, “Well maybe I’ll finally get to have perfectly straight teeth once in my life!” (I’ve always had strange teeth. In fact my two front teeth started growing in back of my baby teeth because the baby teeth never fell out. The dentist finally had to pull the baby teeth out. Maybe that’s why my wisdom teeth never came out and another dentist had to take them out surgically.) Anyway, the point is, I look at each new decade as a new stage of my life, one that is to be explored and enjoyed not feared or loathed.

I was reading the news and ran across this article by a high school student who is concerned about the future of youths. The article raises several interesting questions. How do individual cultures instill a sense of identity through traditions and an understanding of the accomplishments of ancestors without planting the seeds of elitism? How do multi-cultural societies expose the differing cultures to each other, and educate one another about the differences, without imposing the concept of one ideology being more correct, or incorrect, than another? When all is said and done, who has the final decision on whether or not an individual views their life as successful? (Is there only one idea of success?)