JAWing On – Life on Okinawa

A little after12 a.m. this morning, the world lost one of its truly gifted guitarists. Even though most people know there was a great amount of disharmony in my relationship with the guitarist, it is always sad to see someone take the destructive path he chose. This is especially true of someone as talented as the Okinawan guitarist Jimmy Ginoza was. For many of us it was all too soon to loose him, especially so suddenly. Yet, he was a tortured soul and there is solace to be taken in that is he is no longer suffering.

As hard the sudden death was, even more difficult was the total disregard a few of the men showed for the situation. We found out about the loss in the middle of the third set. I tried explaining what had happened to several of the men who were at the club to have a good time and forget about their own problems. (And mothers of the world if you ever wonder what type of child you have raised, this is one of those times a person’s reactions to a situation truly discloses the inner fabric of that person.) To my dismay, these men totally ignored the hurt and suffering the friends and fans of the deceased felt by the loss. Instead these men chose to try and cause commotion and confrontations because they were not the focus of attention. Even though the current world situation puts some limitations on human emotions, it IS a sad day when human beings cannot feel a sense of loss for the passing away of another human being, especially when that person was not an adversary.

People who don’t get that people are people first, everything else is splitting hairs. Almost every weekend one person or another asks questions in an effort to boost an individual group’s self esteem. Get a clue. As the saying goes, it is not the group as a whole but the individual entity that goes astray. As far as I’m concerned when it comes to branches of service, these people are all doing the same job, just in different ways. So quit the intra-bickering and start behaving like members of the same team. In fact, that thought could apply to just about every situation of discrimination I run across in this line of work. We’re supposed to be the adults, not high school kids, remember?

What is it with people who think they’re being “cool” when they go into a small, equable establishment and purposely try to start an altercation? This type of behavior usually comes from people who are so insecure with themselves as a person that they also have to travel in “packs” like animals. These types of people usually consist of males (but not always) that call themselves “men.” I’ve always considered a “man” (or “woman”) to be a male (or female) that had the intelligence and strength of character to handle disagreements with an establishment’s policies through calm discussion. The way I see it, if people are traveling in packs with the intent to cause trouble they are no better than a street gang.

It’s pretty sad when a culture produces a large subculture of adults whose only means to handle situations of dispute is to respond in childish, disruptive actions. It is especially sad when these same people are supposedly friends and peers in the same business association. Many people misinterpret these actions as those of individuals who are too stupid to know any better. But as the saying goes, in order to be a wiseass one has to be wise enough to understand the situation. So if a person is intelligent enough to understand the situation, but continues to act in a disruptive manner and instigate negative actions in others, the conclusion must be that these behaviors are being performed consciously and on purpose. Not exactly what I would call a mature, friendly, or constructive way of handling circumstances. If a group of people is unable to handle simple situations in a mature manner, then it doesn’t seem very prudent or advantageous to lend an ear to any disagreement with the circumstance that led to the behavior in the first place, especially in a business situation.

It is so unbelievable that I heard a representative of the American society say that sexual abuse in the Armed Forces is a crime, yet representative of the overall status of the American society! Basically what I heard was sexual abuse -rape, sodomy, etc. – is a no-no but because we need you men to fight the war against terrorism, it will take a lot of evidence to convict the radically physical violent crime against another human being as such! Well, if that’s the case why shouldn’t there be a Budafuko (please excuse my misspelling or inaccurate naming of the man who was dismembered) Act? After all, as far as I know being dismembered doesn’t stop a man from being able to physically serve his country! What it does do is hold a person who commits such a crime accountable for the violent physical abuse of another human being!

NOTE: It seems I did get the name of the dismembered man incorrect. I went to the experts, some other men – after all who would better remember the name of a man who was dismembered than other men – and the correct name should be the Bobbitt Act.

People who think they are so special that they try to instruct other people to ignore a business’ staff members. This is particularly true when the owner has stated that the facility policy is to treat all customers on an equal basis. Staff members are following the instructions of the facility’s owner/manager. When a person thinks they are above the requests of staff members, they are displaying a lack of respect for the owner and members of the facilty. This behavior is not exactly what I would consider to be an action of a friend!

Kudos to the organizers of the upcoming New Year’s Eve concert are due. They played the hand perfectly. If we are an example of the typical business owner on Okinawa, then their move to have an all day Japanese (J-pop) youth concert on a street that usually is consumed with drunken men was a good manipulative move. Not only do the groups that they sponsor get exposure on Japanese TV, but they have responsible people imposing stricter than usual regulations in an effort to prevent any possible mishaps caused by this ill conceived event. All the while they come off as the good fun-loving guys, who will not be held responsible for any consequences of their decision.
There are questions that arise from the organizers choice to proceed with the event, despite some common-sense opposition. Are Japanese businessmen so innocent and naïve minded that they think combining pubescent teens and an area renown for activities that have been accepted businesses since the Vietnam era (such as “buy me drinky” and “banana show” girls) is a good idea? Why weren’t all of the members of the street association told the full story behind the concert? The only thing discussed (or more accurately, crammed down their throats by persons who do not own businesses on the street) at the monthly meetings was the Orange Range aspect of the event. Even this met with opposition from the experienced owners of Gate 2 Street night-time businesses. If this an example of how business is conducted on Okinawa, give an inch and they take a mile, then is it any wonder that some people are not willing to even give an inch? Why should night-time business owners be forced to take on the role of policing youths that are only in the area because of activities that are the concoction of J-pop promoters? Why are they holding the activity on the street to begin with? There are several Okinawa City (Koza) outdoor arenas that are better suited for this type of activity. Every year several Okinawan festivals are held at those facilities. Could it be because this is an area where many Okinawan/ American couples have been successful in running night-time businesses (businesses that conflict with the plans of the city and tourism officials to run a financially profitable, youth-oriented music school and J-pop concert hall)? Speaking of city-sponsored businesses, whatever happened to the mega Korinza Shopping Center and event hall on the neighboring B.C. (Chuo Park Avenue) Street? And since the manger/promoter of the main act of this New Year event is based on that street, why aren’t they holding the event there? This event poses too many underlying half-truths and questions to make anyone satisfied with conducting the activity on Gate 2 Street, anyone other than those who will directly (or indirectly) profit off of it that is!

I really appreciate people who take the time and effort to provide the computer language “challenged” with free programs. But when they fail to proved basic everyday-language intructions on how to install the programs, well it just turns into a time consuming waste of effort. Luckily, I have learned enough about setting-up files on the server to not screw-up my entire site too much! Unfortunately many of the support forums for these type of programs, mods, and hacks lack the basic instructions as well.

Outdated search engines!!! Content is supposedly a key element, which means keeping the information current. Yet, it seems many search engines don’t keep up-to-date site listings in their data bases. Many of the new engines list pages that don’t even pertain to 2004, let alone the past month or week!