JAWing On – Life on Okinawa

Back on 25 December I wrote about the continuing saga of the water pipes. Well as soon as I stepped out of the shower first thing this morning, I was greeted by the sounds of picks followed by jack hammerish sounds. Seems that the waterworks pit is finally going to get some pavement over it. Given that the rainy season is approaching, this is a noisy but good thing.

With the final game of the college basketball season, much of the sports world hangs on for the culmination of March Madness today. However, sports fans in Japan are experiencing a culmination of thier own brand of madness, the final game of the semi-annual Japanese high school baseball season. Given that the sports scene in Japan is not as broad-based as stateside, this is a very big deal locally. Many of the more talented individuals introduced to the nation through these games will eventually become some of the more well-known baseball icons over here. And if the extraordinary player is really lucky, it’s to the “big game” and international popularity.

Well it’s Sunday, 29 January 2006. That means a new lunar New Year has begun. When I first came to the island in 1973, most of the locals celebrated the occasion. Now, however, the Julian New Year celebrations have taken over. Very few businesses are off for the lunar New year any more. If fact, there isn’t much recoginition of the event at all. But, I can still remember how significant the event was to the local culture and recognize that it is part of their heritage. So here is a Happy New Year of the Dog to everyone.

Weekly Hogen (Okinawan Dialect) :

English – bitter melon

Japanese – nigauri?(????)

Hogen – gooyaa (????)*

*This particular food item is most commonly associated with the local island cooking. However, bitter melon cuisine is not limited to Okinawa.

As I was doing research for one of my other sites, I ran across this English language website that has many interesting articles on current trends that are occurring in the lives of young Japanese yuppies (Juppies?). Although the site pertains to mainland Japan, it probably won’t be long before we begin to see some of the trends trickle down to us on Okinawa.

Last year I suggested that it would be nice if Oprah did a daily thirty-minute broadcast of selfless people who were trying to make a difference in their communities, if she could find enough people who fit that description that is. In a world where it sometimes feels like everyone is out only for their own good, it isn’t always easy to remember that these people do exist. This weekend, as I was going home from the club, I just happened to see one of these very seldom recognized people. What made this person, someone I do not know and probably will never cross paths with, so special is not only was the act that he was performing selfless it was breaking down stereotypes. Anyone who has seen Gate 2 Street early Saturday or Sunday mornings is well aware of the surmountable trash that is deposited by the previous night’s party-goers. Yet early Saturday morning a young GI was out on the street wielding a garbage bag in his left hand and a large tong in the right. Dressed in camouflaged hip-hop ware, he went quietly along the street picking up what others so indiscreetly tossed about in every crook and cranny. If I had not been in a car driving down the other side of the road, I would have told him “Thank you for your efforts. Right now in this chaotic world we need more people like you.”

Well the whole island seems to be getting in on the local music craze. Each year there seems to be more and more local artists hitting the Japanese charts. With these advances in popularity, other businesses are jumping on the band wagon. A few days ago Taki and I drove by a local pachinko parlor that had a large guitar-shaped sign with the words “Rock ‘n Roll” plastered on the outside of the building. I wonder if they only play rock music at that particular parlor? Or maybe there’s a new rock ‘n’ roll pachinko machine. Or maybe the parlor hosts live rock bands as an attraction for special events. Who knows what rock ‘n’ roll has to do with a pachinko parlor. It could be anything or nothing.

Well it seems water pipes don’t know it’s supposed to be a holiday or a Sunday. When we came home today, this is what we found in front of the house. The pipes that were replaced in January – February this year didn’t seem to be able to handle the job and we were told it burst.

(Click on image to view large size)

When someone tells me how much they enjoyed a foreign place where they have lived in their lives, I am always glad to hear they had the chance to experience a different culture. But at the same time I’m always left with the thought “exactly what was it about the place that they liked so much?” What was their favorite pastime? What traditional art did they enjoy the most, a style of dance or perhaps a traditional style of music? How much of the native language did they know? How many locals that weren’t associated with the bases did they have as friends? What was their favorite hangout? Answers to these questions usually help me determine whether they actually knew the culture or if they were just infatuated with the outer face of a location.