JAWing On – Life on Okinawa

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?

Here it is the end of January. The holiday season is finally coming to an end and Taki and I finally have a chance to look at the events of the past year. A lot happened this year. We said good bye to our beloved pet of thirteen years, Twinkie; a trusted car of seven years; Speedy, and a guitarist who had chosen different path in life, Jimmy. Mother Nature had taken her toll on everyone over the past year. And for the first time in ten years, Live Music Bar JET was forced to have bouncers. I don’t know what has happened with the local scene of young rockers. It seems many of them are determined to prove just how much of an ***hole Americans can be. First it started with physical destruction in the bathrooms. Then it escalated to guys “dancing” and pouring drinks on local customers (which advanced to purposely knocking local customers’ drinks over), guys screaming in the microphones as they “danced” and the band was trying to play, large numbers of people trying to bring in their own beverages, guys grabbing and harassing the regular female customers who were trying to listen to the band, etc. It seems an attitude has developed that just because these people are in the bar, that they should be allowed to do anything they want! I haven’t lived stateside since January 1988 (17 years), but I doubt any of theses behaviors would be put-up with over there. Anyway, we were able to find a good, young pup (Jaco) to join our family; we also found a new vehicle, and we are extremely pleased with the new guitarist, Appin. And so, life goes on!

Note: This was originally posted in July 2004. But when I saved the updated post with different contact data for Kween, the program reset it to today’s date.
Each year the persons of power, you know the ones that play God in determining which bands are going to play and when, select one closing act that is suppose to summate the over-all energy that the two day Peaceful Love Rock Festival generates. And each of the last few years the closing act is some former big-name Japanese band that, well to the more developed rock ‘n’ roll ears of the locals, just doesn’t seem to do the job. Meanwhile, they have been booking a mainland Japanese band that they seem to feel is not worthy of any time slot higher than early evening. This is a big mistake in my eyes and ears. If the response of the audience is to be taken into account of when which act plays, then this band should be the closing act. When this band plays the audience cheerfully sings along, and those who don’t know the words are sitting, or standing in front of the stage, with the biggest smiles across their faces a person will ever see. What seems to make this act so special, besides the well-known musical numbers that they perform, is the over-all energy of the band members. They really like what they are doing, and it shows. The lead singer is the most unlikely candidate for the role that he is playing, yet he has the personality and talent to pull it off. If those persons of power would use this particular band as the closing act, I could almost guarantee that the every single audience member would leave with a smile on their face. What band is it? Kween, the mainland Japanese tribute band to Queen. So maybe someone will get smart, as the plans for next year’s concert start to take formation. And, who knows, maybe we will be able to leave the 23rd annual Peaceful Love Rock Festival with songs on our lips and music in our hearts.

In a kind of farewell to the club that housed the ’70s Okinawan rock band Condition Green, the Hideaway was the scene of the Gate 2 Shinenkai party last night. Word has it the brick mosh pit that once contained numerous over-energetic moshers, had been disassembled recently. Yet, the spacious club (known as Roaring ’20s in the early ’70s, Fillmore East in the late ’70s, and Disco Carnival in the early ’80s) still boasts an ample dance floor for those who want to move their feet to the music of the house band. As far as the destruction of the club itself, from what we are being told now, the destruction of buildings in the area to become “Music Town” is to begin in April and start on the Nakanomachi side of the project. Which means the Gate 2 Street section of the project is to be torn down last, maybe.

As the welcoming of the New Year celebrations of January come to an end, the preparations for the Chinese New Year and Valentines Day begin. Chinese New Year is on February 9th this year. Previously, most of the local businesses closed on the Chinese New Year to celebrate the major ties with and influences of traditional China on the local Ryukyu Island culture. As the years have passed, the holiday seems to have been lost in the shuffle to modernize. However, I am told that Itoman – still viewed as “a fishing village” by many of the older locals – has continued the tradition of honoring the Chinese influences and the moon calendar of years gone by.
Valentines Day, on the other hand, continually gains momentum as another one of the major, commercialized, modern events. Forget trying to go on an impromptu date on this day on Okinawa. All the select eateries will be booked well in advance. Whereas the holiday started off as a celebration of affection in the Western culture, as with many things in the local culture Valentine’s Day has been taken to the extreme in Japan. The romanticized view is that office girls slip a little chocolate tidbit into the desks of male coworkers so that no male feels “unwanted.” But the more savvy girls take great care in slipping-in just the right tidbit to the more prominent male workers of the organization. And leave it to Japanese businesses to create a day of reciprocation, White Day, which takes place in March.

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.

Winter is upon us as cold winds chill our bones and the sky begins to cloud over everyday. I wonder if dogs can suffer from lack of sunlight syndrome. Every time the sky clouds over for more than one day at a time, our seven month old dog goes into some sort of depression. He starts taking out his displeasure on his doggie bed, chewing into the corner of it. When the sky is sunny, he never chews into the bedding. This behavior first began during typhoon season, so I thought he was just bored with being stuck in the house. Now that the winter season has begun to eliminate the usual sunny day time, the behavior has reemerged. He has no idea what in store weather-wise after January! Guess I better start stocking-up on thread.

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.

Well Murphy is at it again. Okinawa is finally starting to get some of the rain that seems to be being spread everywhere else. Now we will end up with a mud pit in front of the house’s parking. Deja vu? One might think I am over exaggerating or misinterpreting the situation. Well that is always a possibility. This situation of needing a larger waterline and a wider road was created by the land developers when they continuously sold property to build new homes on without providing the necessary access and basic utilities that an increased population would require. Why weren’t the necessary changes in utilities made in the original plans? As far as a wider road access, as I explained earlier, the property that the land developers are trying to widen the road onto isn’t theirs. So what it comes down to is this. If I am wrong and the final product of years and years of construction doesn’t end up with the property in question becoming road, than I am just being an over-protective, ugly-American wife with egg on her face. But if the final product is the small patch of nature in question does become part of the road, than my years of experience have taught me and everyone reading this, that I have learned who these people really are. And isn’t really knowing the people of a culture part of experiencing and understanding the culture itself?