JAWing On – Life on Okinawa

People who insist on parking in reserved spaces. Most of the older areas in Okinawa have extremely limited parking space. There is nothing worse than trying to get to work on a rainy day only to find that someone else’s car in your paid for slot. This happens because in a society that is supposed to overlook other people’s indiscretions, the offenders expect nothing to be done about it. Hello, the reason people pay for parking spaces is so they will have a place to park, not for other people who are too lazy or cheap to find their own place to park in.

Sometimes things can eat at you until the right connection and words come to mind. As I watch and learn more about people’s actions in general, I have to wonder if fame and/or fortune have become the “drugs” of this society. I saw what addictions can do to people in the ’80s. Some of the behaviors of people in search of more and more money seem to be very similar. “Addicts” are willing to do just about anything to get that next fix – lie, beg, and steal among a few. They don’t care who the victim is as long as the end justifies the means. Do the pressures of trying to be “better” than everyone else, and thereby achieving fame and recognition, lead some people to these behaviors? Or are the behaviors a manifestation of these people’s own characters, or possibly brains? I do know that the pleasure mechanisms of the brain are still not completely understood by experts. I can’t help wonder if these people get some perverse pleasure in enacting the behaviors? Are the messages to be “someone” in this world you have to be esthetically and materially “ahead of the Jones” creating a society of a new type of addict?

Pets, sometimes they are just so amazing! A long time ago we realized that our pets understand certain words. They would be in a complete different room when we would hear their response to statement we were making. A few months ago, I was watching a TV show that claimed dogs can “understand” up to two hundred words. We weren’t surprised. So like a parent who wants what is being said to be kept secret from prying ears, we started spelling the words. Well today, one of our dogs has figured-out what the spelled word is and responded to it. Now we are reduced to lipping and softly whispering certain phrases. What next?

I often get asked why I don’t let people bring their own beverages into the club. I really think that’s pretty self-explanatory. Inevitably I get someone who thinks they’re going islander and tries the “…but that’s not the local way!” on me. Well anyone who has been here long enough would know, the owner and/or manager of the facility decide which “system” is appropriate for that particular club. For some clubs that means “No Americans” for others it means somewhere around a one thousand yen cover charge. At Live Music Bar JET, it means no outside beverages allowed.

Another thing one hears over here is the “I have a brilliant idea” person(s). My question to them is: if that idea is so brilliant, why don’t you use your own funds, time, and energy and open that club yourself?

One of the common phrases one hears locals on Okinawa say when someone is trying to manipulate them is the negative connotation of “… my way.” Which actually means, “You shouldn’t do this your ‘my way’ do it our ‘my way’ because it’s more advantageous to what we want.”

When I was growing up in the 60’s, I was fortunate enough to have a father who thought it was his job to make sure his daughters weren’t babied. He thought it was his role to teach us to be self-sufficient and capable of taking care of ourselves, because he knew he wouldn’t always be there to fight our battles for us. At the same time he was wise enough to provide us some tools to fight those battles with. Since I was a very scrawny, red-headed, little girl at a time when being an “all American” girl was about buxom blondes, he gave me the gift of logic to fight with. One of the sayings he equipped me with was, “The party of the first part puts-down the party of the second part, because the party of the first part feels the party of the second part is superior to the party of the first part.” This was quite a mouthful to say in response to other children when they were taunting me, and sounded very nerdy, but it always worked. What I learned from that one statement was to look behind what a person who was trying to belittle me was saying to find the reason why. Thanks Dad.

As unbelievable as it may seem in these days and times, I actually had a Japanese customer openly offer a regular female customer the equivalent of one hundred dollars for sexual favors at our bar this weekend. She tried to tell him “No” nicely, but he kept on persisiting. When I told him that our club is not that type of club, he told me “F*** you!” I’ve never lived in mainland Japan, but I don’t think that this type of behavior towards any female who happens to be in a bar is acceptable. Just because a female is at a bar doesn’t mean she wants to be picked-up! Most females have more self-respect for themselves. Many females go just to hear and/or dance to the music. It is not uncommon in Asia for this type of transaction at certain facilities. If a man is looking for that type of “service”, he should go to those “entertainment” facilities!

Anyone who has lived on Okinawa for a while knows there is an incessant amount of crawly critters that call the island home. The most irritating of these is the gokiburi, more commonly known as a cockroach. It is as if the ever-present crawlers are everywhere all the time. This year we have had an unusually large amount of big tropical cyclone systems. I don’t know if anyone else over here has noticed, but cockroaches don’t seem to do very well in water. With all of the rain that the typhoons have brought, there appears to be a lack of cockroaches crawling around. As they say, the good comes with the bad.

As Mike points out in his comment to the Really!!!© Pet Peeve of the Week #14, “Funny how things never change in Okinawa….” I don’t know exactly when he was on Okinawa, but he’s absolutely correct. The only things that change much are the roads and the width of the island, due to constant construction. Over the past thirty years, there has been a large amount of construction. Much of the it involves man-made beaches up North and new residential areas in the center of the island. As for the rest of life on Okinawa, it is similar to being in a bubble at times. It is a good place to come if you are interested in history and/or water activities. I don’t know what Mike’s hobbies are, but the main form of socializing is still eating and drinking which is mainly done at some sort of izakaya.

There are over one million people on this little island. With all of those people, one would think that they would be able to come-up with their own creative ideas. But no, it never fails. whenever I create a new idea for the club there is always someone trying to use it for their own purposes. I mean, I’m no creative genius. I am just willing to take the time and effort necessary to locate objects or create logos and “catch phrases” for the club. Even people who think they should receive royalties for their own creative works, try to steal the ideas. It’s a shame that this is a part of life as we know it in these times.