SUN

Let me just say "DUDE!"  The sun in okinawa is BRUTAL.  Anything less than SPF 50 only buys me like 30 minutes outside.  Last time I went scuba diving I got burned in the 5 minutes it took me to take off my clothes and put on a wet suit.  This place is no joke (and I am also extremely white).

I've noticed Japan has a kind of love hate relationship with the sun.  On one hand, they have it on their flag and they use it's kanji, 日,　about a thousand times in Japanese.  On the other hand, anyone over 30 seems to spend every ounce of energy trying to avoid contact with said sun.  

It really does seem to be an age thing.  (Thankfully) the teenage and 20 year olds love to bare skin, and lots of it!  In the summer however, little kids and the 30 and up crowd are covered head to toe in clothes.  Seriously, no skin exposed.  Parasol, hat, mask or bandana around the face, long sleeves, towel around the neck, the occasional sweat shirt, pants, the whole nine.  For a while I wondered if there was even a Japanese word for sunscreen because these folks don't seem to have heard of it. 

That being said, I've started adopting the towel around the neck or head look because Okinawa is the most humid and gross location on the planet.  

I'm smiling to hide the searing pain

Okinawa is lacking in the fashion department but I totally get it now.  Any sexy shoes  or make-up you put on will be disgusting within minutes.  Damn I miss the mainland and winter...

Typhoon

I survived my first typhoon last week!  All in all it wasn't so bad compared to the few hurricanes I've been in, but I learned a few lessons unique to my time in Japan.

First, living in a high rise provides a spectacular view of the carnage but there was some heavy swaying during strong winds and the 13 hours without power also meant no pump to bring the water up to the 12th floor.  13 hours without water or power does put life into perspective, so the moment of zen and reflection was a nice bonus, but I also wonder why humans would ever live in this humid hell hole before electricity.  

Second, air conditioning is king.  Power went out at 10:30am and by 12:30 the humidity inside rose to about 70% and later peaked at 80%.  Even after the sun set it was incredibly hot and impossible to get comfortable.  I was able to keep myself 'hydrated' and cool with slightly chilled beer and a wet towel that I periodically threw into the beer fridge.  In hindsight I should have stocked up on some ice beforehand...

Third, Okinawans don't give a crap about typhoons.  While most jobs officially had the day off during the typhoon, I still saw way too many people driving and walking around outside during peak rain/wind.  Maybe they were going to buy ice and cold beer, but it just didn't seem worth it to me at the time.  Luckily I got the following day off from work too but I would say the majority of Japanese businesses had work the next day despite the heavy flooding and power outages.

Lastly, physics do not apply here.  Though I was on the 12th floor there was still water pouring in under the front door, through the peep hole, and out of the the smoke detectors on the 6th floor.  

The news said typhoon #8 (I think the foreign news programs were calling it Neoguri but they just call them by numbers in Japan) was one of the biggest in the last 10ish years, so I'm hoping the next few won't be so bad....yes, the next few.  I'm told Okinawa gets several typhoons a year and the season lasts until around September so there is more fun to be had.  I definitely need to stock up on ice and just kick back and enjoy the view.

And what a great view it is

Mainichi Mind Blown

You know the weird feeling you get when you hear a song for the first time, and then you hear it 20 more times within the same day?  Or you just read about a new car and then start seeing them everywhere.  That kind of crap happens to me every single day because I'm learning Kanji.  It can happen to you too!

While it kinda sucks having to relearn to read as an adult, it has also been incredibly rewarding lately. I study a few new words and BAM, I'm seeing them in books, in games, online, at work, freakin everywhere!...except TV because screw Japanese TV.  I study it once and life takes over and helps me review it all day/every day.

All the Japanese I don't know is just lumped into that big category of 'crap I don't know', so when I do see a known kanji it just pops right out against the blur.  Its like my Japanese is piecing itself together and coming into focus.  And speaking of Kanji, the JLPT sign-up starts tomorrow.  Everyone else should be getting on their kanji studying as well.

You know what also starts tomorrow?  The end of the world according to Japanese news.  Starting April first the sales tax is going up from 5% to 8%, and holy crap the idiots making a scene.  It is like Y2K all over again, but dumber for some reason.  I can almost get past all the crazy claims like "it's going to put (insert store or restaurant name here) out of business."  The little things are what have really been eating at me .

Flocking to department stores to stock up on toilet paper for example.  Seriously, holy shit people! It is, quite literally, not even worth my time to think about the sales tax increase for more than 2 seconds, and citizens are taking a separate driving trip to the store, paying about $6/gallon for gas, to save a few yen on toilet paper...What is wrong with this picture??  Everything, that is what.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is study your kanji for a rewarding experience in Japan, and don't freak the hell out over (literal) pennies.

Real Japan

I went up to 'real' Japan for 2 weeks of work and I was shocked, once again, at how different life in Okinawa is.  I noticed all the little details when I first arrived in Oki, like the need for cars, diet differences, etc.  Now I'm starting to realize how different I am in Okinawa vs real Japan...and apparently I'm starving for Japanese conversation.  It's also apparent that I'm a glutton for punishment because I visited 4 major cities (Tokyo, Hiroshima, Osaka, and Fukuoka) over those 2 weeks...I need a nap

Anyway, to remedy my need for Japanese, my coworkers were kind enough to take me to some very chill whiskey and snack bars.  I've mentioned snack bars before but without too much elaboration, snack bars are bars with female staff, usually with an older woman in charge, and the staff hang out with you and mooch off of your booze all night.  So after a few drinks of liquid courage and a shot of fluency juice, my (limited) Japanese was pouring out of me and I truly felt better about being in Japan.  All was right with the world...the booze and the karaoke certainly helped too.

Real Japan, particularly the big cities I visited, also has a certain 'feel' to it.  The hustle, the energy, the faint smell of soy sauce and urine...It just feels right.    

Plus...THE WOMEN.  They are seriously on a completely different level.  Okinawa is playing pee wee football while real Japan is playing no holds barred MMA with flamethrowers, in SPACE.  I appreciate Oki's weather and laid back lifestyle, but that translates to laziness when it comes to fashion.  Sometimes you want to see insanely thin women rocking 8" boots and 4" skirts in a snow storm and looking fine as hell doing it.  

What was I talking about?  Ah, the mainland is awesome.  Okinawa is just too full of us foreigners to make it feel 'special'.  Plus, Okinawans see gaijin every day so they  treat you like real people instead of racist stereotypes or ask if you can use chopsticks.  Whats up with that??

Business Hotel Room...cause I thought it would be classier than showing a picture of the above mentioned hotty in 8" boots.

外人住宅

It sounds a bit pretentious but sometimes you just feel better (than everyone else) when you eat at a local restaurant versus a chain.  Exceptions include Yoshinoya, Sukiya and Coco Curry because they're freaking delicious, stumbling distance from my new apartment, and open 24 hours.  That combo is, without any hyperbole, more amazing than the birth of your first child.  

Well I just had lunch in an old western style house that was converted into a restaurant, Sans Souchi. Pretty cool idea, no? They are scattered all over Okinawa and called Gaijin Juutaku (Foreigner Housing).  In this restaurant, the living room was a lounge area, where you pay, and where the food is cooked. Most people are seated in one of the bedrooms, which is where we ate.  

This particular restaurant specialized in Udon and Oyako, but had some good looking dessert too.  I got the udon with plum (ume).

Iphone 5S camera is pretty good, no?

Navigating the residential roads to find this place was a challenge, but kind of cool and rewarding.  I'll definitely be going back.  

Nuts to Driving Here

I've been driving for about a month in Okinawa and let me tell you, screw this noise.  For one, it takes longer to get places than it really should.  Stateside, you can usually estimate about a mile per minute, because you'll be going about 70mph on the highway.  Here in Okinawa you have to estimate 2-3 minutes per kilometer due to traffic and lights and other nonsense.  There is an expressway but it is roughly $10 to drive to cities 40 miles apart.  I may need to just stop being cheap and drive it but the exits/entrances still get backed up during rush hour.

Luckily some of the roads here in Okinawa are a bit bigger than mainland Japan, but it just means more space for scooters/motorcycles to pass you while you sit in traffic.  I've heard that Okinawa just isn't conducive to have a subway, but I'm thinking it is largely the American influence of 'not giving a crap about the environment or convenience, or railroads'.  Would a monorail running throughout Okinawa be so hard?  They have one in downtown Naha so I know it can be done.  Sure the typhoons and constant wind would shut down the rail, but isn't being able to get trashed and not drive worth it?  The answer is DUH, of course it is worth it.

Seriously though, if mainland Japan took away trains it would take 3 days to get to work.  Why does Okinawa think it can go without a good rail system??  Whatever gets people off the road will improve things.

On a positive note, I love how old drivers and young drivers have a sticker they put on their car to let others know to just stay away (yellow and orange tear drop for old peeps, yellow and green chevron for the young kids).  That is a great idea!  Anyone with only 1 year of experience or 1 year left on this earth is just a vehicular manslaughter case waiting to happen, so keep your distance when you see these folks.  They should make those stickers bigger and glow in the dark too, and mandatory across the globe.  

Much like the prison face tattoo, the tear drop means death.

Waste

Holy crap America is wasteful. It is just another one of those things you can't quite comprehend until you take a step back (or in my case take 8200 miles worth of steps away) and see from an outsiders perspective.

I walk into a bathroom, even in an office building or restaurant, and usually see the lights off. That's what you're supposed to do when you leave a room, turn off the lights. I actually feel kind of bad when I see the lights on now. My office has a "1 hour no power" program on top of that" where for 1 hour every day, usually lunch time, all the lights are turned off. It's a great excuse to go out and eat, chill outside, or work by just sunlight.

I've stayed in apartments and houses that require you to turn on/off the water heater before and after using the shower. Japanese tubs have a sweet control panel that lets you turn on/off the water heater and control your bath water temperature. It actually maintains the temperature too instead of going from scalding hot to arctic ocean like american style tubs.

Man are there 50-125cc bikes and scooters everywhere. 76% of the time you american folks drive alone to work - so you rarely need a car and nobody needs a truck. Quit being homophobic, sell your ridiculous truck and custom truck nuts and get a manly ass scooter...or don't and just stay out of the way while I lane split yo ass on my bike while you sit in traffic. I only spent 3 days driving (read "idling car while being pissed off'") downtown before pulling the trigger on buying a bike. Traffic is bad here due to the lack of any real public transportation. A bike will save you hours of time per week.

250ccs of raw power baby! 250s don't have to do the vehicle inspections, 車検, either

Speaking of vehicles, Japan gives specific license plates and charges more tax for larger cars. I initially wanted to get a Kei Car (the smallest class with 660cc engine or less - think Smart car) but they have no room for Scuba gear or really anything except 2-4 people. So I ended up getting a Honda fit which is a mid-size here and gets 57mpg suckas. What classifies as a large car? A Prius. A Civic. Or anything else you might buy in the states and think you're saving the world...

Curry

Dude, I love me some curry.  Japanese curry on these cold 60 degree winter nights just hits the spot.  What better place to get it than Curry House Coco Ichibanya...

Well the thing about that is I've grown cheaper in my years and discovered that Coco Curry is expensive when compared to other quick Japanese restaurants like Yoshinoya/Sukiya.  Some good spicy curry at Coco Ichibanya will run you about 800 yen (add another couple hundred yen if you want some nan bread with that).  Well worth it, but I'll let you in on some insider secrets.

Roam the grocery stores, like San-A, at off hours like 3 or 8 pm and you can find all kinds of cheap crap.  The deli section usually has a hodgepodge of Japanese food like curry, sushi, onigiri, donburi, etc.  All that fresh food won't last more than a few hours, so after the lunch/dinner rush stuff get's marked down 10-50%.  Any money saved on food is more money put towards fake beer, and I like that kind of math.

Is Coco Curry better?  Yeah, probably.  Is 800 yen for curry, a tall beer, and some KFC a better deal? You better believe it!

ノンアルコールビール

I am not sure how it started but walls of of non-alcoholic drinks are taking up valuable beer space in the markets and conbinis in Japan.  WHY???  This stuff is everywhere (even though I never see anyone buy it).

 

0% chance of fun times

There is REAL beer in every conbini, vending machine, grocery store and restaurant.  There is also the fake beer options of Happoshu and '3rd Beer' which provide twice the hangover for half the price.  So why all the trouble for non-alcohol?  I'm seriously asking, cause I'm not sure what the deal is.

My best guess is that Japan does not play games when it comes to drunk driving.  .03% is the legal limit.  Anything over and you get fed to Godzilla (citation needed).  Japan also has a HUGE drinking culture that dates back to when America was just a twinkle in Britain's eye, so there might be some pressure for designated drivers to drink something beer like during the festivities.

All joking aside, non-alcohol beer isn't too bad with vodka.

Driving in Okinawa

It kinda sucks that Okinawa doesn't have the fantastic train system that REAL Japan has.  If you want to go from one end of the island to the other, it's best to drive.  I just bought a Honda Fit and holy crap my first few hours behind the wheel have been life shortening.

It doesn't help that everything is backwards and I have to constantly think about not turning on the windshield wipers instead of turn signals.  I still reach for my left shoulder for my seat belt and try to shift with my right hand.  Once you stop having to think so much, the fun really begins because...

Okinawans are terrible drivers.  There are a bunch of rules you learn about when driving, like don't run red lights and to buckle up your kids when driving.  I've learned that these are just guidelines and there is no enforcement here of any kind here.

When a light turns red just run it!  I occasionally hear a honk behind me when the light turns yellow - I'm pretty sure the honk roughly translates to "run this light or me and the next 3 cars behind you are going to run your ass over."  And as for the kids situation, I've come to the conclusion that Okinawa hates their children.  Kids of all ages are just free roaming the front seat, getting a tan on the dash board, hanging head first out the window, or just jumping on their parent's laps.  What the hell is that all about?  Can somebody seriously tell me??

Terrifying experiences aside I can't wait to start riding my motorcycle here so I can REALLY risk my life.

Peach Airlines

I just took Peach Airways up to Kansai for new years and what an experience that was.  Peach is probably the cheapest airline I have ever flown, and for a very good reason.  They are absolutely no frills. 

First class?  Forget about it.
Free drink service?  HA!
Have legs or arms?  Too bad, no leg or elbow room.
Boarding gate?  Psh, you get shuttled to the outskirts of the airport and leave from the cargo hangar.  

Costs? as low as $45 for a 1000 mile flight.  Yeah, I'll take that.  And I'll definitely take it over flying in the US.  Flying in the US is a degrading and horrible experience.  When I fly domestic in Japan I can pack as much liquid as you want (BYOB!), keep my shoes and belt on, leave my id at home and just get to where you're going.  Imagine that...Where's your freedom now 'Merica?

8% Double Ume Chu-hai?  This is most certainly a 'carry-on' item.

Peach actually isn't bad at all considering the price.  The flight attendants are still cute and the price is unbeatable.  They also do throw some chairs, carpet, and a bathroom up in the cargo hangar which was mighty nice of them.  Plus there are vending machines and little shops so you can buy any drinks/snacks you may need for the flight.  I slept most of the 2.5 hour flight from Okinawa to Kansai, but I would imagine a longer flight would be a little more miserable given the above mentioned lack of comforts.

Flying Peach is often cheaper, and certainly faster, than the night bus, so I will most definitely be flying with them again.  Next stop, Tokyo?...Sapporo?...Haven't decided yet.

Fushimi-Inari Taisha

With all the time I've spent in Kyoto, it is crazy how I managed to avoid Fushimi Inari for 5 years. Apparently it is a common problem with everyone else I know in Osaka/Kyoto.  If you are one of those people who just haven't gotten around to checking out fushimi inari, you are missing out on some killer scenery.

I walked about an hour south of the Sanjo Station along the river to get there but I saw a lot of busses so if walking isn't your thing...don't go to fushimi inari.  Fushimi-Inari has a nice open area in the front (first picture below) but after that it is miles of walking up a mountain through torii.  The scenery is cool and the longer I walked the less people I saw, making for some decent photos.  Unfortunately I didn't make it to the top but that just gives me a reason to go back.

Though I didn't make it all the way to the top, that beer I had afterwards sure tasted good after walking a few miles up and down a mountain.

I took these with my iPhone but I'll bring my DSLR with me next time!

(Unfortunately?) Google has a street view of a small portion of the walk, but you really need to see it for yourself.

Nomunication

Now that I'm back in Japan, it's okay for me to talk about drinking (excessively?) and not sounds like a raging alcoholic.  Thank you Japan for helping me remain in the denial stage.

Drinking culture is crucial in Japan and not just because Japanese are uptight and need to unwind (which is not a bad reason). Drinking culture has its roots in Japan as far back as time and alcohol itself. I'm seeing it a lot now with the Bounenkai (drinking parties to 'forget the year') which are typically held in izakaya and bars.

Side note: I actually got a work email the other day from a coworker saying thanks for inviting him to the Bounenkai, but he is too hungover from the previous night's party to attend.  I think I'm going to fit in just fine at work.

As with all Japanese traditions, there is a process and rules you are expected to follow; have a few beers with coworkers for new years, fill your neighbor’s glass, drink a lot, etc. I forget the rules around drink 8, but there is a clear drinking culture and the best part is anything goes when you're drinking. The whole "I was drunk" excuse is more accepted here and you're almost expected to get a little weird and at least open up. I find that a little karaoke afterwards helps a bit.  Nothing forms bonds faster than a bunch of sloppy people enjoying good food, singing like idiots and just letting their guards down.  Some have coined this phenomenon of using beer to make friends as Nomunication (which is a clever combination of the word to drink, Nomu, and communication.

Here's to a great year and a lot more beers in the future.  I'll drink to that!