My Favorite Okinawa Quirks

Wow, so it's been about a year and a half since my last post. Hmmmm... Guess that means I've got a LOT to catch up on here! So the topic of the day is the delightful quirks of Okinawa. Just in case you have any doubt in your mind, I want to start by saying that I absolutely LOVE this island with a passion equal only to my passion for Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream. This is NOT an article slamming Okinawa, quite the opposite in fact.

Here's my list of quirks:

No trash cans in public places.

There really are almost NONE. It's strange for this American to wander for miles in search of a trash receptical to drop my random garbage (I'm American, it follows that I tend to generate garbage, just can't help it...). This is especially noticeable since there seems to be a trash can on every corner in the United States. Sometiems it's rather inconvenient (like on a scorching summer day when I've just picked up a rather large pile of my Rottweiler's excrement, tied it in 2 plastic bags to super double bag the stink, and have to put it in my vehicle and take it home with me... Not the best car freshner I've found. I've been told this lack of places to drop your trash is because Okinawa does not have extra money in their budget to pay for people to come pick up the garbage on a regular basis. Not sure if this is true, but it sounds like it has a ring of truth to it, so I'm going to choose to believe that one.

Wonderfully worded signs

Hey people, we're in Okinawa, and we're lucky they are making any effort to make signs that we can understand. They could just flip us the bird (or do whatever the Japanese consider a rude gesture) and write everying in kanji (the writing that looks like a series of scribbles and lines to the untraiined Gaijin (foreigner) eyes. But they do make a serious effort to include us and some of the results of these efforts can be quite humorous. See picture above...

Fire hydrants under manhole covers.

Not sure why, but I think this is adorable (and takes up MUCH less space). Plus you don't see those nasty dog pee covered attrocities on every corner. And when you are stumbling home drunk, you won't smack your knee on one (not that I've ever done that...).

Soda/Coffee machines every 10 feet

Ok, what this island lacks in trash cans, it makes up for with drink machines. Honestly I've never seen so many soday machines in my life! you could be driving b y a sugar cane field and out there in the middle of nowhere is a bright red soda machine with both cold AND hot beverages (and even soup!). It's fun to put coins in and try random drinks, despite sometiems finding out you are now drinking hot corn soup instead. Oops, should've noticed the bright red sign under that item that said "HOT."

Tombs on waterfront property.

The Okinawans really revere their dead. So much so that a lot of Okinawan prime waterfront property is taken up by tombs. I guess I'm thinking like a capatilist (hmmm how many huge and obnoxiously large mansions could we fit on that piece of land?) instead of thinking like an Okinawan (hmmm I'm going to be visiting this tomb a fair amount - it would be nice if it was right on the ocean with a fabulous view, that way I can visit with my dead relatives and enjoy the beauty of nature at the same time). That would never fly in America. Maybe that's why I'm enjoying it so much here in Okinawa!

An obsession with beetles.

No, not the Beatles music group, just the bug. Now I happen to have an outrageously illogical fear of bugs. ESPECIALLY big beetle looking bugs. The Okinawans, however, will pay good money for a beetle to take home as a pet (sometimes as much as $500 and up). They have lunchboxes with pictures of beetles on them, rafts in the shape of beetles, stuffed animal beetles, and of course stickers that look like beetles. "Yuki, you did so well on your test that you get a big beetle sticker on the top of your paper!" Sort of makes a big gold star look kinda wussy.