Housing for Americans

by Pa Rock
Cultural Explorer


Many of the Americans residing on Okinawa are able to live on their respective military bases.  Young singles are housed in "dorms" and eat their meals in "chow halls."  Married individuals whose families have accompanied them to the island often have the opportunity to live in family quarters on base.  Everybody else has to head out into the local economy to secure housing.

Housing for Americans on Okinawa is a very big business.  There are numerous housing agencies owned and run by local nationals whose business it is to find suitable housing for their clients, handle complaints and repairs, and collect rent.  Rents are outrageous because the American government subsidizes what Americans can pay, and the local nationals know exactly how much they can get away with charging.  As an example, my rent, along with some utilities comes to over $3,200 per month.  My apartment is decent, but certainly would not be worth that kind of money in a fair economy.

The people at my agency, Dynasty Housing, are very personable and quick to address any problems that I experience -  but for that money they should be!  There are 16 units in the building in which I live, and they all seem to be rented by American$!

Kokusai Street

by Pa Rock

Street View on Kokusai Street

Cultural Explorer

Our last stop on the Saturday outing was Naha's famed Kokusai Street, the place where the Esai Drum Festival was held during my first week on the island.   I was fortunate to find a place to park my little car - a small parking garage that I encountered while driving down an alley the wrong direction.. We walked about six blocks up Kokusai Street, through a continuing throng of small businesses and street vendors, to a small brewery for our evening meal.

Street Opening onto the Market Mall

Kokusai Street is a very busy place.  It would take a full day to adequately explore it as well as the cavernous indoor (almost underground) market mall that opens onto the street.

A View from Inside the Market Mall

Fish, Squid, and More Fish

Fish

by Pa Rock
Cultural Explorer

Squid

One of our discoveries Saturday was a large fresh fish market located near Naha Port.  The fish were varied, plentiful, and iced-down ready to go.  The place smelled like dead fish, but the odor seemed to fade the longer we were there!

My friend bought a fish that he took home and fried that evening.  I did my shopping out in the parking lot where there was a small farmer's market - I bought an apple (it was delicious), a pear, and a couple of carrots.  Attached are photos of some fish that won't be heading back out to sea with the receding tide.

And More Fish!

Another Roadside Attraction

Roadside Clothing Vendors

by Pa Rock
Cultural Explorer

Saturday on the drive north from Peace Park we came to a group of roadside shops just south of Itoman.  It seemed like a good place to take a break.  There were a group of mama-sans selling tourist clothing, flowery shirts and things like that.  I tried to glance casually at one as a possible gift for a grandson, but as my eyes drifted shirt-ward, mama-san grabbed it from the line and held it in front of my face.  "Discount!"  She yelled proudly.  After being scared by her unbridled capitalism, I fled onto a side street where I enjoyed an afternoon ice cream cone.

A Variety of Okinawa Shisas - Half Dog / Half Lion
A Pair of Shisas Protect Most Okinawan homes.

Peace Park

Diorama of Okinawan Fish Peddler

by Pa Rock
Cultural Explorer


Peace Park is located on the southern tip of Okinawa at a place where many Japanese soldiers committed suicide by jumping off of the steep cliffs rather than face capture or death at the hands of the enemy.  Forty years ago the park was a solitary walk through a couple of dozen markers and monuments.  Today it encompasses an enormous building that serves as a learning center about the war, along with many monuments to the brave soldiers of both sides who died fighting on Okinawa in 1945.  There were also thousands of civilian casualties in that harrowing battle.

Section of the American Wall

One of the most striking tributes is composed of many black granite walls that perforate the landscape.  These walls contain the names of the soldiers of both sides who died fighting the Battle of Okinawa.  (It is much like the Vietnam wall in Washington, DC.)

Live Rounds of Ammo on Display Under Floor of
Learning Center

The learning center had black and white documentaries of the battle running constantly, along with books at study carousels.  One section the I really enjoyed were diaries of Okinawans who were living on the island at the time of the battle.   One set had been transcribed into English for the American guests who came to the center.  (Unfortunately, these diaries were not for sale in the gift shop.)  There were also some amazing dioramas of life on Okinawa at the time of the war.



Bus loads of Okinawan school children - mostly young adolescents - were touring the park while we were there.  Many of them were undoubtedly the great-grandchildren of the brave souls who fought so valiantly to save their island and their way of life from the invaders - both the Americans and the Japanese.

View of the Pacific from Peace Park

Peace Park is a unique experience that would take many days to properly explore. I shall return.

Naha and Points South

Craftsman at a Glass Forge - Itoman, Okinawa

by Pa Rock
Cultural Explorer


A friend and I motored over the south end of Okinawa today, visiting the glass factory at Itoman, Peace Park on the southern tip  of the island, rural Naha looking for the duplex that I lived in forty years ago (which we did not locate);  a fish market, and finally dinner on Kokusai Street.  It was a full day, and I took plenty of pictures.  They will run here over the next few days.  Enjoy!

Glass Art - Itoman, Okinawa

Rainbows and Dragon Flies

by Pa Rock 
Cultural Explorer


Rains on Okinawa are usually light and brief, often falling beneath predominantly blue skies, but occasionally we get a real storm with thunder and lightening and wind.  One of those blew through the night before last, waking me with some serious thunder and flashes of lightening.  By the time I finally was ready to leave for work, the worst had passed, and when I arrived at my office, Kadena Air Bare was adorned with a beautiful rainbow.  It was not predictive of how the day at work would be!

The weather was hot by the time I left work, with nary a hint of rain.  The warm and dry brought out dragon flies which were everywhere - big ones.  When I arrived on the island in July, the locusts were so noisy that it was often hard to hear outside.  They are gone now, replaced by the dragon flies, which  are sometimes hard to dodge, but mercifully quiet.

To everything there is a season.