Thanks to the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania, I unexpectedly had a fantastic opportunity to participate in the ResorTech exhibition dedicated to IT technologies in Okinawa. As you can already guess from the name of the exhibition it is an exhibition with an allusion not only to technology but also to resort recreation. For those who don’t kno, Okinawa is a tropical archipelago a few thousand miles away from Tokyo. In the main part of the island there is even a place where, according to the tourist brochures, it is the northernmost corner of the tropics. The last time I had to visit Okinawa was ten years ago so I had a great opportunity to take a new look at a completely different Japan which is very much loved by the Japanese.
What do Okinawa and Lithuania have in common? This is where I think the concept of the four B’s is most useful. B – basketball. Okinawa is one of those places where the Japanese are crazy about basketball. It is not for nothing that the next World Basketball Championship will be held in the Philippines and Japan, or rather in Okinawa. They just built a new basketball arena in Okinawa this year. The second B is without a doubt agu, in other words butaniku, or pork. Okinawans are among those who eat pig ears and feet and other parts. Later I will tell you about my experience in a restaurant as a young couple ordering legs. The third B is beikoku, AMERICA. The Americans are the guarantors of the national security of both Lithuania and Japan. As many as thirty-one US military bases are located in Okinawa. All military bases in Okinawa occupy about 8% percent of the sao’s territory and amount to about eleven thousand hectares. To tell the truth, the number is impressive. Futenma and Kadena military bases should be singled out here. Sitting across the street in front of Futenma, you can see the entire collection of the American Air Force diving through the sky. Transport planes,helicopters, including Chanuks and the famous Osplay (the strangest propellers), all kinds of fighters, etc. As my colleague Rokas from the Embassy tells, when diving far away from the other islands of Okinawa, you can even hear the fighter pilots having fun underwater, who like to run around as soon as their tails touch the ocean. Of course, there is no shortage of incidents. This is where the door of an unidentified helicopter fell off last year. On the school grounds. Good thing you didn’t hit anyone. Another B – I would say is binbo. Poverty. Just as LT is not one of the richest country in the European Union, Okinawa does not shine in the statistics either. One of the lowest earnings in all of Japan, the buildings and all the infrastructure are also so old I would say. The central government is trying to revive the island’s economy and rely not only on tourism. Therefore there are exceptional conditions here for IT companies when employees’ wages are compensated. There is also the possibility of testing autonomous cars, flying drones, etc.
An exhibition as an exhibition. I talked about my products for two days like the most sacred litany. How is it when you are in a serious fight without stopping, you answer prayers for two hours, pour coffee and you can start fighting again. The most interesting, of course, are the visitors of the exhibition. Hi bro and yes sir come the other day. Well, all American soldiers start with hey bro and end every answer with yes sir. You can tell a soldier from half a kilometer away, and especially an American in Japan. All body language, sunglasses and a hand like a club. So yes sir was wondering about cryptocurrencies. A message has been circulating in the US social networks reddit and discord for the past few days that a very prominent Japanese ace of the new cryptocurrency is visiting the exhibition and he has come to meet the new guru. Investing is a sacred matter.
As I said before, it would be a crime to attend the parade and not miss a day in Okinawa in the sun. So I devoted my Saturday to exploring the island. Inspired by the fascinating stories of Zanzibar told by an old friend, Aivaras Bakanas, I say you must go to Okinawa’s tropical Yanbaru forest, which is listed by Unesco.
In the morning I climb into my Toyota Aqua. One hundred kilometres and two and a half hours one way. Yes, I need to get on the sat-nav, and I look at the sat-nav map and it says Yanbaru National Park and the icon of attraction. Ok I’m on my way. I was rolling. The sea, the beaches, the perfect weather. I would even say I am tempted to jump in the water. It’s the beginning of winter for the locals. My colleague Rokas informed me that the sea temperature is 23 degrees. We both agree that our Baltics do not really get that warm. Well, I have almost arrived at my point and I see in the distance a fantastic beach of white sand. I think I will definitely go ballooning. I just need a closer drive. I drive my carriage closer. Look at the concertina fence. I think it’s a good beach, maybe it’s a paid beach, maybe it’s fenced off so that a boulder doesn’t get in.
Oh, I see… I’m about to turn left, and there’s Yes sir with a gun on his shoulder. He says stop where you’re going. I’m going for a swim. Unfortunately it reveals that this is the Kadena military base recreation ground. Turns out the whole small peninsula is covered with Japanese and little kids like me.
I roll on. My sat nav says to turn left through a local village. I drive. About five hundred metres later I see my road is narrowing and my little girl is barely getting by. I don’t think anything is wrong here. I check the navigation again. Only this time I take out the map of the telophone cone. Well, there’s a park in the middle of the mountains. I tap and roll again. This time the road is wider. At the beginning I passed through a sugar cane plantation, then a forest, then a wood and at the end a forest. I drive the car somewhere up into the mountains and think, well, this place is not designed for tourism. A bus is not going to get through. My little Toyota Aqua barely makes it there. I go about seven kilometres up the mountain on mountain roads. Not a single living spirit. Just along the way I see that there are little car entrances and little patches of about ten square metres here and there. It turns out that there are local people’s gardens.
I went on, and I was already feeling a little dizzy. Oh fuck, surely tourists won’t walk seven kilometres. This is not a pilgrimage trail. I stop the horses and I canter again. This time I find the Yanbaru Forest Education Centre. Bingo. Eureka.
I drive my Toyota down the hill. I barely make it to the education centre, but a hunch tells me something is wrong here. I go inside the centre and catch the first Japanese and ask him for explanation. I want to go into the forest. I’ve been rolling around for three hours A local bird lover – Okinawa has some super-protected birds in this Yanbaru forest – gets up from his seat. He comes over and scans me from head to toe. He says, “You want to go to the forest. Aha, I’m confused – I want to go very badly. He turns on the scanner again and looks at my shoes and says – with shoes like that – to the forest. Well, shoes are just like shoes – fucking shoes – I’ve come to the exhibition, of course, he continues. OK, he says. Then, for some reason, my Japanese friend switches to English mode, remembering that he is talking to foreigners and holds out a map and tells me that the nearest point to me is a campsite where I can take a quiet walk.
Yes, yes, I’m definitely going. Turns out there’s another trail half an hour away. Well, maybe this time the gods will be merciful. I arrive at the road and there is a magnificent palace of rest. I get a cup of coffee and, sitting on the terrace, I smell that there is a nature trail somewhere nearby.
I wander down to the trail. Finally, a forest. I hear birds chirping, bushes rustling, trees swaying, owls hooting. Nature. A bush rustles, the silhouette of a scarecrow appears in my mind’s eye. Oh, that familiar trail would soon be over. What do you know, after all, 12,000 Americans and nearly 200,000 Japanese died in Okinawa during the Second World War.
Here is a grave upon a grave. You hit the ground with a shovel and you are guaranteed to hit someone’s bone. And it’s getting dark. I remember my fishing experiences with ghosts. I can just hear a hundred metres away, the kids are howling, baaba baaba. And I think. Here’s a chance to have some fun. I think I’m going to make a splosh, but it’s going to be a shitty one. I choose between three options. a) I take off my shirt, run towards the children and with both hands in the air shout Tenno heika banzai (Long live His Majesty the Emperor.) Given the context of the island and all the Kamikaze, maybe it would make a good joke. b) I will climb a tree and when the children come up I will put my finger to my lips and make a shhhh. Please walk quietly all around. c) A bell against bears. That’s a good thing. The thoughts in my head suggest that I should crawl inside the forest and when the children come to me I should start ringing the bell. A subtle joke. Finally i gave up my silly plans and enjoy real forest.
Food
Every trip to Japan is all about local food. Okinawa has a lot to boast about. Thanks to Rokas, we have found such an authentic Okinawan place that you can just brush your fingers off without eating. Rokas, together with myself, visited the same place for three evenings.
Restaurant has been working continuously for fifty-two years.
The restaurant can seat about forty customers. Whenever you come there is always a queue of at least ten people outside. Yesterday we waited for over an hour. Today I waited for about an hour. In that time I managed to talk to the other people waiting and to the warm-up customers coming out and, most importantly, to have a chat with Daddy. As we are already on our third day of visiting the restaurant, the owner – Daddy – is very pleased.
Daddy has three functions. First. Since there is already a queue from the opening hour of the restaurant, Daddy comes out every five minutes and explains to everybody what time they are in line. He also always kindly explains that this is the most basic Okinawan food restaurant. Every housewife in Okinawa makes these dishes. All the tourists prick up their ears and drool when they smell the authenticity. Worth the wait. The second function of Daddy is to communicate with the Matrix.
As befits an authentic restaurant there’s a pink analogue rotary dial telephone inside. I sit at the bar today, gnawing on a pig’s foot, and keep one eye on the phone. I know that Daddy’s hungry customers call every ten minutes.
I hear brrrr brrrr. It’s just that the phone sounds like a Matrix movie. Two customers sitting side by side are even having a conversation. Then my dad picks up the horn and repeats like a poet – there are no seats available, we don’t take reservations, sorry.
Dad’s third job is to look after his henhouse. Oh, there are a lot of little ladies out there, but the most important thing is Daddy’s darling – the Mother Hen. Madame is responsible for three frying pans. The one on the right cooks only fish. Tasty. Then in the pan in the middle she makes what’s called a tenpura. She only has two types – mozuku (some kind of seaweed abra kadabra) and rakyo (also a vegetable you find with curry). Then on the campfire it’s still responsible for everything that cooks. And then there’s nice pieces of pig. The meat is soft and tender. Another auntie in charge of all sorts of chanpuru, some sort for frying pan.
There are also a few aunties working with snacks. There are also some lovely little waitresses. I think one is Daddy’s granddaughter. We had a nice chat with her yesterday. I asked her if Daddy is very strict, she said no, he is normal now. Today, as befits a true gourmet, I ordered goya (a kind of bitter vegetable – a vitamin bomb) in a special vinegar souce (like mozuku, sweet and pleasant). Then soya cheese chanpuru with beef. And of course boiled pig’s feet. You should have seen how pleased Daddy was. Oh, he said, “That’s a choice, that’s a gourmet gaijin – perfect for the menu”. If I hadn’t gone round, I think in a week or so Dad would have proposed to marry his granddaughter. That’s how satisfied and happy he was.
Given the flow of customers, they feed about three Lithuanian wedding groups every day. Some two hundred heads every day, and that’s how Daddy said it has been for thirty years.
