Okinawa

Okinawa was a great time. I went down with 2 ALT friends for the weekend and stayed with an American family, the Fallons. The Fallons picked us up at the airport Friday night and took us on a ride through the neon lights and electrical advertisements lining the main drag on that side of the island. Okinawa is a thin strip of land 67 miles long and 4 miles wide at the narrowest. Much of the island has been greatly developed even in the last 35 years since Okinawa became part of Japan. In return for allowing vast American presence, Brock Fallon explained, America was pumping millions of dollars into the development of the prefecture. Okinawa actually includes many islands, most of them small that surround the mainland. Despite the American aid, Okinawa is still the poorest prefecture of Japan’s forty-seven.

I spent most of my time listening to Brock and Linda Fallon describe their ministry work here in Japan as well as their incredible interest in and knowledge of American military history. Brock had been in the Army Reserves for 28 years before retiring as a commercial diving engineer. Now he is a high school math teacher on one of the military bases in Okinawa. With his clearance we were able to get on the bases as well for shopping, dining, and renting snorkeling gear. If snorkeling had not been my number one priority I totally would have wanted to go golfing at Kadena’s golf course- only $6.50 for 18 beautiful holes.

At first I had adverse reactions to this. Six-fifty for 18 holes of golf? That’s where our tax money is going? Then I was told that for Christmas, the military families were getting shipments of pine Christmas trees, not native to the island of Okinawa. Another lavish expense unnecessary. But as the weekend progressed I started to think a lot harder about the money being spent on military men and women already stationed around the globe. You may disagree with war in principle, you may disagree with particular wars, but I find it difficult at least to relegate the lives of those who serve.

On Sunday we went to Camp Hansen for a morning service. There I met a young man named D. (I’ll keep his name to an initial) who came with us to the Churaumi Aquarium Sunday afternoon. Here was this 19 year old kid, really, with a young bride back home in the states, giving up the first year of marriage and the last year of his teens to sit on an island and tool radios for military operations in Southeast Asia. Other families on base have husbands and fathers away on secret missions where they have to wonder where they are or if they’re even alive. When that young soldier signs his name on the line, he’s not only sacrificing his own life but the lives of his family members as well. I’ll let them play golf for 6 bucks.

Besides the golf course, there are many other amenities to make families feel at home. Stepping onto Kadena base (the second largest American Air Force base in the world) was like stepping back onto American soil. I was surprised to find that it’s not, legally. The entrances to all the bases we were on were marked by the American and the Japanese flag. However, standing in a Chili’s parking lot not 6 hours after departing the Shinkansen (bullet train) was a surreal experience. Once inside I was immediately struck by the entire occupation of white faces and brown crew cuts. And lo and behold, the flat screen TV was playing the Packers/Lions game! I ordered 2 appetizers and a steak- I almost couldn’t put down the menu. For a drink I asked for “water…in a tall glass, please.” The girl looked at me funny, but I didn’t care, I hadn’t seen a tall glass at a restaurant since I’d been in the states. I ate way too much that evening and left with a stretched stomach; but it was for the best- I was preparing for a Thanksgiving meal the following day.

Linda Fallon had made Turkey-day food for 100 soldiers that Thursday and had managed to save almost a whole bird plus all the fixings and gravy. The only thing missing from our Saturday Thanksgiving feast was the can-shaped cranberry sauce. This was my birthday meal. And to top it off, pumpkin pie! Little did Linda know that this was often what I would ask for instead of a birthday cake growing up.

So it was an American weekend. We didn’t get much of a chance to see the Okinawans in action (I hear they have a much more relaxed way of life) but we did get to see an aspect of Okinawa that typically only military folk see, and their perspective is from the inside. I will definitely return sometime again before I leave Japan for good (and when will that be?) whether under the guise of a vacationer or not. Or maybe it will be on Brock’s command for me to take some diving lessons and stay a bit in the summer. There’s so much more to this island than I ever knew, and the military presence is a whole new fascinating situation of its own.

I’ll end with my random bit of musing I did today whilst taking my morning shower:

I like writing down my “thinkings” rather than my “thoughts.” To me the word “thoughts” is static and past oriented. “Thinkings” is dynamic and malleable. Once a thought occurs it’s frozen in the past; At best a thought is simply a momentary slice of a thinking. These thinkings can be stirred, can be simmered and steeped. Then strained through colanders of new ideas and experiences to emerge in their own right worthy of utterance.