All posts filed under: Okinawa

Sushi Zen: Apologies, Embarrassment and Disappointment

Published by

A couple of months ago I posted a blog entry advertising that an Okinawan photo club I belong to was having a mini exhibit at a local restaurant called Sushi Zen (see original post here). The pictures were up all January and when the month finished the owner was more than happy to have the exhibit continue on into February. Yesterday, I saw a comment on Facebook saying that Sushi Zen didn’t allow Japanese customers. I thought that something must have got lost in translation, but unfortunately, the comments made on Facebook were true. A regular customer of the restaurant told me that the Japanese owner had worked in America and on his return to Okinawa he set up a restaurant making American style sushi that would be popular with  Americans on the island. Japanese customers however demanded Japanese style sushi,  and made negative comments about the American customers when talking in Japanese. It appears that to create a comfortable atmosphere for his American clients, the owner decided to make the restaurant a private club. …

100 Yen CDs

Published by

Japanese video stores such as Tsutaya and GEO rent DVDs, Blu-ray discs, comics, video games and CDs. Sometimes they sell off the older DVD’s and CD’s as ex-rentals and recently GEO had a big sale with whole shelves of CD’s on sale for just 100 yen each. It’s been fantastic wandering around the aisles of various stores and as an entire album is less than a single song on iTunes I’ve been quite happy to try things I wouldn’t have otherwise bought. Surprisingly a large number of the CDs were by Scatman John, which even at 100 yen, I managed to resist. So if you happen to see me in my car singing hits from the nineties you now know why. “Movin’ to the country, Gonna eat a lot of peaches. Movin’ to the country, Gonna eat me a lot of peaches”

Ugly Overhead Wires – Shifting Baselines

Published by

In response to a few comments to the previous post… Do people get used to having electrical wires stretching through the sky, I’m sure. Does this lessen the frustration you might otherwise have, probably. Does it mean that it is no longer a problem, not at all. The phenomenon of shifting baselines as applied in fisheries and ecology is that the perception of what a “healthy” ecosystem is worsens as we get used to successive levels of damage. In Okinawa this idea could be applied to the coral reefs, the forests, beaches or the presence of wiring and concrete poles. Here’s a short public service announcement that explains a little more:

Ugly Overhead Wires

Published by

Last weekend was cloudy and rainy. Rather than taking photos of cherry blossom I was stuck inside sitting at the computer. Then, following a gust of wind, my internet connection went dead. I phoned NTT (on my mobile) and after confirming that one of the green lights on the modem was no longer lit, then sent around an engineer. Turns out that the telephone line had been bent out of shape by the branches of a swaying tree. I didn’t ask, but I wonder how many people lose their phone, internet or electricity when typhoons bring much stronger winds. Isn’t it time that Okinawa thought about burying some of these cables? This isn’t a new idea, a few years ago I had a monthly column in the Asahi Weekly newspaper. Here’s the column from March 2004. Power to the People I can see the ocean from my living room window. This may sound idyllic, but running directly in front of my house is a mass of wires. Concrete pillars support various sets of electrical and …

Island Icons – Dolphin Trainers

Published by

Dolphin Delight Ryo Nakasone and Azusa Watanabe are dolphin trainers at Okinawa’s Expo Park. Ryo Nakasone grew up in Motobu not far from the aquarium where he now works. While at high school in Naha he was a champion boxer and was scouted by Nihon University where he fought in the light-fly weight class while a student. After graduation, he returned to his hometown and began working at Expo Park. Now 29, he has been a dolphin trainer for five years. Azusa Watanabe majored in fisheries studies at Nagasaki University. She moved to Okinawa four months ago, and at age 23, is the aquarium’s newest dolphin trainer. What types of dolphin live at Expo Park? “There are 82 species of dolphin in the world, and we have five species living here at Expo. They are the Pacific white-sided dolphin, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, rough-toothed Dolphin, bottlenose dolphin and false killer whale.” I heard a rumor that killer whales are actually a type of dolphin? “It is true; they are part of the same biological family Delphinidae. …

Island Icons – Gerontologist Craig Willcox (extended interview)

Published by

The interview I did with Dr. Craig Willcox went on far longer than the single page that appeared  in the magazine. I have posted the extended version of the interview below for those who are interested. Gerontologist Craig Willcox Okinawa’s most valuable asset is its people. This month we meet Doctor Craig Willcox a Professor of International Public Health & Welfare and Gerontology at Okinawa International University. Dr. Willcox is a principal investigator in the Okinawa Centenarian Study, which has brought global attention to the healthy lifestyles of Okinawa’s oldest citizens. When did you first hear about Okinawan longevity? “While at the University of Toronto I participated in a study investigating how nutrition and other factors were associated with healthy survival. One group we were looking at was Japanese Canadians in the province of Ontario and this is when I first met Toku Oyakawa. Oyakawa-san was 105; he’d been born in Nago City (in northern Okinawa) and later emigrated to Canada. He was living a traditional Okinawan lifestyle in Canada, which suggested that Okinawan health …

Chris Willson Photography now at Kadena Gift Corner

Published by

Sometimes the solution to a problem has been there all the time. Late last year, I had a stall at a couple of craft fares on base. People were able to check out my prints and have a chat, and I had a good time. My problem was that when someone asked will you be here next week, or next month, I had to say no. There are simply not enough hours in the week for me to spend several days a month running a stall. What I needed was a permanent place to have some of my photographs on display and a selection of prints for sale. The solution was the Kadena Gift Corner which will, from next Tuesday, have a selection of my prints available for purchase. The staff are really friendly and the profits from the store go to various charities in both the States and Okinawa. So if you are in the area please drop in and have a look around!