The Ahmahrican Soapbox

While Jack was busy driving us, I was responsible for GPS operation and also the radio. So there are 5 FM stations on the island. One thing I've noticed about Japanese radio DJ's is that they really love talking alot more than their Canadian counterparts. Often, they will talk for 2 minutes in rapid-fire Japanese, then talk for the first minute of the song while it's playing. Then after 2 minutes, they'll start talking over the song again. The net result of this is that there's usually only one station that's playing music.

That station is AFN-Okinawa. American Forces Network... *shudder*. They play rock, which is nice -- but it's really frustrating to have to listen to commercials which include (and I'm not joking) ads encouraging you to consider Power of Attorney for your loved ones, ads on selecting safe passwords, and 5 minute history diddys (like Canada's Heritage commericials just more about have the Americans roflpwned everybody else). The Americans also have an AM station here that basically repeats a 3 hour loop detailing American history and why they are the awesome.

*sigh*.

I really wish I had paid more attention to history class. WW II has had an enormous impact on Japan's culture and its economics. You'll notice the vast majority of photos on the facebook page with people in them are displaying the peace sign. (Either because we're poking fun at the ubiquitous camera pose, or because a Japanese person IS posing like that for us :). It's a cute, cultural stereotype - but it really portrays an interesting message when one considers its the automatic Japanese reaction to counting to three.

Anyhoo. Enough talking about the Amahricans...

Today we went for Soba noodles. Absolutely fantastic - check out the photos. I still can't slurp them quite right. Afterwards, we went for a snorkelling and sea kayaking trip out by 'Blue Cave'.

The cave was neat. The guides get you to face to wall as you shimmy into position so your eyes can adjust. I, as usual, spaced and didn't hear him say that. So I kept turning around. The tour guide kept on frantically telling me to turn back around and hold the wall. (Actually, his exact words were, "Turn round, Nose!"). Apparently Nose is my new nickname. It IS rather prominent, but I was going for Nels. *sigh*. The cave was well worth it though, it was bright blue due to the reflection of the sky and water inside the cave mouth. We kayaked for a bit... Jack stepped on something marine-ish and caused a giant flood of purple to spew forth and color a 2 meter squared region of water.... and I had alot of fun.

Our tour guide was fantastic. He spoke a bit of English, having stayed in Vancouver for a year on exchange. He was so appologetic that he didn't know all the words - but truly, he had, by far, the best English we've encountered so far. Certainly, the snorkel wouldn't have been as enjoyable if I hadn't understood a single word. We ended up convincing him to pretend it was like Canada and accepting a modest tip.

We basically had to force him to take our tip (which worked out to be like, 8%). It amazes me that the service industry and its workers work SO hard to please people and the workers don't expect any extra compensation for their efforts. On the flipside, I can definately recall situtations at home where the server couldn't have cared less, but still expected their 10 - 15. I probably shouldn't get too much into that though... lest Riley, Bri and I start that whole conversation up again...

So with that, I will pass out now. There's talk of waking up at 6 AM to find a film developer to do the prints from our snorkel trip.

Bye from Japan,

Nelson