Okinawa

Okinawa is a small island an hour flight away from Taiwan. It's the most well known one and most Americans know of it because of World War 2 and it being the location of an American military base now. For Japan it's a tropical island getaway and the islands also used to be an independent kingdom.

My first meal in Okinawa was Tsukemen, dipping ramen. Seemed like a spot with a lot of regulars. Some interesting things I got to see right away: Refrigerator lockers at a basement supermarket inside of a mall, Sriracha vending machine, shooting bars where you there's all you can drink and BB guns to just shoot whenever you want. Definitely catering to American soldiers and gun enthusiasts.

This is the main strip in Naha, Okinawa. I think I've seen pictures of Hawaii looking like this but it also is reminiscent of Vegas. I guess it's the palm trees and nightlife. There was also a large roofed market that you'd see in mainland Japan. It was pretty expansive and felt like led to some dark alleys at night.

First big mistake in Okinawa. I went to a well known cheap Yakitori chain, Torikizoku and ordered several skewers on the tablet. I didn't realize each order came with TWO skewers. I even ordered ramen and a high ball. I was struggling! I didn't even get to try their new yakitori dog and fried chicken 'hot dog'. The next meal was this popular gyoza chain. I guess since gyoza is considered Chinese food for Japan, they had other popular Chinese dishes like egg fried rice and mapo tofu.

I went to check out this huge second hand shop. It had everything from clothes, shoes, Magic cards?! and anime figures next to their large BB gun collection.

Getting my favorite meal the last time I was in Japan, Gyukatsu, breaded steak. There were a few very popular ramen spots nearby but it always had a line. I think I waited over an hour to get to try this for the first time and I managed to catch this place when it was just opening for lunch so I was the first customer. After this I went out to American Village. It was over an hour journey by bus and along the beach.

Lots of what I think they refer to as America-core everywhere. Lots of Spam and Taco Rice. These packages of Taco Rice were heavy bags of shelf stable seasoned ground beef. I'll talk more about Taco Rice later.

Walked by this park on the way to another beach and it had some of these cool looking trees. This next meal is Okinawa Soba. It features thick cuts of pork belly.

So since I was staying in the entertainment and bar district. I realized that there were ramen places nearby that only opened at 9pm and closed at 9am. So if I wanted to try these places I'd have to figure it out. I ended up waking up at around 2am and went out for some ramen. The place was quite busy and I decided to finally give Taco Rice a shot as a side addon. It was pretty rudimentary and a little reminiscent of Taco Bell but with good rice. The ramen was definitely worth it and wild to think it'd be inaccessible to some people because of the store hours.

They even have Mario Kart on the street in Okinawa too. A&W is a trendy and touristy thing here in Okinawa so I gave it a shot. It was not great but the root beer tastes legit.

My first Sukiyaki and it was so good. It's basically kind of like Shabu Shabu, Japanese hot pot but with a sweet broth and I think usually at restaurants is always served like this. Total diner vibes at this restaurant.

Just shelf stable pork belly out in room temperature.

Kakigori, shaved ice from a small little shop run by one guy. He gave me peanut mochi on the house.

This vending machine with whole rotisserie chicken was BEHIND the airport security area in Naha Airport in Okinawa but probably only available for domestic flights.

Quick trip to Tokyo