My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
June 2024
We had one stop in Okinawa, Japan. I asked my Japanese friends what their plans were and I got enough vague answers and half plans that I was hoping something would work out. I heard on a youtube video that one of the qualities of Japanese politeness is that if someone is non-committal, it probably means they don’t actually want to hang out with you, but they won’t tell you that directly. I kept that possibility in mind as I took the shuttle into town, and managed to tag along with Hiroshi and Lexi.
Luckily they still talk to me now that we’re all off the ship in our separate corners of the world, so I’m guessing I did okay in the social faux pas department. We stopped in a kombini (convenience store) and I was delighted to see that it was being tidied by a robot.
Okinawa is famous for a purple sweet potato that they were very proud of.
They even turned it into ice cream! I tried some later that afternoon.
We wandered past the shops with beach themes, talking about the latest drama on the ship.
Like with tattoos, make sure you know what something says if it’s written in another language.
I love discovering the universal things between cultures, like dressing up dogs.
We found our way to a market.
Where Hiroshi treated us to beef sushi.
There were a few different alleyways to wander through.
Finally we all met up with my other friends where we had a very local meal, including snake sake.
After lunch I parted with Lexi and Hiroshi to go to karaoke with Kotoha and Kosuke. Kosuke was a member of a karaoke club where we could enter for free. We snuggled into a booth with a large screen and they took turns picking songs. As someone who hosts karaoke as part of my job, I don’t understand why anyone in my line of work would want to do this in their spare time, but Koto and Kosuke are really good singers. I enjoyed experiencing karaoke in the country where it came from with people who loved doing it.
It was a beautiful day of hanging out with friends in a place I had never been to before, where I was able to try foods that I had never tried before (and some I don’t need to try again).