Memories of Okinawa

As we got more and more used to the new surroundings, the opportunities that showed up were more and more exciting. Our “new” okinawan friends, Kyomi and Chieko had a good report with my parents. When they asked us to join them in a trip to Koza for some “shopping” my parents couldn’t help but be delighted. Yeah, the first few trips we did do some shopping and got to know the area pretty well between Gate 2 street and BC street, but, it wasn’t long before we started hitting the clubs.

Through the autumn of 1979 we had discovered many things beyond just the skating rink and school. We had found the place at kadena where you rented the latest music on reel to reel tapes and a setup to make copies onto cassettes. We discovered the rec center at makiminato service area had pool tables and the marines were more than happy to hang out with long haired high school kids and play pool. They weren’t really much older than we were. We had discovered beer and liquor in the cave below the house and all night parties with those same marines. We had discovered heiwa dori in Naha and the game rooms, the shopping centers, and the general trouble that kids can get into in a foreign country. We had discovered that the local bus system provided mobility to reach the far corners of the island and from autumn of ‘79 on we were unstoppable. On friday and saturday nights we just had to make sure we were on that last bus home at 10:30 or so …..

So, Chieko talks to our parents and somehow gains their trust to let us start going to Koza. Dad had been on island before, around ‘73 or so, and he knew the deal in Koza. I bet he was a party animal in his day. But Chieko assured him that we would be alright. We went. That first few times we only did a little looking around at the shops in what had been previously known as blackmarket alley. They showed us which buses to ride for our trips back and forth from home. But, soon the trips were different. These girls were 18 and 19 and here we were 13 and me at 15 and we found out there was no law against minors in bars. We were listening to heavy metal at the time and that is what they played in these bars. So loud you couldn’t even talk. This was definitely where we would want to be. We did’nt do any real drinking in these early trips, but, we slipped in a sip or three from time to time. Over time Koza, actually the bus stop in front of Teruya Music, became the starting point for many an escapade.

We were still hanging at that skating rink in between Koza runs, and we were actually having the time of our young lives. We were just beginning to understand the opportunities ahead. We had forged friendships with these older girls and beyond the two there were their friends – Ayako, Yasuko, Keiko. We all went to the coffee houses and that was a trip in and of itself. The Japanese really revere coffee and the art of the brew. They used Bunsen burners to heat water and it would push up through a straw into the brew funnel, where it would boil for a while, then the heat would be removed and the coffee would fall back to the bottom. The two pieces of the brewer would separate and coffee poured over ice and ……. rotsa sugar water. That coffee process was awesome. The smell, the sound, and most of all the flavor. A Japanese coffee house had coffee from all over the world. Every gourmet blend you can imagine. Not what we perceive as gourmet “butternut hazel creme” no self respecting coffee lover would drink that crap. I really liked the coffee called Kilimanjaro, that stuff was some kinda flavorful.

It was really getting late in the year at this point. We had already experienced more in three months than most experience in a lifetime. Christmas was coming and typhoon season was in full swing ……..