Japan knife attack

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Street/Reality Fighting
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My girl’s from Ishigaki and I speak Hogen (Uchinaguchi) - want to learn Ishigaki/Yaeyama hogen.

I had problems with the gas station in Okinawa city south of Goya Jiujiro (where the old blue bridge was). The attendant just played clueless. Refused yen and credit card.

I wasn’t allowed in certain stores in Ameku (Naha).

I wasn’t allowed in karaoke spots in Nago and Ginowan. I think there was another place in Gushikawa as well. I had a link for a blogger who was doing JET in Okinawa that ran into the same experience, complete with pictures of the place so you could know where I’m talking about; but I can’t find the site anymore.

I wasn’t allowed in any bar in Matsuyama, in addition to being told “no” at a bunch of places within walking distance of Kokusai doori. Almost punched the guy at the counter at Paraiso when he tried to talk trash hayaguchi (fast talking) & laughing at me till I pointed out that it was his mistake, not mine (“san yen” DOES sound like a ridiculous concert ticket price; unless you really want 3 little aluminum coins).

Thanks for the heads up on the Ramen shop & the all-you can eat curry (Fab, in chatan?).
Chatan was one of the few areas that was pretty universally cool to me.
There’s an awesome karaoke place just south of Mihama and the ferris wheel that’s the coolest karaoke places I’ve ever been.
That being said, they still wouldn’t let Americans pay by credit card in the San A grocery store, eventhough they had “Visa” stickers right there on the register.

I’ll see if i can find Mongol 800, thanks again. I had a lot of friends who were DJs, bouncers, and/or hosts in the old Pyramid days, but now Pyramid’s a parking lot and all the bars out Gate 2 are complete dives (the only places I was allowed in).

There’s an onsen somewhere north of Sunabe (forget exact locale).
Tried to make reservations to stay there for a day and they told me “no”.
Girl I was hanging with at the time tried as well and as soon as she mentioned me, they wouldn’t let her; she’s Okinawan from Ginowan btw.
If you could get me in there, or find another place, I’d really appreciate it.

North of Nago, on the way to the aquarium, they tried to confiscate my last working credit card - my other ones shut off eventhough I called each one up and explicitly told them I’d be in Japan & not to stop payment. On the phone with the credit card company for the card the gas station tried to confiscate and asked them about it, for this particular card they said they’d never even rejected the purchase, let alone asked them to hold it.

Don’t get me wrong.
I love Okinawa.
I still consider it my home eventhough last year was my first time there in 10 years.
I do Kenjinkai (Prefecture Cultural Society) for Okinawa here in the States, as well as Eisa, and some Sanshin/Samisen - taking a break right now, but plans to get back to it in august.
I got tons of friends from there, a lot still living there.
But on the whole, they are nowhere near as friendly as they used to be.
When I was 16 over there, I didn’t have to pay for anything (cover charges, drinks, and often food) and I think I was only kicked out of one place in Matsuyama - private party.

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I have a story to tell:

It was spring festival 06 and I was in Hangzhou.

Specifically it was spring festival 06 and it was night time and I was in Hangzhou with a trunk full of Longquan swords having just disembarked an evening bus from Longquan.

I went to several hotels. Half of them claimed to be full. The other half said they could not have foreigners on the premeses. I later learned that this was hogwash. As of several years back any properly licensed hotel in China can host foreigners as well as Chinese nationals.

So there are three options: 1) the hotels I went to that refused a “foreign guest” were all operating without licenses and didn’t want to risk police notice.

  1. the hotels I went to were all full and the clerks felt they could save face by claiming that they were not allowed to admit waiguoren.

  2. the desk attendants were racist and this was a convenient excuse to get the filthy foreigner out of her hotel.

East asia hasn’t experienced the same backlash against racism that western europe and north america have. This certainly does not mean that racists are even the majority of the population. It just means that people who chose to act racistly can do so with some impunity that we are not accustomed to. And although people of african descent get it worst, people of european ancestry are subject to that racism at times.

Again, YMMV. If you don’t happen to get the racist bouncer / desk clerk / cashier / maitre’d / etc. when you go out you may never notice.

Doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

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Chatan is pretty easy cuz its stuck right in the middle of the 3 big bases. I still preferred hangin in Naha though. That or really most of the time I’d spend either at my ex’s place out near Gushikawa. Favorite dive spot was Meida and Zanpa wasn’t bad either. Back before the JP’s started crackin down we’d go out to Ikei and watch the locals drift. Tropical beach in my opinion is the best “sandy” beach, and they got all the grills and they never said anything to us about open bottles or anything there. But swimming isn’t as fun…I just don’t dig the whole net thing there.

Pyramid, man sorry to say but I think pretty much that entire strip there was trash. Except maybe Club Red and Good Times. But when I went out I typically tried to get as far away from that area as possible. So typically that meant Naha. I’m not sure what scene you’re into. Olays is prob the best bar there. They got drinks, food, pool, performers and a karaoke room. And all the staff were mega cool. I used to kinda know the owner of Hinotoma. Not well, mostly through my DJ friends. But I never had to pay to get in and drinks were pretty much free. I never drank much though so didn’t really matter. And underneath it is a pretty good (expensive though) food joint. Got some good noodles. I’m not sure now but at the time B Greens wasn’t too bad. I’m not so much into that kinda club though. But I would say go there over the ones on the strip and stay away from Slums. The only good thing about Slums…it kept the attention off Olays.

Anyways, yeah that Ramen shop though…you gotta get their spicy jiamen (sp?). Oh that stuff is awesome, I’d eat it in the summer I didn’t care. And there is a pretty good chinese place up on 58 near Expo Park. Oh near the lighthouse, really good Izakaiya but its hard to find. Dunno the name, but its like right in the middle of those lil farms around the resort hotels. Its like next to the hotel that has the little chapel there that they use for weddings and stuff.If I remember right they have a brewery in back too and do up their own awamori. I think the turn in was down the street from that big snack shop. Dang I miss those little sweet potato cakes…

Fab is along Sunabe. There used to be one by the golf course on I think it was 328? But they closed down. But the one on Sunabe is better anyways cuz they got outside seating too that overlooks the water. Plus below them is a surf shop.

Oh…go down 58 like your going to Naha. Get on that road that is in front of Jusco. The one parallel to 58. There is a little white restaurant. Its misleading cuz the name is Club something or other. Its along the street kinda down were all the night vendors are at. They have some freakin awesome jerk chicken.

I’ll see if I can figure out the name of the onsen we went to. I might not be able. That requires me to open lines of communication with my ex-fiance…

Shame about kokusai…I never had any trouble there. Some of those clubs there though are “hostess” clubs. That might be why you couldn’t get in some. And some of those aren’t exactly legal anyways. What do they call it, “4 Course?” The only legit nightclubs out there I knew of that flat out refused foreigners was Club 21, but that is on 58. And interesting enough, club American. I dunno maybe I just knew the right people. As the clubs I went to tended to be the ones my friends were working since I just went to hang more than to drink. I spent a lot of time loitering now that I think about it…

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Ikei jima was my favorite place to go surfing, but it was so far away we only went once or twice.
Zanpa was one of my favorite hang out spots to just go chill.
Tropical Beach = Ginowan convention center beach right? I always loved that place. Had some friends that lived a couple miles away and used to sleep on that beach after late nights out, until their restaurant opened up around 11. Their’s was the only Chinese restaurant I used to eat at when I lived there; eventhough I had classmates working at Genghis Khan’s.

Believe it or not, Pyramid used to be the type of place you dressed up to go to. It just gradually went further and further down hill, starting in 94 & getting worse until it got knocked down.
For even higher end there was Zavarez, until someone went apesh!t, broke a bunch of stuff and got Americans banned from there. I think Zavarez is closed now, i was in the same building this last year - went to an 80s retro club and later tried to go to a 70s funk club but couldn’t.

I don’t think I recognized a single club you mentioned from back when I lived there and don’t remember any of the names of the places from last year (except maybe Club 21).
I was in high school then, so most of us hung out at Champ’s; few of my classmates worked there, Applehouse, 8beat, and Mahattan’s. There was another place further up 330, called Meal Hall or Showplace (I forget), they showed anime with film projectors on the wall and had cute, “normal” girls (not amejos); one of those places Americans didn’t go.

That whole Koza area is now just kyabakura/snack/hostess bars filled with little wannabe yakuza.
My old regular hangout - D’s Bar, down one of the side streets, is now straight up yakuza.
It was really depressing compared to how it used to be, i understand why you say it’s a dump.
We rarely made it down to Naha back then, partly for money reasons, partly coz I just didn’t dig the vibe, and partly because I didn’t have friends there (so no guarantee of getting in anywhere).

I think it’s since 9/11, but there are really a lot more military now than before; especially with all the off-base American housing projects - like in Sunabe and near Toguchi Beach (Devil’s Den).
Chatan back then had no ferris wheel, no mall, only moon beach, San A, Ammo Box, and Sunset beach.
You didn’t have to try so hard to avoid other Americans. LOL

IThe only “Slums” I knew was “Slum Jam” in Matsuyama. I went there for their 3 year anniversary in 96 - my buddy was performing a hip hop show. They never let me back in after that - dunno why, I kept to myself the whole night & didn’t disturb anybody. It really is who you know.

Expo’s near the Aquarium right? Or is it Hedo point?
I was supposed to go to Expo on a field trip for school, but it was closed at the time and we never made it out there.
This last year I was hanging out at some little family-owned coffee shop/restaurant back up in the hills near the aquarium, the view was awesome. A little girl was learning sanshin/samisen inside.

Maeda’s cool. There’s a little beach on the other side of it, back behind some of the sugar cane fields - we used to party there a lot in high school. This last time I went there, it almost looked like a public beach due to it being Golden Week.

There are a few golf courses - one up near Ishikawa Dam, and another pretty close to Gate 2 Street coming out Kadena. I think they’re both pretty close to 329. I’m pretty confident I can find the Fab in Sunabe; there are more surf shops than there used to be, but still only so many. hehe

Jusco in Naha right? Where 58 turns into 331? The parallel street is 221. I’ll see if I can find that little white restaurant down there if i have time.

I should mention that last year I wasn’t hanging out with anybody who really knew the nightlife. All my friends that I spent time with were either all about their families or all about their careers, and one person in particular really didn’t do a great job speaking up on my behalf when i was getting hassled. When I was a kid it was a different story, but I had a hard time tracking down any of the nightlife folks I knew back then. Having friends seems to be the key to having a good time. hehe

This year I think I’m going to be spending most of my time on Ishigaki.
I will probably only be on Okinawa main island for a few days, so I’ll have to see what I’m able to fit in.

Thanks again for the heads up and sorry to anyone else for hijacking the thread.

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[QUOTE=Mr Punch;866513]

The guy crashed his truck, which everybody naturally thought was an accident, then walked down the street cutting people,
[/QUOTE]

Reply]
If this had been a gun rich society, this mass killing would have just been a shooting spree.

All this proves is that psyco mass killers are going to go off the deep end and kill as many as they can with whatever tools are available…guns, or no guns.

Either way, a bunch of people would have died.

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Another case of weapon control being utter bull****.

Only one disarmed is the victim. I thought Japan already had laws against carrying a bladed weapon…:rolleyes: