Hello! Yes, I have been out in town - almost constantly - since the Period of Reflection was lifted yesterday morning. The current restrictions are not that big of a deal to us, Craig's not some huge drinker - the occasional wine or beer or mixed drink at home will be just fine. (And I have a DD! Sweet.) The curfew is no biggie either, we put the kiddo to bed at 8 so usually it's just a movie or TV after that. The good news is, nary a second glance from locals, as I had hoped. The bad news....
-The yen rate - 101¥ to the dollar! YIKES! To give you an idea, when we got here it was about 124¥ to the dollar, so we've lost 18.5% of our value here. *Edited to correct my crappy math, thank you, Nick.
-Articles like this worry me. I'm really curious as to how many of the 1.3 million Okinawans dislike the Americans this much that they want us to leave. The protests held here have about 100 people there - doesn't seem like much representation, and I'm told that the protesters are often flown in from mainland Japan! It's tough for me to REALLY get an unbiased general opinion. But I truly hope and continue to believe that people here are OK with us being here. Because I love being here, even if only for a while. And I know a lot of people who do too.
All in all, not too horrible, and oh MY it is GOOD to be back out again! I ate at SomChai today for lunch with my friend Casey - there was a line out the door at 11:30 when he opened! A few guys in there cited the fact that an exception to the PoR restrictions was that you could travel to places of worship. I definitely think his food qualifies as something I worship! (Richard said, "If you worship the chili, this is your place!")
I've been out shopping, driving, paying my cell phone bill, and enjoying very chilly and windy time outside, but whatever - I AM OUTSIDE! I'd love to say I learned some lesson from all this, but it's probably just that my kid has a harder time sleeping when she hasn't had time to play outside. And I still like cooking.
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2 comments:
We have been assured over & over that there is not a general sentiment of distaste for US presence locally. The protests have indeed been in the 100 person range & yet the international news I read (daily still) continues to liken it to 1995's events that saw over 85000 people (at one time) marching & protesting. I'm sorry but this really doesn't compare.
And we indeed learned something from the suppression of individual freedom to pursue happiness, I mean, the lockdown, I mean, the period of reflection. We learned that we're never working under the military's umbrella again (after this contract is up).
I know that this is ticky-tacky, but you've really only lost 20% of your value. Sorry, but I notice these things. :-)
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