Restaurants that advertise their hours of operations- Across the street from our house is a restaurant we call the Bus Restaurant. When you look out of our back balcony you can see the front of a passenger bus (the windshield, headlights, front grill). It looks like the bus is coming toward you. Around the bus and attached to it is a building with a door on the left side. On both sides of the door hang Japanese lanterns and a three-sectioned cloth hanging down over the door. All Japanese restaurants have clothes at the door for you to wipe your hands on as you leave, the dirtier the cloth the better the restaurant. Housed inside this strange looking structure is a wonderful little restaurant with a 17 page English menu with entrées like "Sauce? Or Butter? Which?" I think they wanted you to decide if you wanted sauce or butter on your meat. "We cook good, you like." This seems to mean well done.

The bus itself serves as the kitchen and still has the gear shift and floor brakes in tact. An Okinawan couple owns and runs the place but they don't work all the time. They have installed a revolving yellow light on the roof of the bus. When the restaurant is open the light is turned on and blinks as it revolves. We enjoyed a quiet, late dinner their one night and can't wait for it to be open again. If you see the light come on about 5 in the evening you can put your dinner preparations away and go for some delicious Okinawan food.

Traffic lights with video cameras to catch people who run red lights- We have been warned by many locals of the "three car rule" at all traffic lights. The three-car rule means that you wait when the light turns green and count three cars that run the red light before you go. Maybe because this island seems to have more then its share of traffic lights you can be sure that when a light turns green three more cars will come through the adjacent red light. I thought this was just a rumor until we started driving this island. I have counted and every time it is three more cars. I am learning not to hit the gas when the light turns green but to count the cars passing in front of me. Boy will I be in trouble when I get home.

Being born in a time and place where I haven't had to experience war at my back door- The Battle of Okinawa was the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War during World War II. On April 1 1945 the Americans landed on this island in an effort to establish a foot hold against the mainland Japan. The Americans showed up with 1,457 ships (I have a better understanding of what Higa-San told me my first week on this island when he said he couldn't see the water because it was all ships) and a total of 548,000 Army, Navy and Marine Corps personnel. They came to invade this little island which is 1/3 the size of Rhode Island. It is 60 miles long, 18 miles across at its widest point and 2 miles across at it narrowest point. In 1945 there were 460,000 Okinawans living on the island. Most of them were farmers who tended their sugar cane and rice fields. More than one third of the local people lost their lives in the battle either from being killed or committing suicide to avoid capture by the American.

Bans on open air fires- The Okinawans burn the sugar cane and their trash in open-air fires at least once each week. The aroma from the burning fires will sometimes remind me of camping days when I was young. At other times the smell is not so pleasant and makes it necessary to close the windows.

Public sit down toilets- I try to avoid using the public restrooms on the island. The restrooms are very clean but most of them do not have sit down toilets. Many of them are open to the outside with little or no partitions to give you privacy. The Japanese women must have great muscles in their legs because the women's restrooms feature squat style toilets. It is also better if women wear skirts or dresses when they are using a public facility. Pants or shorts just don't get it!! The sit down style toilet is new for many in this part of the world so they come with directions on how to use them. Our apartment toilet has a sign on the wall behind it demonstrating how you use it. Thank God it is sit down.

Fish markets that sell cleaned fish- The fish markets on the island offer fresh fish that usually comes whole. In other words, they have not be scaled, de-headed or cleaned in anyway. It does something to dinner when you are looking in its eyes before you cook it. You can also get whole squid that comes with a small bottle of the squid ink to use in making the sauce to put on the squid after you have cooked it.

Pizza Hut and Domino's- The locals have pizza delivery services and prepare a decent pizza. The problem is not the taste but the price. Two 2 medium pizzas delivered to your house will cost you a mere 6000 yen or $60. Needless to say we don't have pizza delivered anymore.

A street address that identifies your house- The Japanese have a very interesting addressing system. As I mentioned earlier, most streets do not have a name. The house address doesn't have anything to do with the street anyway so names wouldn't help. The addresses are based on the area where something is located. It starts with the city, then the ward (ku) and then the smaller district (cho) and finally the smaller section (banchi). The ku usually contains several square miles and is more like a County in the states. The cho is several blocks. The banchi means the land or lot number but it could contain more then just one lot, which means that a number of houses could have the same address. Our address is: Okinawa, 435 Aza Oshiro, Kitankagusuku-son, Deigo Massion #204. Come find us! (Deigo is the correct spelling on the building. I thought at first it was a misspelling, which you see a lot here, but it is the Okinawa's national flower that grows on the Deigo tree. It is a large red flower blooming year round)

Kitchens with large electric oven, dishwashers, garbage disposals and counter space- I equate our kitchen to upscale camping. The stove is a little bigger than a camp stove but not much. Our garbage is a real hassle because they sort their trash here and it is difficult to figure out what goes in what bag. Our trash instructions call for separate, clear bags (so they can see the trash and return it to you if it is in the wrong bag) for combustible waste which includes kitchen garbage and diapers; recycled waste (each in separate bags) which include newspapers, books and magazines bundled and tied with string; clothes; plastic liter bottles and water and juice bottles but the caps go somewhere else if they are hard plastic because they don't burn; cans and then other bottles which I haven't figured out what other bottles are yet. Non-combustible waste calls for ceramic, steel and aluminum in one bag, batteries and broken glass and ceramics (this must be a different ceramic then the last bag with ceramics) in another bag; and oversized waste in a third bag if you can find a big enough bag. Oversized waste includes furniture, bicycles, and appliances. I have four clear bags in my kitchen for my trash and I am always wondering if I have the right trash in the right bag.

Paying bills by check and mail- We have to go to our housing agent's office to pay our rent each month. They will only take yen and it better be the exact amount because they don't make change. Our utility bills come on little pieces of thin paper and are stuck in our door or sometimes in the mailbox in front of the building. They are paid at the local Lawson's store. The Lawson's store is just like a 7-11 store and can be found on many street corners. You take your thin paper bill and the exact yen and give it to the clerk. She stamps the paper with a small ink stamp that looks like the kind my grandchildren use to make pretty pictures. The stamp is not a toy and all Japanese have one. They have the person's name engraved on them in the Kanji symbols. The Japanese stamp is registered with the local government and can not be lost because it is as valid as your signature.

Newspapers that give you the news- We get several local papers that we have to pick up in our travels. They have some interesting articles in their 12 to 16 pages but no news about what is happening in the world. They usually contain many ads from people who are selling everything from houses to the kitchen sink.

A chance to experience a new world with a different cultural so I can remember what really matters in this life-the many friends and family around the world who share their lives with me and make my life brighter and enriched.