In 1966, Dave Davenport was a mystery to his fellow U.S. Air Force clerks on Okinawa. Whereas they would dress up in their finest threads and make for the clubs of Koza in their free time, Davenport would don the oldest clothes he owned ...
At 2 o'clock on a spring afternoon, Chuo Park Avenue in the city of Okinawa belongs to the cats. They preen outside its bankrupt nightclubs, spit and hiss over scraps of garbage, and sleep atop piles of moldy utility bills in the doorways of ...
Saki Kowan University student, 18 (Japanese) Entry to a bar shouldn't be related to whether you're Japanese or a foreigner — it should depend on your behavior. I try to avoid clubs with that type of policy and only give them my business if I really, ...
Okinawa Prefecture is home to three-quarters of America's military bases in Japan. The vast majority of these, including Kadena Air Base, Torii Station and the contentious Marine Corps installation at Futenma, are located in the central part of the main island. Despite overwhelming Okinawan opposition ...
It's October 2009, and I'm sitting in the parking lot of a convenience store in Koza city, taking photographs of the sidewalk. I've been here for close to an hour — surrounded by a dozen old photographs, four maps and reams of photocopies all ...
Three years ago, I was lying on the beach of a package hotel, watching a pair of jet skis churn the sea to muddy silt. J-pop blared from the shore-side Tannoy, and two lifeguards were pinning down a hysterical toddler, while a third doused ...
The typhoon swept into Okinawa, bringing rain and cannon-shot thunder, sheets of lightning almost low enough to sear the TV antennas on the blue-tiled roofs. The winds ripped branches from palm trees and left them flapping in the mud like broken-backed seagulls. Even the ...
