Okinawa: The Bastard Child of Japan

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]Greetings friends and welcome back to the Small Brand Podcast. Thank you guys very much for tuning in for another episode. How's the lighting on my face?

[00:00:07]Are are you seeing all my lovely little little wrinkles? Today we're in Seoul, South Korea, but we're not going to be filming here. This is just, you know, the end of a little tour, guys. You know, lately I've been doing like, you know, three to five videos at a time, going out to Asia or Africa, collecting all my little content. I'm like a content fisherman. I'm going out at sea and I'm fishing for content. And then I'm going the home. And uh Seoul is just it's a nice little layover spot, you know, between uh you know, Japan and the good old United States of America, home of McDonald's if you didn't know that. But I guess every country is home to McDonald's. Uh probably shouldn't start rambling and going on side tangents this early in the podcast, Connor. You got to you got to hook them, Connor. You got to you got to hook them. But guys, we just finished our little trip in Okinawa, Japan. It was it was a good time. Honestly, I think Okinawa is so drastically different to the rest of Japan that it makes for a really interesting video.

[00:01:08]Um, and just a really interesting experience, honestly. Uh, pretty much everything is different there from mainland Japan. Um, and we'll get into a few of these things, but some things are radically different from mainland Japan.

[00:01:23]There is a huge United States military uh presence in Okinawa. It is uh you feel it no matter where you look. You hear it in the sky. The military bases that you know the air force they'reing flying over constantly and their fighter jets. They're doing all kinds of testing. Actually the Okinawa airport that you fly into is shared by the US Air Force. So that is a that is a fun fact. That's a very fun fact. Um, sorry about the horns if you heard that. Uh, the window is open and we're we're we're witnessing the lovely sounds of Soul, South Korea, guys. You're not going to see much from Soul cuz like I said, I'm just here resting, hanging out, eating some Korean food, you know, going on walks, thinking about life, drinking iced lattes, getting some yummy desserts.

[00:02:16]And, you know, this is for me, guys. You know, it all can't be for y'all. I can't being selling off every little moment of my life for content. Although some people do, but uh that's not how I I want to do it. So anyways, I don't know why I'm telling you this.

[00:02:33]Um yeah, hell, Okinawa was weird. Okinawa is a different beast. It is an Americanized version of Japan. And you might hate that, you might love that. I find it very fascinating. I uh am a big fan of America and also I'm a big fan of Japan and I think that just makes for a really interesting experience. It's like my two favorite countries had a baby.

[00:02:59]You know, actually a lot of the uh you know servicemen over there have done that exact thing with a physical human being. They have produced half Japanese, half American babies. Met a half black, halfJapanese dude.

[00:03:14]That was crazy. He uh yeah, walked into a Family Mart and really nice guy by the way, really sweet, genuine dude. But walked in the Family Mart and usually when you walk into one of these big Japanese chains or really any store in Japan, you walk in, what's the first thing they say to you?

[00:03:33]H quiz time class. If you've been in Japan, what's the first thing they say to you when you walk into a store?

[00:03:43]Welcome.

[00:03:45]Right.

[00:03:47]A little, you know, you walk in the family one, the little motion sensor tracks here. It's like buzzy. Very nostalgic. Very nostalgic.

[00:03:57]It It brings you back. Actually, when I was, you know, sometimes on Instagram, you'll see those reels that are like the sounds of Japan. It's just like ASMR, like the trains, and then like the Family Mart uh little motion sensor thing. And so anyways, yeah, I'm I'm very used to that experience. You walk into a place and that's how you're greeted.

[00:04:18]And this guy says, "Welcome to Family Mart in English with a perfect American accent." I was like, "Who the [ __ ] is this guy? Who the [ __ ] do you think you are greeting me in English in Japan?" Same in Koko Ichiban, right? Kokochibana, our favorite chain.

[00:04:37]It's very reliable. It's just good oldfashioned.

[00:04:40]Tonkatu Japanese curry. You walk in doza, whatever. They just greet you in Japanese. Here they're like, "Welcome to Koko." I'm like, "What the [ __ ] What country am I in?" And, you know, technically the, you know, the Air Force base, the Marine base, the Army base. I think the NA navy has a base there.

[00:05:01]Although, wouldn't the Navy's base be in the water? Same with the Coast Guard.

[00:05:05]Wouldn't they be like in a submarine or something? But whatever. I'm not clearly I'm not an expert in anything really.

[00:05:12]Um, if you use this podcast to inform your life decisions or your worldview, well, that's on you, buddy, because I It's the blind leading the blind out here.

[00:05:26]But anyways, yeah, I met this dude who was half black, half Japanese. His dad was from Atlanta, by the way, and he grew up in Japan on the military base.

[00:05:36]Dude, so fascinating the people you meet there and their stories and like it is just such a mashup of American and Japanese culture. It's crazy. But yeah, I was like, "Oh, so do you like have you ever been to America? Have you ever been to Atlanta?" He's like, "Yeah, I went once. I didn't really like it. Whatever.

[00:05:52]It's fine. I saw my family. That was cool." And then um yeah, I wonder if there's like a stigma around that too.

[00:06:00]Like someone's dad like Yeah. Yeah. I don't know cuz you know about the all those servicemen in like the Vietnam War like knocking up Japanese or Vietnamese ladies. I wonder if there's a stigma around whatever. Not sure. But uh [ __ ] I've had a lot of coffee if you guys can tell. Holy [ __ ] dude. Oh [ __ ] This is going to be a hair brand podcast, gentlemen. Anyways, um yeah, but I was like, "Oh, so do you like are you going to settle down in America? Do you feel American?" like, "No, I feel Japanese. I was born here. I was raised here. I mean, yeah, I grew up in an American household. I grew up with American values on the base, but I think I want to stay in Japan." And to me, that's just crazy. Like, cuz these bases are it it legally it is American soil, right? Like, America owns these bases. They own the property. They own it is under American jurisdiction, right? So imagine like you know waking up every day as a kid from the age of like five to 18. You're going to American schools. You're learning about the presidents. You're learning about you know all these different conflicts we've been involved in from the American perspective. But you're living in Japan.

[00:07:15]I mean you know my content brain is just like running circles right now because there's just so many opportun there's so many stories to be told in Okinawa. such a fascinating place.

[00:07:28]Um, and you know, it's not for everybody. Oh, sorry. I want I don't want to move on from this guy just yet because he had a really fascinating story. So, I was like, "So, do you want to like settle down in America? Do you want to settle down in Japan?" He's only like 19. Um, so, you know, he still has a lot of, you know, adult decisions to make. And he's like, "No, I want to live in Japan. I don't, you know, I feel American, but I prefer Japan. America doesn't feel safe to me. They have too many guns. Donald Trump scares me. You know, I'm half black, half Asian. I think I'll be like oppressed or whatever with all the stuff going on with ICE.

[00:08:01]And I'm just like, damn, this is crazy because, you know, he obviously didn't grow up in the United States, but he grew up on a US territory overseas. So, it's just so fascinating like how that has informed his worldview. And, you know, it's kind of like you meet those Europeans in the hostiles and like, oh, I don't know about America. the guns.

[00:08:22]They scout me, right? And you're like, "All right, little [ __ ] European [ __ ] All right, you [ __ ] You never seen a gun. You never had a gun held up to your head before. You never been in the Western Hemisphere, [ __ ] Never been robbed at gunpoint in Colombia, little [ __ ] So spoiled and safe in Asia, huh? Little [ __ ] pussy." No. Um, sorry about that.

[00:08:50]Um, but you know, it's always something that like, okay, yeah, if you watch a lot of news, maybe you'd be scared of that stuff or whatever, but I mean, you know, I'm not trying to minimize anything that's happening, but like it's always kind of exaggerated in the news, right?

[00:09:06]And that's always like the first thing you think of. Like if I was a European going to America, like, oh, guns, whatever. I would be in that same boat.

[00:09:12]But, you know, since I live there every single day of my [ __ ] life, that I'm not abroad, uh, you know, I realized, you know, the threat maybe is not as serious as the news will have you believe, right? So, that's just funny.

[00:09:24]Like, that was the first thing I was I mean, dude, the dude has an American passport. He he is American. Like, he was born on American soil. Um, he's as American as like Luke Allen or Luke Bryan or whatever. There's some Rob Shaman's train. there's some country music star that was born in Okinawa um and that lives here now and is like or in America now and is like a [ __ ] superstar and he's American and no one protests that fact. I guess he's white but I really don't think they would give a [ __ ] I mean the whole thing with ICE is like if you're not from America get out right like or are they just targeting brown people indiscriminately?

[00:10:01]I mean that wouldn't I don't know I try not to watch the news but I was just like okay fine you know have your opinion you know honestly you're making a great choice living in Japan honestly I will probably be joining you here in the next few years um but yeah it was just funny to hear his hear his uh you know perspective on it because it's crazy like he spoke to me in a perfect American I mean he is American like he spoke to me in perfect English but He's he's voicing like concerns that someone who's only been raised outside of the US would feel, if that makes sense. Like the first thing out of his mouth was guns, right? Like, and it's so funny, dude. Like, I can't remember where I saw this. It was some like Reddit post. It was like from a European. It was like an Reddit travel, which is just such a [ __ ] garbage dump. [ __ ] garbage fire of dumpster fire of [ __ ] uh Reddit travel uh you know forums, but the guy was like, "Hey, I'm German. I'm thinking about going to the US for the first time. Should I bring a bulletproof vest?"

[00:11:10]He was legitimately I I don't think it was parody. He was legitimately concerned about getting shot and killed in America. He's like, "I would love to go to New York City. Should I bring Should I check a bulletproof vest in my luggage?

[00:11:26]Should I invest in a [ __ ] Kevlar vest before I come to Los Angeles?

[00:11:38]Crazy, bro. Absolutely crazy. I mean, I'm not faulting the kid for having this opinion. I mean, you know, whatever.

[00:11:43]We're all product of our environment and stuff, but it was just so interesting.

[00:11:47]Like, I am just I am just blown away by Okinawa. It is so [ __ ] fascinating.

[00:11:53]Guys, I want to chime in here to tell you about today's sponsor, NordVPN. When I travel, I rely so heavily on public Wi-Fi. It would be unthinkable to not use a VPN. I'm doing banking, sending files to my editors, and signing contracts all over public Wi-Fi. If any of this slipped into the wrong hands, I would be on my last trip to Japan, I sent around 50 gigabytes of video to my editor over airport Wi-Fi. And because Nord has the fastest VPN on the market, I was able to stay secure while sending huge files. Your entire life is on your phone. Your innermost thoughts, your search history, your camera roll. You don't want hackers, or worse, governments getting access to your sensitive personal information. NordVPN encrypts your internet connection, which gives you peace of mind when downloading movies, sending messages to friends, or entering your personal information, like your passport number or address over public Wi-Fi. And with their threat protection pro, you get alerts that the site you're using might be fake or the email you receive is suspicious. It's such a no-brainer, especially if you travel like I do. Also, do me a favor.

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[00:13:12]It's a great deal. Use code SBP at checkout and try it risk-free with a 30-day money back guarantee. Thank you very much, NordVPN. Let's get back to the show. So, I did a little America video. I wanted to explore American culture because, you know, ever since we invaded Okinawa in 1945, I think it was like September 7th, 8th or 9th, something like that.

[00:13:34]Show them on screen, Rob. Show them how smart I am, how close I was to the real date. I think it was like September 7th, 1945.

[00:13:43]America invaded Okinawa. And ever since then, we have occupied them. We have had a military presence there continuously.

[00:13:53]every single day from 1945 until today.

[00:13:56]So over 80 years, you know, America has had a foothold, a strong foothold in Okinawa and for that matter, East Asia, right? Because soon after World War II, we got involved in the Korean Peninsula, you know, uh, fighting the North Koreans and the Chinese. I think the Russians were involved in the Korean War as well.

[00:14:17]You see how smart I am, guys? You see how much I'm learning when I'm going abroad?

[00:14:22]I might have to change the channel name.

[00:14:26]Um, but you know, ever since, you know, 1945, America has had a strong presence in East Asia. Okinawa, South Korea, I think Taiwan, we might have troops. I I can't remember. But either way, we're the defenders of peace and democracy in the world, guys. We're the good guys.

[00:14:45]Okay? So, don't don't forget that, please. Um, although we are, you know, we kind of are the good guy. I mean, we had we were the first and only country for years to have nuclear weapons, and we did not just use them indiscriminately. We could have just been bombing the [ __ ] out of [ __ ] We could have just been taking over the whole goddamn world.

[00:15:05]Antarctica, that's ours. Greenland, also ours. All of Europe, ours. China, you're [ __ ] Russia, you're our [ __ ] Let's just take India while we're at it. We'll take over Great Britain. We'll colonize them. See how they like it. you know, we could have done that and we didn't cuz we're good. We're a good country, okay?

[00:15:23]You know, our CIA and uh you know, other entities are are questionable to say the least, but you know, show me one government that's not a little corrupt. You know, that's all I'm saying.

[00:15:37]Um, so yeah, I wanted to do an American themed video because American culture is extremely prevalent in Okinawa. It is it is hard to miss. They have Dominoes.

[00:15:47]They have drivethrus, guys. I got co cocoon curry drivethru. And a drive-through in Japan is not they don't quite know exactly what a drive-thru means. It's you literally pull into a parking spot, you order, and then you like pull into a different parking spot, and then they bring the food out to you.

[00:16:04]And it's I got to say it's not as efficient as an American drive-thru.

[00:16:08]They could learn a thing or two about, you know, [ __ ] getting diabetes.

[00:16:16]you know, they're so efficient and everything else. They can't get diabetes as fast as us. No, sir, they cannot.

[00:16:23]I'm really actually shocked that we haven't improved that infrastructure because guys, as you already know, so I'm just going to be a, you know, a [ __ ] broken record at this point. You already know this. You're very smart.

[00:16:36]You're one of my viewers and you're even more smart if you're one of my patrons.

[00:16:40]You're [ __ ] 200 IQ individuals over there. We conduct an IQ test for all of our patrons. So if you're stupid, you're not we don't or you know because you give me money, you are very smart and you've made very wise decisions. Okay, buddy. I'm patting you on the head. All right.

[00:16:56]Um, so we invaded Okinawa and every day since then we have occupied them.

[00:17:04]Actually after the war in 1945, we actually owned Okinawa. It was part of America.

[00:17:13]The whole island belonged to us. We built the roads. We built the schools.

[00:17:18]We built the military bases.

[00:17:21]We built the island. That island was ours. They drove on the right side. They drove on the right hand side of the road. They used US dollars.

[00:17:30]It was America. Literally. Look it up.

[00:17:33]Show them, Rob. Show them how smart I am. Show them how much I know. Show them what a good boy I am. Please, Rob. I'm begging you. Please show them how good I am.

[00:17:42]Um, and so yeah, like it's just the American footprint is everywhere.

[00:17:46]Everywhere you look, they have drive-throughs. They have A&W root beer chains. Have you ever seen an A&W restaurant outside of the US or even inside of the US? I think I think they're discontinued actually. I'm pretty sure. Fact check me, Rob. Fact check me. Sorry, this is a very involved episode for my editor.

[00:18:08]I'm pretty sure they were. Yeah, I don't think there's A&Ws outside of the US.

[00:18:13]Remember they used to have those A&W and Taco Bell collabs? That was so sick.

[00:18:18]Or A&W KFC, I think. So random for a soda company to have a restaurant.

[00:18:24]That's like a Coca-Cola restaurant.

[00:18:26]That's so crazy. But anyways, they have that. They have they eat a lot of spam because I guess after the war um you know they were food rations weren't great in Japan and we wanted something like not perishable and had a long shelf life, high sodium content, high calorie content. So we we actually gave u Japan spam to like help feed them basically after we bombed the [ __ ] out of them and killed tens of thousands of innocent people. We're like sorry about that. We're going to give you some some canned meat to make up for our our sins.

[00:19:07]Um, yeah, dude. And so, anyways, the epitome of American culture, as you know, dear viewer, is Red Lobster. And I'm pretty sure Red Lobster is also discontinued in the US. I haven't seen one of those [ __ ] in ages. Fact check me, Rob. Fact check me. Show them, Rob. Um, so anyways, there's this area called the American Village in Okinawa.

[00:19:32]It's this kind of hyperamericanized kind of caricature or like it's almost like a satire if you look at it from like a critical perspective of America.

[00:19:43]Everything is big and showy. There's huge parking lots. All the buildings are really colorful. There's like a fake little Venice area. um highly commercialized, very big and loud and just honestly ugly, obnoxious buildings, but it's on like a nice little, you know, uh kind of bay area. It's actually quite nice. But, um yeah, somebody in the video actually described it like, oh, it's kind of like Chinatown but for America. Like, it's it's America town. So, it's not going to be a onetoone replica of America, obviously.

[00:20:18]It's more of like a, hey, look, here's this fun kind of like it's not necessarily for Americans. It's like for Japanese and Korean and Chinese tourists to go and be like, look, hey, it's like America. It's a big party. We have [ __ ] KFC and Red Lobster. I ate a Red Lobster at a [ __ ] cheese chive biscuit, dude. And it wasn't free, brother. It wasn't free. I even showed them my US passport and I was like, "You guys don't understand. We're supposed to have free cheddar biscuits." And they were like, "Sorry, sir. It's 150 yen.

[00:20:48]And I was like, "What did you say?" And she's like, "It's 150 yen and you also don't have to tip me."

[00:20:54]But after tax it was 167 yen. I got a water. I walked into Red Lobster and spent $1 and then walked out.

[00:21:05]Holy [ __ ] I'm a piece of [ __ ] But it should be free. It should be free, brother. That's American Village.

[00:21:14]I showed them my passport. They didn't care.

[00:21:17]I was like, I'm entitled to this.

[00:21:21]Anyways, also the size of things in Okinawa is crazy. The restaurants are huge. Uh the parking lots are huge. The roads are really wide. Public transit is not a thing in Okinawa. It is very hard to get around without a car. Nearly impossible outside of the main city of Naha, I would say, cuz Okinawa, it's like a big island. It goes It's like long and narrow. It goes like north to south.

[00:21:45]And if you're trying to stay, you know, 15, 20 miles north of the airport, you have to have a car. There are buses, but I just do not think that they get you around as efficiently as a car could. It is uh it's a car nightmare in Okinawa.

[00:22:01]You have to rent a car. I went ages ago when I was teaching English in Japan. I screded up a little little cash, got an extra couple days off, and went there for like four days, maybe five days.

[00:22:13]like two days in the main city and then two days on like a remote island. And I just remember, yeah, it was very hard to get around. Very hard to get around.

[00:22:20]Also, the main island is not very like scenic. It's not like a nice kind of beachy vibe. It's very industrial. Big wide roads. Like imagine, Rob, show them like kind of the the classic American interstate exit with like a McDonald's and a KFC and a Taco Bell. It's like that but with like tall gray buildings. It's really depressing actually. Um it is not what you imagine when you think of Okinawa. It was very it was sad dude.

[00:22:51]Lots of industry also in Naha. Like I think they're doing a lot of shipping there. It's pretty convenient to get to China.

[00:22:58]You know a little bit about Okinawa. It actually it was called the Ryukyu Kingdom for the longest time up until the 1890s I think. And then Japan, you know, during their cheeky little imperial phase where they took over vast swaths of East Asia, China, Korea, Russia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam.

[00:23:22]Uh they were even eyeing Australia, Papa New Guinea, I think. I mean, dude, Japan was everywhere. Japan was a huge empire and they were trying to take over the world just like Germany, you know. I wonder if the Americans hadn't stepped in, if if the fascists and imperialists would have won World War II, what would have happened? Like, do you think if Germany got really huge and took over all of Europe and then Japan got really huge and took over like all of East Asia? Like, I mean, what would happen then? It would be like a [ __ ] bad guy brawl. I don't even know. That'd be crazy.

[00:24:00][ __ ] hell. Or maybe we're the bad guys. I don't know. Actually, I do know we're not the bad guys, but um just yeah, overwhelming like sense of American culture there. It was [ __ ] crazy.

[00:24:13]Um and yeah, so during World War II, they had a lot of GIs there, right?

[00:24:18]Because it was Okinawa was owned by the United States from 1945 to 1972. I think it was like 27 years. So a lot of the GIs there, you know, the deployed military guys, uh missed American food.

[00:24:28]And what's more American than tacos? So some uh you know businessminded uh Japanese gentlemen started to make taco rice. It is just Japanese uh kind of sticky rice with seasoned meat and cheese and tomatoes and lettuce and it's just normal [ __ ] but done in a very Japanese way. Even the hot sauce they serve is like weirdly kind of sweet, but it definitely has like Mexican spices.

[00:24:55]It's very good. It's very good. It's fine. It's not like the most amazing food you've ever had. I mean, you can definitely get way better techmexs in Texas. Um, but it's just like, you know, it's just a fun little novelty they have. It's fun little cultural and, you know, it's a nice intro into the culture. You're like, "Oh, why does this exist? This doesn't exist anywhere else in Japan." And I just remembered my train of thought from earlier. I was talking about I didn't want to let you know I had a mental slip. Okay? And these mental slips are happening more and more as I age. and they will continue to get worse. So, if you think it's bad now, just unsubscribe. Just It's going to get bad in my 40s and in my 50s. Can you imagine? I'm like an old man podcasting.

[00:25:41]Is that sad?

[00:25:43]I think that'd be kind of sad. Anyways, don't clip this when I'm 90 still podcasting. Do not clip this. Um, so anyways, yeah, it was it was their own independent country, the Ryuku Islands, and they were a tribute state, I think it's called, to China. So, China collected taxes, they collected goods from these islands. It was, it's kind of like a colony, but they still let you rule yourself. They're not, you know, they don't really belong to you, but they do send you pretty much like hefty taxes. And I'm not really sure. It's kind of like a colony, but they're a little more free, I'm pretty sure, to to kind of continue doing their thing. So, it it had a lot of Chinese influence. If you look at the temples around Okinawa, Rob, show them some Okinawan temples. A lot of them look Chinese. They have the kind of sloped kind of curved roof. It looks like a Japanese roof with like the tiles, but it's like kind of sloped. And they also have these like little This is actually uniquely Okinawan. They have like these little dragon like dog things outside of every business and um one of the dog dragon things has his mouth open to like take in the good spirits and then one has his mouth closed to like keep the good spirits in. Just some East Asian lore for you to, you know, impress your family at Thanksgiving if if you'd like to use this information to your benefit. Um anyway, why do I talk like this? Um, so what the [ __ ] are we talking about?

[00:27:17]Oh, dear God. Um, [ __ ] We're talking about Okinawan culture. Oh, yeah. So, they had like Chinese influence and then Japan came in in the 1890s and like you're ours now.

[00:27:29]And then after Japan lost the war, America was like, now you're ours. So, Okinawa was its own kingdom. And then it was like, okay, now we're kind of belonging to China. And then now it's like, okay, now we kind of now we do belong to Japan. And now we do belong to America up until 1972. And now it's like America's like, all right, we're going to give you back. So it's like it's getting passed around back and forth.

[00:27:51]China, Japan, America, Japan. And you know, to this day, you know, a huge amount of the land in Okinawa belongs to the US government. We're talking military bases, air force bases. Um, dude, it is crazy. Like, you'll just be hanging out on the beach, having a little cocktail, enjoying life, doing some snorkeling, and then just hear it's crazy. It's so loud. Um, yeah. So, and you know, because there are so many servicemen there, they inform the culture, right? What do service what do young guys training to go to war like to do? They like to get drunk and they like to [ __ ] and they like to fight, right?

[00:28:38]And that's pretty much I mean I went to uh Kingtown. It's like a little marine kind of uh village literally right outside of the Marine base. Literally across the street. It's a two three-lane highway from the exit of the Marine military base to the entrance of a strip club. I am not joking. It is right across the street. It is right there, dude. It is It is just so obvious. Like there was some very savvy Japanese businessmen that set up this little strip of strip of businesses. It's pool halls, cigar lounges, hookah bars, strip clubs, gentleman's clubs, whatever you want to call it. There's no hostess bars. There's no whatever. It's strip clubs. That's how you know it's American, right? The Japanese, they love to kind of tiptoe around. They like the hostess bars. They like the girls to light your cigarette and flirt with you and tell you that you matter when your wife isn't paying attention to you.

[00:29:37]Maybe sit on your lap and giggle at your stupid jokes and hear about your dumb [ __ ] finance job and how you've been doing spreadsheets all day and oh wow, oh meta interesting, right? They make you think you [ __ ] matter, right? And that it's kind of tantalizing. That's kind of like, you know, sex industry adjacent.

[00:30:00]And then you have like, you know, and and it ramps up, right, all the way to soap land where you just go to [ __ ] right? In Japan, there's so many like different categories of sex tourism all the way from like light flirting to like we're purely [ __ ] right? But in America, it's like just the strip clubs, right? And that's that's what the Marines want. That's that's what they get, right? And you can tell it's this was a town made for young American men that have a lot of testosterone and a lot of time to kill and they get some nice little paychecks and they get stipens to live and it's just their little playground. It's very weird. It's uh it's kind of weird to go especially expecting it to be like Japan and then it turns out, hey, guess what? It's actually uh America. This is America.

[00:30:50]Even the little area outside of the base. This is also America, dude. We even went to a cocoichi, right? Where we just get normal tonkatu uh pork cutlet.

[00:30:59]It's like fried pork cutlet with a little bit of rice and spicy gravy, right? And that's a really good meal in my opinion. We go to the Cocoichi, they have hot dogs with curry on them. They have like chili dogs with curry with and onions. They have like teriyak chicken burgers. By the way, teriyak is not a thing in Japan, guys. That's like a very Americanized like sweet tangy sauce and it's fine. It's delicious. But I'm just saying you never see it in Japan.

[00:31:26]Actually, we went to Kokohi. They had all these weird bastardized, okay, we're going to get two chicken nuggets or two chicken fingers and put them on a bun and put a piece of bacon on it and put teriyak sauce on it. And that that's that was only available in the store, not even in Okinawa. We we went to the one store where they served this. This wasn't in the video. This is after I stopped filming on the way to the airport. But do you see what I mean?

[00:31:51]Like it's just a weird uh collab between the two countries. And it's strange because it creates this weird dynamic where like you know it's the military. It's not just like a fun happygolucky I don't know. It's hard to describe and I'm not like a military or geopolitics expert by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a little weird because they need us there, right? China's there, North Korea is there. Um the Soviet Union back in the day, now it's [ __ ] Russia and they're trying to take over the world again, right? They do need us there, but it just seems like there's a little bit of tension between like the military presence and the normal Japanese presence because it's so different, right? Japanese culture and like mil not even American culture, military American culture, a little more macho, a little more aggressive and protective and guns and freedom and [ __ ] you know, my modded out, you know, Toyota Tacoma with the turbo, you know, and the lift kit. That's [ __ ] America right there. Right. It's just they're a little bit at odds and I know they need us and they want us there, but it's just it's the value difference the value differences between the cultures is just so glaringly obvious. It's very [ __ ] interesting.

[00:33:15]I think I could go back a hundred times and make a bunch more videos there because it was just so [ __ ] interesting, dude. Um, yeah. Okinawa, guys. It's it's it's a trip. It's It's different. And I'd say for the Japan enthusiast, it was very [ __ ] interesting. You know, we didn't do too much like beach cool stuff. We actually one day we tried to go whale watching.

[00:33:39]It was a [ __ ] disaster. Uh we went out during a storm and they threw us in the ocean with like dark gray, you know, 15 foot ocean swells in the middle of the open ocean, not even near a coast or anything cuz the whales like during their um cving season like when they're raising their little babies, they go out in this little open ocean and it was terrifying. It was harrowing. It was terrible. We were on a boat. It was storming for 9 hours. 9 hours in the open ocean. And that's pretty much the only like nature stuff that we got up to. The rest of it I was just kind of exploring uh Okinawan culture and it's just again it's so [ __ ] fascinating, dude. Like it I mean it's a little dark. It it is weird like seeing all the strip clubs and the you know the pool halls and stuff was very weird and it definitely rubbed me the wrong way. I'm like well this doesn't feel like Japan but you know it's okay now. It was never really Japan right? It's always been distinct whether it was you know belonging to China or whether they were fully independent or whether it was you know American now it's kind of both. I mean the US occupies a huge uh amount of land in Okinawa and we protect them. I mean it's like a reciprocal right like it's a little bit of give and take. Also they were [ __ ] fascists in the war. So I mean but you know how long are they supposed to pay the price? But whatever, we are giving them a service. We're keeping them from getting taken over by goddamn China. So, I mean, I'd say that's a that's a plus.

[00:35:07]Um, yeah, just anyways guys. Yeah, I'm just [ __ ] talking myself in circles. But Okinawa was a cool time. Oh, also I saw like a badge shop where you can go and get custom embroidered uh like little military badges and actually uh coped a few. Um, so if you go over to patreon.com/smallburname, we're doing a giveaway right now where I'm I think I'm giving away five patches uh to five lucky patrons. All paid members are eligible. You don't have to be a new member, but obviously you get entered to win when you become a paying member. So go over there. I'll leave a link in the description. Um, and yeah, just a fun little giveaway. I feel you guys like giveaways, so [ __ ] it. Let's just do another one. Uh, let's see. Is that it at uh is that it about Okinawa?

[00:35:50]Oh [ __ ] guys. I almost forgot. Hey, I'm glad you haven't launched the video. I almost forgot. I went on a US military base. This was kind of my major goal for going to Okinawa. One of my patrons reached out to me and was like, "Hey, I can get you on the base. All you have to do is like apply for some press pass, some media pass, guys. We're not media.

[00:36:11]That's not us." But one of my patrons was like, "I'll talk to my girl. I have a, you know, a friend in the public affairs office and they'll just vet you and they'll check your content and make sure you're good and then you can come to the base." They checked it and said, "No, I did not." uh you know I did not live up to the scrutinous you know level of the United States military and that is fine that's not who I that's not my audience that's not who I'm trying to please but either way they said no and I was like all right [ __ ] it I guess I'm not going and then we were out on the whaleboat all day without service came back to land at like 6 p.m.

[00:36:46]They were 2 hours late. It's crazy in Japan. They were so late. They said we get back at 3:00. We got back at [ __ ] 5. I make it back to the car like 5:30.

[00:36:55]Check my phone and like and a different guy, a different patron of mine was like, "Hey, I can actually get you on.

[00:37:01]Come through. Let's go to the to the base." So, I woke up early the next morning. I had a flight actually uh to a different destination after Okinawa.

[00:37:11]Woke up early, made the carved out the time. This is how committed I am to making quality content, guys. This is how much I care. So, I woke up early and went to the military base. And guys, it wasn't, you know, a big deal for this guy cuz he pretty much lives there. You know, he's a career military guy. But for me, it was crazy. It was like pure American culture. like the rest of Japan, you know, you go to the, you know, the Cocoichi with the drive-thru and they greet you in English and I'm meeting this half black, half uh Japanese guy, right? There's and everything's a mixture outside of the base. Even like, you know, the cigar lounge and [ __ ] in the strip clubs are obviously American, but they'll have like maybe katakana on the signage or something or like Japanese people working there. Dude, the base was like pure American. American schools, kids walking down the street speaking American. Uh, guys walking around in [ __ ] army uniforms. Um, what else?

[00:38:13]They had a Chili, brother. They had a Chili's in Japan. Do you know how many Chili there are in Japan? I think there's three. And they're all on military bases. I know there's one in Tokyo. Near Tokyo, there is a military base. know that, Rob. Maybe fact check it. Fact check this. Fact checked this.

[00:38:32]Jesus Christ, I'm lit on the coffee, brother. Baby back ribs in Japan? Are you kidding me? I mean, yeah, yaki nuku was good. Japanese food is nice, but baby back [ __ ] ribs in Japan, sir.

[00:38:49]Sir, clean up on aisle my balls. Holy [ __ ] I just busted thinking about baby back ribs in Japan. Dude, I met a Japanese employee outside with the shirt and it was like something about sauce and ribs.

[00:39:05]Like he he was wearing baby bag ribs merch outside of the Chili's in Okinawa.

[00:39:12]Dude, brother.

[00:39:15]Brother, they're doing like [ __ ] drills. Like I'm here. I'm s I smell the jet fuel off the term. Like it was an overcast day so I couldn't see very well like in on the horizon but like probably two three blocks away they were testing jet engines. It was so [ __ ] loud. I literally tasted the jet fuel. It was crazy. Dude, they have high schools there. They have like high school football tournaments, right? Like crazy crazy. And then meanwhile these people they go on vacation on the weekends.

[00:39:49]Where do they go? Right? They're in [ __ ] Okinawa. They could go to Taiwan. They could go to Australia. They could go to Papa New Guinea. They could go to the South Pacific.

[00:39:58]Dude, what a crazy life that these people are living like right in Japan.

[00:40:04]They're in Japan.

[00:40:06]It's just so fascinating, dude. So, shout out my boy Deonte for getting me on the base. That was absolutely insane.

[00:40:13]Oh, I also saw where um Japan surrendered to the United States in World War II. that is on the military base. That is it's the only way you can see that is by getting on the military base. And I saw it and I filmed it and it's in the video.

[00:40:30]Dude, are you are you guys excited about this?

[00:40:33]It's very exciting for me. I am very excited about this. Go watch the video.

[00:40:37]It's a really good one. I put a lot into it. I'm super [ __ ] fascinated in Okinawa. Um Jesus Christ, dude.

[00:40:46]It was just so my mind was blown. I was like, "Dude, this is where it happened.

[00:40:51]This is how we took them." I went to the place, the first beach where America invaded. Then I went to the Chile and then I went to the place where Japan surrendered to America. It's on the military base.

[00:41:04]They're like, "By the way, this is ours." Yeah. All this nice flat land for an airport. This is ours. You guys can go build your domestic airport in the ocean. Get the [ __ ] out of our way. We are going to get the nicest, flattest, most stable land. Even though there are occasionally earthquakes, but nice flat land. And by the way, when you're leaving, okay, now I want to fly elsewhere. There's American jets everywhere. [ __ ] fighter jets, uh, helicopters, all kinds of weird aircraft and [ __ ] It's [ __ ] crazy, dude. So cool.

[00:41:36]Okinawa is just so [ __ ] interesting, man. So, anyways, shout out Deontay for getting me on the base. Honestly, brother, you made that video possible. I had so much fun. And um yeah guys, if you want to see the extended cut, go over to patreon.com/mombertame.

[00:41:51]Usually twice as twice the length. Not that size matters, but it is twice the length on Patreon. And uh yeah, enter the drawing for to get a [ __ ] military badge. And I'll see you guys in the next one. Bye-bye.