Excerpts: Part II.

More excerpts (and added-commentary from yours truly) from the memoir Japan Took the J.A.P Out of Me by Lisa Fineberg Cook.

"I have become very friendly with wasabi peas, which I wash down by the handful with another friend, Good-Value Beer. I have an intimate relationship with Mr. Do-nuts, the Dunkin of Japan, and I've become codependent with MOS Burgers, the Asian In-N-Out."

I have not yet become friendly with wasabi peas but they sound delicious and I may have to pick some up at our next commissary visit. I haven't seen Good-Value Beer here but the local beer is Orion. I personally haven't tried it but Dan has and he has likened it to the Japanese version of PBR. We pass by a Mr. Do-nuts on the way to the base where Dan works and we've seen MOS Burgers all over the island.

We had a bad experience with MOS Burgers while I was still pregnant, though. Dan had a hankering for taco rice so we set off to find some. I remember seeing a big picture of taco rice at one of the MOS Burgers close to the AF Base, so I sent us in that direction.

We finally got there, no thanks to horrid traffic, only to discover that they did not have any of the taco rice. They ran out, or something. Or it just wasn't available, I'm not sure. We got milkshakes instead which were great but we were bummed we made a grand excursion out of our night for taco rice and didn't walk away with any in our bellies.

We'll have to go back again sometime soon and sample something on their menu, though. I've only had In-N-Out a couple times out in California and it was was pretty tasty so I have high hopes for MOS Burgers.

"Even with the immense language barrier, I'm great at ordering. Every restaurant has a window displaying plastic food resembling everything on the menu, so I can just point and say, 'That'."

I haven't been to mainland (except on a base when we barely got off the plane, so that doesn't count) so I'm not sure but I think Okinawa has a larger amount of Americans at least in comparison to its general size. Okinawans really cater to the Americans with either plastic food displays, English menus, or photos on the menu that you can just point too.

This is both good and bad. Good because it makes it easy but bad because it really takes away the challenge of learning the language because you need to. You could easily live on this island for a whole tour and not have to learn more than ten phrases in Japanese. We don't want to do that, though. We want to learn and we want Ev to know Japanese, too.

"That, honey, is exactly why I love living overseas. You never know what new crazy thing is going to thrill you, and once you have that, you'll never forget it. Even better, you start wanting it all the time. You start seeking it out just so you can sit...and talk about the latest crazy thing you've just seen or done."

The quote above was from her husband, Peter, when they were honeymooning somewhere else in mainland Japan. Nagoya, I think. No, they live in Nagoya and are honeymooning in Tokyo. Anyway it sounds a lot like Dan - he is a very adventurous "GO! SEE! DO!" type of guy and wants to experience as much as he can. I pale in comparison next to him, haha.

For example before we even moved over here, he asked how I'd feel about living off base. We lived off base in California and loved it (even though our apartment there could nearly fit into our bedroom here) but the thought of living off base in a foreign country scared the heebie-jeebies out of me. "I won't know the language!" I countered. Well, duh, neither would he.

In the end we were able to look for off base housing because on base was at capacity and now that we live off base, I wouldn't ever want to have to move on base. Sure we can't converse with our neighbors other than basic greetings but there is more of a challenge in living off base, at least initially.

Part III coming soon!