While Janice and I were on Okinawa we spent a lot of time eating out in the local establishments. One of our favorite places was a small upstairs eatery that we found on the North side of Gate 3 street while walking along. It was a small place with very few tables and chairs, about the size you would find in a primary school. It was run by Okinawa man, who spoke and understood english, and his wife. Our favorite dishes that were hot sour soup for Jan and chicken corn soup or myself. We ate there probably two or three times a month during our stay from late 1985 until 1990.
In many of the smaller dining establishments there was a glass enclosed ice tray between the people sitting at the counter And the person preparing the food. on the ice tray there usually was an assortment of freshly marshalls receiving retrieved from the ocean like **** shells.
During that same time frame there was an incident at Tory Station, a US Army Base just north of Kadena, where an officer was fragged somehow with grenades being placed in his locker, severely injuring him. One of the people we dove with on weekends, worked there, and told us about the incident. The story was that the officer was about to expose the trafficking of guns onto Okinawa in classified shipments for selling to the Japanese mafia called the Yakuza. The shipments were brought in on C130s flown by CIA and had the distinction of being exempt from inspection by the Japanese authorities. Having access to the flat line area i had notice several C130s on the flightline that had a small “Air America” painted near the entrance steps.
On one of our visits to the small upstairs eatery, I asked the owner how he became so fluent in English. He replied that he worked for the Air America as a cook when the Viet Nam war was going on. I mentioned that I knew someone who worked for the CIA but I did not know anyone who worked for Air America. He looked at me, grinned and said “Air America CIA same same”! It was apparently obvious, the locals were very tuned in on what was going on, on their once peaceful island.
Fresh seafood on ice