fighting tradition. a history of ferocious resistance. but it s nothing like what you might think. not at all. i took a walk through this beautiful world felt the cool rain on my shoulder found something good in this beautiful world i felt the rain getting colder sha la la la la sha la la la la la sha la la la la sha la la la la la la anthony: this is okinawa, just south of mainland japan. for all the relative rigidity of the mainland, okinawa answers in its own unique way. don t eat the same thing each day. that s boring. there s even an okinawan term for it. chanpuru, something mixed. bits borrowed from all over served up for anyone to eat. but maybe you re more familiar with the name okinawa from this. as the setting for some of the most horrifyingly bloody battles of the second world war. how horrifying? for the allies there were more than 50,000 casualties with around 12,000 killed, or missing in action, over nearly three months of fighting.
anthony: what does it mean to be strong? it implies hardness, inflexibility. okinawa is a place with a fighting tradition. a history of ferocious resistance. but it s nothing like what you might think. not at all. i took a walk through this beautiful world felt the cool rain on my shoulder found something good in this beautiful world i felt the rain getting colder sha la la la la sha la la la la la sha la la la la sha la la la la la la anthony: this is okinawa, just south of mainland japan. for all the relative rigidity of the mainland, okinawa answers in its own unique way. don t eat the same thing each day. that s boring. there s even an okinawan term for it. chanpuru, something mixed. bits borrowed from all over served up for anyone to eat. but maybe you re more familiar with the name okinawa from this. as the setting for some of the most horrifyingly bloody battles of the second world war. how horrifying? for the allies there were more than
delight, a booze mop turned classic, caught on big time for both americans missing home and locals. so i consider myself a pretty pro-military guy. but why are the marines here? like, i like marines but, you know, i m not robert mcnamara. but it seems to me if you go to war with china, sending in the marines is probably not what you re gonna be doing. people of your generation, what do you think the attitude is towards the military bases? vivian: as long as we re not living near the base anthony: right. vivian: it doesn t affect us that much. anthony: right, near the base it makes a difference. vivian: near the base it makes, right. anthony: i mean look, you know right away, i mean, it s tattoo parlors, strip clubs, vape shops, i mean, you know. vivian: and also it s very loud. that s a big issue. anthony: tourism is probably the future of okinawa, yes? i mean, beautiful weather, beaches. if the bases leave, it s gonna
place, especially young, mostly male americans, many of them homesick, and it tends to change the environment. kin town, just outside of naha, right by camp hansen, one of the larger bases. archival newscaster: the yanks have fought inch by inch to conquer this island. anthony: kin is a small slice of americana, both the mainstream america and its dark underbelly. the okinawans have made the kind of adjustments that people do when saddled with neighbors like thousands of marines, and sometime in the 80s adjusted food as we knew it to this. a mutant classic. taco rice. waitress: taco and rice, that s taco rice. anthony: wow. vivian: wow, it s big. anthony: is this chili sauce
or is it ketchup? vivian: um, it s original taco. anthony: oh, it s taco sauce. vivian: taco rice sauce, but it s, um, a bit spicy but not, not super spicy. anthony: oh good. vivian ttakushi has lived in both the u.s. and okinawa. and her aunt sumiko, an entertainer who began singing in american bases after the war. wow, that s good. there are dueling claims as to how taco rice might have morphed into existence. but sayuri shimabukuro is certain. in the 1980 s, american servicemen introduced the standard taco to okinawans. and her grandfather matsuzio gibo decided to tweak them. dumping the fillings straight on to rice for the late night crowd of marines coming back from the bars. this unholy, greasy, starchy, probably really unhealthy