７月２６日（日：boys' last day, meet tour group）

This morning Nick and Kitty prioritized seeing 波の上ビーチ (nami no ue biichi, Naminoue Beach - literal translation is beach above the waves -) so I joined them for a quick romp around the beach, where we also met 2 others from our hostel.

Naminoue Beach

We had to check out of our hostel after the beach, so we grabbed all our luggage and dragged it to nearby 県庁前 (kenchoumae, Kenchomae) monorail station to put in the pay lockers while we did a final souvenir run and look-around on International Street. We accomplished all we needed to like Kitty getting whiskey for his father. Kitty pointed out that you can get small bottles of Monster energy drink in Okinawa, which I haven't noticed anywhere else so far.

Before going to the airport by monorail we grabbed lunch at KFC, of all places. They had a 辛口 (karakuchi, spicy - literal meaning is "dry mouth"-) chicken burger that wasn't spicy but wasn't bad, and even had a lychee mocha, which I had to try. It was clearly lychee flavored and I enjoyed it, although it didn't blow me away so much that I would recommend it highly.

This is the meal I take a picture of in Japan? Why?

lychee mocha

I bid the boys farewell at Naha Airport and was suddenly endowed with about 6 hours of free time before meeting some members of an Okinawa study tour group for dinner at a restaurant at the airport.

Jetstar: NOPE

The boys had made a somewhat last-minute reservation on Jetstar to get back to KIX for their international flight back to the US, so they didn't have time to review their check baggage policies at length. It turns out Jetstar tickets are pretty cheap, but they suckerpunch you with baggage fees. The deal is, Jetstar gives 1 reservation (not one person, on reservation of however many people) 2 free check bags. After those 2 bags, every extra kilogram of luggage costs 800 yen to check. It cost the boys more to check their luggage than to buy the tickets. It was ridiculous. I would not recommend Jetstar to anyone. The only way it may work for you is if you don't carry too much luggage, or reserve all party members separately to minimize baggage costs.

Naha has a pretty nice airport, pretty cool weather in this picture

Waiting at the airport, I was able to connect to public wifi after quite some effort. My blogging efforts were cut short by a lack of publicly available コンセント (konsento, electrical outlets), aside from ones that required payment in order to use. These were intended for phone charging, judging by their inconvenient placement.

When dinner time arrived, I met an impressive young American Master's student of Japanese-English translation and interpretation, Emma. We also met a Hawaiian man who is living in Okinawa on a research grant, and an India-born MIT man, and my personal hero in the realm of Okinawa base research, Chie. It was my first time to speak with her in-person and I was all nerves. I was excited to find she is also fond of beer. Our motley crew was soon joined by our guesthouse hosts for the next two nights, an Okinawan woman and a Canadian man married couple.

The Okinawa study tour members are meeting for the purpose of investigating and showing support to Okinawa in the realm of US base issues within the prefecture, specifically regarding opposition to the building of a replacement US military facility at Henoko. So for a little while the blog will take a political turn. Please continue reading - I think you will enjoy my next few posts as they will be very active.

Travel tips: 
23. Don't fly with Jetstar. I think their policies are a little messed up and I would prefer not to support that.

(All names used in this blog are pseudonyms.)