Letter Home: Differences between Okinawa and Miyazaki

Okinawa	Miyazaki
We are either going up or down hills on our bikes	Flat
Hot temperatures	Cool temperatures
More apartments	More houses
Strong breeze from typhoons	Small breeze
Moist air	Dry air
Diversity in cultures & races (due to military bases?)
Unique words and phrases and intonation	Japanese
Strong sense of Okinawan identity & independence from ‘main land’ Japan	In Miyazaki, Okinawa is seen as exotic and a foreign place
Typhoons are routine	Typhoons are feared