Luckily the Period of Reflection ended early in my visit but there were still certain restrictions put on service members. One of these restrictions is service members not being allowed to consume alcohol off base. Have no fear, this did not stop an exciting Friday night from occurring. Many of the bases have bars and lounges for service members to relax and enjoy themselves.

Before we went out for the night though, my sister took me to her favorite sushi restaurant. It was an awesome experience to eat at a local place. At the restaurants in Okinawa, there is a button placed at the end of each table and when you are ready to order to press this button. It signals your server to come take your order. I found this method efficient. Instead of waiting around for your server or being interrupted while still trying to decide what to order, you simply press the button to signal your server. Tipping is also considered rude in local restaurants. As seen in the picture above, the best part of the this restaurant was the portions. This is one order for a California roll and needless to say was more than enough; however, we also ordered edemamae and shitake mushrooms. Everything was delicious and inexpensive.

Even on a Friday night out, I was witnessed one of the many traditions of the military, well at least the Marine Corps. When a promotion occurs within a company, it is tradition for that person to throw a “Wet Down.” This requires the marine getting a promotion to put down their pay raise on the bar. They invite whoever they want to come celebrate until the bar tab is tapped. In addition to get to participate in the celebration, I was able to meet a lot of the people my sister works with on a daily basis. After this, we went to a different base and went to the “O Club.” This is a lounge intended for officers only, which means no enlisted service members can go to this particular lounge.

Overall, it was an interesting night being exposed to the military social scene. It was refreshing to see all of the hard-working, dedicated service members out being able to enjoy themselves.