It was somewhere end of the year 2001 when the company I worked for (Clubmed Holiday Resort) offered me a new post in Okinawa Japan. The contract said my post will be in Ishigaki island Okinawa. I had no idea about the place and I have never thought that I would go to Japan for work. But, it was kind of a good challenging surprise for me to accept the offer knowing that I couldn't speak any Japanese at all. The day when I received the flight ticket on my hand to go to Okinawa, I was petrified for a second that I am going for real. I said to my self, there is no way to turn my self around. How hard can that be?......
I was about 23 years old at that time. It was not my first time to work over seas but it was my first time to go to work in the country that 99% of the customers don't speak English or Indonesian. Actually I felt little bit secured because I wont go there alone. There was another staff departed on the same plane to Okinawa with me. He was my top senior in the company that will be my Boss in the job. I met up with him 2 hours before our departure time at Ngurahrai Airport Bali. When I saw him I was so happy. We departed from Bali to Osaka International Airport for a transit flight to Ishigaki island Okinawa. It was a good flight.
We arrived in Osaka International airport and we had a few hours to wait for the next flight to Ishigaki island. We arrived around lunch time and we were so hungry at that time. We decided to find some restaurant to eat. I ask my senior (Ketut) if he can speak or read any Japanese. He directly gave me an answer "No". He said to me "I thought you do!". I was a little bit panic when I heard that.
Ketut was laughing that he thought it was funny. But we were so hungry, so we kept looking for any restaurant with menu written in English.
We've been looking around for about 10 minutes without any result. At that moment we smell something good came from the place right in front of us. It was written in alphabet "Curry restaurant".
We decided to get in. We started to order some curry and I was interested to one of the curry in the menu. It's "Java Curry", I was so exited when I saw that and I fired up to the waitress to get this curry for my lunch. I was so happy that I thought I could eat the food from the island where I was born, Java island. After we waited for a minute the food came. I was a little bit surprise when I saw the waitress brought me a different food. I said to the waitress, "Excuse me, I ordered a plate of Java Curry! Not this one. You must be mistaken." The waitress said something in Japanese and she show me the order sheet matched with my table number. But I was sure that the food was not Java Curry. I tried to explain again to the waitress but she couldn't understand English and I couldn't speak Japanese too. Suddenly there was another staff from the kitchen that could speak English came over me. He show me Java curry in the menu with picture on it and he kindly explain to me about it. I wasn't complaining, but I said to him"I was born in Java and I know exactly how Java curry looks like". And he said, "I am sorry this is Japanese Java curry".
We didn't know about it and it was kind of funny experience for us. I apologized to the waitress and I started to eat my Japanese Java Curry. Actually it was delicious. From the look, I would never thought it would be good taste. Finally we had a very fun and delicious curry lunch at the airport.
This was the first culture shock I had when I went to Japan. I liked the curry but I was just shocked with brown color Java curry. It was a good experience for me that I would never forget in my life. Until now I still love Japanese Java Curry. I have never get bored to eat Japanese curry for my daily meal.
Well, if you ever be in Japan I recommend to try it. They have a lot of different kind of Japanese curry restaurant all over Japan. They taste good and they have reasonable price.
Thank you for reading this little experience I share, I wish you to have a good day.
