I Get Out at Okinawa: I Probably Have Japanese Encephalitis
Welcome to the first instalment of my travel diary, wherein I reflect on my first trip to Okinawa, Japan in October of 2024.
I barely knew what to expect going to Japan. I traveled there for the first time with my cousin/best friend Kyle, who had been a few times before. He knows the language and customs, I do not, and relied heavily on him to guide me through the beautiful Okinawa.
Okinawa is a series of tropical, Hawaii-esque islands off the coast of Japan. Okinawa is known for being continuously occupied by the U.S. since WW2 and has its own indigenous population which has been colonized through the centuries by the Chinese, and the Japanese and Americans still to this day.
The biggest thing I remember that I did not expect is the mosquito bites! I was eaten ALIVE by mosquitoes in the first two days, which I did not expect as I landed in hot, humid, Okinawa on Thanksgiving long weekend. I was better prepared the further we got into the trip, I was just so not prepared for it!
So yea, I guess the message here is if you are prone to mosquito bites, or allergic to them as I clearly am, to get a vaccination or bug spray or something cuz yea, I looked so gross with my lumpy arms, legs, and bright red scars AND Japanese encephalitis, spread by mosquitos is a legit concern.
Look at my screen left arm/bicep area!
Fortunately you can get bug spray, and anti-itch ointments at all drugs stores in Japan. My sort-of joke nowadays is that I lowkey have Japanese encephalitis ( I don't actually think I do, I never display any of the symptoms other than insane swelling to the bites themselves).
You can see the bright red spots around my ankles in this picture!
As you can see, I felt quite sorry for myself with all the bites (hence the extreme pictorial documentation) so every day before going out I coated myself in bug spray if I was going to be in an area (shady, forested or garden areas) where mosquitoes hang out. I also travelled around with an itch-relief roll on to help soothe in the middle of day trips. I wish I had brought more linen pants, which of course would have offset the likelihood of getting bitten though I could barely not sweat through my skirts and tank tops multiple times daily, so who knows.
For the record, the landscape/park/walking path areas above are precisely the types of areas where I mosquitoes quietly feasted upon my naive Canadian flesh while I had absolutely no idea (at first). I was just blissfully enjoying exploring and getting steps in, taking pictures, and enjoying being a gaijin (foreigner). It was rainy intermittently throughout the day and HOT/humid and the next morning I woke up with goose eggs on my arms and ankles. Also noteworthy that these pictures are very much in the city, I was in Naha, the capital city of Okinawa, it wasn't like I was in a rural town or weedwacking out in the bush.
