A Brief Korea Visit

We have 8 hours in Korea before leaving for Bangkok, so we're killing a small amount of time in a PC room. Here are lightning impressions of Okinawa:

• It appears to be very important to the Japanese psyche that nobody be more than 100 steps from a vending machine that will sell them Boss Iced Coffee, Pocari Sweat, or cigarettes. They are literally in the middle of fields.
• The Japanese also have the Korean tendency to loudspeaker guidance in the midst of natural beauty. What is up with that?
• Taxi doors open automatically for you.
• It's going to suck coming back to North America, where tipping is expected.
• Okinawa is way more laid-back then what I'd expected in Japan; Okinawa appears to be heavily influenced by Pacific Islander culture (Hawaiian shirts everywhere!)

Well, there's the undigested view. More thoughts later.