"Where America's Day Begins"

When you work in a Japanese company, the word 'vacation' isn't one you hear in the office very regularly. This isn't because everyone speaks Japanese and they say "休み" (yasumi) instead. It's because, well, Japanese don't really go on holiday, at least not often. When they do, it's always 2-3 day trips, so they can surround the weekend and not lose a week of work. You're not likely to find a week long tour program designed for Japanese in NZ, because noone would use it.

So when the boss told us we're all going on company vacation as a reward for a bumper year, I assumed it meant we were all going to get a half day off to play golf or shop. Turns out we were going to get a MASSIVE 3-day trip to...Guam? I was not expecting to head somewhere I had to look up on a map.

3 most famous things about Guam:
1.) American naval base.
2.) uh....
3.) I'm out.

I probably know Guam better than you - well, obviously now I've been, but even beforehand. In Japan, it probably makes the Top 5 Most Popular Travel Destinations for Japanese. To sum it up, it's like the American Okinawa, which is the Japanese Hawaii. So its the American-Japanese-Hawaii. No, not the same as just "Hawaii".

After having spent 2 days exploring a portion of the main island within the confines of our tour options, I can say the following:

1.) Guam culture is a soft-collision (or an indifferent near miss) of three cultures; American military and the American legislation, Guam locals (the Chamorro) and their laid-back, Micronesian style, and... Japanese tourists. The island is essentially bi-lingual, and if you want a good job then you gotta learn Japanese. American may have won the battle for Guam, but without Japan's tourists coming en masse to enjoy the beach, Guam would need serious financial aid.
2.) It's not a US state (obviously), but on all accounts it should be; it has a governor, you need an American visa to get in, people drink Bud and Miller Lite... and one of the most popular tourist attractions after the sand and surf is the firing ranges. Although I guess in America the guys on the streets would be pulling the gun on you, not calling out as you walk by "Hey bro! You wanna fire a gat?"
3.) Shit's expensive. All the wonderful delicacies of American culture (see: Reece's Pieces, Oh Henry!s, Taco Bell) have to be shipped across the Pacific to get there. And the local stuff has to be expensive so the locals can make a living. Thus, like any good tourist spot, it ain't cheap.

Still, despite a lot of people saying to me either "Guam has nothing", or "Where's Guam?", one thing it does have plenty of is coastline, and that's more than enough for me. I ached for 3 days afterwards from all the wake boarding, scuba diving, para sailing and jet skiing. That's not to say I achieved anything. I'll have to give the wakeboarding a serious go before I can stand up regularly (I don't know if it's being tall or having bad balance, or just being plain old clumsy, but I only stood up once from around 30 tries). The scuba diving wasn't exactly taxing, seeing as none of us had a license to dive far. I was surprised how simple para sailing was - kinda like a big back to front swing. Its easy to forget you're suspended 30-40 metres above the water by straps no bigger than seatbelts - that is, until you look down. Oh, and when you weigh as much as me, and hit the boat on the return with enough momentum to skin your knee, you think once was maybe enough.


Despite being rained out on the second afternoon, Guam was a typical Pacific paradise, only slightly marred by the military and tourism. It's a bit out of the way and not exactly cheap, but if you've got time and money on your hands, there's certainly plenty to enjoy. I figure you may as well hit Thailand though, if you want the same longitude without the US navy.