Part of doing what I do is answering questions from viewers, readers and those who follow my travels on one of the many social media sites where I post information. There are many questions that I receive over and over again but the one that I seem to be asked the most can be boiled down to "how do I get there". To be completely honest I love being asked this question. It shows me that there are people out there who want to get out and enjoy their time on this island not only seeing the typical locations that everyone goes to but also the not so typical ones. I started visiting so many locations and receiving so many requests for directions that I finally made a map with every location I visit marked out. Well, almost every location.
It's probably fair to say that 98% of the locations that I have covered are marked on my map. Of course as someone who is operating with the goal of helping people enjoy their time on Okinawa it only makes sense that I would be happy to share the locations with those who are interested in visiting them. For the other 2% there are 3 reasons that the location can't be found on my map.
The first is because I simply forgot to mark it. It's true, I'm only human, and from time to time between editing videos, posting blogs and working on other projects I can find myself falling behind in some areas. This is usually fixed once someone asks how to get to a location and I realize it's not on my map. A few clicks later it has been added and the link sent to the person who requested it.
The second it because I honestly have no idea where I was at the time. As you may be able to tell from some of my videos I end up in some strange, and at times sticky, locations. There have been many cases where I see something interesting out of the corner of my eye quickly take my camera out to shoot it and then move on with my journey. Once getting home and going over the footage and try to recall where I was I realize that I was somewhere on a mountain or in a village and can't pinpoint exactly where. Of course this could be all resolved with a good high quality GPS device but that is not currently part of my arsenal although I will be happy to take donations.
The third and final reason that you won't find a location on my map is because I do not feel that sharing that exact location is the responsible thing to do. I am sure that this requires a bit more clarification for some of my readers so here goes. Doing what I do comes with a certain amount of responsibility which personally I feel is too often lacking in today's day and age. As far as I am concerned is this means not only showing respect for the location and the people that might end up in the shot but it also means being considerate of those who live in the surrounding area.
Now, there are some people out there who believe that this is incredibly selfish of me. In fact the title of this posts is an abbreviated form of someone's very real comment left on one of my videos. Unfortunately the poster removed the comment before I was able to ask him or her if they would like if someone gave out directions to their very crowded neighborhood via the internet. One might then ask why make a video at the location at all. The answer is because you can do like I did and find it on your own I just don't want to be responsible for sending unknown numbers of people to some locations. It's not impossible. In fact I can remember a time when the only way you knew where to go is if you saw an add for it on a tourist location or website. There was no site like OkiNinjaKitty or Map It! Okinawa to refer to. Even now, if it hasn't been covered by the very small community of us who go out and "discover" these things some people would never know about them.
Regardless how many people are grateful or how many think I am selfish I will continue to do what I do making blogs and videos for those who want to watch. As it stands I have one heck of a large video collection featuring videos of and about Okinawa and I intend to improve on that as time passes. For those who do support the channel and blog thank you for your support and I hope to earn your continued support in the future.
I agree with you keeping some locations to yourself. I don't think it's selfish at all to be respectful of other peoples things, or areas. You are sharing something that you find interesting, so people can see it, without increasing traffic in an area. I think that's cool.
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