#9 【ゲスト:Jeff Smith】The best pitmaster in Okinawa

00:00

What's up guys, this is IYASASA RADIO by Akane and Minami. In this radio, we are going

to talk about random topics in Okinawan, Japanese and English.

Hi Sai!

ぐすーよーちゅーがなびら。イヤササレディオのアカネとミナミやいびん。

うぬーレディオでぐすーよーんかい英語と沖縄グチさんにいっぺんうむさるはなしつづけやん

でちうむとおいびん。

Yay!

Okay, so please allow me to introduce today's guest.

今日はゲストの回なので。

He is the owner of Smokey Noki BBQ, also a veteran of United States Marine Corps.

And now he has lived in Okinawa for 9 years with a first class amazing wife and a cutest dog.

Jeffです。

Thanks for having me.

Welcome Jeff.

We are at Jeff's house.

I love Jeff's house.

Welcome.

Always nice.

We just ate very good lasagna.

ラザニアおいしかったね。

Made by Jessica.

今日はジェフのお話をするので、

I will explain how Minami and Jeff met and became a good friend.

So, I used to work in a bar.

Is it a bar?

Right?

Bar at the Futema base.

Futema.

Yeah.

So, so to say like, for you to, okay.

But we have to yeah.

So in there the other day, we had like three, four questions right?

yeah and then you want to live here longer i mean for good yeah i'll at least be here until 2024

okay then you would extend it we'll try probably yeah we'll see so how did you choose okinawa to

03:08

live i mean what's the good point for you to live here to be here so i came out here uh for the

military but you know we kind of like the culture here um we like the people

um the food just the lifestyle here in okinawa is much more relaxed than back in america

so um when i retired in 2016 i said well i want to go somewhere where i want to go for work

and i had many job offers but i didn't want to go to those places good jobs but i didn't want to go

there um i bought a house back in oklahoma and uh then they said offered me a job here

again so i came back i said uh yeah let's go to okinawa again so we were home for her just like

maybe six months whenever i got the job after i retired and we came back out here it was uh

this was one of the places that i had selected um as a place to come back like i didn't want to

go to jersey i didn't want to go to california but if i had a chance to come back to okinawa

i'll do it so how about the the other prefectures in japan was it option for you yes

yeah but that was only so i could get back here so it to get back to okinawa is tricky i was very

lucky they needed someone of my skill set yeah to come back so i was lucky but that's the way life

is right you work hard and maybe you never make it anywhere but if you work hard and you're lucky

the job happened to be open when i retired if i had retired a year later or a year earlier

i wouldn't be here but i always said if i want to go to okinawa i need to keep my options open

and be smart so if a job opened up at iwakuni or masawa or yakota maybe i have to take those

and then when something opens up here i can just come it's easier to come to okinawa from

the mainland than it is to come from america so i kept my options open but this job opened up i

it's a it's a good spot to live

I came to Okinawa, not to America, not to Japan, but to Okinawa.

06:05

Okinawa is peaceful, warm, and relaxing. It's a good place to live.

Okinawa is always a nice spot to live.

and the other thing interesting about jeff

is that he has a side job in the military and he does a barbeque business and he helps out in the south.

The barbeque he makes is amazing.

Right?

I think so.

It's really really good.

What kind of style barbeque do you serve?

um texas mainly so low heat for a long time and that's a texas style.

Texas style meat.

I think the most popular one is brisket.

Can you explain about the brisket briefly?

so the brisket came like they're the food that i make but the brisket too is mainly derived from

or it came from like back in the cowboys days the cattle drives so they take cattle all the way from mexico all the way to alaska

and on the cattle drive the cowboys they have to have food that you can make throughout the day

and then they eat at night you know and brisket beans definitely beans on the cattle drive

so pork like so a lot of the food that i make is the same food from that the cowboys had on the cattle drive

your brisket your pork ribs if they're lucky

so brisket i take it i cook it for 225 degrees i don't know celsius but fahrenheit for about i don't know 12 to 15 hours

so it'll cook all night you know and i have to check it and make sure but whenever it's done you can kind of smell it

and you know to go check to stick the meat with a probe and if it goes in nice and smooth like a knife in the butter you know it's ready to go

are you from texas?

09:05

i'm from texas

celsius you said 25 to 225 degrees fahrenheit

why yeah

english

it's kind of a cooking style

cooking genre

there is a competition

in america

a tournament

a barbeque competition

it's like a competition

it's major

more

deep

cooking

more serious than japan

everyone is so serious

about barbeque

it's not so serious

how did you start selling the barbeque?

um

i tried a lot of places out here

and they didn't

the business out here

they don't have a barbeque

my style

there's some good spots out here i know a lot of the guys

but it's not like how i cook it

it's different

and anybody that's went to those places knows

um

so i bought a pit

an old style pit

and uh

i started cooking

when my neighbor said

jeff you should sell this here

nobody makes this

and i'm like no you're crazy

i'm just making this for me and my family

but that was in 2012

and i've been selling barbeque in okinawa

since 2012

and we serve

japanese

we serve okinawans

we serve

military

the parties

catering you know a thousand people

no problem we can do it

so

we did a japanese bank

we did okinawan parties

so

12:01

we've been doing business here since 2012

oh cool

that's long

like

i made barbeque

and gave it to a neighbor

and they were like huh? it's good

so

barbeque business started

apparently

so i went to a lot of places

and ate barbeque

but it wasn't that good

so i sold

the barbeque that i was good at

and now

the military

and okinawan people

and parties

have started ordering

that's an amazing story

it is amazing

to have

you know homemade

not homemade but authentic food

in other countries

so i think it's good for

the american people in here

but also for us to

get to know

other countries' food

yeah

i haven't found

brisket in tokyo

but

it's not as good as

his

brisket

i didn't know about brisket

until i met jeff

i didn't know

there were so many kinds

it's interesting

but

everyone

tried it

and it became a business

it's amazing

it's very american

isn't it?

i think

it's easier to

start a business

than japanese people

i think

kids sell

lemonade

since they were young

so they do what they can

and make money

there's no resistance

i think it's normal

do you think

from our personal

experience

we never thought

how to sell things

or how to make money when we were kids

but you guys

maybe in america i see

maybe tv shows or movie

and a lot of kids selling their cookies

and lemonade

they wash somebody's car

making okozukai money

i think that's

a regular thing

to do

yeah

i did that growing up

i used to

mow yards

cut the grass

churches, old people

people that just didn't have a lawnmower

and the way i would do it

i had a lawnmower

and i would ride my bike through town

15:01

and i would pull it

and i would see grass that's too high

so i would stop and knock on the door

hey, do you need

your yard cut?

and they would be like, i do

but do you charge too much?

i'm like, no, $10

so i would cut it cheap

and i ended up, even as a kid

making pretty good money

just go work

and anybody willing to work

can make money today

i didn't hesitate to

ask people

to do some work

and get money

it's not a negative thing in america

i just knock

i was very polite

that's the culture difference

i think

you've been down to texas

texas and oklahoma

it's very

polite

as long as you're a polite person

you're not going to have any problem

knocking on the door

as long as you're polite

the south is good like that

some of the other places i've lived

in california

for example

i would never do it there

it depends on where you live

i think so

you can go to a gas station

in oklahoma

and end up talking to

a total stranger for an hour

in california, everybody's in a hurry

pump your gas

and they're gone, they're down the road

but in oklahoma, you may see somebody

they see you pumping gas

where are you from?

next thing you know, they talk to you for like an hour

getting your entire life story

and they telling your life story

that's the way it is in the south

easy to make friends in the countryside

do you have the culture

that you're helping your parents

and they give you allowance

we have that

but that's not how we grew up

i think it's more common

for japanese people

for allowance

they have it in america

but that's not how we did it

i don't know

but

in america

that's not weird

18:01

i'm glad

that's spreading

to japan

yeah

business

business mind

I've been taught since I was a kid

I've met a lot of friends

I think

they move fast

and they don't hesitate

if south america

is hesitating

other people will say something

they won't do that

and make money

there's no prejudice

that's good

and

jeff

he knows

people in okinawa

and moai

and

moai

is

a culture

in okinawa

and

in a group

once a month

they eat

and drink

and they pay

a fee

and

5 people

pay once a month

and one person

pays

and

there are

changes in life

and we need money

and we help each other

that's

moai

i will explain

moai in english

just in case for english speaker

moai is a group of friends

that get together once a month

and not just about gossip

and chatter it's deep support

and respect for each other

each member knows the friends count on each other

if you get sick or spouse dies

or if you run out of money

we know someone will

step in and help

it's much easier to go through life

knowing there is a safety net

even today about half of okinawans

participate in a moai and many are

in more than one

thank you

how did you get invited to moai group

so

don anderson

has been out here since

1989 i think

or 1992

a long time and he is very local

and he

invited me

i started going

you know month after month

i was going i even go

he is not there

and

before i knew it i was friends with everybody there

and even though

their english is not so good

and my japanese is

horrible

we still communicated

even with don there

initially he was a translator

but now i can go there

by myself and

21:01

we talk all night you know

so

i want to say

they

asked me to be a member

and i said

accepted so when we did the

i think it's in january

i signed on to be a member

and

i've been a member now for a couple of years

to my retirement ceremony

for the military

the moai members came and supported me

afterwards

we went out and sing karaoke

so instead of me

retiring and hanging out

with a bunch of

americans i was hanging out with my

moai group on my retirement night

so i mean

i think we are pretty

close group of friends

you know

they are all

okinawan people

detectives, doctors, dentists

mechanics

it's pretty cool

so you are the bridge

you are the bridge

the bridge

okinawan and american

we try

i don't know japanese

but we communicate

so we are pretty close

and

at the military

retirement party

we didn't hang out with americans

but

we went out to drink

and sing karaoke

so

it's a communication

maybe

did you have

any difficulties to communicate

with okinawan people

no

everybody here

younger generations

all speak or at least understand

english

a lot of my family back home

americans they think

oh my god you live in okinawa

how is it there

is it like raw fish

you know

they think japanese

is all you eat is raw fish

and they think

whenever i go out in town

i can't communicate with anyone

and i try to tell them

it's just like living in america

i have to speak broken english

and slow down

if their english is not so good

but i've never had trouble communicating here

but in mainland japan

that's a different story

you know so

mainland japan

24:01

they don't speak

as much english there

as here

many times i've went up

to people there

and they didn't speak english at all

not even a city

a big city

i can usually find someone at the airport

but not many times

like when i went to yakuska

yakuska

i was staying at a hotel

i ran into plenty of people

out there that didn't speak english

and that's pretty close to a base

when i went to the castle

i went to

i forgot the name of the castle

odawara castle

i went to the castle there

and there were plenty of people there

that did not speak english

hardly any

why is that

but you know

i was born and raised in okinawa

so i think i can speak english

people in the middle

don't know

maybe there's a reason

but if you live normally

the family in the dark

doesn't speak english at all

yeah

it's not

like mainland

i thought

but i guess it's not

yeah

what jeff was saying

when you communicate with people

in okinawa

if you ask them

if there's anything difficult

they say no

but

when i went to the outskirts

of okinawa

even at hotels

or tourist spots

i couldn't understand

what they were saying

so i thought

why

i thought

there's no answer

maybe there's a reason

even if you don't understand

you say yes

maybe

somehow

yeah

so what else do you like to do

in okinawa

or the hobby

anything

what i enjoy doing the most

is helping out the military

with disability claims

it's very rewarding

because there's nobody out here

to do it

there are people that retired

that know what to do

but how do you find those people

there's a lot of bad advice

it's very important

to file the claim correctly

also

since

world war 2

a lot of americans have married locals

out here

so

whenever something happens

to the veteran

they die or something

the family is entitled

27:01

to burial benefits

like money

for headstones and all kinds of things

but how do you fill out the paperwork

and that's what i do

is

i learned how to do it

i got certified to do it

and now i help people with their disability claims

so like

if they had surgery while they were in

they get compensated with money

and free treatment

after they retire or leave the service

so i do claims

i've done maybe

210

215 claims since 2017

and the money

in the veterans pockets

is close to 4 million dollars

4 million dollars

4 million united states dollars

4 million dollars

what is a disability claim?

well

like jeff

a lot of veterans

after they retire

get injured

or after the war

including PTSD

a lot of people with disabilities

get compensated

like

assistance

like that

it exists as a form

but a lot of people don't know how to do it

and they don't know

how to claim

so i've heard

from people like jeff

if you help

and apply

you get a lot of money

but i didn't know it was over

200 cases

so

maybe a lot of people don't know

well

in japanese law

if you don't know

you don't get compensated

and it's hard

in the south

yeah

living in a foreign country

is even harder

but

you do a claim

to the military

not in the japanese government

no

they don't have this

specific department for this?

sure they do, it's called the veterans affairs

what?

it's called the veterans affairs, the VA

but

there's not many people

out here that know how to fill out the claim

correctly

i'll give you an example

today i did a claim

today

they brought me their medical record

i screened it, i helped them fill out the paperwork

i told them where to sign

he signed it

and we filed it, we sent it off

it took maybe an hour and a half

30:00

1.5 hours

now

we had not done a claim incorrectly

now i've got

other people that do it incorrectly

the first time

and that requires much more time

maybe 15, 20 hours of work

of screening, trying to figure out what went

wrong with their claim the first time

for example

let's talk about post traumatic

stress syndrome, PTS

for the anxiety

i've seen people

file for PTSD

and they put it on a 526EZ

form, that's this form

they put it on this form

but they didn't fill out the PTSD

form

so when the VA got their paperwork

they denied it

they didn't say that they didn't have PTSD

what they said was, you didn't fill out

the proper paperwork

and they denied it

but when the veteran gets back

they just assumed that

the VA denied them their claim

but that's not true every time

sometimes they didn't submit the right paperwork

and i have to figure that out

that takes a lot of time

there is no

explanation on

internet or anything

because it's not really nice

yes but it's difficult

to read because the VA

disability process

it's all about

ailments

sicknesses and pains

so you would think it would be written

as if a doctor

had written it, right?

that's not true, the VA claim process

is written as if a lawyer

wrote it, now anyone that's ever

read something that a lawyer

wrote, it's difficult to understand

what it's saying

so these veterans read the paperwork

and they have a difficult time

filling it out

i'll give you an example

it says for PTS

if you claim PTS

or your ailments

like I broke my leg, I have sleep apnea

put it on a 526EZ form

okay, I put it on a

526EZ and they denied it

why did they deny it?

because they didn't put it on a 0781

form

nothing tells them to put it on a 0781

you need someone that knows

the process to make sure

that they do it correctly

so they just deny it

and they don't tell them what's wrong

yeah but they tell them why

they denied it, the VA tells them why

but it's difficult to understand

remember it's written like a lawyer

wrote it

so it's difficult, some of the paperwork

they get back, they just assume they denied it

okay they said I don't have PTS

they didn't say

you don't have PTS

they said that

we're denying your claim because there's not enough evidence

what evidence do you need?

you need a 0781 form

it didn't say that

33:00

it didn't say fill out a 0781 form

that's where I come in

I see it

and I'm like oh, you didn't fill out the right form

that was your job?

no

to teach? no

I just learned how to do it

what made you feel like you want to do that

as a volunteer

that many cases

but you figure I retired here in 2016

yeah

so when veterans

are transitioning out of the service

whether they did 4 years or 30 years

we have to do a lot of online

courses

we have to take classes

and then we have to go to a one week class

I went to it

and all of that training

and I didn't know how to do my claim

I still didn't know what to do

okay

so I'm like

I'm coming back out here

remember I retired in 2016 and I went home

and I started volunteering

with the

Disabled American Veterans Association

and I saw that they're doing

disability claims

and they helped me with mine, thank God

because I didn't know what to do

whenever I found out

I asked them can I get certified

because I'm going back to Okinawa

and there's nobody here doing this

and that's why I did it

there's nobody here doing it

and look at the amount of money

$4 million

that's not $400,000

that's not $40,000

$4 million in veterans pockets since 2017

that's a lot of money

now

most of the veterans I help

I make sure they get a good claim filed

and I brief them

on the process

and usually

they get a good claim

is it for the military?

yes

but a lot of the veterans

a lot of veterans I help too

the first claim I did

was a guy that's been out here

since 1987

he did 4 years in the Air Force

he got out in 1987

never filed a claim

he's been married to a local for

he said

Jeff can you help me?

let me look at your stuff

that was 2017

what is that? 30 years?

let me look at your paperwork

we filed his paperwork

he's drawn 40%

that's like $800 a month

every month

$800 a month

since 2017

but he went in

to get help in 1999

and they told him

that he did not rate a claim

when I saw him in 2017

I'm like you do rate a claim

maybe they'll deny it, maybe they won't

but let's file the paperwork

he's getting like $800 a month

36:01

that's a lot of money

how much is that a year?

$9,600 a year

so Jeff

is getting

support from

veterans

it's a good thing

yeah

like

he came back from the war

he had PTSD

like panic disorder

and

insomnia

and mental health issues

and

he got injured

there are a lot of things

you can get from the government

but you can't fill out the forms

or

there are a lot of things

you can't get from the government

and I experienced that

so

there are internet lectures

but

it's not easy

and they don't teach you

until you understand

so

he's doing it as a volunteer

he's a really good person

as expected from a friend from the south

so

if you have any veterans friends

or if you're married

if you have any

let us know

we'll contact Jeff

so

lastly

I know Jeff is a good person

can you give us

some positive message

for local people here

well

first I want to thank

the Okinawan people for having me here

I know coming in the military

I had to come but

it's still their home

so I want to thank Okinawa for having me

the people here have been great

and when

they see an American

just know that

we're a little

a little timid sometimes

just like they are

so just say hello

and we'll say hello back

and we'll be friends

and get along very good

you know

Jeff is

a very open minded person

but

if you live in Okinawa

the military people

and

the people you meet

how do I say

the people you meet

but there are

different political

relationships

so

there are different prejudices

and

prejudices

but

we're all human

so

as human race

39:01

if we meet on the street

we can be friends

I like

when I drive and American

people say bye

to me from the car

on the road

we're always waving

every morning

when we leave the house

the ladies walk in their dogs

or they're walking for exercise

and we're waving

and when we first started waving

they would look at us

but now they get over to the side of the road

and they wave back

every morning

they're waving back at us

I like that

so everyone

if you have eyes

wave your hand

say hi

what's up

finally

that's it

thank you Jeff

thanks for having me

that was a good story today

today

we invited Jeff

and talked a lot

we talked about

how he

met Minami

and why he still lives in Okinawa

and his BBQ business

and

his volunteering

stuff and the message

to us

that was all good things

thank you

that's all for today

bye bye

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