The Northern Mariana Islands

September 17–18, 2012

The nation consists of a couple of small islands. The main island (Saipan) overlooks the smaller island (Tinian), from which American airplanes once took off with nuclear bombs intended for Japan.

I picked up a rock and threw it in the water. The rock sank eleven kilometers to the ocean floor below. The famous Mariana Trench is located here.

There are planes flying from here to Japan these days, too—to bring tourists.

Tourists also come from South Korea, China, and Russia.

But the Japanese are the most numerous, which is why even the police stations have signs in both English and Japanese.

Although there isn’t just nothing to do here—there’s absolutely nothing.

A license plate.

Fire hydrants are always surrounded with protective posts on four sides (like in Micronesia or Palau).

The payphones are like the ones in the US.

A solitary water supply hatch.

Numerous water supply hatches.

Drainage.

A sewage pump truck at work.

The main national symbol here, like in Guam, is the latte stone—the pillar of the Chamorro people. Four of these pillars prop up the roof of every bus stop.

An image of the same pillar appears on every highway number sign on the islands (you have to make yourself look at the white part: the mushroom shape is the latte stone).

There are blue garbage dumpsters on every corner.

Tsunami evacuation route (like in Guam and Sri Lanka).

Beware of the dog.

The entrance to some club.

Betel is sold even at gas stations.

Hence all the no-spitting requests.

Billboards with law enforcement poetry appear all over the island. “Drive sober or get pulled over.”

“Click it or ticket.”

There’s a widely-used system of encouraging freeloaders here: food stamps. Every low-income individual receives about a hundred dollars’ worth of food stamps for free from the government each month. Stores that accept food stamps gladly advertise this fact on their storefronts (like in American Samoa).

The Northern Marianas have two interesting details which I haven’t encountered anywhere else. The first is lockers for large jugs of water which are set up outside store entrances. They take up a lot of space and don’t necessarily need to be cooled, so they might as well be out in the street. When needed, the cashier opens the locker, and the customer can take however many jugs they need. Empty containers also go back in the locker.

The second detail is the tall rectangular concrete pillars which are used to support power lines leading into buildings.

Aside from that, it’s just a typical Pacific slice of paradise.