GACKT Official Blog update. Translation below:

Today, I trained in the morning as well.
After finishing my home training, I immediately started preparing to leave.

Even though my stay in Okinawa was short, the elegant time that I’ve spent with my friends
was precious and meaningful.
Also, from here, I’ll be returning to Tokyo for work.

I enjoyed my last tea time in Okinawa.
The hotel is filled with guests.
From now, we’re headed towards Golden Week,
so I suppose the hustle and bustle will continue to intensify.

Despite that it’s now still before Golden Week,
I heard that the airport is already rather crowded.
I would’ve preferred to arrive just on time but
I ended up arriving earlier than needed.

The airport staff
showed my to their new VIP room.

It’s smaller than I expected but
this is more than enough for me to kill time.
It was only for a short period of time but my heart was healed by the wonderful smiles of the female ground staff.

When it was time for departure, I headed to the plane.
The views in this airport hasn’t changed for a long time.
Even if Okinawa Airport doesn’t add any more runways,
if the prices of air tickets fall even lower than the current levels,
the congestion will not go away.

I think that it’s a necessary condition but in this current environment,
it appears that it is impossible to expand the runways any more.
It’s almost like Manila.

I wonder what has become of
the plans to build an airport in northern Okinawa, which has surfaced and disappeared numerous times.
If that really happens, it will be greatly linked to the development of the northern and central areas.
Access to Onna Village, Nago, and other areas will increase greatly too,
though I think that should be done instead.

The plane didn’t have a single seat that was empty, and was packed full of people.
Though I think it would be good to have more luxurious flights between Tokyo and Okinawa.

The price of a flight to Okinawa is already more expensive than a number of international flights.
If that is not remedied,
I can see it becoming a huge obstacle to the development of Okinawa from here on.
People will naturally think, if it’s the same price whichever it is, then I might as well go overseas…

Then,
real problems will keep piling up.
Okinawa has yet to mature as a tourist destination and that growth is being stopped too.

There’s a plan to construct more than 30 large hotels in Okinawa by 2020.
Despite that,
the balance between it’s actual growth as a tourist city thus far
and the actual service quality isn’t matched up at all.

And,
the biggest problem of all is that there is a lack of hotel staff with a high level of service.
There’s an overwhelming shortage of talent.

Of course,
it would be alright if Okinawa had the environment to nuture
the youths living here to study and work in these professions but
that balance is still bad.

The development is going forward while ignoring the real problems.
If Okinawa doesn’t put in the effort to stop this
it’ll definitely get a retaliation.

I arrived in Tokyo, then had a meeting
while having tea at Westin Hotel.

This time,
I had lots of chances to talk to people who were involved in Okinawa’s hotels but
the bad balance has yet to be fixed
and they said that they hoped that talent from the rest of Japan will go over instead…

… but, hm.
I thought that the first priority
would be to first arrange things well so that
only Okinawa will consist of both the entrance and the exit though…
The problem has to be faced and solved at the hands of the Okinawan’s.
This is the first thing.

I sincerely hope that
the people living in Okinawa
will be able to work in a better environment
and that
Okinawa will firmly hold onto it’s Okinawa-ness
and continue to develop beautifully.

Source: GACKT Blog

Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team

Translation © GACKT ITALIA