Koza Gate Street (Gate 2 Street)

This guide to Koza Gate Street, the neon strip off Kadena Air Base's Gate Two, follows George Murasaki, a UCLA math student who came home to Okinawa and found grief pouring off the base during the Vietnam War. It traces how he folded old Ryukyuan scales into hard rock and formed the band Murasaki with three Shiroma brothers in 1970, playing nightly in clubs steps from here. You'll hear about the clash that tore through this same stretch that December, when years of resentment boiled over. Listen for the pavement's hum; locals say the sound born here never quite left.