(calm guitar music) - So, are you familiar with soki soba?

- Soki soba, my favorite soba.

- Your favorite too?

- [Jon] Oh yeah.

- [Hisae] My favorite.

- You know, when I first went to Okinawa and had Okinawa soba, they said, "you know, the noodle is a little different."

Well, okay.

I like noodles, I like udon, I like chow fun.

And here in Okinawan soba is that right in between the chow fun and the udon.

And I was like, this is really good.

- The texture and the chewiness.

- [Jon] And the taste, and with the pork in it, it's just such a interesting blend of flavors.

It just hits your mind, you're just like, wow.

(calm guitar music) - [Ed] So what I love about these adventures is that it starts something incredibly simple, like a dish of soki soba.

But it's all these other stories that just come to the surface.

(reflective piano music) - [Jon] This is in my grandfather's house in Okinawa where he grew up.

He was one of many who pledged to buy a pig.

- [Ed] I hereby pledge amount of number of pig heads payable, huh.

- [Jon] Soldier Tarohiga came back from the war and said, "There's nothing left."

(calm rock music) - The chipped in money and they also raised money with traditional Okinawan music and plays and they were able to raise money to buy 550 pigs.

And they found a farmer in Nebraska.

The Okinawan guys would tie themselves to the outside rails of the ship so that the pigs wouldn't fall into the sea.

That's how much it meant to them.

They were willing to risk their own lives.

- [Ed] It brought the community together.

- Yeah, and the effort included so many people, it wasn't really the seven individuals, and I think that truly what their intent was.

They didn't want the focus to be on them.

- So this looks like a different kind of pig.

- They ended up purchasing Chester White so even in Okinawa they were surprised when they saw these large white pigs coming off the boat because they weren't familiar with that.

They were familiar with the darker pigs.

(ocean waves) (calm music) (speaking Japanese) - This location is called White Beach.

Although you can't see it now, Pier C is where the pigs were unloaded from Oregon.

- I see, so Pier C was here?

- Yes.

- Okay, and Mr. Arikaki-san, how were you involved with the pigs from the sea?

- Paul Agen is my uncle, so I came here.

(speaks Japanese - His uncle is actually, was living in Hawaii.

His name is Paul Agen, and he's one of the seven, I believe, that helped shipped over the pigs.

When the ship came in, the USS Owen, his uncle called him to come meet him at the pier.

- [Ed] How old were you?

- I think I about seventeen years old.

- Oh great.

(speaks Japanese) - He's grateful that these men from Hawaii are thinking about Okinawa during these times and he's thankful for their sacrifice that they've made to come and help Okinawa.

(speaks Japanese) (gentle guitar music)