One hundred and twenty miles north of Guam lies Saipan (サイパン島), the main island in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Wrestled from Japan during WWII, now as part of the CNMI, Saipan remains an overseas U.S. territory and – along with Guam – the westernmost in the world. With fifty thousand people in a land area about 20% the size of Guam, Saipan has both a small town as well as an international feel. While the US dollar is the official currency and English the official language, you’ll hear little of it from islanders talking among themselves. With a majority of residents and vacationers being some sort of Asian or Pacific Islander, Saipan is a great first step and springboard to East Asia.
Traveling the untamed lands of the Far East, up to the very edge of the known world…