Moving to Japan

Hey guys so I just got my orders and I'm going to be moving to Okinawa Japan in about two months. Anyone have any experience with the area?

No. All I know is that while you're in the country you need to try to talk you way into the Zama facility

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/vintage-speed/4279549

I go TDY to The Rock a lot, in fact just got back.

You're going to have a great time. I'd recommend getting SCUBA certified while you're there, there are some amazing reefs. Sunabe Seawall has some great places for food: Sushi Zen, FAB Curry, some gyro place I forget the name of, also some noodle place I forget the name of. In the city there's a place we all call "The Garlic House" that's amazing, Yoshi Sushi is great but expect a huge wait. "Blinky Light" is a Korean BBQ joint... good times, watch out for food poisoning. CoCo's Curry is great (haven't made it past #5 spicy), American Village has some great places to eat (Blue Seal... 60 different crepes!). I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot more.

Oh, don't be one of those guys who blows a few paychecks on a POS Skyline and then thinks they're hot E36 M3... my trip to Kadena pretty much cured me of any JDM-fever I may have had.

Which branch? I was on Kadena Air Force base in 99-00 as a Marine. It was the spot to be. Best commissary, BX/PX, restaurants, and best town right outside of the base. You will here about gate 2 at Kadena, that is where all the fun bars are. You will also hear about "buy me drinkie" bars, don't waste your money. You will also hear about whisper, its a red light district well known off of gate 2 street. Don't go catch a STD.

You have to go snorkeling or scuba diving at Mida Point, it's berkeleying rad.

I'm in the AF as an ammo troop, thanks for the advice. The wife and myself are pretty freakin excited because neither of us have ever been outside the U.S. before.

My best friend has an r32 GTR so there not something I think are the holy grail lol but if I could find a clean mk 4 supra that might get me lol

Yeah, I was born there!

Seriously? It's been three hours and nobody's come through with this yet?

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcuh97_the-vapors-turning-japanese_music#.UXMx80rheSo

In reply to Caleb:

Ammo as in aviation ordnance or small arms/armory?

In reply to Anti-stance:

Aviation ordnance

Just watch Tokyo Drift. Thats all the advice you'll need.

If you're not up for scuba, snorkeling is fun & a lot more Grassroots. Also know when the poisonous sea snakes are visiting, so you don't try water sports during their over taking.

I was there about 25 years ago up north at Camp Hanson (local town was Kin). I heard a rumor they closed that base.

Caleb wrote: In reply to Anti-stance: Aviation ordnance

That's a busy spot. The whole reason the shop I worked at was there was because all of our birds(Navy and Marine Corp) had to come through Kadena to do munitions training if stationed in the region.

Secretariata, I went to range coach school at Camp Hanson in '00. I remember the walk I did every morning to the armory then over the bridge to the the range. That base kinda sucked. Coached a Camp Schwab also. Never really saw much of that base. I went to White Beach for a work detail once. Went to Camp Foster and MCAS Futenma alot due to being TDY'd over TDY orders. We ran our PFTs and did our NBC training at Futenma but were stationed on Kadena.

Long story. Another Marine and I had orders to MCAS Iwakuni on mainland Japan. They said one of us had to go down to Okinawa to be on an Air Force base. I volunteered. I got TDY'd to MWHS-1 at Camp Foster, then TDY'd to MALS-31 on Futenma, then FAP'd to MWLK(Marine Wing Liaison Kedena) on Kadena. That was the biggest cluster berkeley of orders I have ever seen. Trying to explain to people who I report to and what admin to talk to to get E36 M3 done was insane.

Anywho Caleb, you will love Kadena.

N Sperlo wrote: Just watch Tokyo Drift. Thats all the advice you'll need.

the answer is import engines in american muscle?

JoeyM wrote:

N Sperlo wrote: Just watch Tokyo Drift. Thats all the advice you'll need.

the answer is import engines in american muscle?

Whatever comes to you.

You could always send back parts rare car parts, maybe come back with a pulsar GTI-R or something cool

jere wrote: You could always send back parts rare car parts, maybe come back with a pulsar GTI-R or something cool

JDM Square Top's for the Miata please....you could sell like hot cakes over here

In reply to Anti-stance: I concur that Camp Hansen sucked! We drove to Kadena every off day to work out at the gym & eat at the AF chow hall.

Got to watch an SR-71 take off from the base road that parallels the runway they used a few times.

There weren't any drool cars on Okinawa when I was there. All the locals had the tiny 600 cc cars. Most service members that had cars were married on 3 year accompanied tours so they had toyota vans or family sedans. There were a lot of 250cc & 400cc sport bikes that never made it to the US.

Secretariata wrote: There weren't any drool cars on Okinawa when I was there. All the locals had the tiny 600 cc cars.

Sounds like a great opportunity to bring back a Suzuki Cappucino or Honda Beat.

JoeyM wrote: Sounds like a great opportunity to bring back a Suzuki Cappucino or Honda Beat.

Hope they are better than the tiny cars were in the 80's. Back then, a beer can was more solid than those cars. Of course the max speed limit was about 35 mph (forgot the kph limit) except on the one toll expressway which was about 50 mph (80 kph IIRC).

Congrats on getting orders to such a great location. I know Osterkraut (as he said before) goes there and one of my long time friends from middle school is stationed there as well and he absolutely loves it.

I cannot wait to get out of this AFSC and cross-train into an operational career field that will allow me to travel a bit.

Congrats again!

Set up a GRM specific JDM export business?

I can be your US side..... And you don't even have to pay me. As long as a hachi-roku with a 20v comes back in a box for me, we'll call it square.

My SIL got back a few years ago. Said there was protests of the US bases weekly by the locals. Service members acting like shiny happy people and doing things that would land them in prison here.

Good luck, have fun, stay safe, and duck if Kim Jun Nut-job can actually have a missile fire.

I have a couple friends over there now and they both love it. One of them had his LSx powered nova sent over there. He says it attracts all sorts of attention from the locals 8)

Flight Service wrote: My SIL got back a few years ago. Said there was protests of the US bases weekly by the locals. Service members acting like shiny happy people and doing things that would land them in prison here. Good luck, have fun, stay safe, and duck if Kim Jun Nut-job can actually have a missile fire.

Way back when I was there, the frequency & type of crimes committed by military personnel weren't much different than in the US. It seemed worse because of the relative % of US service members to the total island population was disproportionate compared to many locations and the news media always emphasized crime by US military personnel.

The protests were also very organized and politely run. What I mean is the local government required protestors to get a permit. When approving the permit, US forces were alerted and the approved location for the protest was a specific area that allowed good press and video/photo for the protestors, but allowed military operations to continue in a relatively normal fashion. The protestors stood around quietly until the media arrived, then they took their positions, waved signs and shouted etc. Once the media left, the protestors would quietly move off to the side or disperse depending on if more media was expected. The base I was at had 2 gates. All of the protests that I observed at that base, except for 1, were at the secondary or "back" gate. The protest at the main gate was not permitted and the local police dispersed it very quickly and forcefully.

Thinking about it, that reminds me of some advice for the OP. Don't ever touch a local police officer and always obey any command from them. They don't take no crap and don't take time to "discuss" comliance. They are extremely efficient and violent in "convincing" people to comply. I got to witness a few "wood shampoos" given by the local police while I was there.