Collaborative Post: The Story Behind the Cube

"Have you guys gotten a car yet?" 

Is a first question we have gotten numerous times from new acquaintances here.  Lydia's automatic retort usually goes something like, "Naw, our bicycles are on the way!"  or  "What about the bus?  Doesn't anyone here ride the city bus here?"  

At the "newcomers briefing" anyone with a current US license had the opportunity to get their SOFA (Status Of Forces Agreement, so military members and their dependents with a US drivers' license don't have to get a Japanese license) license.  A surprisingly easy process.  We sat through a 60 min lesson on road rules, road signs, and driving hazards on the island, took a 20 question test, and now, along with the 60 other people at the briefing, are licensed to drive.  Which brings us back to the original question,  "have you guys gotten a car yet?" 

No.

Thus began our search.  We looked at a place known as the "lemon lot," officially called the "Auto Resale Lot."  The cars there all seemed to be way outside our price range.  Our next resource was a site called bookoo.com which is like an Okinawa specific form of Craigslist.  This resulted in some promising leads but we wanted to check some other options as well.  We then took a city bus a ways away from base, got off at a random stop, and started walking.  We stopped at every dealership we passed.   Walking from dealership to dealership looking in vain for cars in our price range and/or English speaking salespersons.  That adventure did afford us the opportunity to sample several new beverages from the abundant vending machines along the way (which saved us both from dehydration),

Lydia demonstrating the her first beverage pick of the day "Apple Tea"

 but lead us to the conclusion that our best option would be one of the cars from bookoo.com.  We sent  out numerous messages to potential sellers but unfortunately most of the answers were "sorry, just sold it."  Then we saw... The Cube! It was a listing that had been up a few days and from the sound of her reply it seemed that the seller hadn't received much interest.  So, after arranging a time to meet, Daniel taking it on a short but harrowing test-drive on the left side of the road from a right-side steering vehicle we decided it was a good option.  Later that day, after our other option was sold before we could even see it, we decided to make a low-ball offer and to our happiness and amazement it was accepted!  A few days later we took possession of our white 2001 Nissan Cube.  :-)

Now our answer will be; "Yes, and we'll only have to use it until our bikes arrive!"

Collaborative Post:  History

Photo of marines in Okinawa during WWII

On Wednesday, we were required to attend a military “newcomers briefing” to the island.   Overall it provided us with helpful information for getting settled.  We especially appreciated the message from the General that encouraged empathy and understanding by explaining some of Okinawa’s history and the history behind the military’s presence here.

 Okinawa was the main island in the Ryukyu Kingdom from around 1400 to 1800 during which the closest trading partner and largest influence on the culture was China.  During the early 1800s Japan started to exert more influence over the Ryukyu Kingdom and made it part of Japan.  During WWII the people of Okinawa felt that they were not given adequate support from Japan and were treated like a “speed bump” for the invasion of Japan by America.  During the battle of Okinawa nearly 1/3 (200,000) of the population was killed.  After World War II the US government was in charge of Okinawa.   Twenty-seven years later in 1972, rule of the Island was returned to Japan however, the US military continues to be a strong presence on the island.  Seventy-five percent of US military occupation in all of Japan is found on the island of Okinawa.  To put this in perspective, if the United States were Okinawa, Japanese military would occupy the state of Texas, North Dakota, South Carolina, and two other states.  On top of that, in 1997 and 2012 one of the Japanese military members would have gone into Oklahoma and raped a young American girl (referring to 2 cases in ’97 & ’12 where an American marine raped an Okinawan woman).  As a result, it is typical to see Okinawans holding protests against US military presence on the island one to two times per month. 

Protest against military aircraft after crash in Okinawa, 2012

All of this history was explained to express the need for positive American ambassadors in every exchange on and off-base and to help military members and their families better understand the Okinawan culture and the dislike of American occupation.    

For those of you who have been so anxiously waiting for it, here is our new address at Kadena!

Lydia and Daniel Dahl
PSC 80 BOX 17368
APO, AP 96367-0076

For those of you not familiar with addresses of overseas military bases APO is the city, AP is the state and the zip code is a "California" zip code for Kadena Air Base, Japan.  :)  So, one stamp is enough for us to get your letter.

Thanks for visiting our blog!

We departed for Okinawa on August 22, 2013  

Stay tuned for updates...  :) 

Arrival & First Impressions

We are in Okinawa!
  ...we think?

Military Bases look very similar where ever in the world you are.  So for the first two days, we didn't hear any Japanese spoken, and the only hint that we were indeed somewhere else was the heat, humidity, and palm trees and other tropical looking species of plants seen here and there.  Kadena Air Force Base is a large base in Okinawa.  To give an idea of what a "large" base means, Daniel will be one of 27 dentists working at the dental clinic here.  80,000 Americans reside on the Island of Okinawa, 25,000 of which are affilitated with Kadea Airforce Base. 

So.

After a brief trip off-base for the first time yesterday, I still feel confused..  We were taken to the "Sea-Wall" a beautiful wall/sidewalk between the ocean and onshore development.  Great views of the ocean, the island, and... Americans snorkeling and enjoying the beach.   

Other first impressions from Lydia:

+  On route to Okinawa we stopped at two bases before getting to our destination.  At each base, all the millitary people "in-charge" were kids! (It felt like..)     Young 18 or 19 yr olds.  I didn't expect to feel so much older than a lot of the military folks..

+  Purpose and a reason to be here are going to be key for adapting

+  Milk tastes reeeeally good

First impressions from Daniel:

+  Military base seems like any other I have been on
+  Seafood in the grocery store off-base looks fresher and cheaper than any I have ever
    seen :)
+  I have yet to see one of the "large spiders" that everyone warned me about
+  People are extremely friendly and polite