Live in Japan!

The ride back to the kid’s apartment on Camp McTureous from Naha Airport was a blur. We had arrived at about 8 pm (20:00 hours to the rest of the world) local time, and I had not slept for the entire time we travelled. As I sat in the back seat of the car, I became aware that I was gradually slumping over to my right. Eventually I gave in and just laid down, using my backpack as a pillow. At one point Nick had made a wrong turn, and we had to double back. In Okinawa this is not as easy as it sounds; they do not allow u-turns. And it’s not like in the States where you can make one and say “Oops..sorry officer..I wasn’t aware I couldn’t u-turn there…haw haw…” because they just don’t allow it. So it’s more of an involved process trying to double back, because you don’t want to have to double back on your double back…does that make it a quadruple back? I’ve never been very good with exponentials…

Our first full day in Okinawa started at 7:30, when I heard a small voice saying “Grampy…grampy…can I have milk?” Zach, our 2 1/2 year old grandson, was ready to go. We spent a good part of the day getting a tour of several of the bases trying to get passes for the time we were there. In order for us to do anything on the bases, and go from one base to another, we had to have these passes and our passports on us at all times.

The pass for McTureous covered us for a majority of where we would be going, so we went to get that pass first. Nick had been told that we needed to go to a specific gate on Camp Foster to get the length of stay pass. So we drove 40 minutes to the gate on Camp Foster, and were told we needed to go to a specific office near the other side of the base. They issued us a day pass, and we drove on. When we arrived at the office, we were told that they were closed for lunch. So we went to eat and kill an hour until the office opened. They issued us the pass fairly quickly, and then told us that we should have gone to Camp Courtney for the pass. Courntey being about 5 minutes from McT.

We also needed a length of stay pass for Kadena Airbase; another 40 minute or so drive from Foster. The counter was manned by a local (an Okinawan), who spoke only broken English. He explained to us, slowly, that we had to go to an office on the other side of Kadena to get anything more than a day pass. He gladly issued us the day pass, and we went back to our cars.

I should mention that Laura was pregnant and ready to burst at this point. She gladly helped drive us around, but at this point in the day we were all quite frustrated with the process and decided not to bother with the Kadena pass. We went back to their apartment before going out to dinner.

I should also mention that neither Robbin nor I could drive. We would have needed international driver’s licenses, and then rented cars. After that first day on Okinawa, I was very glad we did not bother. The roads are very narrow, and you need to know exactly where you’re going, or you can become easily and hopelessly lost pretty damn quick.

As for the Kadena pass; went back to the original office on Sunday to get a day pass so we could drive through the base (rather than around it) to get to the office they had told us to go to for the length of stay pass. As we were waiting for the day pass, the clerk told us that no; they issue the length of stay passes here, and who told us we had to go elsewhere? She took the day pass, and with a sharpie wrote across that the pass was good until the 9th, making it a length of stay pass.

That first night we went to the Capital Steak House for dinner. The food was excellent, and learned another valuable lesson. The menu was printed with pictures of the food and mostly in Japanese, with a little English. The food came in either ‘sets’ or individual items. Think of a set as a multi-course meal. You get soup, salad, appetizer, and one or more proteins. When working with this type of menu, they expect you to point to the picture of the food you want. I accidentally pointed to 2 different sets. So we were a little suprised when he started cooking fish. No one remembered ordering it. The I remembered that there was a fish set above the chicken one I wanted to order, and I had hesitated over that picture. Turned out ok, though; the fish was better than the chicken. The dinner in general was fantastic, and afterward we headed back to base for the night.