Me and My Man in Japan

Ready for take off! Note: Flat, closed toe, closed heel foot attire is required for Space A aircraft

I was very nervous preparing to leave Okinawa on a Space A flight. This would be the first military aircraft I had ever flown on and I had never even seen the inside of a military plane. I was anxious of the unknown. None of the military wives I’d met had taken Space A flights and thus, offered no advice. Hopefully, this post & my Space A experiences will help other military wives wanting to travel Space A, understand the process a bit more.

Locate your base’s AMC Terminal: So, with my bags all packed Mac & I drove around on base looking for the AMC terminal. No one we asked even knew where it was located. I now know that every base has a website and if you perform a search you can locate their base map online.

If you want your passport stamped you may have to ask! Even though all countries require you to have it they don't always mandate it be stamped...

Required documents: To travel Space A as an “unaccompanied” dependent or without your military spouse there are forms required to be completed & signed by your spouse’s command. Depending on the reason for your travel the form will vary. So, with appropriate forms in hand we located & entered the AMC Terminal.

You will need your military ID, Passport (if you are traveling outside of the USA), and your command approved forms. When you arrive you will submit all documents for review and receive a “sign-up date”. Now, you have to hope there are flights headed in the direction you want to go.

Fly or Pass: Deciding which flights to take and which to pass is very difficult. You have no way of knowing IF or WHERE you may get stranded and HOW LONG you will be there…

The inside of our plane...They turned off the lights at night so crew & soldiers could rest

Space A flights are only given out to 72 hours in advance. Some terminals will only release 48 hours in advance due to heightened security measures. So, for example, if you want to go to California from Korea. There may be a flight from Korea to Hawaii with 40 available seats. Your chances of getting on this flight are high however will you be stuck in Hawaii? There’s no way to tell for sure until you get there and even then “missions” change.

If you have a reason to get to California you may want to wait for a direct flight. Unfortunately, a direct flight could be weeks away. And say, that there is a direct flight to California tomorrow and you pass up the flight to Hawaii to wait, the following day you could discover the flight to California is postponed or even cancelled.

Flight Costs: Why travel Space A at all you ask? It’s free! You have the option to purchase meals for $5 or less on longer flights but in general you are not required to even pull out a credit card or cash at any point. At least not for the flights.

If you get stranded or stuck somewhere for a few days you may be required to get a hotel. Some terminals are open 24 hours but very few. Thus; if you land at 9pm and the terminal closes at 10pm you may need to get a hotel for a few hours until the terminal opens back up at 6am. If there is a late night flight the terminals open 30 mins prior to “roll call” time.

Present & accounted for: When you find a flight you want to take you let the AMC agent know you want to be marked as present for that flight. This can occur up to 24 hours in advance or 30 minutes prior to roll call BUT must be done in person. Ahh, roll call. That’s the moment you discover if, out of the space available, there is space  available for you. It can be frustrating if you have been waiting days to get a flight out…BUT remember it’s free. You can always call and book a commercial flight and have a guaranteed seat.

Space A travel is only for the adventurous & easy spirited. Should you feel up to the challenge I say go for it I will be posting my Space A travel stories soon!

To view a list of “frequent” destinations use the following link.  http://www.amc.af.mil/amctravel/spacealists.asp

To view contact information for AMC Terminals that offer Space A flights use the following link. http://www.amc.af.mil/amctravel/amctravelcontacts.asp

If you don’t see what you want to know here feel free to ask! I learned a lot on my travels & am willing to share if it will help.

Japanese Garbage Truck

Around 7am on Mondays & Thursdays our front gate slides open, our trash is removed as if by magic, and the gate closes again. Most mornings, I don’t even notice the garbage men have come and gone. In this way, garbage day on Okinawa is easier than it was in the States.

When we first arrived, it was not so simple… In the States when you go to the grocery store you decide how much you want to pay for garbage bags. You decide what brand,

The bicycle character in the middle on top says 'Okinawa Shi' or Okinawa City

color, scented or unscented, thickness & size along with price. On Okinawa, the garbage bag you purchase depends on who your garbage carrier is and whether you are disposing of trash or recycling.

The housing office on base stated that because we live off base we would purchase our garbage bags at our local grocery store. I set out to do this and learned to say garbage bag in Japanese. It is pronounced Mo her o plasteek bag. There are a few different options I’m not sure what the writing says but I now know red is trash and blue is recycling. Also, depending on your trash service and city the symbol in the middle at the top changes. I didn’t know this for the 1st few weeks and neither my local grocer nor garbage pick-up person were able to explain in English.

Declined pick-up

Both bags are clear so that the garbage man may quickly inspect for any items that are prohibited or sorted incorrectly. If anything is unacceptable you receive a note & your garbage is left for you to correct. In the picture here recycling was not sorted properly & one of our neighbors received this “ticket”. Their recycling was left on the curb for them to re-sort and submit for pick-up on the next scheduled garbage day.

Technically there are 5 ways garbage is sorted. The 2 most common are burnable & un-burnable. If you can keep is simple you’ll do just fine. And, if you mess it up don’t worry…they’ll leave you a note

New post coming tomorrow!

Took a Space A (military cargo flight) to visit family & friends in the states. Don’t worry, I’ll be back to blog about the Do’s & Don’ts of Space A travel & more soon…

Being born and raised in the beautiful North West, I am used to rainy days and wet roads. In fact, when I took a driver’s test out side of WA state, (in Amarillo, TX) there was a question regarding what to do if you are blinded by the sun while entering an intersection. I don’t remember my answer. I don’t remember the right answer. All I remember was the question because it took me by such surprise! Sun? How often is the sun even, out…?

Since, we arrived in Okinawa on, October 3rd, I haven’t experienced too many sunny days in Japan either. The thick heavy Okinawan raindrops however, I have become quite familiar with by now. What is different about the rain in Okinawa is how it affects driving on the island. Back in Washington, I drove a Ford Expedition with all terrain tires and some kind of a VERY large motor. Rain was NOT an issue.

Does it look big? I'm 5'2", lol.

On Okinawa, I drive a small silver golf cart. Okay, it’s Nissan Bolero but I would bet money that it is powered by a golf cart engine! It chugs along at 36km up hill. (The speed limit is 40kmh.) When it rains my 12″ tires barely get any traction. Partially because of the road’s material and partially because it’s as light as a tin can. Okay, Okay. A very LARGE tin can, lol.

The roads on Okinawan are made from coral that’s been “flattened” or polished somehow. It is so soft and smooth on your bare feet in the rain. Which is good, considering if you get caught in a monsoon your sandals get sucked right off of your feet in the deep rushing rain water, and you end up walking (or dancing) along in the rain.

The coral roads become so slick when it rains that you can’t stop. It’s a whole new level of hydroplaning. Which is why, the very intelligent Okinawan’s have laid red tar/rubber down by curves, stop signs, on hills and at intersections. The speed limit is usually 40kmh or so, which is 23 mph. Can you imagine if it was 60mph or 70mph like it is on the Interstates in the U.S.? You could forget stopping all together!

Can you spot the yellow plates?

Well, that’s assuming you could get your car going that fast. I think I’d have to be headed down hill, lol. Don’t fret! The Okinawan’s have a solution for golf cart engine tin can cars as well! If you are a resident on Okinawa and your car meets certain criteria, aka is S-L-O-W, you are issued a yellow license plate. The yellow plate signifies to other drivers to be patient because your motor does not allow you to accelerate quickly. (I think “quickly”, should be amended to “AT ALL”, lol.)

Overall, some pretty good solutions to environmental traffic risks. One of the variables the Okinawan’s can’t solve? The random American driving on the right side of the road! I almost hit a guy, head on, in MY lane the other night!!! It happens to us all at least once, so I’m told, lol. Good thing we’re all driving around at about 20mph.

Note: I was unable to obtain any statistics on Okinawan auto accidents. I did visit the USA embassy website (http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/acs/tacs-drive.html) which may be helpful if you have more questions regarding Japanese traffic laws.

Sorry it's crooked, I was trying to take this picture discreetly...

Living in such a modern, “western” culture such as America, a straw hat may seem old-fashioned or out dated. Of course, designer straw hats are always in fashion for a posh trip to the beach but would you wear one with your galoshes? They do on Okinawa.

Japanese woven conical hats called Sugegasa are worn rain or shine. There are different weave designs and some have satin chin straps. I’m not sure that they are still prevalent in, say Tokyo, but on Okinawa, the are used as a wardrobe staple.

When it rains, some Okinawan’s put covers on their hats. I haven’t seen any in stores for purchase but I’ll keep looking.

Until then, I don’t want my sugegasa to weather so, I only wear it as sun shade when I’m gardening.

Last night, around 5pm. I thought I’d take a walk down to Two Birds. I wanted to buy some pork chops for dinner. It was the perfect evening for a stroll. According to my iPhone it was 75 degrees and there was hardly any humidity. The sky was a soft blue with hints of pink and periwinkle peeking out around the clouds. Although, it was still light the moon was high above the palm trees. I nodded my head as I passed a little old lady heading the other way. A faint smile flicked across her gently wrinkled face. Just then I turned the corner to the entrance of Two Birds.

I picked up some milk as I passed the dairy section. As I mentioned, in my blog about shopping at Two Birds, I always try to buy a little something new and thought a Matcha Milk drink would be nice. Two Birds is always crowded between 5pm and 6pm. There are a lot of Japanese with handcarts picking out what, I assume, they will be preparing for dinner. Notice I said “prepare.” Because, as I learned a few days ago, dinner isn’t always “cooked”. Every night, I’ve observed, the Okinawans seem to buy fresh dinner ingredients. A habit I am in favor of and have begun to practice myself.

Fresh meat section at Two Birds

In the meat section I searched for pork. It was easy to identify the bacon so I started there and worked my way out. There was nothing to be found resembling anything even like a pork chop. There was bacon, sold 4 pieces at a time. Thick pork sides or rumps, which I will have to look up how to cook Okinawan style, my old friends, pickled pork ears. But, no pork chops. I settled for a very lean chicken breast and headed to the snack isle.

Tonight, we were having a very healthy curry dinner and I though a little dessert would be nice. I chose a bag of large chocolate chip cookies. At the register, as I checked out, my conversation in Japanese with the cashier was seamless.  I wanted to do a little happy dance.

Mello Yello & Sprite on SALE!

Before I headed back home, I stopped at the vending machine outside of Two Birds. I bought 2 of my favorite Aloe & White Grape drinks and added them to my bag. I noticed there were some other drinks with stickers around them noting they were on sale. I didn’t know vending machines had sales. It’s winter on Okinawa, so, perhaps drink sales are down due to the cool weather.

As I walked back home, I took a different route. Ahead of me was a small young girl walking alone. She seemed wary of having me walk behind her and began to run. She darted across the street and down an alley. In 30 minutes round trip, I was home again, feeling refreshed after my peaceful walk. It was time to cook dinner. Noborikawa is the perfect place to reside if you want to be nestled in a quiet Japanese community.

Children age 5-6 walking home from school

I haven’t heard much about the Japanese schools. So, what I can tell you, is limited to what I’ve observed. It appears that kids or students attend school Sunday through Friday, with Saturdays being their day “weekend”.

Girl age 7-8 skipping home from school

We see students coming and going and have begun to notice patterns in their attire. Many Americans find it startling that such young children are allowed to walk unchaperoned to and from school. On Okinawa, there’s a robust sense of community. Although, the children are not escorted by older siblings or adults, the community looks after them as they drive by on their way to and from work.

This Japanese sign says something about school children

There are some safety precautions taken, mostly so they can be seen when crossing the street. The youngest children wear bright yellow iridescent colored backpacks. Each age group sports it’s own color: yellow, red, pink, navy blue, black, etc. although not in that order. It seems the older or higher grade-level students wear the darker less noticeable colors. The younger and thus shorter children are taught to raise their hands before and while they cross the street. Sometimes they can be seen in groups of 20 or so bounding down neighborhoods and across intersections.

Young Japanese girl walking home late evening

I’m not sure what time school gets out for the older children/teenagers. I usually see them, out and about, around 5pm. Perhaps they have music lessons or activities after school that they participate in daily. Either way, now that it’s winter, it’s usually dark during their trek back home.

The exact hours the students attend school is unknown to us but it’s apparent that educations is taken seriously here on Okinawa.