If you are new on island, you will find that most Americans are driving 1990-96 vehicles.  Most cars range anywhere from $500 (for a junker) up to $10,000 for nicer, newer vehicles (2001+)  There are some used car dealerships close to base, but their prices are going to be higher for obvious reasons.  When you leave, your options are to sell your vehicles to another American or to junk them and get a few hundred dollars.  When looking for a used car on Okinawa, you will see two bits of information that might be a bit confusing: JCI and Road Tax.  Road Tax is due every year.  Road tax, for example for our vehicles was approximately $200 per vehicle – every vehicle’s road tax amount is different, depending on the type of car.  JCI is the Japanese Compulsory insurance which is due every 2 years. Also, JCI varies depending on the car type as well and your car must pass inspection prior to renewing the JCI. Well, the time has come to PCS.  As the case with every military member on Okinawa, you must sell your cars prior to your departure…so, for any inbound personnel, here are two great cars that have served our family well. 

1997 Toyota Windom (same as Lexus in US – very smooth, FAST car!!)  COLD A/C, ipod adapter, brand new tires, JCI good until Aug 2010 and Road Tax just paid this week.  Great clean car, smoke free.  Asking $2,750

1997 Toyota Lucida van.  Great family car, rear seats fold up – handy for transporting things – middle captains chairs reverse for more space.  Brand new tires and battery, CD player, cold A/C, reverse parking sensor.  Very clean, smoke free.  JCI good until Aug 2010 and Road tax PAID! Asking $3,200 OBO.

***** If you need two, you can get a deal —- $5,500 for BOTH CARS!!!  *******

For more information, email 3blueyes@gmail.com or call 959-1308 (located on Kadena).

Go twice in a year and your annual pass is paid for. It’s totally worth the trip. Cost is 1,800 yen for adults, children under 5 are free. No credit cards so bring Yen or dollar equiv. The outdoor dolphin show is great and quite funny since all of the commentary is in Japanese and so you basically just watch the show and the dolphins .  Strollers are available for use at no charge.  They just opened a huge children’s play area which entertained the kids for quite a while!  Click the Churaumi Aquarium website for directions and other information.  While you are at the aquarium, you might want to visit the Butterfly Park (which is just down the road from the aquarium, but not worth the trip just to go see the butterflies.  You can be in and out of the butterfly park in about 30 mins if you want.  Cost is 400 yen (adults) or 200 yen (3-15 yrs).  Visit the Butterfly House, which is a net-enclosed area where the butterflies will come up close and land on you – especially if you are wearing red.  Apparently this is their favorite color!  You can also walk around the rest of the gardens – great for a quick stop before or after visiting the aquarium.  The butterfly park is located on the left side of the road, just after the very first parking lot for the aquarium.

View from the butterfly park

We visited this beautiful site for the first time since we have lived here. Why didn’t we find this sooner! Not far outside Kadena Gate 3, SEBG is full of blooms, has gorgeous landscaping and trails galore – a favorite for our preschool aged kids to go exploring! A tot playground, bridges, park benches and picnic spots, this is a great place to come with the whole family. The best part? Have kids under 4 years old? When you go to the ticket booth, inquire about the “Mammy & Baby” program. You will fill out a membership form and be allowed entrance for your immediate family for FREE until your baby is 4 years old. You get discounted rates for extended family & friends and discounted tickets for any events that are held at the SEBG (especially during the holidays). For more information and directions click here

Looking for great information, pictures, or directions for a great beach in Okinawa? Look no further. Check out our reviews on Okinawa Japan beaches here where you can find a great summary about the following beaches (or click on individual beach links):

• Okuma Beach and Recreation Center
• Oura Wan Beach
• Torii Beach
• White Beach
• Ikei Beach
• Sunset Beach
• Zanpa Beach & Lighthouse Cliffs

One of the toughest parts about moving overseas to Okinawa Japan is finding a new job or occupation for the military member’s spouse. We’ve perused the base advertisements and internet listings to put all of these opportunities that we know of in one location.

You will find job listings for Kadena Air Base, MCCS (Marine Corps Community Services) at Camp Foster, Camp Kinser, and other Marine Corps Installations, as well as job opportunities at the hospital on Camp Lester, AAFES, and more.

Click here for this information on our main webpage. Are we missing a job you know more about? Please leave a comment and help those inbound behind you.

. . .broken down car: Did you know that MCCS & AF Club Card holders are eligible for FREE roadside assistance? This includes towing, retrieving keys locked inside your car, and jump-starting the vehicle.

If your vehicle breaks down, call your respective automotive shop (USMC/Navy call 24-hour Islandwide Towing at Camp Foster 645-6181); AF club members – for the FREE roadside assistance, you will need to call Kadena Car Care Center at 633-0481 – note that the AF car care center is ONLY open weekdays and only banker-style hours, so you’re out of luck on the discount if your car breaks down outside business hours….as we discovered recently).

See more “Did you know?” tips here.

***Note, MCCS card phased out as of 1 January 2008 – see link for details: http://www.mccsokinawa.com/mccs.asp?id=171

As of 1 Mar 2008 Kadena AB in no longer weight restricted for Air Force Accompanied personnel and DoD civilians. Acommpanied Air Force members having their household goods picked on or after 1 Mar 2008 can now ship
their full Joint Federal Travel Regulations/Joint Travel Regulations (JFTR/JTR) weight allowance in/out of Kadena AB.

If you are sponsoring an accompanied member to Kadena AB, please advise the member that the size of housing is smaller than most stateside locations. Also, housing provides basic appliances such as washers, dryers and refrigerators, please do not ship these appliances. Additionally, we highly recommend members do not ship oversize furniture items (i.e., king size
beds, large entertainment centers, etc.). Once you ship your personal property to Kadena AB, TMF is not authorized to reship excess property back to CONUS for storage per JFTR/JTR. Also, commercial storage facilities are limited here in Okinawa, expensive and at member’s expense.

For all unaccompanied members, you will remain weight restricted to unaccompanied baggage only, normally 500 lbs by air or 700 lbs by surface. 10% of JFTR maybe authorized, depending upon where you reside…dormitory or local economy.

Contact the Traffic Management Flight for details, 634-7857/7862.

******PLEASE NOTE:  One of our readers (Crider family) commented on their recent PCS regarding this weight allowance change (comments below) and on how it affected them.  You only get “loaner” furniture while you are awaiting HHG shipment.  Once this shipment arrives, your loaner stuff goes bye bye, so BRING WHAT YOU WANT TO HAVE IN YOUR HOUSE!  See comments below for more details.

Totally confused about where things are on island? We have been too!!! So we are trying to fix that with our google mashup map of fun things to do on Okinawa – beaches to visit, kid’s parks, scuba diving locations, and more.

What are we missing on our map? Leave a comment and let us know!

Check it out – A great one to share with your families and friends stateside. The USPS just introduced on 3 March a new flat-rate box for shipping to military personnel stationed overseas. 50% larger than the current flat-rate box, and costs $10.95 for shipping to APO/FPO boxes – $2 less than domestic rate charge. Boxes available at post offices March 3rd. Here’s the link for the story:

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123085338

You can order the boxes (for free) from this link:

http://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10152&storeId=10001&categoryId=13354&productId=36604&langId=-1

Check out even more money saving tips and general helper tidbits about Okinawa Living at our “Did you know. . .?” section on the main website.

We’ve added A TON of new photos, pics, and slideshows to the photograph section of our Time2PCS.com. As you will see, the beautiful beaches, scuba diving, coral reefs, and crystal blue, postcard-picture waters are absolutely amazing. . .if you are fortunate enough to be stationed here, whether at Camp Foster, Kadena Air Base, or another military installation on island, you know how truly awesome it is.

We will continually be updating these – and we are testing out several different slideshow formats.

Here are two in the new format: Panoramic slideshow & Diving at Maeda Point

Here are two in the old format: Welcome to Okinawa & Okuma Beach Slideshow
(NOTE: old slideshows take about 30 seconds to load! after that, they play all the way through!)

Let us know which is your favorite picture slideshow and we’ll begin moving the others to this design!