Kadena, Okinawa Japan

My three months in Japan were mostly spent on Kadena Air Base located on Okinawa Island. Okinawa is the largest island in the Ryukyu Island chain which is comprised of nearly one thousand smaller islands, none of which I had a chance to see. There are over a dozen U.S. military bases scattered throughout the main island. Together they make up over twenty-five percent of the entire island's population - making it very difficult to get away from anything military-related. Right before I arrived, the Okinawan citizens held a massive protest demanding the Americans withdraw and give them their island back. I don't blame them, what with the annoyingly loud car exhausts and people talking on cell phones while their waitresses wait to take orders.

Before we decided to rent a car, going out was limited to how absurd the cost of a taxi would be. The closest decent place to base was American Village with its gigantic ferris wheel you could see sixty miles away when flying back to base at night. The funny thing is I never once saw anyone ride the wheel in the three months I was here. American Village was basically how it sounds - American. Signs were all in English and advertising was aimed at the Americans.

Also somewhat close to base and in a much more discreet location is this cave you can see in the far left of the picture. The tour guide, an Okinawa native, hid with her family in this exact cave during World War II. The rainbow-colored lines are millions of paper cranes. The man in the middle of the picture contemplates what he will have for dinner.

Here is a picture of what was inside the strange altar at the cave entrance.

This is White Beach located on the eastern-most side of Okinawa City on a military base. In all honesty, this was by far the saddest beach I saw the entire time I was in Japan. This picture somewhat captures the sadness. That's not sand, its dirt. The small sign says "Go Someplace Nicer". Just kidding. It talks about all the hazardous wildlife you may encounter if you decide to go swimming. I did go swimming but found no wildlife at all.

Here's a view of the Western side of the island a few blocks from Kadena Air Base. In the distance is Okinawa's capitol city, Naha.

This is Kobe Beef and an 8 oz. steak ran about forty dollars. It was well worth the money. It tasted like a steak made entirely of fat - salty, seasoned, amazing fat.

The view from a hole-in-the-wall restaurant outside American Village. Orion is the only local beer brewed in Okinawa and is comparable to a very fresh Coors.

For your Happy Time!

The sunset with our rental car in the foreground.

The last thing worth mentioning in the Kadena - Okinawa City area of Okinawa is an amazing sushi bar known as Yoshi Hachi's. Pictured above is beef sashimi. Nothing fancy, just a giant bowl of raw meat soaking in blood. Tasty. The restaurant also served a few more exotic things not found in the states including Blowfish and Shark. My friends and I probably ate here at least seven times a month...often enough to where the waitresses knew us all by name. When we told them we were leaving for good they almost started crying.

The Kadena area of Okinawa was decent but I soon found myself dying to get away from anything having to do with the military or Americans. This involved going to the southern and northern parts of the island which I will write about later.