Anyone in Northern Japan or lived there?
 

My son just found out he's going to be stationed in Misawa for at least 2 years starting the first of March.

He is completely stoked about it and I'm trying to dig up as much information for him as I can since he has to pay to access the internet :thumbsup

He'll be living on base and he's single so he plans on going to Tokyo as many times as his wallet allows him.

Where are the best places to buy electronics? Is the public transportation decent or should he look at buying a beater while he's there? Are there decent places to stay in Misawa or will family/friends need to stay in a neighboring town?

Mike Price lived in Japan for a long time. He speaks Japanese. It trips me out.

Peaches,

I bet CT, will have a blast there! I don't know about that city, but friends tell me in Japan you can get 10/40 meg dsl for like 40.00 per month.

Why just 2 weeks? This won't be his first PDS - perm. duty station?

I'm not if I've heard a lot of Japanese! My neighbors in Marietta were Chinese and of course there are the Vietnamese girls who do nails, but no Japanese. :(

He plans on learning the language. He's pretty fluent in German and Germany was his first choice but he's ready to learn Japanese (and probably learn Japanese women, but I don't want to hear about that......) and really jump into the culture.

For a young single kid it's an awesome opportunity :)

Two YEARS! :)

I'm not sure what the internet deals are on the base - I know they don't have cable so I suspect he'll be buying me a DVD recorder before he goes so I can send him TV shows :thumbsup

I think having him sent to Japan was just a ploy to get you a free DVD recorder.

Your son is going to be living in the boondocks of Japan. He's AT LEAST a good 6-7 hours from Tokyo by bullet train.

http://www.photomann.com/misawainfo/

Shhhhh!!! :mad:

But actually, if he does buy you one I think he'll need to take an American DVD player with him. The different regions could cause problems?

Ah, thanks! He had heard 1 hour by plane, 3 hours by train but I'm not sure what experience these people had. :thumbsup

He was looking for something off the beaten path - Tinker and Elmendorf were his CONUS choices - so I'm hoping he won't be too bored :)

Great site - I've bookmarked it - thanks again! :)

Oops, my bad :) 2 years sounds great my friend.

At least they gave him a head's up a few months ahead of time to know where his pds would be.

2 Weeks before we graduated AIT, I found out I was going to germany for 2 years.

Damm Best news of my life as a 18 yr. old

$6.00 a carton for smokes, legal drinking at 18, and tons of girls who would run my bald head :)

I hadn't thought of that but I bet you're right. He'll need to see if he can buy an American DVD player on the base I guess.

LOL, I can just imagine you there!

Yeah, they said they usually knew their bases 1/2 way through tech school and since he has such a long tech school (8 months) I'm surprised it was this soon!

Peaches,

yeh the PX - commisary will have all the electronics he needs. And on all the bases I have been to in europe, they have standard 110 usa type wall plug ins, etc.

On all military post they offer a few AFN channels which shows all the new shows in the states...usually it's a few weeks behind.

As for the dvd player...if he is living on post they most likely have 110 like us. If not the px sales the coverters. He'll be fine. Tell him to enjoy it and make the most of it!

http://www.misawa.af.mil/

http://www.misawa.com/

Peaches, CT may want to join the local Bukake club while he's there.

:winkwink:

Two years dude :helpme

Peaches,

just read in those forums someone saying there is adsl on base for like $59.00 per month.

That should make him happy :)

:321GFY

I lived in Iwakuni Japan for 4 months last winter, they have everything he'll need on base, in fact the base will be much nicer than the town and he probebly won't be leaving it very much, anyway, the bullet train will take about 3-4 hours and will probebly cost $150 onway so doubt he'll be doing that much, + the speed limit is like 45mph so doubt he'll be driving to tokyo much either, but if he is high enough rank he should get a SOFA license and buy a cheap car (probebly a skyline they are the japanese version of a mustang, very popular over there with the military), the base will have filtered tv and internet access in the library for free, other wise they probebly offer at least dialup, anyway if he wants to see japan and doesn't have a car thier public transportation is totally incredible, they should be able to ship over a car, if it was me I'd bring over an american hotrod or something thats IN GOOD SHAPE because it has to pass JCI inorder to be driven. Oh yeah probebly won't have a problem hooking up with japanese women they go crazy for american men! Especially if he's blond!

Thanks :) He's a pretty "jump right into things" kid and I think he'll just have a blast there!

Well thank goodness he took after his brunette father and not his blonde mother. :winkwink:

He's been reading and it looks like he might end up buying a beater over there since he knows he'll be there for a short period of time. I talked him out of buying a car here over the past few months because he COULD get shipped overseas, so thankfully he doesn't have to worry about shipping one or selling one :)

Thanks for the info! :thumbsup

Buying an American car and shipping it to Japan is like bringing a bag of dirt with you to the beach!

I like American cars as much as the next guy (I drive one), but seriously the Japanese know how to make reliable inexpensive cars!

Tell him to bring me back a wife or two when he's done there!

:thumbsup -- I'm sure your son will have a blast in Japan. Don't be surprised if he comes home speaking fluent Japanese, hehe.

Hehehe - good point :winkwink: From what I'm reading he can buy a decent 10 year old Nissan, Toy, Honda or Mistu for about $2-3K and that includes a 6 month warranty and 2 years of some special insurance you have to have in Japan :)

True, what id really actually like to bring over there, would be one of those quad cab, long bed, dually, jacked up v-10 4x4's, that would absolutely blow thier mind....you'd have to live there to understand, they arn't as hospitable as everyone thinks, they are probebly the most racist people on the planet, infact americans arn't allowed into some resturants and can be removed simply because they are american or foriegn, one of the guys that i went over their with was in a cab with his wife and got rearended by a truck, they rate accidents on a percentage, ie its 20% your fault and 80% the other guys fault, that kind of thing, anyway the cabdriver was at a stop light but it the accident was 10% his fault because there were americans in his car, if you don't believe me you just don't know. I'm not that big into trucks or muscle cars but something bad ass like that would have really been nice, just to drive occasionally thou, alot of the roads can't be driven down unless your in a compact japanese car....so that kind of thing would be useless except for the main road.

I lived in Japan for two years.

As far as going to Tokyo, it's a short plane trip to Haneda (the airport) from anywhere in Japan.

As far as partying in Tokyo, tell him the best way to do it economically is to learn how to eat, drink and sleep like a Japanese person. American style accomadations are very expensive, but if you can assimililate into the Nihonjin lifestyle, it's not too bad at all.

If he's looking for girls, he either needs to find a steady girl or, if he's looking for rentals, fly to Seoul or Bangkok.

Heres an interesting fact about visa's, if your mexican you can have a 6 month visa immediately no questions asked really, if your american, you can only have a 3 month visa to stay. Mexico has favored nation status in japan, america doesn't.