Okinawa Hai

Okinawa Hai is a website composed by a group of military spouses on the island. I love this website! It helped answer a lot of my questions prior to moving to Oki, because Joey's answers were naturally one-worded-guy-answers. Also, all their posts gave me insights of life on the island, which made me more and more excited to start a new life here.

A few days ago, one of the posts was titled, "Top Fifteen Reasons You Know You Were Stationed in Japan (or Asia) AND in the Military".

You can read their top fifteen, but since some don't apply to me (yet), I've modified their list with some help from the comments listed from that post.

Liza and Joey's

Top Ten Reasons We Know We're Stationed in Japan and in the Military:

1. Your family has at least one ever-so-tacky but delightfully, comforting mink blanket.
Okay, this first one technically doesn't count for me and Joey, but my dad (retired Navy) did buy a few of these when he was deployed, and they are the best blankets for those winter nights. I think Joey and I will have to buy some soon, very soon!

2. You have patiently explained to those back home more than once, "You can use a regular stamp."
My mom is the only one who has actually sent us care packages. But, for those of you who would like to send us stuff, just remember, it's like sending mail stateside. Even though we're overseas, we use the military post office.

3. You find yourself bowing unconsciously instead of saying the ever trite "Hi".
I was just telling Joey the other day that I'm always bowing. And now, I always mix up "Hai" and "Hi". They're both pronounced the same, but "Hai", meaning yes or okay, is said faster and sharply. For example, I go into Family Mart (like a 7-11 store) and say "Hi = Hai" when I walk in, and when I pay, I bow and say, "Hai Hai", when they tell me how much I owe.

4. Someone stateside asks if you've seen the latest episode of (blank), seen the newest commercial for (blank), seen the new music video for (blank), heard the new song of (blank), etc.
We live off-base, and haven't signed up for the American TV channels, all we have are 6 Japanese channels. We would watch them online, but some websites are "out of the local viewing area - United States", i.e. CW, ABC, NBC, and TLC. The one English radio station here plays all types of music in random order, so we would hear hip hop, punk, country, pop, rock, and R&B all within 30 minutes.

5. You find yourself standing erect at the beginning of a movie or when hearing the National Anthem played in the background.
I have never watched a movie on a base, or stayed on base long enough to hear the National Anthem play at night, until now.

6.You wish the military could insert a bar code under your skin instead of having to show your military ID card anywhere you go on base.
Back home, showing my military ID whenever I would go to the military bases wasn't a hassle. But now, I feel I should staple gun my ID to my forehead instead of having to pull it out of my wallet so often.

7. You slurp your soup, and don't need a spoon.
Even when I ate at a Japanese restaurant in the States, I would use a spoon. Here, no need.

8. You have no problem paying 4,000 Yen for dinner, but not $40.
4,000 Yen = $40, for those who don't get the joke. Since it's just Joey and I, we rarely spend so much on food for the two of us. But there's an odd feeling that paying in Yen is cheaper than paying in Dollars, even though it's the same amount.

9. You think going 80 km/hour on the expressway is fast, but its only 50 miles/hour.
The highest speed limit on the main roads are between 40 km/h (25 mph) and 60 km/h (37 mph).

10. You look for landmarks when heading somewhere new, rather than street names.
There are barely any street names (except for on base), only for main roads. For example, I know that Kadena's (AF base) Gate 1 is at the stoplight with the Esso Gas Station in the opposite corner on the 58.