Coming from Japan!
My wife was assigned to
Camp Zama, Japan, in Decemeber 1998. That's why I'm here. Things are
very different from the U.S. but I'm trying to make the best of
it:
- Driving is a
hassle. It takes time to get from point A to point B. If you plan
for delays, you will always make your destination in a timely manner. We
live 12km from main base and it takes from 15min (5am or so) to 45min - 1 hour
(starting 8am and ending around 6pm). Driving is also done on the
left side of the road and the driver seat in a Japanese car is on the
right-hand side. The gearshift is on the left, the turn signal stalk is
on the right and the light stalk is on the left. You can tell when a
driver is new to Japan when you see wipers come on when a car is trying to
make a turn at an intersection.
- Additionally,
driving is a bit dangerous because motor scooters and bicycles constantly have
to be dodged. There is also no such thing as having an accident with
another car and not having fault, even when you did nothing wrong....according
to Japanese law, every driver is a professional, regardless of whose at
fault. Street signs are not in English in most cases. Some are in
Romanji (Roman form of Kanji). Some streets have no names at all and
most foreigners have to drive by landmark association (turn left at pink house
with blue roof).
- Japanese usually
consider themselves superior to foreigners, but are also very polite and will
go out of their way to help people in need. When they are in cars, though,
some become VERY agressive. Also, yellow lights are pretty much
meaningless.
- Every American is
considered an ambassador to America, regardless of how he or she feels.
This is what I do NOT like about being affiliated with the U.S.
military. I have to practically become Japanese, putting aside that I've
been an American for 31 years. Yeah, I served my country and have a
sense of honor....I know it comes with the territory, but I'm out of the Army
now and I hate the fact that U.S. officials here want U.S. family members to
be "assimilated" into Japanese society. I'm supposed to be a visitor. I'm
courteous to Japanese people but that doesn't mean I agree with their views or
ideals of their society.
- Japan has unique
voltage when it comes to electricity and electrical appliances. Our
toaster takes 5 minutes to make toast, it takes almost 30 minutes to cook
chicken wing in our microwave, and none of our alarm clocks will keep
time. Also, U.S.-manufactured cordless phones cannot be used
here.
- Cable TV is next
to nil. We get free cable, but half the channels are japanese (13
channels, 7 japanese). There aren't any real commercials....Armed Forces
Network cannot endorse items. [Webmaster's note: AAFES has
once again dropped the ball by turning down a Cable TV contract for Camp Zama
and Sagami Depot. There was also some beta testing of cable modems thru
AmeriCable which eventually stopped since AAFES wanted to have a monopoly on
everything and AT&T Jens was the internet powerhouse. They think the
business won't be lucrative. Geez....WTF. Everything is so much
about profit now that we can't even get service.]
- Internet access is
really screwed up! Only ONE Internet Service Provider services Far
Eastern-stationed military members: AT&T Jens.
The services are
very lackluster and they charge $30 a month for 90 hours of access during that
month. They have no homepage for members to get information. [Webmaster's note: This has now been rectified. Their
homepage is now up. They also now offer web server space, which has been
in the works for YEARS, I hear. Congrats, AT&T Jens!]
I even emailed their support branch to ask some questions
regarding their having no homepage and their lack of a flat rate for their
customers, but I got no response back. We have a Kflex 56K modem but we
usually only get 28.8kbps, and rarely 31kbps. [Webmaster's note: This was fixed quite awhile back. I think
they added faster modems to Sagami Depot's dialup line. I typically get
between 46 to 48kbps.] The service always "burps"
and seems always crowded. That plays havoc with downloads and browsing.
I'm going to compose a letter regarding this and email every known
high-level ISP to let them know that there is a market for ISPs here with the
U.S. Military. AT&T Jens should not be monopolizing us and
providing us with such low rate service. We should also have the option
of other ISPs here. There are japanese ISPs here that can provide
service to people on base but they tend to be very expensive, because local
calls are not free in Japan (10 yen/minute, I think). The toll charges
will eventually add up, even if a japanese ISP is available to us with a flat
monthly rate. [Webmaster's note: 1)
Found a website/forum regarding AT&T Jens web-authored by Greg
Williams.....click here. This
site is just what we need. 2) Mr. Pelphrey, the V.P. of AAFES Pacific
Rim operations, had sent AT&T Jens customers correspondence regarding
contract renewal of internet services....this link has that
correspondence, my response to Mr. Pelphrey, and the latest news from Mr.
Pelphrey, dated Monday, April 4th.]
- Housing for
service members at Camp Zama is fourth-rate. While we have a decent
townhome, I've seen others and the situation is not pretty. Stainless
steel doors and tub, radiator heating that is very hard to control, ONE window
air conditioner for the whole first floor (to cool the kitchen, dining room,
and living room), and one each for each bedroom. The windows and doors
are very drafty. 50% of our windows will not stay up of their own
accord. There are NO downstairs coat closets. To top all of this
off, the Housing Department would not let us get a first glimpse of the house
until we accepted it. Why would we accept something we haven't even seen
yet? Would I sign for and be responsible for any other item if it were
not in decent condition? NO! It was like the Housing Department
wanted us to sign for the house without looking at it because they were hiding
it's condition. I'm very apalled at their policy, and we had a decent
house! Think of those people here less fortunate. I can't
understand why the U.S. Army would allow their charges to stay in what amounts
to "project" homes. You sure don't see any high brass staying in these
homes either.
[Webmaster's note: A few months ago (Fall 2000), we tried
to move to Zama based on the fact that my wife is now 1SG of her unit and
needed to be closer to Zama. We also have flaking paint in our home that may
or may not be lead-based. We have an active child and don't want her poisoned
by lead. Based on these two reasons, we filed paperwork to move to Zama or
SHA. We were turned down. This ticks me off! I know of two families who were
moved to Zama for the same reasons, one of them being in the same unit as my
wife. She's now the only person in her unit that lives at Sagami Depot and
they continually schedule functions that have negative impact on quality of
life. She has to attend functions because of her position but because she
lives so far away, its a serious inconvenience on her, myself and our
daughter. I've also been hearing of people who've moved to Japan that are
being offered multiple choices in homes, those homes offered being at Zama,
SHA, AND Sagami Depot. We were never offered a choice...not whatsoever. I've
stopped supporting the unit as a spouse and I've also stopped attending
community functions. They'll get no help from me since we get no help from
them. My wife may HAVE to do the things she does because she's a senior NCO
but I've been there and done that and I've got my own life. I won't be
attending if my wife ever gets reassigned to Japan.]
Now some good
things:
- The cars!
There are cars here that aren't available in the U.S. Some are available
in other countries (Austrailia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Great
Britain). I'll post some pics on my pages and link them soon. Some
of what I've seen are: Mitsubishi FTOs, Lancer EVO IVs and Vs, Lancer GSRs,
and GTOs; Nissan Skyline GTRs, Fairlady Zs, and Pulsars; Toyota Soarers; Honda
Type Rs.
- The
motorcycles! Everything here is smaller displacement in engine size,
mainly 400cc. Anything bigger than 750cc usually is exported to the
U.S. There are still a fair amount of over-750cc bikes. They are
bought from the U.S. and imported back to Japan. Some of the bikes I've
seen: Suzuki TLS-1000s, Harleys galore; Harley wannabe's; Yamaha R1s,
Kawasaki GPZ750s and GPZ900s (with the Team Green paint scheme), Kawasak ZX6Ds
and ZX6Es, and also ZX11s. To come soon: a japanese bike picture
archive, just like my japanese car
pic archive.
- FOOD!!! In
the U.S., Japanese food is normally exquisite, but come to Japan and try
it. AWESOME food. Sashimi, yakisoba, mochi, nigiri.....my mouth is
watering already! The food is a definite plus!
- The people:
I teach conversational English to a man my age and I've learned so much from
him, even when I'm supposed to be teaching him. I teach
him 1 hour every Tuesday and that hour goes by so quick! I also teach three
others, including a 7-year-old child.
- I like watching
sumo wrestling on TV. I recently attended a sumo tournament also! Pictures
are here.
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Last Updated on 1/13/01
By Ron Sinclair
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