First of all, Iwakuni FINALLY got FREE wifi in public areas.  It works good at Crossroad (food court), there's a hotspot at Yujo Hall and a few other places but I don't know where.  Anyway, this gets our little base into the 20th century (yes, I'm being ironic). 

HOWEVER, I just got word yesterday on some downers.  Because of the geometry of our new runway, access to the backside of the runway will be closed to the public starting in May.  Unless you work back there & have a Level 2 security pass, you will NOT be able to get beyond the end of the runway.  This means NO MORE seawall jogging past that point, no driving the perimeter of the base, AND NO MORE MARINA!!! It will permanently close next month (right after the seasonal grand opening, go figger.)  Also, no more access to that cool new restaurant/chow hall that just opened.  Looks like SOMEONE seriously dropped the ball on planning this base expansion.

Most troubling of all from my perspective... I've heard that Sakura Theater will CLOSE in 2011!! It will be torn down to make room for more housing.  This little station will have NO MOVIE THEATER  for TWO YEARS until they can get around to building a new one.  And we all know that their construction program is strictly on schedule, so we can hold them to that 2-year NO-MOVIE gap, right? 

As far as I'm concerned, this is a SERIOUS AND SEVERE detriment to quality of life.  Given how few amenities there are here, failure to build the new theater FIRST and then tear down the old one SECOND is inexcusable.  Combined with loss of the marina which is hugely popular half the year, recreational opportunities within reach of the average family take a huge hit.  Whose bright idea was this, anyway?

Sure, now they can say closing access beyond the runway is a SAFETY and OPERATIONAL issue.  Of course it is; they painted themselves into a corner.  They left themselves NO GOOD ALTERNATIVE and any mitigation at this point becomes impracticable.  If the brain surgeons who planned this project a decade ago had their act together, sure they coulda figured a way around it.  I guarantee if some 5-star had said "THE PLAN IS UNACCEPTABLE, FIX IT!!!" they woulda come up with a better plan.  But no one stood up back then, and the families on base pay the price now.

The marina thing is probably too late to fix, but maybe we can get them to rethink the theater plan.  So... who do we complain to that has some horsepower?  Which office in Washington is accountable for Quality of Life issues overseas?  We ought to mount a letter-writing campaign and get someone to pay attention back there.  Anyone?? 

I feel so much better now, getting that off my chest.  :-)

I don't live in Iwakuni but my husband was recently given an offer to go there next tour... and this does not bode well. Seems like they're cutting a lot of fun out for the Military families.

I know they want you to go off base for activities... but lets not get started on Cola cuts and the exchange rate... -_-

The problem is base expansion... they're getting ready for the air wing to move down from Atsugi. So things will be pretty unsettled here for like the next 5 years or so. Perhaps there is no "master planner" and the pieces are coming together in fits & starts with no overall plan. I'm sure the Powers That Be would say otherwise, but that's how it looks from ground level. Inconvenience is to be expected, but no base theater?? Come on guys, that's pretty basic. Build the new one before you tear down the old one.

FWIW, in my 9 months here I've only gone to the theater maybe 5 times. It's not a big deal for me personally, but I work with teens and for them to be cut off from popular culture is a huge thing. When that New Blockbuster movie comes out and they gotta wait 5 months for the DVD, that's like a lifetime to them and truly hard to bear. And if they're not going to the theater for the evening then where will they be instead? I shudder to think but I know they're not at the bowling alley.

You know what I see? More liberty incidents.

Posted By KeithJ on 15 Apr 2010 05:47 PM
You know what I see? More liberty incidents.

If there are fewer wholesome alternatives on base, then that is the logical and predictable outcome.

Posted By Elizabeth on 15 Apr 2010 05:09 PM
I don't live in Iwakuni but my husband was recently given an offer to go there next tour... and this does not bode well. Seems like they're cutting a lot of fun out for the Military families.

I need to clarify... I find Iwakuni a wonderful place to live, and I really do like the base.  As I said, I rarely visit the base theater, and have never used the marina. But many people do, and I hate to see these alternatives being taken away.

I would not discourage your family from being stationed here.  You will find it a far cry from the hustle and bustle of Yokosuka.  When you walk out the gate there is... nothing! Ok, a t-shirt shop, fruit stand and some bars.  There is no Honcho.  A 10-minute drive takes you downtown with like 1 department store and many small shops & restaurants.  It's a slow pace here but that's part of the charm.  Being an Air Station, you can fly Space-A to Korea, Yokota or Okinawa with a few other destinations sprinkled in from time to time.  There is plenty of natural beauty all around, and only a few minutes to beautiful natural parks.  Hiroshima is 45 minutes away, and that's WITHOUT using the toll road.

When I read about some of the problems at other larger bases, I feel particularly blessed to be here.  Customer service in all facilities is good, people are courteous, no troubles with youth/gangs, theft is rare, all housing is on the main base, the commissary is well-stocked, exchange is modern and moderately well-stocked, there is NEVER a line at the bank or NFCU (well, once there were 2 people ahead of me on pay day), we don't have dive-bombing hawks around the seawall stealing food, and people are just generally friendly.  I live off base, but I never hear gripes about noise or bad neighbors in the towers.  The air is clean and the canals don't smell.  Weather is mild.  I shouldn't gripe too much about our problems, but I'm still annoyed by what I view as unnecessary disruptions in community services.  Whatever, we all have our tribulations...

Thank you for clearing that up. I know next to nothing about Iwakuni but it may very well come down to a yes or no decision in a few months.

And yeah, we'll be part of the Air Wing mess coming to take over, ha ha.

Y'all oughta plan a trip here to look around before deciding about orders. Your first impression will be "This place is too darn small" but if you give it a chance, it grows on you. If you plan a trip, give me a heads up. I'll try to hook up with you and give you some pointers on looking around. You need to visit both Kintai Bridge and Chicken Shack, our two local "must-sees."

That's very kind of you! If the deal offered to him gets more serious I will let you know! Thank you very much!

NO MARINA??!! *weeping*

Is there still a place to launch our kayaks???

 

I was recently told by a Top Gun pilot that was once stationed at Atsugi that the helo squadrons will stay there. I s'pose that makes sense. I remember that being a source of some uncertainty when discussing the future of Atsugi after the fighters move to Iwakuni.

I see people carting around kayaks & small boats so there must be a place to launch, off base. But no, there is no access to the old marina anymore.

Is there a reliable internet service provider available there?

Posted By Molly on 01-26-2011 1:53 AM
Is there a reliable internet service provider available there?

I live offbase and my ISP is Plala. It's DSL and even though I have no Japanese phone line they made it work with a little short range antenna on my balcony which connects me to the phone system.  I get very fast, reliable service for around $60/mo. 

If you live onbase, you don't get a choice of providers.  On base service is probably reliable, but not too fast.  VOIP usually but not always works; Slingbox I have heard won't work. 

I think there are other offbase providers, but the housing office never mentioned it to me & didn't give me a choice.  They just set it up (which was nice) but never told me my alternatives (which was not so nice.)

How do you pay for internet service there? Is it a flat monthly fee or do you pay by how much you use? I wonder why Slingbox wouldn't work, I was really thinking about setting that up in the States so I can have it over there.

Slingbox will work if you live offbase. I said probably not onbase due to crummy bandwidth. I can't swear to that; you need someone from onbase to weigh in on the discussion, but not too many Iwakuni people are on this forum.

My monthly bill to Plala is around $60. They bill direct to my credit card. It is not usage based, it's fixed price other than fluctuation of the yen rate which is pretty crummy right now. Plala does not have English-language customer service, but back when I was a new customer & had connection problems they found a technician who spoke English and got him to help me out.

Since this topic is about changes coming to Iwakuni due to base expansion, here's another aspect...

They are building a commercial air terminal at the northern edge of the base. When this is done (maybe 2-3 years?) the runway will become dual-use: Military & commercial. Right now, the nearest commercial airport is Hiroshima, about 1 1/2 hour drive from here (plus expensive tolls or shuttle fee). The nearest MAJOR airport is Osaka and/or Fukuoka, about 3 hours by bullet train. If they finally do bring commercial flights to Iwakuni, it will make air connections that much easier. I would expect just a few flights a day, but even a flight to Tokyo-Narita would be a huge convenience. It would also bring in domestic tourism, as there are many cultural and natural sites in the region that Japanese like to visit (namely, Miyajima & Kintai bridge).

I have heard rumors of possible commercial flights from here to other destinations: Okinawa, Hawaii, Korea. All strictly rumor, but the more they offer the better. Of course, we also have military Space-A. Getting to Korea/Okinawa/Tokyo/Seattle for free on Space-A isn't that hard from Iwakuni, except during school holidays when everyone's trying to get out of town.

Thanks for the info. We plan on living off base. Still waiting on orders though. We now think it will be Iwakuni, hopefully it will be on the mainland somewhere by the time we finally get the orders.