New arrival, arriving feb/march 2012 to iwakuni ,been to futemna(1 yr),yuma (trng) ,cherry pt(2 yrs) and new river stationed at lejeune last 4 yrs. very basic beginning question whats iwakuni measure up to? and im a 3521 mechanic any others here.

I'd be happy to answer your questions, but I'm not sure what you're asking. What would you like to know about Iwakuni?

the size of the base in comparison. i also want to commend you all for this website,it should be added to the base official website as a link. As we are generally tight with our money(3 kids 11,10, and 5 yrs old)we want them to have the ultimate cultural experience should our budget be a wait and see when we get there for our preference or does anyone have an "avg" budget plan we can start working on now?thanks

Chiguy, this website was developed by Adam Jones. It's purely unofficial and always will be. There is occasional, sporadic, unofficial hostility towards this site from military authorities, so it will never be embraced as a command resource. Nevertheless, it is about 1,000,000x more helpful than any "official" resource including, unfortunately, many sponsors. As you can see, about 95% of the info is about Yokosuka, but the site is intended to support all military bases in Japan. I keep trying to get more Iwakuni participation, with limited success. For instance, since you were stationed briefly in Yuma, someone was just asking about Yuma. It would be helpful if you can answer some of their questions. That way, everybody ends up helping each other out.

Regarding Iwakuni, this is a small base tucked away in a small farming town in an overlooked prefecture of Japan. It's actually very pleasant and your family will love it. Since you've been in Okinawa, it's nothing like that. No big malls, unless you go to Hiroshima which you can reach by car or train in about an hour. Much beautiful natural scenery here. I'm going to see the fall colors on Miyajima Island on Wednesday; google it. The military population here is 5000 including dependents.

There are a lot of activities through the youth center, ITT, etc. Generally, my wife & I rent a car from MCX and just drive around on our own. But many people prefer the tours offered by ITT. There are no other bases nearby. Sasebo is a 4.5-hour drive south; Yokosuka/Yokota are 12 hours north. Nearest commercial airport is Hiroshima. The only international flight there is to Seoul, but otherwise you mostly fly to Narita and connect through there.

You'll be able to buy a good, cheap used car here. I generally pay about $1000 for my beater, but you'll want a bigger & nicer car for your family. Figure on $2500-4000 which includes 2 years of JCI. Living off base is fun, but most families live on base. Esp for kids in middle school/high school; living off base is hard for them cuz they have to go home when you do and this isolates them from afternoon/evening activities on base. Rent is MUCH cheaper here than Yokosuka. My 3LDK apt is 84,000 yen. A Japanese house would be like 100,000 yen. You'd need to pay 4 months rent upfront to move in. This is 1st/last months rent, security deposit, and a bribe to the agent. There's a lot of info on JB.com about living off base; browse around that section.

I generally find the cost-of-living in Japan to be comparable to the States. Since you get your groceries on base, and just a few odd purchases off base, cars/insurance are cheap, buy gas on base. So the main thing that pushes up your budget is your desire for travel. My wife & I drive everywhere we go; you can get Space-A from here, but of course there is a lot of competition during school holidays. Families who home school have a big advantage in this regard. If you live off-base, expect your house to be cold in the winter & hot in the summer. Heating & cooling the whole house all day/night is very expensive and this is not what the Japanese do. They close off all the rooms and heat/cool just one room. Get warm blankets and sleep in a (literally) freezing house at night. This is normal for Japanese. We get just a dusting of snow each winter; it doesn't stick. But it does get cold.

Any other questions? Just ask. I'm a Navy retiree; I can't answer much about your work setting.

Oh, one other thing... You are coming at a unique time in the history of Iwakuni. There is a huge construction & realignment going on which impacts this base, Atsugi, Futenma, Guam & more. A big shift in military forces is in the works, but it will take years. The bottom line is, LOTS of construction going on in Iwakuni in the coming years. If things stay on track, you will see the bulk of this construction & you'll leave about the time it's all done. Be prepared for major inconvenience.

It started last year & is picking up speed. A major landfill project was done & they moved the runway 500 meters further out to sea. Now they're moving all the aviation facilities to where the old runway was, they'll rip out the golf course, and use all the vacated land for new housing, etc. In the plans are: New schools, new theater, new commissary & exchange, and more. Lots of barracks going up right now.

When it's all done, the CVW up in Atsugi is supposed to move here and our military population will double. This was supposed to be done in 2015, but the Japanese govt is paying for most of it & they're broke. So who knows. Next week they close the main gate for 2 months, realign traffic all over the base, and start reworking the base access. They will also build a commercial air terminal, and the runway will become dual-use with comm air flying in. That will save a 90-minute trip to Hiroshima airport in the future, and you'll be able to fly commercial right from the base. I think that will be a welcome change.

Posted By ThaiGuy on 11-14-2011 4:44 PM
Oh, one other thing... You are coming at a unique time in the history of Iwakuni. There is a huge construction & realignment going on which impacts this base, Atsugi, Futenma, Guam & more. A big shift in military forces is in the works, but it will take years. The bottom line is, LOTS of construction going on in Iwakuni in the coming years. If things stay on track, you will see the bulk of this construction & you'll leave about the time it's all done. Be prepared for major inconvenience.

It started last year & is picking up speed. A major landfill project was done & they moved the runway 500 meters further out to sea. Now they're moving all the aviation facilities to where the old runway was, they'll rip out the golf course, and use all the vacated land for new housing, etc. In the plans are: New schools, new theater, new commissary & exchange, and more. Lots of barracks going up right now.

When it's all done, the CVW up in Atsugi is supposed to move here and our military population will double. This was supposed to be done in 2015, but the Japanese govt is paying for most of it & they're broke. So who knows. Next week they close the main gate for 2 months, realign traffic all over the base, and start reworking the base access. They will also build a commercial air terminal, and the runway will become dual-use with comm air flying in. That will save a 90-minute trip to Hiroshima airport in the future, and you'll be able to fly commercial right from the base. I think that will be a welcome change.

TG,

Amazing. Looks like it's finally happening. I remember hearing about Carriers coming down from Yokosuka when I was in Kuni the first time. As a matter of fact, I was there when the port and tower were being built near "the Japanese side" of base. They finished that back in 2007.

I can't say that I'm happy going back when so manyy people are going to be stationed there. I loved the quiet, subtley of the base. It seemed like everyone knew everyone.

To clarify... no carriers are coming here; just the aircraft (and crews & families). We have a small pier, but it is very rare that a ship pulls in down here. Maybe twice a year, and it's on a part of base that most of us cannot access (the far side of the runway is off limits.)

But I do agree with you... the great appeal of Iwakuni is the small-town nature of both the base & the town. I hope this isn't lost with the expansion.