Okinawa Hai!

CONTRIBUTED BY LORI Lori contributed a write-up about her on-base housing in New Lester last week and agreed to tell us about her experiences using government furniture while stationed here in Okinawa.  We have two other posts on this topics in our archives; Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE.  We have closed comments on [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY CASSANDRA ABEL DIY Sign If you have ever driven south on 58 towards Naha or live on Kinser I’m sure you have see this store before and wondered what it is. I visited it recently and it is one of my new favorite stores. DIY Storage This Do-it-yourself store has everything from hardware [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY KHURSTEN CORNWALL Chikyu Exterior If you’re looking for a last minute gift, something unique and worldly, quaint and cute, or just a great thing to do on a Saturday afternoon, I’ve got a treasure for you! Last week a friend of mine called me up and invited me to join her on a [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY AVIVA BOWMAN So i was wrestling with my air conditioner remote the other day, and thought of something I could do that would be handy for the masses who read Oki Hai. When we first moved in, I got some photocopies of translations for my Japanese appliance buttons. I put the dryer one [...]

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Before coming to Okinawa I was faced with the daunting task of guessing where we might be living and hoping for some answers. It’s hard to plan ahead of time for household things you may want to bring or purchase before you come. I had a personal obsession about curtains because with two children under [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY JANNINE MYERS During the summer my husband and I decided that the Kadena flightline, located directly across the road from our off-base home, wasn’t necessarily a great landmark to have near our front yard. Watching my youngest child throw her hands up over her ears more times in a day than I could [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY JEANINE CZUBIK When I joined the Okinawa Hai editing team, I was surprised to learn that there was not a post on Makeman hardware/do it yourself store, so here it is to make the blog more complete.  Many of you have been to one, but for those who haven’t yet ventured there or [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY KANDY The weather seems to have changed from crisp mornings and breezy nights to just humid.  If you live off-base, you probably have at least one Japanese Air Conditioner.  Its bad enough learning how to read the Air Conditioner Remote,  let alone maintaining your salvation from heat and humidity. I noticed that there [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY KANDY     The transient lifestyle can bring out the handyman and interior designer in all of us.  Creating the perfect home for our family to make the best of what we’ve got can be challenging enough when half of our belongings are in storage.  Then throw in cement walls, a strange sink [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY KANDY   One of our readers who lives off base has been having a big problem with one of her utility bills. Her water bill for two months is over 50,000 yen. That’s over $500!  After calculating the amount of water from 1m3(cubic meter)=264.17 u.s. gallons our friend came to the conclusion that [...]

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