Moving to Japan

[Furious]

Wife is getting stationed in Sasebo, Japan.  We'll probably end up there for 3-4 years ( we don't have an exact move date or anything yet ).  Culture shock inc.

[iago]

You must be furious!

(it's been awhile since anybody made that joke! )

[while1]

I'm jealous.  I wish I had a job that would station me someplace like Japan for at least a year.  Although, it sucks she's not stationed in Okinawa... that would be absolutely #1 choice to be stationed in Japan if I were in the service.  The beaches are absolutely gorgeous.

[Falcon]

Sounds exciting! Don't bring too much stuff with you because from what I've seen the rooms are pretty small.

[Furious]

Sounds exciting! Don't bring too much stuff with you because from what I've seen the rooms are pretty small.

Yeah, I've been poking around trying to find whatever information I can ( which hasn't been a whole lot ) and it seems that most of the military housing/co-op stuff is pretty small ( < 1600sq/ft ).

You must be furious!

(it's been awhile since anybody made that joke! )

The only thing I'm a little worried about is the flight over.  I've never been on a plane ( I don't like the idea of flying / being out of control of what happens ) and I've heard it's something like an 18hr flight, so.  Go big or go home I guess

[CrAz3D]

never been on a place, and heading to Japan, eh?  balls-out.  Planes are fine...plane seats suck.

GL HF...dont get eaten by a tsunami or something.

[Furious]

never been on a place, and heading to Japan, eh?  balls-out.  Planes are fine...plane seats suck.

GL HF...dont get eaten by a tsunami or something.

I know flying is supposed to be pretty safe, but - I have no control over what happens and that worries me.  I don't consider myself a control freak, but I'm a fairly good driver.  A few months back we were heading back from a friends house down the interstate at around ~1:30am.  Three lanes, I was in the far right with cruise control on at about ~60mph ( speed limit is 55mph ), there's a car in the center lane about two car lengths back, car comes flying up ( I'd assume he was doing 80-85mph ), tries to weave around the car in the center lane - he cuts into the left lane, loses control and smashes into my driver side fender.  Sent us spinning 8-9 times, we smacked the wall and I straightened out.  If I had panicked, we could have flipped or it could have been worse.  But I didn't and everyone was ok ( call it luck or whatever you want, but I attribute it to the fact that I'm a competent driver).  Now if a plane starts going down, I'm 20,000ft in the air doing 200mph ( throwing numbers out there ) - I've got absolutely no control over what happens.

tl;dr - Lack of control in flight worries me

[Sidoh]

Having control is nice, but being on a road with a bunch of retards is always more dangerous than being in the air miles away from the nearest plane which is probably piloted by a guy who is decidedly not a retard.

You'll be fine. If you're worried about getting anxious on the plane, take some Benadryl or something before you board. Have a nice nap, and wake up in Japan.

[CrAz3D]

never been on a place, and heading to Japan, eh?  balls-out.  Planes are fine...plane seats suck.

GL HF...dont get eaten by a tsunami or something.

I know flying is supposed to be pretty safe, but - I have no control over what happens and that worries me.  I don't consider myself a control freak, but I'm a fairly good driver.  A few months back we were heading back from a friends house down the interstate at around ~1:30am.  Three lanes, I was in the far right with cruise control on at about ~60mph ( speed limit is 55mph ), there's a car in the center lane about two car lengths back, car comes flying up ( I'd assume he was doing 80-85mph ), tries to weave around the car in the center lane - he cuts into the left lane, loses control and smashes into my driver side fender.  Sent us spinning 8-9 times, we smacked the wall and I straightened out.  If I had panicked, we could have flipped or it could have been worse.  But I didn't and everyone was ok ( call it luck or whatever you want, but I attribute it to the fact that I'm a competent driver).  Now if a plane starts going down, I'm 20,000ft in the air doing 200mph ( throwing numbers out there ) - I've got absolutely no control over what happens.

tl;dr - Lack of control in flight worries me

You're right...flying is way safer.

And, like sidoh mentioned, you cant control all the crazies

[Chavo]

Sounds exciting!  Do you know any japanese at all?

[iago]

The only thing I'd be afraid about flying there is getting a sore ass on the plane. When I went to Austria, holy crap my ass hurt by the end!

[nslay]

Awesome. Japan is a great country! It is by far one of the best countries I've visited.

Oh by the way, if you see killer deals for prepackaged sushi at the grocery store with some brown stuff in it, that's natto ... it's absolutely disgusting!

[dark_drake]

I visited Japan ~4 years ago (holy shit... it's been a while), and I had a blast. A lot of the signs for trains are in English, so it's not too bad navigating. Also, a lot of people know some English. They're not fluent, but they might be able to speak some. It is, however, more likely that they'll be able to read/write it a bit better.

The flight is a bit of a pain in the ass, especially being in economy seating. Airplanes are so packed, and the seats don't recline nearly enough.

[Furious]

I visited Japan ~4 years ago (holy shit... it's been a while), and I had a blast. A lot of the signs for trains are in English, so it's not too bad navigating. Also, a lot of people know some English. They're not fluent, but they might be able to speak some. It is, however, more likely that they'll be able to read/write it a bit better.

The flight is a bit of a pain in the ass, especially being in economy seating. Airplanes are so packed, and the seats don't recline nearly enough.

From what I've read we'll be kind of out in the 'country' area, which is a little more Americanized because of the base that's there.  Which is fine by me.