Behind the Barbed Wire at Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa

One of the Hangers That Kamikaze Pilots Used in World War II

The "BX", or Base Exchange

Suburban-esque Housing

Golf Course on Base

We toured the US Air Force Base at Kadena, as the guests of a gracious host who is stationed on the base. We were grateful for the opportunity to see what's behind that miles-long barbed wire covered fence that cordons off a chunk of the island of Okinawa. The base is "closed", which meant for us that civilians can enter only if signed in by someone stationed on the base. We made arrangements to meet our host at 11:00 for him to drive us around on a tour, and ending up meeting his family for lunch at the Tea House. Mistakenly, I thought he said the Tea House. He actually said the "Tee" House, which is the restaurant perched at the top of a steep hill with a magnificent view of the driving range, golf course and ocean. And, the view also takes in the landing strip where pilots were circling around repeatedly landing and taking off, to achieve the required number of landings and take-offs to maintain their proficiency.
We thought the base was huge. Apparently not by military standards; but we had little to compare it to. The houses look like a suburban subdivision that goes on for miles and miles; and could be a TV set or a dated version of The Truman Show. We drove by just one of the three full-blown elementary schools.
The base appears to be completely self sufficient to support the people who live there, with barbershops, veterinary hospital, car repair shop and so on.
The "BX" as the shopping mall is called, could outclass most shopping centers. "BX" stands for Base Exchange - the corollary of PX, or Post Exchange at an Army Post. The thing is absolutely huge, with a food court filled with Taco Bell, Burger King, Popeye's and so on. The stores look like a giant Walmart - brightly lit, wide, tidy aisles of endless types of merchandise from Yankee Candles to Coach handbags. They even sell cars and Harley Davidsons.
Okinawa's military base provides support for operations halfway around the world from much of the USA. It was an important facility for the Vietnam war. The US government took it from the Japanese at the end of World War II, when it had served as a Japanese military base. There are hangers still remaining that were built into the sides of hills, where the Kamikaze pilots took off for their missions at the end of World War II.
Local farmers are allowed onto the base to cultivate plants on some of the unused plots of land. Kind of like community gardens??