Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium / 오키나와 츄라 우미 수족관

If you wanted a great place to kill a whole day, then the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium is the place to go. It is located up in the northern area of the island and you can take the express all the way until it ends at the 58, however it will still take about an hour to get up there, depending on the traffic. I have a Google map link that will take you to the parking area number 7, which is the closest covered parking area to the actual aquarium, and it is free to park! It is also free to roam around the park grounds and to see the dolphin show, but you just have to pay to get in the aquarium. There is plenty to see and if you have kids, they should be exhausted by the time you leave. The place is stroller friendly and I highly recommend you bring one to cart kids and stuff around. Oh, and don’t forget the sunscreen, since most of the park is out in the open. I have the English and Korean park guides here for reference, which has all the fees, show details, and maps. One more thing, you can save a few bucks by buy the tickets at places like Family Mart. Just look at the signs at the stores you frequent, chances are you will see a picture of the aquarium, which will most likely mean they sell the discounted tickets there. It is pretty common, so just look around or ask someone. Enjoy!

Google Map Link: http://goo.gl/maps/pBi6p

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium 

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

오키나와 츄라 우미 수족관

오키나와 츄라 우미 수족관

오키나와 츄라 우미 수족관

오키나와 츄라 우미 수족관

오키나와 츄라 우미 수족관

Kadena AB Commissary Guest Pass

Always wondered how to get those fabled Commissary Guest Passes for your visiting friends and family members? Well look no further! I have the instructions on how to do it right here. It is pretty straight forward and it is just a matter of creating a memorandum in the format and with the information they want. See Questions 3 & 4 for that information. If your sponsor is a military member, they shouldn't have any problem putting it all together. You will also need to submit a copy of the passport of the person(s) you are trying to get access for, specifically just the page with their photo/name. After you collect that, you can drop it off at Bldg. 99 or submit it via email. I always have submitted them via the email option, and I have got them back signed super fast. In fact my last one was back to me in 4 hours flat! Your guests don't have to be American or anything either, basically if the Base will give them a visitor pass, you should be able to get them a commissary pass as well. However, I believe the pass is only good for the Commissary on Kadena, so for the other military base's commissaries, you will have to find out those relevant processes out as well. Oh yea, I would also call the DSN number listed below to get the most update info on who actually signs the letter, so you don't have to worry about it getting kicked back because it have the wrong Commander/Director name on it. Enjoy!

Kadena AB Commissary Guest Pass Page 1

Kadena AB Commissary Guest Pass Page 2

Kadena AB Commissary Guest Pass Page 3

Community Bank ATM Withdraw Limits

I wanted to share this information with you all, since it just popped into my mind for some reason, and I think it is good to know information for new people coming to the island. The Community Bank’s ATM cash withdraw limit for a single transaction is $800. I know this because I ran into this issue when I was buying my cars and it sucked having to go to the ATM for a week just to get all the cash out I needed. I have USAA and I had a $600 daily ATM cash withdraw limit for like, ever. It has been a non-issue for years, but when we got to Okinawa, it became pretty lame to make that daily stop to the ATM to get a lot of cash out. I can only imagine if you moved off-base too, and having to get all that cash out you will need to cover all the expenses, it would take weeks! Well, I called USAA about this and they happily move my ATM cash limit up to $2000 per-day! I have been with them for years, but I am not really sure what they factored in when they did that limit increase, so hopefully other USAA members can do the same just as easily. Oh, why $2000? They asked me what limit I wanted, and I just blurted out an amount that seemed “reasonable” to me, and well I guess it was to them too.

So that is how I came to find out what the true hard cash limit at the Community Bank's ATM was $800, but no biggie, I just started a new transaction and keep taking cash out. Bingo!