One-time houses of Americans in Okinawa undergoing changes

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

› Login to comment

15 Comments

bdiego at 09:49 AM JST - 6th October

Great to see them making good and appropriate use and not letting the architecture go to waste.
societymike at 10:55 AM JST - 6th October

not exactly a new thing. there are many of these around Chatan, Okinawa City, naha, etc. All re-done and sold to locals or mainlanders for rent or vacation homes for SUPER cheap.
Yelnats at 12:14 PM JST - 6th October

I lived in a base house once. Too many openings that let in roaches.
unrested at 01:28 PM JST - 6th October

was just in naha. beautiful place. definitely a breath of fresh air after 3 years of living in osaka.
noborito at 03:50 PM JST - 6th October

Those house must be constructed much better than the crap here in Tokyo. A house here lasts only 15 or so years. (According to the construction company I am dealing with now.)
jason6 at 03:59 PM JST - 6th October

Don't listen to Japanese construction companies when it comes to housing. It's like going to a car salesman for automobile advice: you ALWAYS need a newer model.
KallyPygous at 04:09 PM JST - 6th October

old, good America

As opposed to new, bad America, I suppose.
sharky1 at 04:10 PM JST - 6th October

What a bonehead...he will be out of business within two years. Lots of those places in Okinawa have been going under right and left. Why must the fact that the house built for US Military be considered a "negative legacy"??? Seems to be quite a positive legacy if people are so eager to rent those places.
Helly at 05:23 PM JST - 6th October

(sigh)... The US military declared 2 months ago that all new incoming personel have to live on base. I find this artical to be completely the opposite of what is really happening here. Housing companies here are going out of business all the time because the demand is down... I don't know where they got the info for this article but it seems dodgey to me.
Sarge at 05:38 PM JST - 6th October

"I wanted to live in a place that had the atmosphere of a foreign country"

A house with an actual yard around it.

"new, bad America"

Don't blame me, I voted for the other guy.
usaexpat at 11:06 PM JST - 6th October

Good, I love to see buildings renovated an re-purposed rather than abandoned or knocked down.
JHansen at 02:40 AM JST - 7th October

The other guy was the "bad America"
WhiteHawk at 11:22 AM JST - 7th October

From the article:

Initially such houses were built on base, but with increases in U.S. military personnel since the 1950s, many were later built off base, benefiting the local construction industry.

Gee, the America-haters have always claimed that the U.S. military presence in Okinawa was nothing but bad, bad, bad news. Looks like those America-haters never took an economics course.

Sarge:

A house with an actual yard around it.

Zing!
bdiego at 06:44 AM JST - 9th October

Ironic, I get a yard only when I visit Japan. They're pretty rare here in SD.
Fadamor at 10:55 PM JST - 9th October

And in the OTHER SD as well (San Diego). I took a "drive" through my old neighbohood using one of those online street viewers, and all the houses on the street I used to live on had either replaced their yards with flagstones or a rock garden.

The American houses are, indeed, a negative legacy because they are physical manifestations of (what was back then) an occupying nation. This is similar to any construction that the U.S. leaves in Iraq when they leave. No one likes to have reminders that they had "caretakers" watching over them. I DID have a chuckle at the "old, good America" comment, though.

It's good to see that they're re-using the houses rather than flattening them and building up some new high-rise.