Things that made me forget I was living in Japan when I lived on a military base

BigFamJapan mentioned in a recent blog that this week is Sky Week, and thought it could be an interesting tie-in to my time living on a U.S. military base here. For context, my husband was in the Air Force for a number of years, and we lived at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo for three of them. 

It can be a weird feeling when you're "living in Japan" but not really living in Japan, if that makes sense. The base itself is extremely American, with an American supermarket, a big retail store which sells American brands, and so forth. The retail store was particularly useful for anyone who was taller or larger than Japanese standard sizing for clothing or shoes!

To get an idea of what I mean, here's a display from the on-base supermarket from Halloween one year. They even imported massive carving pumpkins so people could have that true taste of home.

There's an on-base hospital so whenever you have to deal with medical professionals you're doing so in English with American staff, and there are SO many American eateries around the base, too. For instance, there are branches of the chain Chili's, Taco Bell, Panda Express, Popeye's Chicken, and more. Also, a bowling alley, and movie theaters that show new release movies in English.

As you can see from all those things, it's very easy to feel as if you've stepped into America and you're no longer in Japan. 

I am going through photos to see what else I can share about life on a base in Japan, but I will see what I can think of!