My Friend Is Going To Iwakuni

[LLN2111]

His orders are for a 24 month unaccompanied deployment to Iwakuni, Japan. As a Marine myself (1990-1994) one of the only regret I have is never going over to Okinawa when I was in. Now that my good friend and young Devil Dog is getting deployed over there to Iwakuni Id love to visit him while he is over there. Since I never went there I am not familiar with how the base is set up and even if I had gone there I am sure it has changed in the 20 years since I was in the Corps, I was wondering if this is even possible. Can civilians visit over on Iwakuni? Are there hotels and accomodations for people to use while visiting Marine friends and family? If anyone is or has been stationed over there recently could help me out with this I would most certainly appreciate it. Thank you in advance.

Semper fi, stay hard Marines!
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[Phantom Blooper]

http://wikitravel.org/en/Iwakuni

[MOS4429]

Went to Iwakuni couple times TAD in '83-84. There was good temporary house, the best I had stayed in. Gut reaction is there is no lodging for friends, i.e., non-military personnel, but...I could be wrong.

For instance, there may be temporary lodging that your friends books and you stay there. When on Okinawa, my wife came over for a couple weeks and I booked a place on base. It was a beach house actually.

Check out the site: http://www.marines.mil/unit/mcasiwakuni/Pages/default.aspx

Lodging site at: http://www.marines.mil/unit/mcasiwakuni/Pages/welcome-aboard/housing/transient-lodging.aspx

There is contact information there that might be able to help out.

[kev504 Cpl RG]

As a kid i attended Perry high school on on base in Iwakuni. About 2 years ago i managed to get a chance to visit Hiroshima. Since i was in the area, i decided to try and visit my old stomping grounds. I sent an email to a somebody in PR (listed in the command website) and they ran it up the chain of command. I got the ok to visit with a temp pass but unfortunatly was not able to use it since we were leaving that very day i got it. I can remember off the top of my head, but i'm sure they mentioned something about lodging. Give me time to look up the old email and verify this.

I'm not too sure if this would apply to you since you're not linked to the schools or facilities there. However, I'm sure you friend can sponsor you on base for a daily pass. As for onbase lodgings, i'm afraid i cant help you there as we were staying in Hiroshima at the New Hiroden hotel. Nice place, close to trains.

Not sure if this helps any but at the very least send an email to the PR person (I will try and find the email addy i used) and see if they can help somehow.

[RNC]

24 months isn't a deployment, it's a permanent change of station (aka PCS). Regardless, I spent 24 months at Iwakuni from 1983 to 1985 (best duty station in the Corps, IMO).
At that time, the only hotel like facility on base was called The Hostess House and was for visiting dependants and DOD/U.S. Govt. personell who were passing through. I doubt that Govt. facilities are provided for traveling American civilians.
I have no doubt that the city of Iwakuni and the surrounding area has several hotels that would suit your needs. It wouldn't hurt to contact someone at MCAS Iwakuni in the base commanders office. You might even try to arrange something through your state Senator or Congressman's office. You would be amazed at what they can get done.
Otherwise, see a travel agent.

[LLN2111]

Im not really here to discuss the particulars between PCS and deployment....it was a mistake on my part in an effort to get information as quickly as possible.

[LLN2111]

He left this morning and although I know and understand Honor, Duty, and Commitment I sure will muss him :(

[Dgen411]

Civilians come here to visit all the time. Just have your friend go to PMO and register you before you get here and he most likely put you up on base. If not there are plenty of hotels off station but the liberty policy here sucks so beware of that.

You'll enjoy your visit if you come.

[LLN2111]

Thanks all for your assistance. MOS I did contact the Transient Lodging personnel and I am waiting on information from them as we speak. Thanks for the links, they were ALL very helpful one way or another.