japan/okinawa general

[jopperdepopper]

Hello,

I'm leaving for Thailand/Malaysia/Indonesia in February, to travel around for some months. As Japan is not too far from there, relatively of course, as I live in Europe and I've been wanting to go there for a long time, I'm thinking about going maybe to Okinawa (or other places in Japan).

Could someone maybe give me some kind of indication of pricing? Very general, to get a bit of an idea of the price-level of things (as I understand Japan is not cheap)

Also, I was wondering if maybe european divemasters/instructors are in demand or can find dive-jobs in Japan?


Love to hear from you, thanks,
Job

 

[japan-diver]

Accomadation ranges from the Y1500 night guest house to the Y15,000 per night hotel. Boat diving goes from Y12,000 - Y18,000 per day. Guided shore diving from Y6000-Y10,000 per day. (Multi-day packages can bring the cost down per day) Mainland Okinawa is usually the cheapest for diving and the further southern islands more expensive. At some of the southern islands its hard to find shops that will take out non-Japanese speakers but it can be done. On Okinawa you can also just rent tanks and go diving on your own for between Y500-Y1000 per tank.
Unless you speak Japanese the demand for instructors or DM is very low as 98% or higher of all customers here are Japanese.

 

[jopperdepopper]

thanks for the info! It's not the cheapest, but not as extreme as I feared it might be.

Do I understand correctly that there is a US-base on Okinawa? Does that make the island a bit more accesible to 'westerners'?
As far as my japanese goes, I know konichi-wa and shinkansen (probably not even spelled right) - and why you would need to know shinkansen underwater will be a forever mystery I guess

Thanks again,

Job

 

[tribaltim]

Yes their are several bases on Okinawa that make it very westerner friendly and to my understanding most okinawans actually learn English in school.....most.....I am currently stationed on one of the bases so when you in town let us know or just PM me maybe we could go diving.

 

[jopperdepopper]

Hi Tim(?),

thanks for your offer! I don't know yet where I'll be going, but if I make it to Okinawa, I'll let you know.. Best & happy diving,

Job