How do you say "cheap eats" in Japanese?

So we've been here for a week and I wish I could say that I've accumulated a week's worth of foodie-worthy pics but somewhere between developing a case of cabin fever and learning really quick just how expensive moving and being a food lover really is, there hasn't exactly been a lot of opportunities for food to inspire some sort of enlightening experience. As anxious as I was to just hurry up and get here, settling in is moving slower than expected.

Before I got here,  I thought we would be staying at some hotel with tatami mats for floors and small pods for beds. Thankfully, Okinawa is much more Americanized than I thought. We're staying in the Shogun Inn at Kadena AB. It's not a bad gig. It's not the Holiday Inn but it's cool. There's a small kitchen, complete with microwave, fridge and sink.  

I wouldn't say that the living has been shitty but let's just say that it is, as a friend of mine once said, "it's a little better than terrible." I love having lots of space to move and this place doesn't afford much of it. I'm literally getting sick of looking at my husband all day. Kidding! *nervous laugh* It could be worse. One of the hubby's coworkers once stayed at the Shogun Inn when they first got to Okinawa and apparently the piping was all messed up and somehow they got some sort of blackish-brown substance oozing from their bathtub. O_O Luckily for us, there hasn't been any problems with the water. Another plus, we are walking distance to a huge commissary/exchange (like Super Wal-Mart status huge) and some supercute vending machines that sell drinks like this:

... an aloe and white grape drink with little jellies inside. It tastes like a green Hi-Chew candy! Haven't seen any vending machines that sell women's underwear just yet but I haven't lost hope.

It sucks not having a car.  I hate having to constantly ask for a ride to go places. But I'm not exactly in a position to feel comfortable driving on the other side of the road. Thankfully, we're within a fair distance to a number of different low-cost food vendors, so we've been eating a lot of junk food and, once in a while, indulge in relatively low cost meals like Okinawan soba and chicken karaage:

 

The pictures don't seem to do the food justice. I mean, Okinawan soba really is my new favorite comfort food. There's fish cake and the most tender (and mildly sweet) pork belly and pork ribs I have ever tasted in my life. Both meals totaled to about $20 US total, which is pretty decent considering that both dishes came with a lot of ways to stuff your mouth with carbs on top of carbs.

A close second is udon, which can get much more hearty than the the oriental stores in America taste like. Just the other day, I had a bowl with egg, tofu, tempura, scallions, and fried onions and holy moly did that put me in a food coma.

Now that I think about it, it's probably a good idea that we're forced to walk everywhere. With all this eating that I'm doing, I could use the exercise =X