moving to Yokosuka

we are moving to youkosuka in Sept. but we want to live off base, but i want to go a head and get all that settled before we get over there so we know what we are getting to, does anyone have any ideas on websites to look at for that? thanks

There are a variety of things that you can do in order to get started. First, contact the housing office here in Yokosuka. I have seen websites relating to Japanese housing, but they have been in Japanese and my Fiancee is the one who looks at them.

When you are moving into the house be prepared for a few things.
1) Usually you will have to pay the equivilent of 4 months rent in advance.
2) Japanese homes are not insulated.
3) move close to a train station (Keikyu Line preferably)
4) Try to live within a 15 min train ride to base.
5) Most Japanese homes do not have 3 prong plugs
6) Most American furniture will be a pain in the butt to move into the house
7) Bring a dictionary for translation purposes(It helps even though the person you are talking to speaks english)
8) Don't think about using your Cordless phone from the states here. Also a phone line to the house can be expensive.
9) E-mail your sponsor, they can be a ready contact for your transition, and will have the power to act in your stead for a few minor things.

Welcome to Japan

johnsone@curtis-wilbur.navy.mil

Thank you Edward for the advice, we did know a lot of that stuff, but it was very helpful,how do you get a sponser? my husband isn't doing anything helpful LOL!! Do you know about how much we will be able to take with us, because we are planning a yard sale so i know what i can and can not keep, you know? well thanks again for your help

Molly,

My wife and I are also getting ready to PCS to Yokosuka this fall (November timeframe), and are running into the same issues as yourself. I'll try to answer a couple of the questions you posed last:
1) Sponsor - Have your husband contact his gaining command, and they'll set him up with an "official" sponsor. I've been told that he should have one by the point you are 6 months from PCS'ing. If not, there is a relocation office at Yokosuka (can't find the email address right now) that will contact the command on your behalf (or so they claim)
2) PCS weight - how much you can take will depend (in part) on your husbands rank. That being said, I've read that Yokosua moves are only authorized 3/4 of "normal" weight allowance. What you can do, however (as my wife and I plan), is to put whatever you don't need into "non-temp" storage (provided by the government). I'm not sure of the details, but it'll be one of the first questions I ask once I meet the folks at household goods. We're pretty much leaving most of our large stuff (entertainment center, dining room set, etc) in storage for the duration of the orders (vice selling everything off).

Hope this helps some!


Alan Weinraub
tatonka_usn@hotmail.com
weinraua@nga.mil

i need help im moving to japan in the next few months my husbands ship is being home ported out their next month and i do not want to live out on town i have people saying to move to Nagishi housing can any one help me on the best place to move since i am coming from sandiego and i have 2 kids our houses are big out here and i would like to live about the same if i could in base housing
thank you
maggie

Good luck finding a large place, Molly. My wife and I are in the same boat, and are not relishing moving from a 2500 sqft home, into something tantamount to a shoebox. It'll certainly take some adapting, as we plan to put most of our stuff into storage and hope for the best.

As for which base housing development to shoot for, with the number of kids you have, you guys will likely qualify for either the main base, or Ikego....either one with much less commute time than there would be from Negishi (or so I'm told). With only one child, my wife and I only qualify for 2 bedrooms, and having dogs, this rules out the high rise apartments. Hence, the ONLY option we seem to have (at the moment) is to take something at Negishi when (or if) they become available. I'm prefer to be closer to base, but unless we have another little one sometime soon, I might just have to suffer the extra commuting distance. I'm far from an expert on this matter, but this is what I've picked up from my reading/communicating with folks there. Good luck....we should be getting there a similar time as you....:-)

thank you so much, you all have helped me out so much, we haven't done too much with it right now, since he will be going to schooling in july but thank you all so much

My last posting was actually meant to be a response to Maggie's question, vice Molly's. My appologies if I caused any confusion. Must've overlooked the mistake when I posted (guess that's what having an infant around the house will do to ya...LOL!). Again, good luck with the housing situation, and let me know if I can help out in any way (especially since we'll ALL be in the same boat...no pun intended...haha!)....

Alan

To answer the question about contacting / requesting a sponsor. The Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka (CFAY) website has links to all the tennant commands (ship or shore) here at Yokosuka. Of the sites that I randomly checked each had a link for newly reporting individuals to request/contact a sponsor. I hope this helps.
Zathras

OPPPSSS... forgot to include the URL. http://www.cfay.navy.mil/
Zathras

Hi Molly,
My wife and I are also moving to Yokosuka this september. Here are a few websites that I've found really helpful.

http://www.lifetownjapan.com/
http://www.psapac.navy.mil/home/about.html
http://housing.cnfj.navy.mil/
(click on OneStop website for more info)

Thai

My husband just received orders to Japan and I have tons of questions.

How difficult is it to purchase a car?
I now have a 2004 Acura, and I was told I can not take it with me. What types of cars are for sale? I understand that I have to buy a used car, are they decent I just do not want a beat up car. What about high speed internet? What about cell phones? We have a total of 3 people in our family; we now have a 1900 sq ft. I am told that we will live in approximately 900 square ft, is that true? Is it expensive to call back to the states? I have tons of questions, can anyone help me.

First, congratulations on your assignment to Japan. I hope you will find it an enjoyable experience. This is an exerpt from the US Army website discussing vehicles: Shipping any U.S. made vehicle to Japan is discouraged. The current Japanese embargo law prohibits any U.S. made vehicle; 1976 or newer, from entering the country. There are quite a few expenses involved with owning a vehicle on Japan. First, there is the purchase of the vehicle. The prices of used cars on the island are much lower than you would expect to pay in the U.S., with a good car averaging between $1,500-$4,000 depending on the make and year of the car. You don't see too many military people driving new cars, because the used cars are so dependable and inexpensive. The real financial crunch comes when the inspections are due. Military members must have their vehicles undergo a Japanese inspection every two years. The Japanese inspection and the repairs made will cost an average of $500 to $800. Additional costs include two types of insurance (American and Japanese) which average about $250-$600 per year and an annual road tax. A 19 year old E-4 would pay approx. $600 per year for the minimum amount of American insurance coverage for a small sedan with the current rate of 116 yen to the $1.00 The road tax ranges from $40 for small cars to $70 for larger ones.
I hope this helps answer you question for vehicles. As thearticle implies, quality usede vehicles are plentiful and faily inexpensive.
Most bases have are high speed internet equipped provided by the base cable television company. If you lice off-base there are several choices between ADSL, cable and wireless.
It is true that Japanese homes are smaller than those you may be used to stateside.
This link may help you in understanding some of the differences; http://housing.cnfj.navy.mil/off_base_rentals.htm
The cnfj website has many other itmes of interest for newly arriving families as well.
Another US Army website exerpt discusses calling the states although it is a little vaugue;
Telephone Service and Long Distance...
Long distance rates for calls to the US, vary based on carrier and type of service used(i.e. MCI, KDDI, Direct Calling Card). If you plan on calling the US on a regular basis, look into various long distance services available over here. Most are advertised in the Stars and Stripes and base newspapers, on a regular basis. If you have an American cellular phone, you will not be able to use it here -- the frequencies are different from those used here for such service and can interfere with other uses.
Most of the Military Exchanges sell pre-paid phone cards which are very economical. I think the latest rate I saw was 28 yen per minute... Approximately 25cents per minute, although maybe some other readers here have better deals...
I hope this has answered some of you questions.... Feel free to ask for additional details.
Regards,

As you can see I recently purchased a new PC keyboard and have yet to locate all the correct keys =) Hope you can decipher my typings!!!

Maggie,

We have lived here in Yokosuka for almost two years. We lived out in town for about 10 months and then moved onto the main base here in Yoko. My advice is not to move to Negishi. It's true they do have some stand alone houses but the distance from home to work can be rather taxing. The milage isn't that bad but the traffic almost Always is. It could take in upwards of an hour each way (if not more) to do that drive. That's a lot of driving time that frankly takes away from family time everyday. Plus, the main base is where your children would go to school and they would either be subject to a very long and early bus ride or you can car pool that. I don't know how many bedrooms you're entitled to so I can't point you in a direction there, but I can say that no matter how many you get your house will be considerably smaller than what you're used to. That's just a part of the life here. You will get used to it but it's wise to not bring large furniture that you honestly can live without for a few years. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any more questions. If I don't know the answer, I'll find it out for you.

Thank you Zathras, I have found that all of your info has been and will be very helpful.

For anyone who would like to know, there is a much cheaper way to call the states than to use the phone cards, if you have a computer with internet available. The program is called Skype, and it can be gotten at www.skype.com. This is a program that allows you to make phone calls over the internet. All you need is a headset and a solid connection. You sign up with them on their website and buy using a credit card on a secure server. They sell minutes in 10 euro increments. The great thing about this is that you can call anywhere in the continental states for .017 euros per minute. for about 15 dollars you get over 10 hours of talk time back to the states. Just thought you might like to know.

After you download and install it, you go to the store on their website and pay for SkypeOut Credits. Then you use a headset or a microphone and your computer speakers. It sounds exactly like you are using a normal landline.

Hi I just wanted to give you some positive feedback about Negishi because I live here and I LOVE IT!!! I moved here from San Diego and the housing is about the same size as the housing at Howard Gimore housing in San Diego (where we lived prior) except that we have a rather large yard and an extra half bedroom to play with. We use it for a toy room but it could be used for a computer room extra storage craft room or even a place for a small futon if you have visitors coming. I was able to bring all my belongings weight was never an issue. we brought from our large furniture an overstuffed couch and love seat, a wall unit entertainment center, dining room set and 2 bedroom sets with us The cost and choices for buying these types of items on yokosuka is high and limited and offbase is a downright fortune. So consider that when thinking about putting your stuff in storage. I will ask around from the people I know who have more stuff than I have if they had to pay they extra to ship. We were also offered our house within 2 weeks of being here and were moved in the next week. There are many empty houses so you can easily get in without too much of a wait.
My husband is an MA (security) and he rotates bases so he has to commute reguardless to where we live so that opened our eyes to seeing Negishi as a possibility. He does work in Yokosuka alot more but we would never want to live anywhere else. There is a School on base but it only goes up to 5th grade then they bus the kids to Yokosuka which I admit I would have a problem with if I had an older child but I know alot of people that live here that that is not a problem. Also when you live in Negishi you feel like when you are at home that you have left work behind alot more here than if you lived on Yokosuka base. The best advise I could give you is to come and check it out. We in Negishi are like family so you can email me and I could show you around. If you were to move to Negishi then we will meet anyway. I kid you not everyone knows everyone unlike Yokosuka where you tend to get lost in the hustle of work and the crowds. I will say to not let anyone make the decision for you what is great for one family is not always good for another so come check it out for yourselves.
Anyways here is my email address feel free to email me directly.
Shely Skonieczny
mommaskones@aol.com

Hi everyone, my bf is moving to yokosuka soon and i am thinking of going with him. i read all the posted, but no one asked about job. i want to know how i can get a job in japan on base or where ever. does anyone have any idea. If my bf gets a sponosr does that apply to me too. PLEASE ANY HELP WOULD DO...

thanks,
completely lost

For a job on the base you would have to arrange through the US Navy. Your bf is probably the one who should start looking into that.