moving to Yokosuka

Bringing a dog into Japan is quite a process. Please contact the vet at the base where you are going to get all the details. Your dog will need a blood test (FAVN) and at least two rabies shots. If I recall correctly, your dog has to have had two rabies shots before the FAVN blood test. Once the results of the test are received, there is a 180 day waiting period before the dog can enter Japan. The only exception is if you are most definitley going to live on base. Please save yourself some stress and contact a vet on base to ensure that all is in order for the dog.

I have been living on Ikego for 6 months now and really like it a lot. I have two kids and a dog, though, so Ikego is a perfect match for us. I have never been to Negishi, but my understanding is that it is extremely convenient to Yokohama, so people without kids who might enjoy getting out and about really like living up there. I hear, though, that the houses are older and not much to look at. Yokohama has tons of great restaurants and shopping and it is closer to Tokyo than Ikego. Negishi is also more self-contained than Ikego and has more facilities. N has a movie theater and a small commissary. Ikego has a VERY small mini-mart where you can pick up very basic necessities and rent movies, but you really need to travel to Yokosuka or out in town for real groceries. Other than that, Ikego has a small gym, a post office, and that's pretty much it. Ikego is close to seaside towns such as Zushi and Kamakura, which are also very nice but are not as big as Yokohama. Have you considered living in a tower on Yokosuka? If I had no kids and no pet, that's what I would do for pure convenience. You can walk to stations on both train lines from Yokosuka. You can also walk to the train from Ikego, though. Most people end up living in the Navy Lodge when they arrive for at least a few weeks, so you can see all 3 base locations before deciding. Good luck!

Well, after 62 posts later I wanted to that everyone who ever posted here. I enjoyed hearing all the in's and outs of Yokosuka and surrounding areas. I would like to know how much money is needed to do the move with off base housing and no car. I've calulated money for about 4 months rent + taxes, rent deposit, 30 days lodge stay am I missing any thing big? You can post here and/or e-mail me at ctmhcrazy@yahoo.com

Thanks again!

We arrive in Yokosuka in June from Stuttgart, Germany. I've read all the posts which have all been very informative. New questions for anyone w/answers.
1. Ceilings, How high are they in any of the govt. housing? We have a piece of furniture 8'3" high.
2. Closets, we looked at the floor plans and can't figure out what the deal is with closets in the bedrooms. Do all bedrooms have closets? Here in Germany we have no closets.
3. We are preparing for anything that's thrown our way, housing, off post living etc. Are there major renovations going on which will certainly delay getting housing even more than the 1 year I read about?
4. To the gal who knows families living at Negishi who have Middle sch/H.S. Please tell me more about how the children commute to school. If offered Negishi, should I plan on my daughter perhaps taking the train to school with my husband?
Thanks for everything..Maritza

Hi, we are on our second tour here in Japan. We lived here back 99-01 and are have been here now for a year on our second tour. Japan is a great place to live. Coming the second time we knew a lot more about the community and where we wanted to live, etc. I can give you three good insights. We have lived off base, in Negishi and are currently living in Ikego.

Offbase- We lived close to Uraga which is about 20 minutes from base. We had great neighbors whom I am still friends with. Our house was about 1100 sq feet, but had no heat or air. We were hot in the summer and used Kerosene in the winter. It was a good experience and I am glad to have done it. We didn't have any children then so it was ok, but I can imagine that it wouldn't be fun with small children. There are not really any closets for clothes off base. There were closets in our house but no rails to hang things on. We bought tension rods and hung what we could and then folded the rest. We used a closet that would have been used to store a futon. Japanese houses can be rather small, so if you are planning on the off base experience you would not want to bring a lot of large furniture. We had a regular size couch, a small round kitchen table w/four chairs and our bedroom furniture. A queen size bed would have fit into all three rooms in our house. We bought all of our furniture after I got here being we had just gotten married back then and didn't have anything, so we had no problem fittting. We knew what we could and couldn't have. A lot of off base houses also do not allow pets. If you plan of moving off base, you need to plan ahead to incur lots of moving expenses. You need to have at least four months rent advance. This is first and last months rent, deposit and agent fee. This was about 8000.00 dollars for us. They will give you MIHA (move in housing allowance) that you will pay back over your time in Japan.

Negishi- We moved to Negishi after living off base for a year. Negishi is great! You are close to Yokohama, the houses are actually like homes and you are away from base. Since we have lived there they have updated the houses and replaced the siding. They actually look really nice now. The only downside is the commute. It can take a long time to get to and from base depending on traffic. My husband did not mind this commute. He used it as his personal time to wind down from the day whatever. There is a toll road that can be taken to and from base, but it cost about 15.00 round trip. It is an option is case of emergency or whatever. There is a small grocery store and NEX. I did most of my shopping here and did a big run to the commisary on the main base about once a month. They have just about everything you would need. There is a swimming pool and there is a medical clinic and an elementary school that goes to 5th grade. You are about a 5 minute drive from Yokohama which we loved. There is so much more to see and do there than in Yokosuka. If you have middle school/highschool age kids they go by bus to Yokosuka. They take the toll road so the commute isn't that bad. Most people with older kids like to live on main base, but in most cases you are going to have to live off base while waiting on housing in yokosuka as the wait can be long. You can have pets in Negishi and most houses have fenced back yards. The houses are very spacious and you can get a single level home there.

Ikego-
We currently live in a tower here. It looks like a hospital but is spacious and pretty close to base. You can't have dogs in the towers. There are town houses where dogs are allowed. There is an elementary school up to third grade and then the kids are bussed to Yokosuka. There is a swimming pool and mini mart and small restraunt. I would actually prefer to live in Negishi and wish we would have done so again. We thought we would enjoy Ikego but I miss many of the perks of Negishi. We like Ikego though don't get me wrong.

When you get to Japan you will in your first week attend AOB. Area orientation briefing. This is required to attend. You can not get your license if you don't attend this. If you have children this is where your sponsor can come in handy. They can set child care up for you in advance. My sponsor had set up my two kids in the hourly CDC here for the whole first week we were here and that was really nice. AOB runs Tuesday to Friday all day. Monday we went to housing and started that process and then the rest of that week we did AOB. You will more than likely need to purchase a vehicle. This can fun anywhere from free to 3000.00 depending on what you want to spend. Lots of people give reliable cars away. You might get lucky. We purchased a can for 1500.00 this time but the first time someone gave us a car that lasted our entire tour. Insurance is about 200.00 every six months and then road tax is like 250.00 every april. Every two years you pay the JCI which can range from 2-500.00. These are some of the things that your Cola covers.

Well, I tried to cover as much as I could think of. Japan is a very fun and enjoyable experience. It can take a little while to get settled but with the right information it isn't bad. Hopefully, your command sets you up with a good sponsor and you won't have trouble. Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions, I am glad to help with anything. We are here for another year.

Take Care and good luck

Lacey, I can't thank you enough for your response. The information was comforting. The fact that you've lived practically everywhere helped me get a good comparison.

Lacey, would you do me a big favor? I'm still trying to find out about the ceilings. Please, if not too much trouble, would you measure floor to ceiling for me? This curio I have breaks down like a jigsaw puzzle, it's not bulky it's just tall. Would love to bring it to put a lot of my things in it. Can't bring it if the ceiling don't measure over 8'3".

Do you remember if the ceiling off base seemed low?

What about the other furniture that usually goes with the Queen bed like my dresser, the Armoir and night stands. They would all fit?

We will be getting a sponsor soon. Thanks for the tip where CDC and our sponsor is concerned.

I wish I could think of more to ask you this minute. I was cking every day for a response but didn't see one so I stopped checking for a few days. You can imagine how excited I was this morning. Have a good evening.

We are also in Stuttgart looking to maybe go to Yokosuka next. My husband is and O-6. If we only have one child, can we still get a townhouse?
Also, thanks for the info on the different housing areas. We don't usually live on base, as if we're overseas, we like to know what how great our host country is.
Thank you!

Looks like I'll be going to Yokosuka. I am a civilian with a wife and a16 year old son with no pets. I have a couple questions.
1. I heard the on-base housing situation has greatly improved. Anybody know what the current wait time for Yokosuka towers and Ikego?
2. Is there an optometrist on base?

Ricky, check out the housing section at cfay.navy.mil for the most current housing information.

When we got here Ikego 3BR tower for civilians was offered to us right away. However, we're waiting for Yokosuka towers. After 2 months on the list we're now at the top. In one month we will move off-base if Yoko doesn't open up.

I'm interested that people would ask questions about things like housing and optometrists at the base on this forum.

Does the US Navy not provide you with any info about where you will be going? I would have thought they would provide people with lists of facilities, info about housing etc.

Sira, There is a wealth of info out there..there is a DoD overview of every installation from the website Military Homefront (it used to be SITES), and I think every installation and maybe every individual organization has websites these days.
There are yahoo groups too.
I don't know if people think of looking at these (honestly there are times when I swear a simple google search is beyond some abilities), but I can tell you that the quality of information on those websites varies. For example, the websites for at least two navy organizations in Japan have the outdated pet importation information, even though the requirements changed 2 years ago.
Not only that, but sometimes the info is a moving target...housing waiting lists, for example. The length of the waiting list changes constantly. Then there are things about bases in which the sanitized nice story gets published, but the real nitty-gritty comes from the people who are living through it.
If it were me and the topic were particularly important to me (pets? ceiling heights?), I would be checking all the sources available to me. I don't know if that's what people are doing here, but I would be.

Hello,

I am not in the military but I am an American. I will be moving over here for work in a few months and want my family to be near many Americans/foreigners with Japanese ppl of course. We're just used to living in a very diverse community (California)

In all of the areas mentioned (Yokosuka/Ikego/Negishi) is it common to see many different ethnicities at the local stores, restaurants, etc.. Or do you need to be in the know/military circles to be around foreigners?

I have many Japanese friends but want my family to be in a diverse environment.

Thanks!

Hiroo and other areas in Minato- ward in Tokyo are also well-known areas for foreigners to live, although it is a bit of a pricey area and you will find a lot of other nationalities as well as Americans (hope that's okay...)

Where you are working will play a role too I imagine- if you are working in central Tokyo you will have a looong, crowded commute to and from Tokyo every day if you choose to live near Yokosuka.

No one talks about trying to bicycle. I have ben to Yokosuka several times and am considering taking a job there. Ikego looks to be about 3.5 miles from the front gate. Is there a reason no one talks about biking to work?

domernuc - In answer to your question. I know several individuals who bicycle to work. My best friend (civilian) doesn't even own a car and has bicycled to and from work for over 12 years. One thing to understand is the roads here are far more narrow than those stateside. Bicycling can be a challenge during rush hour traffic. I am an avid cyclist myself but choose not to cycle to work. The ORM is just way to high for me. Plus I live 20 miles from the base. In any event, if you are interested in recreational weekend riding we would welcome your company on our excursions.
If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to ask.
Regards, Zathras

I don't currently live in Yokosuka, but I did live there between the ages of 7 and 14. Something that was extremely helpful to my family was when I took up learning Japanese. I might suggest that most of you with younger children get them into a program. Their minds will pick up the language a lot easier and will be vital to most of your communication offbase. My parents constantly used me as an interpreter, and now I'm actually majoring in the language at college.
I'm afraid I can't be much use with military/tactical arrangements, but, as far as young children questions, I'd be happy to assist you with my experiences! Japan definitely was a turning point for me, and I hope it is for all of you.

Also, must people don't bike to work because it is quite a distance, despite what the map tells you. The area around Japan is mostly consumed with hills, so there are lots of tunnels that don't afford much room for pedestrians. My dad biked to work once, and decided never to do it again. It can be dangerous.

I created a timeline for our move to Yokosuka. I hope many military families can benefit from the many information I wrote in this blog. Please feel free to share to your family and friends.

Moving to Yokosuka: A PCS Guide for Military Families
http://wp.me/p1xyGE-7g