Location: Yokosuka, Japan

[Brandi]

please note, all of these questions are generic and will be asked for all locations so some may sound silly. The questions underneath each area are only there to help you think. Please feel free to skip things that don't apply or to elaborate on things that I did not mention.

Housing:
(How is military housing there? Which area did you live in and did you like it? Is it affordable to buy or rent in town and if so what areas would you recommend? Any additional thoughts?)


Schools:
(Which schools did your kids attend? Did you like them? Did your kids like them? How do you think the school system was overall? Any schools you would recommend over others? Did you go to college while you were there? If so, which college and how did you like it? Any additional thoughts?)


Shopping:
(How are the commissary and NEX? Do you shop there or out in town? What stores are available out in town? What is the local shopping like? Malls? Any places you recommend? Any additional thoughts?)


Cost of living:
(What is the cost of living like? High? Average? Low? How did it effect your family? Was there anything special you had to do to make ends meet? Any additional thoughts?)


Military Community:
(How is the military community? Are there resources for family and spouses? Any likes or gripes? Additional thoughts?)


Recreation:
(What is there to do in the area for adults? For kids/families? Is there anything within a few hours driving distance?)


Weather:
(What's the weather like? Mild? Seasonal? Hot? Humid? Rainy? Cold? Are there seasons?)


Overall:
(Would you go back again? Why or why not? What are your main likes and gripes?)

Housing:
Base housing is rather nice - the 2 bedroom apartments in the towers are *very* small - do not bring anything large with you! I live in a 3-bedroom townhouse in Ikego Hills Base Housing.

Out in town is expensive to live in. You will get MILA to offset the expense of your utilities. The place in town are *very* small and not many places allow pets. You have to be careful with the tatsami mats and the paper walls (but there are classes offered to learn how to repair these).

Schools:
Your children will attend a DoDDEA school while stationed here, unless you opt to send them to a public Japanese school. Remember though some Japanese schools still run on the 6day/week sessions.

Which DoDEA school your child will attend is largely based on where you live. In Negishi K-6 will go to Byrd Elementary. It's a very small elementary but I heard very good reviews on it. In Ikego K-3 attend Ikego Elementary, I am very pleased with the education my kids received in Kinder here. Grades 4-6 are bused to Sullivan's Elementary on Yokosuka base. Again only heard good about that school also - BUT the hassel is your children are bussed into school and the bus leaves at 6:30am! Unless you choose to drive your children in everyday, but you'll still have to leave around 6:30am. Yokosuka Elementary kids will go to Sullivans on base.

Both the middle & high school are in Yokosuka, kids in Ikego & Negishi are bussed into school each day! I honestly haven't heard much negatives about any of the schools here.

They do have a Smart-Start Program for Pre-K in Yokosuka (and maybe Negishi) areas for those with younger kids.

They do offer college courses here, and there's tons of scholarships available for spouses overseas! There's a few colleges you can choose from - some have in-class instruction & others have online courses. Go to the Navy College office in the Fleet Rec to speak with a counselor & get more information.


Shopping:
The commissary here in Yokosuka is pretty decent. The produce selection at times can turn your stomach, but I have noticed in the past year they have improved a bit. They aren't going to have *everything* you are used to in the states and much of the fresh meats are previously frozen. Some how they can make the milk last a month long on the shelf which raises my eyes a bit...but I've yet to get sick off it so it must be ok! You can do shopping out in town. I know a lot of people do most of their produce shopping out at the local markets, but doing ALL your shopping there can be expensive at times. A dozen eggs can realistically cost you around $9 USDs.

The NEX is small. They are in the process of expanding it a bit and moving the Children's section above the Home Accent Store so it opens up the area a little bit and they can offer more. The toy selection SUCKS and the book selection is small. A lot of people complain about the selection of clothing and how small it is. I found Yokota Air Base (2hours away) to have a bigger selection and often times worth the trip!

There are some shops out in town that are reasonable to shop in, but they are few and far between. Most deals you can find out there are for kids at UNIQLO.

WARNING ABOUT SHOPPING THOUGH: most places are on a cash only basis (meaning YEN only). It's few and far between that you can use your credit card around here. So make sure you always have enough Yen to cover your purchases.

On base they have a variety of fast food restuarunts (Subway, Subarro, Popeyes, Long John Silver, McDonald's, TacoBell, Cinnabon, Baskin Robbins, an oriental shop, Mean Gene's, American Grille, and Anthony's Pizza) Honestly the only HEALTHY place to eat out of all those is Subway. On Yokosuka they have a few clubs, an Italian resturant and Subarro has a buffet from Thurs-Sunday that's real nice...on Commander's Corner last night he said that they are hoping to have Chilies opened by late Spring 2007. Ikego & Negishi both have an All-hands club.

Out in town there's a varitey of places you can enjoy - including Outback Steakhouse, Tony Roma, and TGIF. All these are a lot like the ones back home, but add about $5-10 more to your menu price (ex. Bloomin Onion is about $10). They also have Red Lobster and Denny's here but they are NOTHING like the ones back home! So go in expecting to try something new! The cost to eat out in town can be pricy, unless you can find an all-you-can eat place. Usually these will run you a flat price for a certain amount of time. Again make sure you carry yen unless you KNOW they accept credit cards - most places don't!

COST OF LIVING:
You will get a COLA here based on the current currency exchange rate. It helps as things can be costly here. But it really depends on how you live...if you like to enjoy going outside the gate and into the economy you'll spend much of your COLA...if you stay inside the gate and do more things on base you'll be able to bank a lot of that!

There isn't a section here about which banks are available on Yokosuka. You have the option of Navy Fed or Community Bank (or of course USAA). You can only exchange & pull Yen out of Community Banks. The MWR clubs will also convert your money into yen (or dollars from yen) without a fee. I suggest trying to go to the MWR clubs to convert unless you are a Community Bank member, otherwise they will charge a service fee to convert your money! Also ONLY active duty or DoD employees can convert money at Community Bank -- something my g/f's mother (her husband is retired Navy) learned. Anyone can convert at MWR clubs.

Military Community:
The military community here is pretty tight. It's a small community so at times it can be one of those places that you see the same people all the time. It's hard to hide here! But there are also advantages to that too - you don't get as lost in a society that you don't know either. On base is as American as you can get in the middle of Japan.

As for resources we have a wonderful FFSC here, the CO of the base has a bi-monthly call-in tv show that is aired and you can email comments & complaints 24/7 to the command corner. Here you're able to call/write in and ask why something is the way it is, what can be done about an issue you have, voice complaints & compliments (Bravo Zulu's). So no voice is unheard, just not spoken. You may not like the answer...but at least your voice was heard. I know each community also tries to hold a yearly "town hall meeting" where you can do the same on each housing installation off of Yokosuka.

Also make sure you attend & listen to the AOB class you are MANDATED to attend - don't fluff your way through that class. Lots of good information is given in there. And one last thing - make sure you register with the FAST OFFICE & keep your information updated with them at ALL TIMES!!! (along with DBIDS)

The bases always seem like something is going on also! They try and open the base up to Japanese residents for special festivals such as the Cherry Blossom Festival & Friendship Days. Each community has their own individual Friendship Days as well. They're really fun if you get a chance to go. They also put on annual 4th of July, Christmas lighting contests, Memorial day & Labor Day celebrations in some shape or form on base.


Recreation:
MWR is the best resource to get information about upcoming ITT Tours (tours usually outside the base in the local community. ex. tours to the World Famous Ice festivals, fertility festivals, palaces, shrines, temples, historical places, concerts, amusement parks, Fuji). They have TONS of tours monthly for both dependant families & single sailors.

There's also a ton of sports activities you can get involved with. There's always some form of tournament going on. We have a bowling alley on both Negishi & Yokosuka areas. Swimming pools on each facility. Gyms on each facitily. And running tracks. There's a camping ground with a climbing wall & archery lessons here in Ikego. This weekend there's a "Dog Park Party" here in Ikego for all our fur pets that bark! LOL We've got 2 theaters on Yokosuka base & 1 in Negishi. The ones in Yokosuka are pretty good about getting some of the top seller movies (or expected top sellers) no more than 2 weeks after their release. Sometimes it takes a bit longer and the movies are coming out on video as soon as they hit the theaters here...but it's not too bad (and this is coming from a major movie buff over here). LOL

If you say there's nothing to do here - then you aren't looking in the right places IMO!

The Youth programs here are really good too - they have something going on at all times it seems. They have everything from conviental sports to karate, dance, and gymnastics.

In the New Gym there's also massage therapy offered!


Weather:
We have seasonal weather here. The summers are hot and very humid! We are in a typhoon strip, so we do have threats of typhoons (which are basically hurricanes just named something else) during hurricane/typhoon seasons. The fall is beautiful with cool days and changing of the leaves. Winters are cold and crisp. We had 1 major snow fall this past winter, but nothing much more than that - just lots of days of waking up to frozen windows. LOL Spring is rainy...it rains A LOT in the spring-summer. But whatelse makes the beautiful green colors around here? hehehehe

I do have to warn you though - we are off the coast of the platontic plate lines and do have frequent earthquakes. Many of them ranging in the 4-5. scales. If you aren't used to earthquakes you'll quickly get used to them!


Overall:
I love Japan, the people are wonderful and the experience has been great. I would love to extend another tour here - but we miss a lot about the states and dh is ready to go home when our time is up here.

I do have to say the language is hard to learn and not being able to read Kanji proves to be very difficult at times! They drive on the wrong side of the road and the streets are very small and narrow also! But these aren't things you can't get around, a lot of Japanese know enough English to work together with you and get you what you need help with! The train system is FANTASTIC too - I love the trains here!

Just come with an open mind and get off the base a little and you'll learn to LOVE Japan. The people I've heard that only gripe about it are the ones who have never left base! So get out, go experence this once in a lifetime opportunity the Navy is giving you and ENJOY it!!!! You'll learn to love it!!!!

[cyndilou]

WOW!!
That was really great to read all the information you wrote.
We are moving next May and we have been told that they are moving a carrier over there and we have been thinking about Japan. We are trying to go to a place we have never been. Before moving to SC we were in VA for 12 years. We figure this will most likely be our last move with the Navy so lets see something different.

Do you have any idea where they would the carrier would be docked? We are trying to figure out where he would actually be stationed in Japan.

Any information you can offer is great.
Again, I really enjoyed the information you wrote.

The new carrier is coming here to Yokosuka. There's actually a HUGE demonstration about it on Sunday afternoon (over 20,000 people expected) - they don't want a nuclear carrier here...and want to end their treaty with us...unfortuantely the Japanese GOVERNMENT does want the carrier here and they DO want us here - we're protection for them now!

Originally Posted by caligirlnjapan The new carrier is coming here to Yokosuka. There's actually a HUGE demonstration about it on Sunday afternoon (over 20,000 people expected) - they don't want a nuclear carrier here...and want to end their treaty with us...unfortuantely the Japanese GOVERNMENT does want the carrier here and they DO want us here - we're protection for them now!

My husband is on that carrier.

[cyndilou]

Which carrier is coming over there? When is it moving over there?

Originally Posted by cyndilou Which carrier is coming over there? When is it moving over there?

The George Washington. I've heard late 2007 and early 2008, but I can't remember which one is correct.

[cyndilou]

Are you planning on moving over there? We are thinking about that ship. We leave SC as early as next May or by Oct. of 2007.

I have looked online at the housing information and then I also thought that the information Andrea sent out was GREAT!:

Originally Posted by cyndilou Are you planning on moving over there? We are thinking about that ship. We leave SC as early as next May or by Oct. of 2007. I have looked online at the housing information and then I also thought that the information Andrea sent out was GREAT!:

No. I have a lot going on with my family right now that won't go away anytime soon, and I can't be away from them. We're going to try to do a split tour...2 years on the GW, and 2 years on another ship. DH and I sat down and had a long talk about it, and decided that for us, it's not in our best interest to move to Japan, and if he can't get out of it, he'll go alone. It sucks, and I feel like I'm abandoning him, but I just can't do it.

[cyndilou]

Sorry that you feel that way. I am sure that DH understands and you should not feel like you are abandoning him. I am sure he knows that you would go with him if you could or if the time was right.