We have a ways to go before we can get orders again but I wanted some input on those of you who have been to Japan.

I've heard good and bad things. We have 3 young sons and I want to make the most of the time hubby is in the Navy. I figure getting stationed around the world is going to give us opportunities that we might not otherwise get. We have already done 3 years in Italy. Although I was pregnant most of those 3 years, and I did have some problems so we didn't get to travel as much as I would have liked. But as our kids get older, I would love to travel more.

Okay, enough with the rambling. So my question is, where are the best places to get orders to, what is there to do, would you recommend it with young children, what did you dislike the most and what was the hardest thing for you to go without by being away from the States?

I was just talking to a friend about Japan and she said she liked that they could put a lot of money in Savings but she never really saw her Dh. He was always out to sea. She said she might see him 2 months out of the year they were gone so much. And she said it stunk. That is all I have been told about Japan. Oh and they are thinking of going back.

I think it depends on where you get stationed in Japan too. My DH is on deployment in Iwakuni, Japan and he doesn't really like it there. It rains all the time. The base housing is very small. Food is expensive. But, he has been able to visit some really interesting places, so he likes that aspect of it. Since he's on deployment, he doesn't get COLA or anything like that, so I don't know how much extra money you could expect to make.

Britt and her husband are stationed in Japan, you might ask her about it.

My husband is a SeaBee so the chances of him being assigned a ship are very small. Plus he hates being on a ship so I'm sure he'd avoid those orders.:giggle

One of his deployments sites is Okinawa and he wasn't overly impressed. But I think that has something to do with being there without family. And he didn't travel too much while he was there.

I have heard that housing and living spaces are really small.:shrug

I'm thinking of going to visit hubby the next time he deploys to Japan to kind of see things first hand.

I'm in Japan right now and love it! But my husband is Air Force and we don't have an kids yet, so that might make a difference. Things are more expensive here but the amount of COLA he's been pulling in makes up for that and some. We've only been here since February and we've already been saving a lot of money compared to being stationed where we were last (Arizona). The one downfall where I am is the weather, I'm in Northern Japan so it's cold, rainy and foggy right now. The winters are terrible and long. But there are so many great things, the culture, the ocean and the food! The food is so great! I've always loved Asian food so I'm really enjoying eating off base. Our base housing is kind of small and not that attractive but we really don't care since it's worth it to be living here!

I live in Yokosuka, Japan and although at times I wish I was home, over-all I love it here. We live in housing and it is comparable to the size of homes in the states. Living out in town is much smaller living spaces though. You can't have a Cal King bed here though - our neighbor has a king and they had to bring it in through the windows - lol. Kinda funny to watch though, lol.

It can be expensive to live here if you insist upon living off the economy or you do a lot out on the economy. We try and stick close to base things as much as possible when we do things as a family. I try and buy all my clothes at the NEX (or at some choice cheap places out in town), almost ALL our grocery shopping is done at the commissary too. I have a hard time buying a dozen eggs for around $10 (¥1000) in town. :)

The COLA we make is pretty nice, we haven't saved much but that is because we've been paying off a lot of bills & buying new furniture for the house. So that savings that we would've had has been diverted to other important areas.

I think the hardest thing I've had here is the language barrier. It wouldn't be so tough I don't think if they didn't write in Kanji and if they wrote in more alphanumeric type. Then I could figure out what the heck I am trying to say & learn the language a bit quicker. But that is me personally.

My husband is on a ship, and it is true they are gone A LOT!! But you said your husband wouldn't likely be on a ship, so I can't really give experience on how shore duty is here. I hear good & bad...but that is with everything.

The weather sucks! I hate the weather here, but I am a San Diego girl and spoiled rotten when it comes to decent weather. I don't deal well with a lot of rain & horrid humidity. Can you survive it? OF COURSE! As long as you don't let it drag you down. I try not to let it drag me down as much as possible.

Good luck!!!

jessy do you happen to live in misawa? the reason i aske is we are moving there in oct.

Yep we are stationed at Misawa ab. If you have any questions you can PM me and I will try to help as much as possible. :)

I loved Japan! My df's in Sasebo. It's a very close-knit place and you don't need to know as much Japanese to live there as most people speak a little English. If you want to know any more about the place feel free to pm me.

Iwakuni sucks. Don't come here.

p.s. We made more money in San Diego. COLA is squat down here.

Shane is in Okinawa, Japan and LOVES it. He says it's so gorgeous and the base is really nice. I'll hopefully be visiting him there in December so I can let you all know what I think about it then! Hopefully I'll like it because we're planning on me moving there in about a year after we get married! :)

Need some help, my DH and i are looking at orders for Yokosuka sometime in the near future.. hopefull around christmas time. But im still trying to weigh the pros and cons.. i think it would be wonderful to live there.. even though i don't know the language or anything.. DH and i were online looking at the off base housing... as in he wants to live off base so that he keeps his OHA (BHA now) can anyone help on this... is it worth it to live off base or is it a wash. We will not be bringing either of our cars.

Need some help, my DH and i are looking at orders for Yokosuka sometime in the near future.. hopefull around christmas time. But im still trying to weigh the pros and cons.. i think it would be wonderful to live there.. even though i don't know the language or anything.. DH and i were online looking at the off base housing... as in he wants to live off base so that he keeps his OHA (BHA now) can anyone help on this... is it worth it to live off base or is it a wash. We will not be bringing either of our cars.

My dh has off-base housing, and we save on BAH through it, but we're in Sasebo which is a bit cheaper. IMO it's nice to experience Japanese/western housing, they're just so different. You'd have to live without an oven though, and they're hot on recycling, especially around Tokyo where you have to have 7 different bags for recycling. It can be tough remembering what goes where and when you should put each bag out! Living on-base would save you that hassle. On the whole, I like living off-base. Feel free to pm me if you have any other questions :)

lol eh about the recyc. im fine with that.. i'll just make DH make me some signs to go over each bag with what day im supposed to put them out and what goes where.... so is there like .... nicely.... um.... bad wives there? im not that keen on being around people that feel the need to cheat on their husbands while they are out to see... and i deff don't like DH around women like that. But i still want to be involved.. im one of those people that like to be in voly org. and helping out to raise money... and i love working with teens, ive worked for my church for the youth group there which was more like movie, mall, outings, parties, not really churchy sorry to say, we might have given people the wrong message.. we were more about kids being together not getting in to trouble... so i know i would work for the teen rec. center there... loving that idea.

lol eh about the recyc. im fine with that.. i'll just make DH make me some signs to go over each bag with what day im supposed to put them out and what goes where.... so is there like .... nicely.... um.... bad wives there? im not that keen on being around people that feel the need to cheat on their husbands while they are out to see... and i deff don't like DH around women like that. But i still want to be involved.. im one of those people that like to be in voly org. and helping out to raise money... and i love working with teens, ive worked for my church for the youth group there which was more like movie, mall, outings, parties, not really churchy sorry to say, we might have given people the wrong message.. we were more about kids being together not getting in to trouble... so i know i would work for the teen rec. center there... loving that idea.

To be honest, I didn't meet a lot of the wives. I had my own friends outside of the military, and the only people I really knew in the military were dh's workmates. I'm with a couple of groups on myspace, and the girls on there seem ok. Of course, cheating is rife - the base is far away from home and it's easy to get away with it. It's easy to get involved if you want to though, I get emails from the ombudsman of dh's ship every other day, with opportunities to participate in different activities.

Interesting post! DH and I are looking to go to Yukosuka for our coming shore tour. He's going at the end of the month for a few weeks (some job they're sending him over for while the other crew has the boat). He *loves* Japan, can speak Japaneese a bit and I'd love to have the kids over there for a few years!

What's the deal with no ovens off base? Not a popular appliance over there or something?

What about Atsugi? We might be going there.

Interesting post! DH and I are looking to go to Yukosuka for our coming shore tour. He's going at the end of the month for a few weeks (some job they're sending him over for while the other crew has the boat). He *loves* Japan, can speak Japaneese a bit and I'd love to have the kids over there for a few years!

What's the deal with no ovens off base? Not a popular appliance over there or something?

Japanese cooking just doesn't require ovens - a lot of their food is either raw or prepared on the stove. You can buy mini ovens at the NEX though - they're not too expensive. I got by just fine with one, though Thanksgiving dinner proved to be a bit difficult!

I would recommend Yukosuka over Sasebo. I don't know anything about Atsugi, sorry! And whatever you do, avoid the Essex, Harpers Ferry, Juneau and Kitty Hawk at all costs!!!

Japanese cooking just doesn't require ovens - a lot of their food is either raw or prepared on the stove. You can buy mini ovens at the NEX though - they're not too expensive. I got by just fine with one, though Thanksgiving dinner proved to be a bit difficult!

I would recommend Yukosuka over Sasebo. I don't know anything about Atsugi, sorry! And whatever you do, avoid the Essex, Harpers Ferry, Juneau and Kitty Hawk at all costs!!!

I dunno, I say take the Kitty Hawk if it's still there since it never goes anywhere being broken and all, tee hee! :lol

I dunno, I say take the Kitty Hawk if it's still there since it never goes anywhere being broken and all, tee hee! :lol

:teehee Nah, there is too much trouble surrounding the KH - the sailors are always on restriction because of it. It's the better option from the ships I listed though!

:teehee Nah, there is too much trouble surrounding the KH - the sailors are always on restriction because of it. It's the better option from the ships I listed though!

Yeah I remember my husband being on an entirely different ship and me having to sign him OFF the ship because of the 'great' idiots that were killing and robbing some of the Japanese from the Kitty Hawk... Nothing happier than that! :lol

where in italy were u stationed?

Yeah I remember my husband being on an entirely different ship and me having to sign him OFF the ship because of the 'great' idiots that were killing and robbing some of the Japanese from the Kitty Hawk... Nothing happier than that! :lol

Jeez... :nutts :lol

Jeez... :nutts :lol

Sonia I've missed you! :D

Sonia I've missed you! :D

aww... :blush I've missed you too :D

howdy i noticed this one and thought i would message cause i have a ton of questions bout Yokosuka, Japan but have no clue where to start. my hubby took sea duty orders there for a "small boy" he says he will only go 2 wks at a time?? this seems odd to me cause hes been on a carrier so thats what im used to... was he right about only 2 wks at a time?? we plan to live on base ... he wants me to be near stuff when he is gone since im still new to the whole navy wife thing ... yes its been a yr but we have been here where i have family close by + a good friend or two that i've made (other wives). so i guess what is there to know??:shock

howdy i noticed this one and thought i would message cause i have a ton of questions bout Yokosuka, Japan but have no clue where to start. my hubby took sea duty orders there for a "small boy" he says he will only go 2 wks at a time?? this seems odd to me cause hes been on a carrier so thats what im used to... was he right about only 2 wks at a time?? we plan to live on base ... he wants me to be near stuff when he is gone since im still new to the whole navy wife thing ... yes its been a yr but we have been here where i have family close by + a good friend or two that i've made (other wives). so i guess what is there to know??:shock

Do you know what ship he will be on? My hubby was on the McCain( a destroyer) in Yokosuka. Depnds on the waiting list to get on base housing, we lived off base for 8 months. We were there 3 years and came back to the states in Aug 05. I know Sonia has been there as well.
Hubby's ship was gone quite abit. The ships in Yokosuka are called forward deployed which basically means there is no deployment schedule per se but they go out quite a bit for things like the Korea watch. PM if you have any questions and good luck! ;)

Do you know what ship he will be on? My hubby was on the McCain( a destroyer) in Yokosuka. Depnds on the waiting list to get on base housing, we lived off base for 8 months. We were there 3 years and came back to the states in Aug 05. I know Sonia has been there as well.
Hubby's ship was gone quite abit. The ships in Yokosuka are called forward deployed which basically means there is no deployment schedule per se but they go out quite a bit for things like the Korea watch. PM if you have any questions and good luck! ;)

:yes As far as I know all of the ships in Japan are forward deployed there so they're always in and out. The minesweepers tend to be out for a couple of weeks and then back for a few weeks, so they're your best bet. The destroyers, aircraft carriers and amphibious warfare ships are out more frequently and for longer periods, but they're always back after a month or two. I'm sure you'll be fine in Yukosuka - all the wives there are in the same situation so they tend to stick together ;)

thats good to know...a strong support system is important. umm its like a fuel kind i guess ... or oil? or something ... LoL i dont remember LoL but maybe that helps..in my next email im gonna have to ask cause i know he knows hes so happy bout it our of what was open that he quals for it was our first choice so no guam for me unless neccessary. :D but i will go where he goes ofcourse but since the choice was there we had to try and we got it :D

hey sorry for the late update things got crazy the ship is the Shiloh