I will hopefully be moving to Okinawa, Japan with my sailor after we get married in about a year. He is on Kadena AB. Anyone have info about on and off base housing there? Do the houses/apartments come furnished with anything? Is on base or off base better? Is there usually a long wait...should he put in a request now or wait? Thanks for any help you can give me! :)

I hope somebody can give you some info sweety:goodvibes

Will he be able to get his tour changed from unaccompanied to accompanied? If he can't, then he won't get COLA for the accompanied rate, and it will be VERY expensive to get a place off base.
If he can, he will probably have to extend over there. I was there for 3 years with my family from 96 - 99. We lived in an apartment off base until housing came available - it took about 10 months to get onbase housing.

I have been told that he would have to get the ship to sponser you in order for the Navy to pay for your move. Good luck sweety.

He thinks his tour is already accompanied because when he first went there they told him he could bring a spouse if he had one...but we need to check to make sure. He will have to otep (I think that's the right abbrev?) there but he really loves it there and is planning on re-enlisting anyway so he'll only have 1 extra year in japan then he'll hopefully go to c-school after re-enlisting. Thanks for the help everyone :)

I don't know if you've gotten any more info. I'm on Okinawa. It took only 2 weeks to get housing for 2 bedroom when we got her Dec '04. They have furniture for you to 'borrow' for your stay here. Navy only allows you to bring a % of your housing allotment (poundage) to the island, so you will either have to borrow or buy when you get here. The furniture that they have for you is pretty decent. A bit out of date, but in good shape.

The BX on Kadena is pretty nice, I still do lots of on-line shopping. Camp Foster isn't far and I go to their PX quite often for something I might not find at the BX. You'll have fun shopping at the 100Yen stores.

Best wishes on your upcoming marriage.

Hello

I just recently got her in Dec. and the wait was about 2 wks. It is very expensive to live out in town..but you get BAH. I like living on base...they are very big. I live in a 3 bedroom tower and its HUGE. I dont believe they come furnished but you can get government furniture. They offer: beds, dressers, couch, kitchen table, end tables, bookcases. I hope this helps!

:) Ive been here 3+years i love it.,sad to go.housing is pretty easy to get,housing off base is really nice but noe in the summer youll nedd a/c.and the its expensive out in town for utilities,and you have to seperate you trash..well Its like a lil hawaii .you can get furniture issued to you,but youll end up buying.youll see.your going to love it.Good luck!!!

Not sure if you are here yet or not. I have been here for just on a year. Just a little bit of information, I have been through the whole process. Once you are married you need to get sponsored by your husbands command to live here. If you do the sponsorship from the US I think the military help with you move, if you are already on island you have 30 days for it to be approved. I lived off base when I arrived here and although most of the accomodation is larger and nicer, it is much cheaper and safer living on base (that's my opinion). You also have a better opportunity to meet other American's living on base, because you are almost guarenteed to have American neighbours. Good luck, I hope you like the island, don't forget you will be driving on the other side of the road here. Oh.... I'm not sure if this will happen, but your husbands tour may be extended a year because he's getting married while in service. That happened to us. No biggy though.

i was wondering if any of you live near Okinawa on the air force base. my husband might get the opportunity to go there for four years with us.