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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Japan...here we come! Navy/Atsugi - come on in!
Well, it's official. About 3 hours ago we learned that our new home address for the next 3 years will be Japan. Hubby should be there next month but other than that we have absolutely no other details.
It's not our first choice, or second and I'm not really sure how I feel (maybe a little pissed, secretly excited, and terribly sad) but I know I need to pull myself up by the boot straps and accept the adventure. I do LOVE J-pop! 
There's so much to do - where to start...? Any advice?
Re: Japan...here we come! Navy/Atsugi - come on in!
Advice as in what to bring/not to bring? Places to visit while you're there? Places that were overrated?
Where to start - if you have pets look into quarantine now. I'm assuming the orders are accompanied and you're just doing a follow on? There is medical clearance (and area clearance for USMC) and depending on the command, they will have you apply for a SOFA passport which took me about 4 weeks to get. It looks just like a tourist passport but the info inside is different and you are only supposed to use it for travel to/from the states and on gov't orders. If you don't have a tourist, then I suggest you apply for one now. Maybe people will come over with only the SOFA and realize they can't use it for leisure travel to say, China or Australia.
My favorite city in mainland Japan is Kyoto. Awesome food, people don't immediate associate that you're military just because you look/sound like an American and the huge temples and pagodas mixed in with the new city skyline is amazing.
Also, climb Mt Fuji. You can ask some of the girls on here that have access to my FB pictures. It is breathtaking the entire way up the mountain and at the top I was overwhelmed. If you're physically capable of doing the climb, do it. You won't regret it.
H has been stationed in Yokosuka for the past 3 years, it's in the same prefecture as Atsugi, although I am not there with him since we are newlyweds. Japan was not one of his choices either but it is the military so we learned how to deal and cope with the situation.
It is honestly such an amazing country with such a vast amount of culture and the food is not only always presented so beautifully but is also so yummy! There's nothing else like it in the world. There will be a language barrier, not everyone there understand English, there are establishments that are only in Japanese so you may have to go in blind. Also be aware there are places that are racist and no "gaijins" allowed but all in all the people are very welcoming and nice. Most people who say they didn't want to live there at first actually really learn to love the place in the end, maybe it will be the same for you. Good luck!
What are you talking about? lol The Japanese take pride in how food is prepared and is, more often than not, presented better than US establishments. Even in McDs, the burgers are perfect when in the states they are slopped together.
That's exactly what I wrote. The food is not only always presented in a beautiful way but also very delicious. I've never tasted nor seen anything nearly as beautiful/cool in other countries I have been to.
I suppose I read that wrong because it was worded oddly for my tired brain. My apologies.
The reason why I'm sad is that we decided not to take the dogs...Maybe later on once we know what our lifestyle will be like. But it just doesn't seem fair to them and it breaks my heart. The in-laws will keep them and I'm thankful for that.
To confirm... I have a regular passport do I still need the SOFA passport? B/C it's military specific...?
Mt. Fuji- huh? Well, it might take me 3 years to get in shape but you're right, how many people can say they've climbed it...? Challenge accepted! Even if I only get half way up. Ha!
Congratulations! thanks for posting!
Congratulations! thanks for posting!
You will still need the SOFA card or else you can't stay there for a long time, if you don't have the card, the immigration officer at the airport will stamp your passport with a 90 day visa, so you must leave by the end of that. It's like you're just a regular tourist, you need SOFA to live there.
We didn't get to climb Mt Fuji, but we visited the towns at the foot of it called FujiKawaguchico and even the just views of the mountain up close is breathtaking! I have some amazing pictures of it.
Card? I have not heard of a card version... is this new?
Blue - SOFA is a stamp that goes into your passport. Even if you have a SOFA specific passport, they still give you the stamp upon arrival (say if you go through an AMC/PAX terminal). Honestly, the SOFA passport is good for 5 years and has a little blurb in the back about it being for official travel only. It's a little easier to deal with when going back and forth from the states. Either way, before leaving Japan you have to get an exit/reentry stamp that says you have X amount of time to return. AD military are exempt from this when traveling on official orders to/from the states. They just need to show mil ID, orders that got them here (some immigration officials ask for this and others do not) and a copy of their leave paperwork.
If the SOFA passport if offered to you, I would get it. If the command decides you don't need one, they will add the SOFA stamp to your tourist passport. Like I said before, it really seems to be at the discretion of the command. All MC spouses I know here have one but not all AF spouses do. I always travel with a copy of the original orders regardless of which passport I am using.
lol. Misuse of word there, I just now realized it. As far as I know, if you are not SOFA sponsored the immigration officer will stamp your passport with a tourist visa. Your H will have to apply for you to get sponsored by the command. I've seen it take months and up to a year with buddies of my H. You can live there without being sponsored but I'm not quite sure how that would work out with the visa situation, but I have seen spouses who live there that aren't sponsored.
It will actually easier to take your dogs now versus later. It will cost more later, plus if you are already at a base they base vet will give you everything you need and answer all of your questions. When we found out about going to Yokosuka, we knew that there was no question of not taking them. You will most likely get base housing unless you want to live out in town. Japan is also very, very pet friendly. They love dogs! There is rarely a wait for base housing. You can finish the quarantine on base either at the kennel on base (not too expensive) or in your base housing. If you have any questions about it let me know.
Yes, get your SOFA/governtment no fee passport (it's free), but have your civilian on just in case. You will also have to get both passports stamped with the SOFA stamp. I also only used my government no fee passport all the time. The first time I used my civilian passport they were all confused because it didn't have my entry stamp in it, even though it had my SOFA stamp. So I didn't use it again. I also had a friend that the Navy wouldn't send over since she didn't have the no fee passport, so definitely get it to be safe.
Depending on what trail you take it's not a horrible climb for Mt Fuji. I would suggest walking on a tread mill, and have it on the highest incline.
I only ever heard of and came across the no foreigners/gaijin in the Honch, which is right outside of Yokosuka Naval base. But to be fair the Navy also has those same bars on the off limits list for their own reasons. I never had any issues the whole time I lived in Yokohama. The people are amazingly nice. I miss it and would love to go back some day.
Atsugi is a smaller base, I loved visiting it though. Camp Zama, is fairly close to Atsugi. We used to hit both bases the same day when visiting. Zama is an Army base, and is also pretty small. Then there is Negishi, it's a small off base housing community in Yokohama for Yokosuka Naval base. Many people call it the best kept secret of Japan. It's a short bus ride to downtown Yokohama. It has a movie theatre, a combined Bachalor Quaters, and a swimming pool. Yokosuka, is one of the biggest bases in the area. I'm not sure how far away it is from Atsugi. Then the other big base is Yokota Air Base. Also pretty big, you'll probably fly into there on the Patriot express.
Japan is such a wonderful place! Take advantage of what it has to offer!
hi BlueEyes44..my husband and i are currently stationed in Atsugi and we love it here. it was our first overseas move as so far so good. Like the PP said the culture here is great. it's great to experience a different culture. as for living on base it's nice since it's like a little community within itself.
i know you asked a question about bringing pets over here and it's a long process so start ASAP..especially with getting a FAVN test done..the animal quarantine center at the airport look for that when your pets arrive. when i brought my two dogs over from the states i left them until my husband and i got into our home..the wait for housing here isn't long if you don't have pets but if you do then it's about a 2-4 month wait..i'm glad we left our dogs with family until we got settled in..we ended up staying at the Navy Lodge for almost 3 months waiting on a garden apartment..which allow dogs..the towers allow cats and the wait time for those are pretty short..we denied our first home which was a tower due to the fact that we were bringing 2 dogs..as soon as we got our apartment i made plans to have my family ship my dogs shipped over here..which was so much nicer than having them wait in a kennel until we got a place.
Other than that Atsugi is a great place to be. it's very central to tokyo and yokohama and there are plenty of things to do.. we are taking advantage of the many tours that are offered through the MWR here and so far enjoyed all the ones we have been on.
I agree with Sheila to take advantage of what it has to offer
any other questions let me know! 