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Japan

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zippy said:
Would you really need to ship it late if you started the prepping process soon after selection? Would the RAG be long enough that you can complete the process before the PCS? If you find you can't have it done in time, have you considered having your wife stay behind while the process is finished and join you with the dog at a later date?
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Ya know, you're absolutely right. I hadn't considered time at the RAG. That should allow plenty of time-post selection-to get everything in order. Thanks for the heads up!
 
Japan is awesome! My husband was there for three years and I joined him mid-way through. Takes about six months to get used to things. The driving the traffic, the congestion, but it is a wonderful place. We were there three years ago. The money is fantastic now. Cola has I believe doubled since we were there. We were in Yokosuka which I believe in probably better than Atsugi but we lived in Negishi. It was i Yokohama. Base housing. We also lived off-base for a year and we loved it. We had the best neighbors you could ask for. They loved us. They would bring us gifts. The women would come and talk to me every chance they saw me outside. They like to practice their English with a real American. I made friends pretty quick and found a job even quicker. I worked at the bank on base. I think that it is a great experience and we are hoping to get orders back there after my husband finishes OCS. I recommend it for all and that is a wifes point of view. For stats, we have three sets of friends that we met in Japan. They all left Japan and came back stateside. All of them are either already back there on new orders or have orders to back. So there must be something good there.
 
Fly Navy said:
Japan sounds cool. But I have guns. Lots of them. That's no good.
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But with all the money you'd bank being stationed there, think of how many more you could buy when you got back...
 
zippy said:
But with all the money you'd bank being stationed there, think of how many more you could buy when you got back...
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But how would I defend myself against zombies? (or maybe Godzilla since it's Japan)
 
That is so true. I tell everyone about how great the money is. I think the best of anywhere you could go. If anyone knows better please tell me so we can go there. It just has so many benefits and something else to add, we found it cheaper to fly home to Texas from Japan than from Hawaii where we currently live. Don't go to Hawaii, I repeat don't go to Hawaii. Nice to vacation not live, unless of course you can live right on the beach.
 
Fly Navy said:
But how would I defend myself against zombies? (or maybe Godzilla since it's Japan)
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You'll just have to switch to Air SOF like all the other Js.

Brett
 
airgreg said:
How is a Japan tour from a financial perspective? Lucrative or break-even due to the expense in Japan? Is there some sort of COLA?
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VERY Lucrative. I don't know what COLA is now but it was over $1200/mo for an 04 our last tour. We lost almost $3,000/mo between my English teaching and COLA.
 
jboomer said:
So I take it you had your dog shipped at a later time? If so, how did that whole process work? That may be another option.
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Pretty painless. We made sure her documentation was in order prior to leaving. My mom made sure she got her rabies shots, and took her to get the Vet approval letter. She flew from St Louis to Narita. We picked her up at Narita and did a few weeks (can't remember the exact amount) of in-house quarantine. Meaning nothing more than she had to stay in our house/yard and away from other dogs until the specified time was up. Very painless. There were actually rentals on the local economy who would accepts pets but....they were small and we had 3 kids at the time.
 
jboomer said:
Ya know, you're absolutely right. I hadn't considered time at the RAG. That should allow plenty of time-post selection-to get everything in order. Thanks for the heads up!
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Depends when you find out where you are going and when you have to be there. When my husband finished the RAG he left less than 2 weeks later.
 
goplay234 said:
I hear that if you go to Japan, you get a silver bullet to your next job. Is that true?
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It's called a pain point, and can get you the follow on job you want. Doesn't always happen of course based on the needs of the Navy. Out of his first tour my husband was offered Australia exchange tour, Top Gun instructor, or Post Grad school. PG school and Top Gun were number one and two on his dream sheet. (we went to Monterey) Almost everyone I know got their desired follow on orders from Japan.

The pain points have helped him get what he wanted. He had several because of SER Grad, two Japan tours, China Lake, and several PCS moves. For job or location the pain points can really come into play. It's how we got out to Oceana vs Lemoore.
 
Fly Navy said:
But how would I defend myself against zombies? (or maybe Godzilla since it's Japan)
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Did you mean "Gozirra"?

The gun laws are a definite drawback to living in Japan, I'll admit that. But it is possible to get a hunting permit there, and to own a shotgun. (All kinds of hoops to jump through on base and off, though.) But the way one of the Japanese cops explained it to me was that it's not like getting a deer or small game license. A hunting license in Japan pretty much permits you to blast anything that moves, as long as it's not in an unsafe manner (read: downtown) or a protected species. I can't honestly say that I've known anyone who actually went through the trouble of getting the permit, though.
 
Pags said:
I heard a story about some C-2 guys who got fed up with Japanese controllers so one day they went flying with the callsign of Parallelogram 11.
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Ahh yes. That's an old standard over there. Stand by for teeth sucking! :D

Brett
 
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