Moving to Japan with pets

[Harrier Dude]

What is the story on The Towers? Just curious cause I don't think I want to live in them with 2 boys who sometimes think that they are Peter Pan. LOL! I saw pics and am terrified that they would try to go on the balcony....
I also "heard" that the air and heat are controlled by The Towers not by each individual in each individual home. What do you know about that?
Thanks!

I've never been in the towers (I was unaccompanied and lived in the BOQ), so I don't know that much except the pet deal. Some people don't like dealing with the stairs/elevator. I knew one guy who loved them. I'd keep an open mind.

HeloWifey knows more about the navy side, but as far as getting over there, I'd suggest that your husband try to get circuitious travel. Basically, you get your own reservations and tickets, on your own dime, and they pay you what the "freedom bird" would have cost. Typically you'll come out ahead, but you don't get to keep the difference as I recall. Whatever. The real reason to go this way isn't the money. The freedom bird SUCKS. Think of a trans-oceanic greyhound bus. Be sure to get approved for this FIRST before you go and blow a bunch of dough on tickets.

Good luck!

 

[bb1125]

What is the story on The Towers? Just curious cause I don't think I want to live in them with 2 boys who sometimes think that they are Peter Pan. LOL! I saw pics and am terrified that they would try to go on the balcony....
I also "heard" that the air and heat are controlled by The Towers not by each individual in each individual home. What do you know about that?
Thanks!

The towers aren't bad depending on who your neighbors are. I lived in the towers during two tours over there. The first tour I loved it. The second tour, about 6 months into it, a family full of demon children moved in above us and it sucked. We complained several times, but there's a potential problem there. If you complain about neighbors, I think 3 times IIRC, you both get kicked out for not being able to get along. So, we did what we could, but it never got better. I would recommend taking a garden apt if you're worried about that.

As for the heating/ac, the Navy has certain criteria, such as three consecutive days above 70, or whatever before they turn on the ac in the spring and same kind of thing for heat in the fall. You do have a type of temp control in your unit, but they decide when to turn on the ac or heat when the seasons change. It's a little uncomfortable for a couple of weeks during each chage, but it's not terrible. IMO, it's a lot better than off base. I lived off base for a while during my first tour and it seemed like you could never stay warm in the winter or cool in the summer. Hope that helped.

 

[CodWife]

Thanks for the info! I am not too keen living in anything that I have to bring a 2 yr old and a 4 yr old up and down the elevator or have to bring the 2 yr old, the 4 yr old and groceries....not like I can leave them there and run back to the car to get the rest. From what I understand, there are some garden apt's available that were changed from 2 bd to 3bd's. Since the housing wait is close to 6 months, I think that we will stay behind and just get loose ends tied up, house rented, etc.....(Which I hear is the norm there.)

 

[CodWife]

Another moving question....how does the TLA work? I just heard that if you do not accept the first housing assignment, then you completely forgo all of your TLA. Is that true?
Then if you do not get housing supplied to you with in 60 days, you get TLA for the 60 days but for anything over that you get nothing more. With that being said, when you are waiting for housing do you get your last stateside duty stations BAH as well or does TLA kick in and BAH is gone?
I just can't see that they would leave you high and dry having to pay over $2000 a month to stay in the Lodge with no income for it say BAH or TLA.
Help!?!

 

[CodWife]

3. Then your shipment obviously won't get there until someone is there to accept it. They won't deliver it to an empty house/lodge room/BOQ etc.

Right. So will they put it in a storage facility there? Is it on base?

 

[bb1125]

Another moving question....how does the TLA work? I just heard that if you do not accept the first housing assignment, then you completely forgo all of your TLA. Is that true?
Then if you do not get housing supplied to you with in 60 days, you get TLA for the 60 days but for anything over that you get nothing more. With that being said, when you are waiting for housing do you get your last stateside duty stations BAH as well or does TLA kick in and BAH is gone?
I just can't see that they would leave you high and dry having to pay over $2000 a month to stay in the Lodge with no income for it say BAH or TLA.
Help!?!

BAH stops when you leave CONUS. After you get there, the housing office should be one of your first stops(scheduling driving class is another), and then CSD(PSD) will start your TLA. It takes a week or two to get your first payment. I think they pay you every 10 days IIRC. You will be authorized 30 days(can be extended to 60 in some cases), which is more than enough time to find a place.

It's been a couple of years for me, but from what I remember, you can turn down housing twice before they stop TLA. Now, that's not saying if they offer you two tower units, but you want a townhouse, you're screwed. You tell them what type of house you want, i.e. 3br garden apt, and that's the list you go on. They'll tell you if/how long of a wait there is so you can determine if you need to move off base for a while.

 

[CodWife]

So my husband can tell them that we would like a 3 bd garden apartment? Didn't know that, that is good to know. Thanks! I am going to have to do alot of this stuff with out my husband since he will be gone....
What about DLA....Can we do an advance on that like a normal move in CONUS?
And....if they store a car for you can you tell them where you want it stored? Can you pick the State that you will come back to when on leave?
Thanks for all of the answers....this is going to be a super fast move, so I have lots of questions....

 

[Harrier Dude]

Have you been assigned a sponsor yet? As much gouge as you're getting here, your sponsor can give you better info, and best of all, can actually take some action for you on your behalf. If you don't get assigned one pretty soon, I'd start forcing the issue.

 

[bb1125]

So my husband can tell them that we would like a 3 bd garden apartment? Didn't know that, that is good to know. Thanks! I am going to have to do alot of this stuff with out my husband since he will be gone....
What about DLA....Can we do an advance on that like a normal move in CONUS?
And....if they store a car for you can you tell them where you want it stored? Can you pick the State that you will come back to when on leave?
Thanks for all of the answers....this is going to be a super fast move, so I have lots of questions....

Just to clear up a point, the number of bedrooms you're allowed is dependant on rank and number of dependants. I think 3 was the min. for officers though. Yes, you can get advance DLA, PSD should be telling hubby this. As for vehicle storage, I didn't do it. I just left mine at my parents. I believe the storage facility has to be approved by personal property, but it can be anywhere from what I understood. As a bonus, when you transfer back stateside, that's where they'll fly you to. HD brought up a good point about a sponsor. Our squadron would assign a sponsor as soon as orders hit the boards and we sent out a package right away. So, if he's got orders already and hasn't heard anything, have him contact the squadron. A sponsor can give you great information that might be more current than what we're giving. In case you don't have it yet, here's Atsugi's website.

https://www.atsugi.navy.mil/index.asp

 

[CodWife]

Thanks for the info!

 

[hscs]

The housing link off of the atsugi website will tell you how many bedrooms and typical waits. I'll tell you in a few weeks how bad the website lies....

 

[a_m]

So any update on the housing? I should be getting orders out there shortly.