Jun 10, 2012

Off-Base Housing in Okinawa

An ocean front apartment we couldn't afford!
One of the main questions families have about PCS-ing to Okinawa is all about housing. Will I live on base or off base? Our friends had PCSed a little earlier than we had and they were told that housing was too full on-base (this seemed to only be for Navy men and women working with Marines). So, we prepared ourselves for living off base. When we arrived, however, everything felt so foreign, plus the base housing I had seen looked pretty nice, so I really was leaning towards on-base housing. 

Steven went to the housing brief alone and the Off-base Housing info was already pulled up on the big screen, so it's not like they were going to give us a choice! For his rank and all that, we qualified for 180,000 Yen (he's an O-2). When he came home, he had a whole list of houses, apartments, and "plexes" that were available. I had been looking online at some good websites like Total Okinawa.

Let me just interject with this: YOU WILL NEED A CELL PHONE RIGHT AWAY. I know that it's tough when you haven't gotten wheels yet, but this is one of the top priorities when you get here. Ask your sponsor to take you to the BX to get your phone. Because you will need one to call all these housing agencies.Plus, they will want to call you also.

Anyway, back to the housing info. After studying the list, crossing out, highlighting, etc, we came to the conclusion that the list was worthless. Really, you just need to call/email about 5-7 of the top agencies and tell them what you want: how many bedrooms, how far you're willing to commute, and most importantly that you want American hook-ups. You do not want to have a Japanese stove/fish broiler or washer and dryer. You can make it work and I know some who are, but why do it, if you don't have to? You will need to use the list the Housing Office gives you for approved agencies though.

Some top companies are Koza Housing, Ajast Housing, and/or Central Housing. These agencies will begin looking for you and will call you back with a few choices. They will also offer to meet you at one of the gates of whichever base you're staying at. Our situation was a little difficult in that there were 6 of us and very few Japanese agents have a car that large. So, thankfully, our sponsor's wife watched the kids while we went to a few appointments. We met one lady at the gate and she drove us in her vehicle. So if there's only 2-3 of you, that should work perfectly. Otherwise, you're going to have to find childcare, send your spouse alone, or wait until you get licensed and get a vehicle.

We went to several different places before settling. I really wanted a house, but it just wasn't something we could afford. We went with an apartment that Keiko from Koza Housing found us. They took us to a great 4 bedroom that was big enough for us. The rent was more than what we were allowed by about 20,000 yen, but it was worth it to us to have the extra space. 

The apartment we live in has tile floor (not ceramic) throughout. In fact, I don't think any of the places we saw had carpet. It must be because of the humidity and mold issues? Anyway, you won't find carpet unless maybe you live on base. Our apartment is air conditioned, but not centrally. Each bedroom has it's own unit and the living/dining/kitchen/laundry area has one big one. Since electricity is quite expensive, we shut all the bedroom doors during the day and only air condition the living area. About 30 minutes before bed, we turn our AC on in the bedrooms. The bathrooms have nothing. You will need to purchase a dehumidifier for your  main living area. The AC units have a dehumidifier, but I've heard mixed reviews on that. Some say it's too expensive to run, some say it doesn't really work anyway. And don't forget that the remotes to these AC units are all in Japanese. our housing agency labeled a few of the buttons with English, but I still am not sure I'm pushing the right buttons!

Trash: another big deal here. Some areas are very picky and some are not. This is not America--- you will become a recycler, like it or not. I'm not against recycling, but I don't have time to sort every piece of trash I throw away. Luckily for us, we have 2 trashbins out front: flammable and non-flammable. So our metal and pop cans go in non-flammable and the rest in flammable. We also have to use clear trash bags and label them with our apartment number. Not every apartment complex has to label their bags. I have seen the trash guys pick up. Some trash trucks actually play music like the ice cream truck-- do not get excited, it's only trash. Anyway, they wear gloves and tear into the clear bags to make sure you're throwing away appropriate items!

Specifics on our apartment: Electric was about $144. Trash was $45. We don't know what our water is yet. We pay our bills through G.I. Bill Pay. That way, we don't have to worry about paying our Japanese bills. They take care of it for us.

We love where we are....off-base. Of course, since this is our first duty station, I have nothing to compare it to. My kids have made friends with other American kids in the apartments here. I know a few people now also. It's nice to be able to go somewhere and not have to show your ID to get back home, you know? We have the 100 Yen store down the street, which is like a Dollar Store. Restaurants all around (even and A&W and McDonald's up the road). Clothing stores, gas station, convenience stores.

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. We just got our HHGs yesterday and I haven't had my desktop keyboard. I hate typing on laptops and ipads. 

20 comments:

Kay said...

Fascinating!! It's been awhile since I have had time to see what you are up to. I hope you get settled in quickly. How interesting all the differences in housing and the garbage rules :-) Here in Alaska we have to burn the burnable trash because we are limited in what we can send to the landfill. My son loves it.

It's wonderful to be plugged in to a CH wives group like that.

Anonymous said...

The othеr ԁay, while I was at work, my sister stοle mу iphone аnd tеstеd to ѕeе if it cаn suгѵive a 40 foot droр, јust
so she сan be a youtube sensаtion. My aρple ipaԁ is now destroyed
and she has 83 ѵіews. I know this is сomplеtely off topic
but Ι haԁ to share іt with sοmeonе!



Сheck out my web-site Schoolofeverything.com

Anonymous said...

Thаt is very intеresting, You are
а very ρrofеssiοnal blоggeг.
I've joined your feed and stay up for looking for extra of your excellent post. Additionally, I have shared your website in my social networks

Here is my web site http://Laengerdurchhalten.net/

Anonymous said...

I love уour blog.. very nicе cοlors &
theme. Did you cгeatе thіs wеbsite yoursеlf or ԁid you
hire somеone to do it for уou?
Plz responԁ as I'm looking to create my own blog and would like to know where u got this from. thanks a lot

Feel free to visit my web-site - H�morrhoiden

Anonymous said...

It's awesome for me to have a site, which is good designed for my experience. thanks admin

My webpage; cellulite

Anonymous said...

Grееtіngs! I've been reading your web site for some time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Humble Tx! Just wanted to say keep up the excellent job!

Feel free to visit my blog post simply click the up coming website

Anonymous said...

Нi, аfteг rеadіng this amazing poѕt і am toο delighted
to sharе mу κnowledge hеre with friendѕ.


Here is my sіte; Read Full Report

Anonymous said...

What's up to all, the contents present at this web page are actually remarkable for people experience, well, keep up the nice work fellows.

Here is my web-site david deangelo verdopple deine dates

Anonymous said...

This is my first timе visit at here and i am truly
impresѕed tο read еverthing at singlе plасe.


Visit my blog pоst click the next website

Anonymous said...

I'm more than happy to uncover this website. I want to to thank you for your time just for this wonderful read!! I definitely savored every bit of it and i also have you book-marked to look at new stuff in your blog.

Feel free to surf to my blog ... abnehmen-ambauch.de

Anonymous said...

It is in геаlity a greаt and helpful piece of infогmаtion.
I'm glad that you just shared this useful info with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.

Also visit my web blog: chatroulet

Anonymous said...

Do yοu havе a ѕρam problem on thiѕ website; I also am a blogger,
and I was wanting to knοw уour situatiοn; ωe have devеlοрed ѕоme nіce
practices аnd we are looking to swаp tесhniques with othеr folks, be
ѕure to shoot mе an e-mаil if іntеrestеd.


My ωeb ρаge www.iyans.com

Anonymous said...

Ηello thегe! Would you mind if Ӏ share your blog with mу zуngа gгоup?

Theге's a lot of people that I think would really appreciate your content. Please let me know. Cheers

My weblog - best cure for premature ejaculation

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing this with me. I've heard a lot of people like off base housing. I learned a lot about it from this blog. https://www.militarymoves.com/search

Unknown said...

That is a really nice place. My sister and brother-in-law have been looking for off base housing for awhile now. I will have to tell them about this area for this housing.
Jak Manson | https://www.militarymoves.com/search

Unknown said...

This looks like a great home! It can be hard to find good off base housing. It can be especially hard in foreign countries if you aren't familiar with the area.
Ron Johnson | Military Moves

Unknown said...

Thank you for the post. Sometimes it is difficult to find good off base housing that is near enough to the base. How much does an apartment near a base cost usually?

Emily Marshall | Military Moves

Unknown said...

I lived on base for a long time and as ready for a change. Living off base was really nice. It felt like you weren't always breathing and living military.

Will Jenkins | https://www.militarymoves.com/search

Anonymous said...

An impressive share! I've just forwarded this onto a co-worker who had been conducting a little homework on this.
And he in fact ordered me lunch simply because I found it for him...

lol. So let me reword this.... Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending the time to talk about this issue here on your internet site.


Also visit my site ... Ps3 Jailbreak

Bestadvisor said...

Well, it looks pretty nice I think