I recently got married in February. A week after we got married my husband was shipped to Yokosuka, Japan. His ship is currently out of port, but he called me long enough to ask if after the next deployment if I would want to come over. Of course, I said yes. Now I'm trying to figure out the best way to find housing with him out to sea...I know I won't be going over for at least another 6 months, but I would like to try to get as much stuff figured out now as possible. Is there any way to find housing without being over there? We have decided to live off base, for many reasons, but mostly because his rank isn't high enough. Although we will definitely enjoy being open to more of the culture. Any info any one can give is appreciated. Thanks!!

#1 question to figure out... Are you command sponsored? If you are, then you are authorized to travel on his orders, the Navy will pay for your ticket, base housing will help you get settled in, you will find lots of support. If you are NOT command sponsored (i.e., if he is on "unaccompanied orders") then you are totally on your own. You pay for your own travel and the base won't help you out. Also, you would not be in a SOFA status, meaning you are given no legal protections by the US government. This has many implications and is a bigger deal than you realize.

If you can search around the "Reporting to Japan" section there are several discussions of these topics. I would guess your husband is on unaccompanied orders and you are NOT command-sponsored since he came to Japan a week after your wedding. The Navy had no time to rewrite the orders before he came over.

If this is your case, all is not lost. Orders can be modified to include you but it will be pretty tough with your husband at sea. I'm not exactly sure how he would start, but I would say if he takes proof of your marriage (marriage certificate) to the personnel office on the ship they can tell him where to start. The Admin office at Yokosuka base will probably have to be involved which makes it tough since neither you or he are there. The good news is, you have 6 months to sort it out so start now. At best, this process moves VERY slowly.

If you work on command sponsorship and at the same time work on all your other plans about coming over, being confident that both will get sorted out, then hopefully everything will fall into place by the time you want to come here. Japan is a cool place & it sounds like you have a good attitude so I think you're gonna love it here. Good luck!