I am currently stationed in Soto Cano Honduras a remote tour with Yokota as my follow on and I was previously at Ramstein Germany and I have some questions about the area and base.  I am married and will be accompined so how is off base housing, where is a nice area to live, how are the houses (size) and how are the communitys?  I have been reading that there is a no pet rule or something of that nature can someone please clarify?  How are vehicle prices?  How is the internet service and Tv service?  Any informating will be great and helpful as you can see I have a whole year to get this planned and set up thanks

I know there are some Yokota members here who have more first hand info housing, but I'll throw this in- Stars and Stripes recently had an article that service members were going to be required to live ON base.. http://www.stripes.com/news/yokota-...ts-1.99803

You may not have the option to live off base. On base is nice and spread out and looks like a decent place to live. Their cable TV seems good (from what I've seen while staying at the lodge) but I have no idea how much it costs. Off base internet is some of the best in the world (see our thread on line tests in the Computer forum), but at least on Yokosuka, internet sucks. Hopefully Yokota has a better ISP.

I know our Yokota members will have a lot more good info for ya =)

This is the website for cable, internet and phone service on Yokota.
http://www.atcc-gns.ltbx.com/

Yokota also has forums website that may be of some help. I have no idea how active this site is since I do not live at Yokota but I have been on this site before just looking around.
http://www.yokotatalk.com/Forum/

Let me be the first to welcome you to Yokota AB. It's indeed a fantastic place to receive assignment to, in regards to whether you'll be with the Air Force component or the Joint component. Here is my assessment for someone who just got here about a month ago:

1. Housing. The on-base first family housing is in effect for Yokota AB. It's a new policy recently taking place to fill unoccupied houses available. It is also a justified cost savings to the government as well... so unless you have a family of five to include yourself, your chance of getting off-base is very slim to none. If you are coming unaccompanied, there may be a option to live off base as well... but getting a Japanese style or American style home can be expensive so you'll just have to make sure your OHA and utilities allowance are adequate. The size of offbase housing can vary from 900 square meters to 1400 square meters, which is not very much. If you are not so lucky to get an American style home, your beds and furnitures may not fit correctly so do plan accordingly.

2. Internet off base versus on base in Yokota. It is true that off-base internet service is among the best in the world. You'll expect to pay around $65/month for 200Mbps, which is dirt cheap for most people offbase compared to $120 per month for onbase service at half of the speed if not less.

3. Phone. Softbank is almost entirely on base versus AU and Docomo offbase as far as service providers. I heard the quality of onbase cell phone services are not rated very good, but offbase can be much better, depending on which plan you'll end up picking from. Do plan on using either Skype or Vonage if you would want to make phone calls back to the States.

4. Car purchase. You can get a decent used Japanese car for about $1000 up to $3500, depending on the model, mileage and year. The method of purchase varies from getting it directly someone off the lemon lot, off the east gate at Car Corner (one of the car dealership) or from Kelly Kelly (another car dealership). All comes with different price range and quality. The advantage of getting it from the car dealership is, they will take care of your JCI, LI and other paperwork for you.

5. Cable. Living on base, you will receive free AFN channels. They stopped issuing AFN decoder and satellite dish for offbase personnel due to budget cuts. Unless you are looking to get Japanese channels, your chance of getting cable will be free onbase.

Hope this helps... feel free to ask away. This is an exciting PCS season and it's not over yet.

hi im pcs in 5 months to yokota was wondering what i would get paid there?
i was told i think i get my base pay and cola. was wondering if i get bas or not.

bas

Most likely you will. I know shore sailors, and service members do.

It also depends with extra $ if you live onbase or offbase.

Since your reporting to Yokota, I think most of the base lives onbase. They have a fairly large housing area.

What rank are you?

im  sra e-4 ill be bring a dependent

Well, I dont know much about the airforce, since I was prior Navy.

Because of your rank, I can just guess that you would of been stuck onbase.. You can definitely expect a nice little pump in pay for your COLA. Especially now, since the yen is really dropping.

Everytime the yen gets to this slow amount, the $ amount you receive in your check goes up, since its more expensive to live in Japan.

I will ask some Yokota friends about your questions, and see if I cant get you some more answers..

thanks other ? i have is has any one bought a motorcycle in yokota was wondering how the prices are because i cant figure out if i should bring my bike there or maybe buy one there.

Hi we are PCSing to Yokota in July of 2011 and would like to meet new friends before we get there. I am on facebook. My name is Jane Keller.

You are probably at yokota already so I'll just post this information for future PCS's. I am single and I lived off base for 3 years there. Living off base in Japan is the best.

1. Off base housing: I lived in a $1600 3DK (3 room, dining, kitchen) apartment with a rotating parking garage that rack and stacked cars. This is the reason they stopped letting people live off base. It can get very expensive. I lived 10 mins from base and yet if I walked to a local grocery store or convenience store, I would see no Americans. It was easy for me to shop because I could read Japanese and speak it. I lived 1 min from the station and that time included me taking the elevator down from my apartment. I turned one bedroom into a living room because it had a sliding door to the dining area so I just left it open all the time. Some apartments can be pretty small though. I knew a few people who lived houses in Hamura, on the other side of the river. That area was pretty nice. Very quiet with all Japanese neighbors. Almost all houses in Japan are 2 story to save land space. There is the new American Village in Hamura city. The houses are really nice but it's almost like living on base seeing as only Americans live there. I find it weird they won't let people live off base and yet they built a bunch of new houses for Americans there even after the CC posted the on base first policy. I guess the Japanese didn't get the memo or maybe they're going to be for USFJ civilians. Who knows...

2. Internet and TV service: off base internet is the fastest I've seen. Apartments cost 4000 yen while houses cost 6500 yen. On base is a ripoff for the poor internet service they provide you. On base you can have American cable TV and AFN while off base you can have free AFN and local Japanese TV. I watched local Japanese TV through my Japanese TV card I installed in my computer and watched through my US spec TV. US spec TVs cannot decode Japanese TV programming. The base stopped offering AFN decoder boxes and satellites to off base residents sometime before I left. You can pay extra for Japanese satellite TV which does have American shows.

3. Vehicle prices: During my time there I drove a 500, 300, and yellow plate car. These numbers indicate the CC of the engine and/or width/length of a car. Small 600cc cars are yellow plate and usually turbo charged (mine was). Very easy to park off base, fuel efficient, cheap on insurance and shaken (japanese 2 year safety inspection). 300 plates are expensive on everything. If I had known what all the plates meant when I moved to Japan, I would have gotten a yellow plate. Cars can range from $500 to $5000 depending on how nice a car you want. Yellow plates are roughly $2000 to $3000. But save you more money in the long run. A decent 300 or 500 can be $1000 to $2000. You can either buy a car off someone on yokotaads, the lemon lot, kellys, Car corner, georges. There are also people on yokotaads that advertise that they can find you a car you're looking for if you know the make and model. I've used that and it's worked. Car insurance varies depending on age and rank. Older and higher rank = cheap insurance

4. Cell phone service: Docomo is the #1 cell phone service provider while AU by KDDI is 2nd and Softbank 3rd. A lot of Americans use softbank for the cheap service plans since it is free mobile to mobile to any softbank number. Docomo and AU have similar plans with plans that can have as little as 25 mins of usage. It is not free mobile to mobile unless you have a family plan. Softbank can tend to lose service in some areas while Docomo always has a signal. I was in mountains areas where my softbank did not have a signal but my girlfriend's Docomo had full bars. Docomo really lives up to its name. Docomo = dokodemo meaning "anywhere". I used skype to call back to the states unlimited for 2.99 a month. Of course I couldn't receive calls unless I paid for a number from them and left my computer on 24/7.

I hope this helps any future PCSers to Japan and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask. While in Japan please get off base and see as much as you can. Its a beautiful country with an amazing culture. I've been to Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Niigata, Nagano, Okinawa, Fukushima, Kanazawa, Chiba, Yokohama, Kamakura and Hokkaido. I knew some people who were in country for 6 months to a year and never went farther than Fussa. Some didn't even go off base. Now I'm stuck in Why not minot dealing with a flood and -60 degree winters.

buying a motorcycle in Japan can be pretty expensive. Especially when buying a sport bike. I imported my Honda CBR into Japan and I'm glad I did. I also took it when I left. If you want an old naked bike, those are pretty cheap seeing as how those are much more common. To import a bike you will have to pay a $1000 overnight exhaust inspection. This is one way they tax the hell out of you for importing. You can't have aftermarket pipes. Thankfully, I brought my OEM pipe and swapped it out before it and then put my aftermarket back on after the inspection. If you really don't care to have your bike there, then I would just buy a cheap bike there. It also really depends of what kind of bike you're importing. Harley davidson is a little harder, while Yamaha, Honda, and Kawasaki are easy seeing as how they were made in Japan to begin with. Red baron is where most people buy their bikes. They sell used and new and can locate a bike for you throughout their stores. I've looked around in their stores and I didn't really see anything cheap in their stores. My bike in Japanese spec was selling for 8 or 9 grand in their stores and I only paid 5 grand in the states. The US specs there cost even more than that because they have to pay the exhaust inspections too.

Wow, thank you so very much fellow Air Force members, for posting this incredibly detailed and informative post from everyone that has lived there!! It really helps! Appreciate it.