Hi everyone. I'm arriving in Sasebo at the beginning of Jan. I've searched high and low on the internet trying to get at least a slight idea as to what kind of homes are available in Sasebo. It was great the short time Adam had his listings on here, but I haven't seen anything since they were removed. It's a little bit of a struggle for me since I have reservations at the Lodge, but they are kicking us out for a few days right in the middle of our stay, and they have nothing available come Feb 1. So basically my family and I have only a couple weeks to get into something. And we'll be looking for a 4 bedroom home, so it's quite frustrating not even being able to find anything on the web. I know we'll have to go through the housing office, but just being able to see what houses look like or general availability in town would really set us at ease. Finding out how quick we'd be able to get into something would be great as well.
Any help or information would be greatly appreciated.

We use to live in Sasebo....2007-2010....when you arrive and check in to housing you let them know about the lodge situation...might have to stay at a local hotel...they have listings in the office and a rep. will set up the appointments to go look at houses...you could spend all day long looking if you like...You will find something...we found an older house and it had more room than on our base town home...
Have you tried calling the housing office and explain to them what you situation is?

There's good odds that you'll end up not getting kicked out of the Lodge. Ask to be placed on the standby list for those dates, and if there's a cancellation you'll get priority to stay in the room. The same thing happened to me, and I'm just a visiting contractor; I ended up being able to stay during my entire visit. You would think that a family PCSing in would have top priority, but I guess not.

Hopefully, someone here can post pix of their Sasebo home. Can't help you there; I'm in an apartment in Iwakuni.

Wow..I finally see what a home in Sasebo looks like. We arrive in Sasebo in 8 weeks, and I was desperate to see what was out in town, even though I would prefer in Hario or on Base, I am also interested in out of town living. Thank you for posting that photo..

Could I e-mail you as well for more listings? I am anyway In hopes that you won't mind .

Lucy

I would also be interested in looking at off base housing units. We have 3 animals would like to have something with some sort of fenced in yard, but have no clue if this is even possible. Any listings would be fabulous! I really am not used to this no info until you set foot in town thing.

Actnsweet -- three animals means you won't be able to live in on-base housing. They only allow two pets and only in townhouses -- if they offer you a tower, and you turn it down because you have pets, they will expect you to get off-base housing. It's harder to find an off-base house that allows pets, but it's not impossible. The good thing is that you will have time to look at houses, honestly. You can stay in the Navy Lodge for 30 days to look for housing, and then they can extend for another 30 days possibly. If you plan it right, you can look at four houses a day with realtors.

It's difficult to not be able to look at housing before you come, but it really isn't as bad as you might fear. We arrived in Japan in January of 2006, and there was LOTS of housing available at the time. Here are some blog posts with photos of our house (mostly interior):

http://wordmagix.blogspot.com/2006/...-hill.html
http://wordmagix.blogspot.com/2006/...er-is.html
http://wordmagix.blogspot.com/2006/...hotos.html
http://wordmagix.blogspot.com/2006_...chive.html
http://wordmagix.blogspot.com/2006_...chive.html (exterior photos)

From what I understand, this house is still available for rent. We weren't supposed to have pets (we snuck in two cats) but the landlord is new now, so the rules might change.

p.s. -- my house was pretty old construction though. Several of my friends lived in much newer houses, and were very happy with them. There are several areas of new housing with a pretty high proportion of Americans, if you want to live near other Americans. Our neighbors were all Japanese.

Oh -- Chief Davis, I meant to tell you...if the Navy Lodge doesn't have room for you, the Navy will pay for you to stay at a local hotel. The Chisun Grand is usually where they put military folks. We've stayed there, and although the rooms are very small, the location is good -- a block and a half from the shopping arcade, and a short walk to Main Base. But you do have a good chance of being able to stay in the Navy Lodge if someone cancels.

http://www.solarehotels.com/english/chisun/grand-sasebo/guestroom/detail.html

Posted By Carolie on 01-31-2011 7:39 AM


http://wordmagix.blogspot.com/2006/...-hill.html
http://wordmagix.blogspot.com/2006/...er-is.html
http://wordmagix.blogspot.com/2006/...hotos.html
http://wordmagix.blogspot.com/2006_...chive.html
http://wordmagix.blogspot.com/2006_10_02_archive.html (exterior photos)

@ Carolie - I liked reading your little blurb about backing up during your driving test!    Also, I know those "37-Point" turns all too well here in Japan!  Hahaha!

Awesome Blog Carolie! I really just spent an hour here on my computer going through them and trying to pick up on every detail I could. I'm sure I will go back and look through them a little more later on as well I had a feeling about having 3 animals and needing a yard would put us in some trouble with the housing issue. I guess we will take it head on when we arrive there and have to look at houses out in town. Thanks again for all your wonderful information!

Glad I could make you laugh, Yoko-girl! It really was pretty funny, looking back on it!

Thank you very much, actnsweet! I enjoyed writing about all the adventures, but I ended up getting so busy, I wrote less and less often! You can see how the posts get farther and farther apart. I still have a ton of notes and photos about stuff I got to do, and might actually post more one of these days. Good luck with your house-hunting. If you are traveling with your animals, I assume you've already done the micro-chipping and rabies shots (180 days in advance)? Do make SURE to get your sponsor to arrange a van to pick you and your pets up at the airport (via FMAT) -- your pets can't travel on the shuttle bus. There is at least one pet-friendly hotel in Sasebo, but the Navy Lodge does not allow pets, so you'll have to kennel them if you stay there.

Thank you for the pet info. That's actually one thing I have figured out we are not traveling with our animals, but are keeping them in the stated until their 180 days are up & we can find a house. I really hope I get all the stuff right so they don't have to be in a kennal much at all. I'm crossing my fingers & going through all the info over & over again

Continuous noise harrassment oftentimes until 2:30 AM - what do you do if you live off-base.

Base Housing will not get involved. Tthe offender and his wife conitnuously deny even when we have had multiple witnesses! Agent won't get involved and at this point it feels like harrassment. Since the spouse and agent are Japanese we also feel discriminated against. There is alcohol involved, but no one will investigate the member. Do we go to legal and flie a complaint? It has been happening for several months. Any suggestions? Anyone with legal advice? We have documented everything.

Have you tried calling the Japanese police? I'm not sure they will do anything though. Perhaps they would at least tell them to keep it down.

I know we had issues with our old neighbors. They would have big parties on the weekends and block our driveway. Several times we would come home late from a trip and have to go over and tell them we needed at least one of our parking spots for ourselves. They moved a few months ago and it has been so nice and quiet since then.

I hope you are able to find a solution.

farfromhome, although you didn't specify, this is exactly why I don't want to live around other Americans. It sounds like your noisy neighbor is American with a Japanese wife? She doesn't seem like the most wholesome type, because Japanese will generally go out of their way not to impose on others. I have mostly Japanese neighbors and it is so quiet around here.

If you find a neighborhood where Americans congregate, run do not walk for a different neighborhood! And for yourself, be a good neighbor offbase; you don't want TV or music loud enough to be heard outside your walls after about dinner time or so. If you can't deal with that type of living, then stay onbase where everyone already hates their neighbor anyway.

okjapan and ThaiGuy - thank you for your repsonses. Yes, American with Japanese spouse. Some of the reasons we live off base is for what you mention. We have called the Japanese Police, but they do not want to disturb the other residents because it is so late at night. Housing claims that they have no authority offbase and the agent says they have to remain neutral, and the offender continues to lie and deny everything - so basically no one will do anything.

We have very much enjoyed living here until recently and are very frustrated. Not sure what will happen but we are trying to be patient and work with the system, unfortunately the system doesn't take us seriously.

I'm not sure where you could go to get anything accomplished in your situation. My neighbors were 100% Japanese and annoyed the whole neighborhood. I never called the police on them, but someone else did once. The Japanese police did come and talk with them. It helped for awhile. I'm just glad they moved. It is nice to come home now and not have to wonder if we will be able to park in our own driveway. New neighbors will be moving in soon, but I'm optimistic things will be okay. Japanese are for the most part like Thaiguy said and don't like to impose on others. I hope your situation improves, maybe your neighbors will move soon!