If you don't mind sharing, I'm just curious.

Approx Sq Feet:
Cost of Electric:
Newer or older home?
Area that you live in?
Distance to base:

Our house is 1400sqft. Three bedroom, two bathroom, two balconies that overlook the city of Yokosuka....absolutely breathtaking.

We haven't moved in yet, but we realize it's a bigger house and we have to take steps to try not to have an outrageous electric bill. This includes....no lights unless necessary, throwing the breakers off when we're at work/away for the weekend and using the a/c and heat sparingly.

Our house is 19 years old. We live in the Sakamoto area, which is about 5 miles from the Yokosuka Naval Base.

My home is 760 sq.ft. 2 bedroom with an office upstairs, downstairs has the kitchen, bathroom and living area. It's 18 years old, 6 miles from base (Uraga) and 5 minute walk from the oceanfront.

I keep my home cool in the winter and using a kotatsu my gas, water and electric was usually under $150/month. My bills were never this low anywhere in America.

Approx Sq Feet: 780sq ft/ 2 bedroom/ single floor (bottom duplex)
Cost of Electric: The most I have ever paid in a month for Electric was $325 (my first year here). My average (almost 3 years now) is $168, and the most expensive month is February.
Newer or older home: 3 years (I'm the first to live here)
Area that you live in: Heiwadai
Distance to base: 3-4 Miles

Approx Sq Feet: 1374 SF, 3 BR, 2 bath, 2 balcony, backyard (bricked), 2 car parking
Electric: Not yet . . .
House age: 4 years old
Area: Ikegami
Distance to Base: ~3 miles to base (15 mins with traffic)

Approx Sq Feet: 1400(ish) sqft... 3 bedrooms + 1 tatami/office/play room, 2 bathrooms, fenced in backyard
Cost of Electric: Fluctuates throughout the year, but 15,000 yen is about average...
Newer or older home? 20 years old or so.
Area that you live in? Yamashinadai Neighborhood
Distance to base: 8km (15-20 mins in the morning, 20-30 in the afternoon)

Thanks! I was really wondering about the sq feet vs electricity and the age of the home. I read that the newer homes were cheaper when it came to electricity.

I'm still stateside, but we have 1700 sq feet. We are putting a lot of our stuff in storage (knick knacks, our 2nd couch set, etc). I was thinking for aiming for 900 sq feet for a 3 bedroom. But I think my husband might try to get something bigger. Bigger house = more cleaning for me. LOL

If your interested, my agent has a FB page (TAKAKITA HOUSE AGENCY(YOKOSUKA, JAPAN)) the pictures they have posted are some of the houses they have. The pics also include a basic floor plan.

I've actually been looking at that FB page, it is very fun to look at the houses online! I like to look at homes in any country, so I watch a lot of House Hunters International and stuff.

I saw a few "bigger" houses that would fall into our price range, but just wasn't sure if we should try to even get a bigger house if it's going to mean high electric bills.

Approx Sq Feet: 3 bedroom, 1.5 bathrooms - 1150 sqft

Cost of Electric: $100 - $140. We, typically, are not super conservative. We keep it warm in the winter and very cool in the summer. Though since the earthquake we have been very conservative and our last two bills were $70.

Newer or older home? 1 year old, we are the first to live in it.

Area that you live in? Hayama. We have a 15 second walk to an awesome beach.

Distance to base: 25-30 mins.

Approx Sq Feet: 1400 ish
3 bedroom, 1.5 bathrooms
Single family house, 2 parking spots, small yard. House is about 9 years old
Zushi area, 15-25 minutes to base depending on traffic
Elec and gas is about $250-300 a month.

It's not so much the square feet but the way you live that will cost you. Older Japanese houses generally don't have insulation or if they do it's minimal. Newer houses are being built to western standards and will contain some insulation which will help to keep your house warm or cool depending on the season.
Also Japanese only heat/cool the room they are in, vice the whole house.

I have a 3 bedroom 1 bath 1400ish square foot house with 2 car spaces and a small yard.
Built in 2003
Ikegami 3 miles about 15 minutes as previously mentioned.

Ikegami if you choose to live there has many houses built to western standards and I have double paned argon gas filled windows.
My electricity in the winter months is about 350 a month because my wife hates kerosene heater. In the summer it drops to about 270 because she doesn't believe that the light will come back on if she turns it off.
Gas is about 80 a month.
Hope this helps.
Japanese also have these really cool bed sheets that are cool to the skin and will help to keep you from burning up in the summer.

Approx Sq Feet: I think it's about 1200
Cost of Electric: usually not more than $100-$120
Newer or older home? It's relatively new, the street we live on isn't on the map that they had out in AOB/ICR, I think our agent said it's 12 years old.
Area that you live in? We live in Ikegami as well. I highly recommend Ikegami, especially the homes on the hill by the FHAB supermarket. They are quite nice and more western. They even have a bit of a yard. We live on the other side of that hill and a smaller neighborhood, but we love it. It's close enough to base that my husband bikes to work.
Distance to base: about 3 miles, a 15 min drive on average

Thank you guys for all your input, I like reading your responses.

2000 sq ft, garage, 1/4 acre yard, $160 electricity.