Hello!  Looks like we have to live in a cho until we get into housing.  Does anyone know which cho's offer americanized homes?  I have 3 boys and I will be needing amenities that may not be available with traditional japanese homes.  Examples would be regular sized washer and dryer (if that's even possible), dishwasher preferred but not required, 2 parking spaces and NO TATAMI MATS!  I have 2 very very curious little boys and it would be a disaster to even think about moving into a home with tatami mats.  We would prefer to be closer to Main base.  Thanks for any info!

Even in a western style home, you're going to have a hard time fitting a full size American W/D. Dishwashers are still pretty uncommon, but you might be able to find a place that has one.....just don't expect an American size dishwasher. They're usually very small. 2 parking spaces shouldn't be a problem. A lot of homes are being built w/out tatami mats.....we have two bedrooms with tatami mats and 1 bedroom with hardwood floors. I actually like my tatami rooms, but I could understand why you would want to avoid 'em with kids.

You can get a western style home which has no tatami mats, but you may have a hard time with the appliances. There is not much room for the washer and dry they are very small and don't hold much at all. Japanese people hang their clothes out to dry year round. Dishwasher are small and are usually sat on the counter top to use. The stoves have 3 burners and usually will only have a fish broiler no oven. If you are lucky enough to find a house with an oven it is very very small. The fridge is also small...

As contractors, my wife & I knew we'd be living offbase for our entire tour (2 years & counting) so our first big splurge here was a Japanese washer-dryer machine. This is not a stacked machine like Americans would get but rather a single front-loading machine that first washes, then tumble dries the clothes. It's pretty high capacity, and designed to fit in the small area provided in Japanese bathrooms. Japanese dryers do not vent to the outside; the exhaust steam condenses back to water & drains into a floor drain.

The machine cost us $1000 two years ago; they've probably come down since then. We consider it one of our best investments in terms of quality of life in our off-base apartment. It takes a good 3 hours to run a complete cycle, but they are very energy efficient & quiet so it does the job. Since we HATE going to laundromats, this was a good solution for us.

Thank you all for your help.  We will be looking at 2 homes this afternoon, one looking very promising with 3 parking spaces, fairly brand new which was built in 03, solar panels, no oven but only 10-15 minutes from base.  @Thaiguy....what brand and model washer/dryer is it?  We may look into that if that means more convience for us.  Thanks so much everyone.

Here it is.  It is a Toshiba TW-200TF.  We've been very happy with it these past 2 years.