Hi!I am currently living in San Diego CA but before we were stationed in Yokosuka Japan. I must say that i loved Yoko so we decided to put orders to Japan again. This time we got orders to Atsugi so Im trying to find information for offbase housing. I would gladly appreciate it if anyone can help me out with that. I am trying to find a 3 bedroom house since i have 2 daughters who cannot be together in one room because they are always fighting!Also, my eldest does Karate and i wanted to know if the base offers any karate classes for children. She is 8 years old and is a brown belt. hope someone can help. thank you

Read my reply here:

http://www.japanbases.com/Forums/aft/8000.aspx

I Just got done emailing housing in Atsugi and for E6 & below with a 2 bedroom (we only have 1 child) it is mandatory to live on base unless you want to forgo OHA. Now I'm really depressed because I wanted to live off base and in a traditional home and not have to deal with a car or the air noise at all. How easy is it to walk to a train station near the base? I Cant find an actual map of Atsugi base to know where the housing is located. Maybe I can adopt my cousin so we can get a 3 bedroom.

There is a bus stop right off base, and the bus will take you to Sagami-Otsuka train station. Or, you can walk to a different train station that is about 20 minutes away. It's hard to live within easy commuting distance and not hear the air noise.

Thanks for the advice. My daughter and I are gonna get our walking feet going. I'm really scared to live on base. Do they close gates often? How possible is it that we could be out of base and then they close the base and we can't get home?

They rarely close the gates, and there is advance notice. Usually it will be due to maintenance and I'm not sure if it affects foot traffic at all. Bring comfortable shoes with you, there is a lot of walking around, even on a small base like ours.

We live off base, my husband is a civilian and we have 3 kids, off base just works out better for us because we can get a bigger place out in town. I have friends who enjoy living on base and also get out quite often (MWR has a lot of tours available) and take advantage of living in Japan. The mandatory AOB/ICR classes go over everything in detail, and I have found people here to be very friendly and helpful to new folks.

We were hoping to live off base too but ended up in one of the towers since it's just us and he's E6. Honestly though it's not bad, I rather like it to be honest. I've yet to really go too far off base but I'm a walker/biker - I don't drive - and I've been able to comfortably do everything I need to on a daily basis

I agree with geewhiz, there is no way to live within any decent comuting distance of Atsugi and not hear the planes A LOT. Housing is actually in about as good of a position as it gets because it is off to the side of the runway. I was catching a train at Sagami-otsuka (right off the end of the runway) once when a jet was taking off, that was LOUD, I now understand why the Japanese in those areas complain so much.
The train stations are not close to the base in Atsugi, it is quite a walk or you can catch the bus or a taxi. There is a SOFA parking area off base near one of the train stations, so you can drive, park (without paying) and walk about 5 minutes to the station.
In 20 years of active Navy I only experienced closed gates at a base 2 times, once in the Phillipines due to a worker strike (there were threats of violence) and I was stationed in Yokosuka when 9-11 happened. In both cases folks who were authorized to access the base were allowed on, there was just increased security. I think it would be a very rare event that would cause the gate to be shut and you not be able to get on if you live on base, though you might have to walk in and leave your car until later. I think overall you will be happy you live on base.
Be aware there are no base taxi's like on Yokosuka and the shuttle bus is very limited. But the base (at least the areas you will be going) is not that large, so walking is good way to get around.
Atsugi is much more country-ish (though still densely populated) than Yokosuka, there is not much to do near the base outside the gate, no large shpping areas shopping like in Yokosuka.
If your child will get to Middle school age (6th grade) while you are here, the school Middle/High Schools are combined with Camp Zama and located on Zama. There are school buses to/from, but there is no good bus or train route between the bases, so you will be driving at least sometimes for events at the school.

Thanks my daughter is 4 so we'll only be here for 6 years max. Retirement will be after that time frame so we'll be headed back to USA then. We are going to try for another base in Japan after the 3 years so we can live off base. I'm going to look for a trike to get so I can do some errands with my daughter without walking. I have no interest in driving but will still get the license just in case.

Posted By PickFamily on 07-19-2012 4:18 PM
I Just got done emailing housing in Atsugi and for E6 & below with a 2 bedroom (we only have 1 child) it is mandatory to live on base unless you want to forgo OHA. Now I'm really depressed because I wanted to live off base and in a traditional home and not have to deal with a car or the air noise at all. How easy is it to walk to a train station near the base? I Cant find an actual map of Atsugi base to know where the housing is located. Maybe I can adopt my cousin so we can get a 3 bedroom.

Is this true?   "for E6 & below with a 2 bedroom it is mandatory to live on base unless you want to forgo OHA."  

My husband and I, with our two dogs are up to pick orders next week and we were looking at Sasebo & Atsugi. Sasebo was our first choice and doesn't have many spots left, but Atsugi looks possible. Aside from liking to travel, we were hoping to save up while we were there and live off base. This post was a cause for concern for me. So just to be clear,  my husband is an E5 and if we live off-base we would not receive any housing allowance?

Also, I'm an avid racquetball player. Does Atsugi have a gym with racquetball courts? How far is Atsugi from Tokyo (i know some players that are from there)? 

Thank you for your help!

we talked to our sponsor and he said because they have so many vacancies in the towers that they will try to say this but it can be a case by case basis. Since you have dogs it may be easy to live off of base (since dogs wouldn't be allowed in the towers) but you will pay a bit more for deposits since they have extra deposits added when there is pets. Atsugi is about 25 miles from Tokyo. Sasebo is clear on the southern western part of Japan, it is more of a country like feel than Atsugi which seems to be more like a suburb of the big city. There may be more room in the housing and finding a place with a yard for the dogs would probably be easier and there might be places on and off the bases. The housing is separated into 2 different areas on Sasebo. My husband has been to Sasebo before and loved it.

I am not sure if Atsugi has a gym with a racquetball court yet but maybe some information that may be helpful is on this page:
http://japanbases.com/icecommentcard

We are not there until January so we are still hoping to try to live off of base, and this information is from all the reading/research and discussions I have had with people. Hope it clarifies, I realize before I never mentioned that we did not have any pets.

Thank you PickFamily for your quick reply. Fingers crossed we will be a special circumstance, since we've got a small & big dog.

We were pretty set on going to Sasebo, but if there are no openings there, then I wanted to be sure Atsugi would suffice. We aren't big-city folk and so Yokosuka isn't our cup of tea. However, from many of the posts I've read, housing off-base near Atsugi is not as convenient as other locations. So that's another added element in our decision.

I hope you guys are still able to get your wish for living off-base. I know that our dogs make housing more expensive, but hopefully it isn't too ridiculous and we don't run into any issues with that 'forgoing' of our OHA business. That just seems crazy to me and I would've hated to have gone there expecting otherwise. Thank you for posting that information. It will truly help us in our decision.

no problem, I know I'm still stressed out a bit over the whole thing. my daughter almost wasn't approved so it made matters a bit worse. We would have liked Sasebo as well so I am fine with Atsugi, especially the distance to Mt. Fuji since we are a hiking family it should be nice.

sorry the post posted twice. Just make sure with your dogs you get all the shots and everything done so you can head over with them, We had to watch a friend's cat for a year while I took care of the shots and appointments so then the cat joined them when they headed back for Thanksgiving the following year. 

Definitely, will try to start the dog's paperwork once our orders are official. That'll give us a 9 month head start (although i know that 6 of those are quarantine...yikes!). My husband and i are avid fishermen, hopefully we get into the hiking while out there now that you saw Mt Fuji. That sounds awesome!

There is really very little difference in the population density between Atsugi and Yokosuka. Traffic is pretty bad in both areas. I'd have to give the nod to Yokosuka over Atsugi by a long shot interms of livability. It is a much prettier area with decent beaches and mountains and there is more hapening on base.

Personally, my choice would be Yokosuka over Atsugi and it ain't even close. I once lived about 4 miles from Atsugi and the noise from the planes drove me nuts at times.