Can someone please explain the different housing options?  I have looked all over the internet, read through most of these chat room disscussions, and I cannot find a real answer to what I am looking for.  I am married with a 12 year old girl and a 10 year old boy.  Please someone help me out!!

1.  How big sqft is a 3 bedroom townhome and tower?

2.  We lived in Italy and bought most of our furniture there so our furniture is king size beds, queen size beds, three piece living room sets, things of that nature.  Is there any way these would fit in either of these places?

3.  What are the schools like?  Class sizes?  Are there sports for the kids?  Besides MWR sports?

4.  I read the section things that could harm you or whatever it was called; it was written about Youkuska and so are they also there in Sasebo?  The snakes the millipieds or whatever those things are?

5.  What's the one thing I should know or prepare for that you wish you knew prior to you reporting to Sasebo? 

I'm not scared of moving there.  I just a plan for as much as I can and I can't find that much information on these topics.  If anyone knows who is in charge of the base website, someone needs to bring up that very little information is available to those moving there.  I have check militaryinstallations.com along with so many other websites and nothing has been updated in years.

Thanks in advance for your help!  Hopefully someone could put my mind at ease.

 

 

I think the best thing for you to do would be to call the Housing Welcome Center and ask them. The number is 011-81-956-50-3402.

But I can answer a few of the questions:

Your furniture should be able to fit in the townhouses. The towers are largely 2 bedroom units.
Keep in mind that there are two (technically 3, but for the purposes of this conversation we'll say 2) housing areas: Main Base and Hario.

Hario is a good 20-30 drive and requires use of the toll roads. Hario is home to the main Commissary. an elementary school, NEX Home store, food court, a theatre, a CDC, a Teen Center and a School Aged Care Center. Main Base has the main NEX, a smaller (MUCH, MUCH, MUCH smaller) commissary, theatre, Teen Center, middle school, high school and an elementary school. If you live at Hario and have middle school or high school kids they get bussed to school.

I don't know about the class sizes, but my assumption is that they meet the standards set forth by DoDDS/DoDEA.

There are centipedes here. I haven't seen one yet, but a coworker was recently bitten by one. He stays in family housing.

The one thing I wish I knew was that it can get unbearably cold here. This past weekend was probably the worst I've seen since my arrival. I was in Nagasaki and it was so cold my hands started to burn. Other than that this place is great.

Personally, I would suggest living off base, if it's an option. I do and I love it. There are a few more hurdles and it's less convenient, but it allows me to actually be immersed in the culture and take advantage of it. I also do not have a vehicle and in the 4 months I've been here it hasn't been a problem for me. However, I do not have kids.

If you have any other questions, please just ask, I'll answer anything I can.

Huck-

Thanks for that information. We have discussed living out in town. Like I said before, we were in Italy and I believe the only way to truly enjoy the environment and culture is to jump in and swim. Until I read that people have had to take out $10,000 + loans just to move into the places. I don't want to go into our savings or debt just to move into a house. I have contacted housing and I was referred to the website. I tried to explain that there isn't any information on them except for the waiting list. I was trying to see floor plans, room dementions and sqft. I didn't get anything from them.
I had no idea that it got that cold. That is good to know. My cousin was stationed in Okinawa and complained of the heat. I guess I assumed because we were so far south it would be the same for us.
How bad are the earthquakes? Tsunamis?

Thanks for your help!

Well Okinawa is probably about 600 miles south of Sasebo, so I understand the heat. Apparently, it gets pretty humid and hot here in the summer time. And it gets cold enough to snow here. It snowed Friday and Saturday.

There are some places where you pay first, last, security, and landlord fee to rent. Yes, it could run close to $15,000 to move in. But there's something here they don't tell people about. It's called the Rental Partnership Program (RPP). RPP landlords have entered into an agreement with the Housing office to provide spaces for USG tenants. All of the places have western style toilets, AC and heat in all rooms, refigerator, washer/dryer, and a stove with an oven (it's still probably going to be really small). But the best part is there is no security deposit or other wacky fees. You can move in with first months rent and fire insurance (15,000 Yen for two years).

The place that I moved into is a pretty big 3 bedroom about 1300SF. Rent is 190,000 Yen ($2400).

As for earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons, my understanding is that they have typhoons here often, but I don't think there have been any significant ones for a while (2007 if I remember correctly).

Huck-

Thanks for the good information. I can't wait to get there.

(1). I'm not sure about the 3 bdr, but I did find this video touring a 2 bdr tower in Sasebo. Could give you an idea of what it will be like to live on base.
http://www.japanbases.com/videos/wa...asebo.aspx

Also, as for the in-town rental deposits, you can pay $15,000 out of pocket, however all non-refundable deposits will be refunded to you by the government as a part your OHA. More information on OHA and its components below.
http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/si...haComp.cfm

If you don't have $15,000 handy to put down as a deposit on a place in town, you can do what many service members do and use the advance pay program. See link below for further details.
http://www.navytimes.com/benefits/h...llowances/

(2). If you live in town, you have a fair chance of the king size beds not fitting. The room may be big enough, but staircases and doors are more narrow here, so it may end up being impossible to get into the house/apt. The other furniture you mentioned should be fine.

I wish I could answer more of your questions. I will recommend coming prepared with an open mind and being ready to try and experience new things. Best of luck!

We live out in town. Our house is considerably larger than what we were offered for housing (it's just two of us, plus two cats), and it cost about $8500 to move in. Our MIHA paid back about $6000 of that (as I mentioned, we are cat owners-there was an extra deposit for them).
All three of our bedrooms are about 9'x12', and we had no problem fitting our queen sized bed--it had to go in through the bedroom's sliding glass doors, but that really wasn't a problem.

Hi there. I realize Im a little late to the game on this thread here but I just joined. I felt the SAME way before we moved here. I posted a few photos of my home on my page if you'd like to take a look. Hopefully I can help a little.

RE:
Question 1: I live in Kizuna Tower on Main Base and the exact Square footage is 1395. This is a 3 bedroom Tower apartment that is a 5 minute walk to the base.

Question 2: We have plenty of room in our Master for a King Sized Bed and small Dresser and our Daughters have Queen sized beds and dressers.

Question 3: The Schools are fine as far as im concerned. We have 1 one in the elementary and one in the High School. There is a Swim Team, Soccer, Basketball and VolleyBall, Tennis, Cross Country and wrestling at the High School. For the smaller ones there is the Swim Team-Lesson at the Amazing indoor pool and youth activities like T-Ball and Soccer through MWR.

Question 4: Ive not seen any bugs larger then the enormous Spiders that come out in the Summer.

Question 5: Bring a GOOD water filtration Pitcher and a Shark Steam Mop.

Posted By Mrs.Bailey on 04-18-2012 3:04 PM

Question 4: Ive not seen any bugs larger then the spiders that come out in the Summer.

Of course, those spiders were as big as your fist, but you learn to love them.  :-)

A lot of the bugs here are huge!!!! If you haven't seen them yet except for spiders, then lucky you!!!!! lol.

does anyone have any idea on roughly how long the wait list are for any of the houses/apts? We will moving soon just not sure yet on exactly when.

MPosted By brada on 05-14-2012 5:29 AM
does anyone have any idea on roughly how long the wait list are for any of the houses/apts? We will moving soon just not sure yet on exactly when.

It all depends on pay grade and where you want to live- I believe they have available apts/ townhouses at hario , not sure about 
Main base. When we arrived we were lucky we only spent 11 days at the navyodge before moving to Kizuna tower on main base . I like the size of the apartment and it's close to everything. If you have kids there are entry of playgrounds in housing 

Since we moved here in August, I have not heard of anyone waiting for a house at all if you move into hario and less then a month wait if you want to live on main base....

Hario Housing is only at 43% occupancy. The two bedroom tower I live in is still about half empty. I couldn't tell you honestly about the townhouses, but I'm sure there are some that are open.

thanks for the info