To the liberal Bostonian--

Hail and well met! Yes, military familes receive an overseas housing allowance. At my husband's rank we receive up to 211,000 yen, which translates roughly to $2110 a month. Our rent is just 186,000 yen, so our allowance will be roughly $1860 a month. We also receive a utility allowance as Japan's electricity, gas, and water are extremely expensive and we are responsible for those, not the landlord. If we conserve energy a bit, we should have no problems covering the costs of living out in town.

We wish to live on base -- which we have been informed may not happen for over a year-- due to convenience. Until we are on base, I have to drive my daughter to her bus stop and pick her up when she gets home. On base she would just walk downstairs and meet the bus at the entryway of the towers. On base, everything is within walking distance-- off base I have to drive everywhere and I have to admit I am enjoying walking around base to get a quick pickup of food and items. Also, on base, its cheaper for the military, we have no utility costs or rent. Once we are on base we no longer receive overseas housing allowance, which is how the military saves money. Since the Japanese Defense Force members are also on this base, we still have tons of contact with our host nation.

Also, on base, I can keep up my addiction to cable television. Right now we're paying for episodes and such that we can get through iTunes, but a lot of shows we love are unavailable-- one is Battlestar Galactica and I STILL haven't seen the finale, episode 04X12, Revelations. I can't find that damn thing anywhere and I dont know how to use a proxy to watch it for free at SciFi.com. I think I may have to wait until the season is put on DVD to see it.

The biggie for living on base is its access to the train station, Sagamino Station. Our place out in town is not near any train stations, which really bites. We had really hoped to be nearer a station, because we plan on a lot of exploration while we are here.

Another is the quality of the base housing compared to Japanese construction. Japan doesn't use insulation-- which makes for a freezing cold winter. We WILL be waking up to seeing our breath in our homes and learning how to live with that this year. Its also extremely hot in this area of Japan in the summers, and they way they have the pwer set up here, you can't run all the AC units at the same time... they had a few deaths one summer during a heat wave. I have tried to warn my family, but they aren't taking me seriously. Well, we lived through no electricty or water in Guam for two weeks, we can live through an uncomfortable summer.

Also, if by some miracle we are given a renovated townhouse on base, we can bring our dog over to live with us. We really miss him.

Nice to meet another liberal! If you come back, leave a link to your site if ya have one!

Caroline-- I figured out my allergic reaction by the process of elimination. I hadn't changed my diet, hadn't used a differant soap, an exam showed I was just fine 'down there', and nothing else seemed to be helping. I was sitting in the restroom, miserable, when I looked across from me and thought,"The towels are always so nice and soft." And it was like DING! We got a winner! I can't use softener or full detergents due to allergies I've had since I was a young girl. I stopped using the towels and I wash my hands a lot now. I also switched sheets on our bed to new ones and I'm feeling so much better. Right now I am dealing with dryness caused by all the chemicals I used trying to figure out my problem. So I found some Astroglide and hope it soothes and helps fix my problem. Feeling pretty good today.

Well, teenager wants to get on and Logan wants to play. Gotta go!

We've purchased a second vehicle, a Toyota Estima, a pretty good size minivan. Its going to make things a lot easier to shop on the economy, as we won't have to pay delivery charges, since it has a very roomy cargo area and the seats come out as well.

We move in to our townhouse on July 11th, which suited hubby just fine because we make an extra $1800. My daughter and I are about to climb the walls. We miss having our own personal space and we sure do miss our furniture and personal items. I look forward to Logan having his toys and own bedroom. What has helped is Logan having daycare to play for a few hours through the week. It gives us some breathing room and he has a ton of fun there.

Tomorrow I am going to the Yamato police station to do the parking permits for our cars. Here in Japan you get permits to park at your residence-- the police go to your parking space and make sure your vehicle fits in it. If it does, you get a sticker you place on your car. Our real estate agent's daughter-in-law has offered to take me, so I'll meet her at the main gate at 11:00. Before that I will be dropping off all our paperwork for our move offbase-- personal property, appliance office for our stove, fridge, and washer/dryer as well as the satellite office to get our special AFN satellite dish. AFN is the Armed Forces Network and we receive 9 free channels to watch with American programs. There are no commercials, but there are military public service announcements. We also get a few radio channels, including NPR which made me squeal with happiness. There is one channel on our car radio we listen to and its also an AFN radio station. I make sure to listen in to Ed Schultz's program-- it makes me giggle that thanks to AFN operators putting this liberal's program on at 2am in the states, I get to listen to him in the evening. Rush Limbaugh is played during prime time on AFN...go figure.

I've had some positive reactions to my Obama, Japan t-shirt. Made some people smile, too.

We've gone to a few department stores here-- Viva Home and Notori among them. I really like the items at Notori and we're buying our daughter a small couch that becomes a bed from there. I saw a few curtains that I liked, so its probably where we'll end up going for them. The fun things is that Notori is also right next to a ToysRUs. The prices were about the same as in the US. We'll head there for Yule.

Just keeping busy looking for home items and killing time while staying here at the Navy Lodge. Hubby starts his full shifts tomorrow, so time is really going to go by slowly for me and the kids. Thank goodness for all the parks on base and off.

Going to try to walk more this week. My female problems from last week were caused by an allergic reaction to the hotel's softener in their laundry. I am still in contact with it via the bedsheets (I no longer use their towels) so I think I might actually purchase some sheets of our own to use until we leave. Then I think the last of the irritation will go. Thank goodness. Couldn't exercise much when all I wanted to do was scratch myself raw. I'm currently taking Benadryl (plus a topical for during the day), so I'm hoping my body will calm down pretty soon. I think the new sheets and new towels are a must to get back to normal.

Logan is now potty training and he is doing really well! Daycare helps out with it, too. I need to have him fully potty trained if I want to place him in daycare full-time this August, or enroll him in that speech therapy class. I'm also applying to be a substitute teacher, so he really does have to be ready.

It will all be easier when we are finally in our home.

This weekend we made two trips up to Yokota Air Force Base. Saturday we took the trains, which took a bit over an hour. Today we drove and it took 1 hour and 40 minutes. We covered just 17 miles, but the traffic and lights make it seem like 100 miles.

We checked out their commissary (enormous), BX (military retail store-- also big), and their furniture and home store (much, much bigger than ours). We found a table and china cabinet we liked, but we're going to wait a bit and keep looking. We may find something we like on the local economy that would be easier to get to our home (delivery can cost over $100).

We did buy our daughter her first guitars this weekend. She has a red electric guitar and a Yamaha acoustic guitar. Both are used, but she doesn't care. She hasn't stopped messing with them all weekend, except when we made her come with us for the road trip today.

I bought myself an Obama, Japan t-shirt. Might tweak a few people here on the base, but I think its funny.

I'm still dealing with my female problem, but its much, much better. I'll give it a couple more days and if there isn't a change, I'll head back to the triage here and force them to do something. Or take the train to Yokota and walk to the ER.

I am looking forward to moving to our townhouse. We drove there this morning and it is so easy to get to. 10 minutes from the gate with light traffic and the streets aren't as narrow as some. I feel really good about our choice. I have just a few pics of it, I'll post more when we move in next month. Here is what I've got so far.

Here is the front. The townhouses are brand new and are actually still being finished up. Today the whole area was cleaned up and looked like most of the outside work had been done. The man at the door is our real estate agent.

This is the downstairs bathroom. We have one downstairs and one upstairs. In Japanese houses, the shower room, the washing room (where your sink is) and the toilet are all in seperate areas. We have a shower, washroom, and toilet upstairs and downstairs. Very nice. Other houses had it only downstairs.

This is the kitchen. It is spacious by Japanese standards. It also will hold a US stove and US fridge-- which is fantastic. The Navy provides those as well as a Japanese style washer/dryer. No dishwasher, though!

This is the view from the dining room into the living area. Note the cute little fan upstairs. The lady in the picture with our agent is his interpreter. Our townhouse is almost 1300 square feet- which is really, really big here!




Ok, gotta go to bed! More tomorrow.

We've been really busy with our Intercultural class and briefings, so I apologize for skipping some days!

Janeen-- Logan hasn't regressed at all. He has, however, hit the 'I am independent!' stage and is starting to assert himself much more. Now that we are potty-training (so he can start his classes for speech therapy in August), its become a bit of a tug of war with other things. He has to start the car (yep, he loves to turn that key), he has to try to do his own car seat snaps, put on his own shoes..yada, yada, yada. Its as if he saved his terrible twos for the last two weeks. I bet Natalie will do just fine with her parents with her!

Today I was supposed to go to Harajuku with hubby and daughter, but my vajayjay decided otherwise so my trip today was to the branch clinic. I am feeling much better, but glad I stayed home, because I was terrified to feel during a Tokyo trip the way I felt yesterday. Because the trip to Harajuku was required by our ICR briefing, I sent hubby and daughter off on their own. Logan went to daycare, so I spent today alone...and didn't mind it at all!

Logan absolutely is wild about his daycare ( we call it 'school' with him, though). He has refused to leave when we go to pick him up and we literally dragged him out kicking and screaming. The last couple times, the teachers let him stay an hour longer to play and we picked him up with no trouble. He's going to be pissed next week when I start picking him up at 12 (he will go from 8-12). Since he isn't potty trained fully he can't go full-time with the toddler group, but the hourly care will take him. Its $3 an hour, so I'm just going to send him 20 hours a week. It gives me time to do whatever I want and he gets to play with other kids. Its a good deal for both of us.

Ok, time to post some pictures! These are from our Yokohama trip.
This one is outside the shopping center that is built around Yokohama Station. The mall is partly underground, too, with an additional 4 stories or so above ground.

This is from the same area...and when it really hit me "I'm in JAPAN!"

Its busy, but not as busy but would have been busier if we went on a Sunday. We went on a Saturday, which meant kids were still in school and the families weren't out.

Our train looks packed here, but more people got on in about ten minutes after I took the picture. And it wasn't rush hour when we headed home.

This is my daughter. She really enjoys going on the train. She's 14 now.

Thanks to hubby having connections on base, we were able to take our driving course yesterday and we both now have our Japanese licenses! Today we pick up my car (hubby is still looking). Its a Nissan March and I think its cute. Its really small, like a MINI Cooper, so I will feel more comfortable driving it around.


Logan had his first day with daycare. He didn't cry when we left him, thank goodness, and then he didn't want to leave when we picked him up. He then was really grumpy and I could tell he was overtired. Since we had to head out of the gate to tell the car salesman that we could pick the car up tomorrow, I knew he'd have a chance to take a nap in his stroller. He nodded off around 3:30. We thought he'd wake up when we got back, but he didn't. He slept ALL NIGHT. He didn't wake up until 7am this morning. Holy cow! We tried to wake him up several times, but by 7:30pm, I figured I better try to nap for when he did wake up. I didn't expect him to sleep through the night.

Well, time to get the kids to the dental appointments. More later!

This morning we headed off base to look for fruit and try to purchase our cellphones. We left at 8am and walked up the road a bit only to find the food market, Food One, closed until 10am. We enjoyed looking at the various Japanese houses, so it didn't bother me that our morning was pretty unproductive. After walking back we hung out a bit, then headed back out again. We arrived by 11:30 and the place was packed. They have these really tiny cart things that they set little handbaskets in (just like those small plastic baskets in US markets). It startled me at first, until I remembered how very small their homes are and how small Japanese fridges can be. So they must shope for food several times a week. Its actually a smart way to do things... I bet they waste less food that way compared to what other countries may do.

The cellphone company ended up being closed unexpectedly, but will be open tomorrow,, so we'll get the phones then. We'll be one of those families that use cellphones exclusively. If we live out in town, you are required to purchase your phone line, not a number, and it can run about $700. You can sell that line to other people, but I don't want the headache, so no landline for us.

We've been told we'll most likely be living off base for about 6 months. We hope it will be less. We have 60 days allowed to stay here in the Lodge, so we're going to use as much of that as possible just in case by some slim chance we're able to be placed in a highrise tower here. We also make a little extra money that way, so we're going to try to grin and bear it.

We've got a couple leads on some vehicles, but since we don't receive our Japanese license until after finishing mandatory classes over the next two weeks, we have to hold off on a purchase. We are literally walking our asses off. Thankfully, everything is close, so that's great!

I have a few pictures from our walk. I'll post more tomorrow. Too tired to do it right now. It cracks me up that we're all falling asleep before 9:30 at night.

We arrived in Yokota safely, after a 10 hour plane ride that felt shorter than it was. Probably because after a couple hours in the air Logan fell asleep and didn't wake up until a couple hours before landing. Perfection. I didn't sleep, although I dozed a couple times. I am a very bad traveller that way. So when we boarded the shuttle to Atsugi, I was really starting to feel the lack of sleep... I barely slept in our hotel room the night before, too.

It took us 1.5 hours to travel the 17 miles between Yokota and Atsugi. Traffic seemed just like Okinawa- narrow streets, little cars, and strange configurations of intersections. I did see a nifty RX-8, and evena couple of MINI Coopers. I have seen two vintage MINI Coopers (circa 1960s) so far and one is on base. VW bugs and Scion lookalikes are big here. I saw many young adults in their school uniforms walking home, and lots and lots of white shirts and black suits. Tiny Japanese houses crammed between businesses with cute little English signs.

Our base is extremely tiny. I knew it was small but had no clue that I could walk from our Navy Lodge to almost every service we will need within ten minutes. I can make it 15 minutes if we walk slow. I'll be taking pictures today and posting them up here. We are definately going to visit Yokosuka base this weekend because many things we were looking for here were unavailable - like hair dye! And more than three versions of Salsa!

Ok, off to play with Logan. He is jumping on the bed. Luckily we all fell asleep about 9pm last night and slept til 5:30am. So we shouldn't be too off our schedule today! Hmm.... maybe I can start working on that 8pm bedtime for Logan now!

I'm checking in real quick from a Seattle hotel room. We'll be leaving for the airport in just half an hour, but I got up early so I'd have time to write.

We have our flight from Seattle to Yakota today. Its about 10 hours. We took two planes here, with a total of five hours of flight time and Logan is doing great. The USO at Seattle is wonderful and its going to be a big help tomorrow, since we have a 5 hour wait from check in to actual takeoff.

Once we arrive in Yokota and collect our bags, which could take almost an hour, we then take a shuttle to Atsugi, which takes 1.5- 2 hours. Woohoo. At least it will be daytime and we can get an eyeful of the mainland as we're taken to our destination.

I WILL be writing here much more now.

Ok, last weigh-in was yesterday and it was 156.5. Cool beans.

OH- JANEEN- good luck with your move to Korea. I hope it is everything you hope for and more! For a good gaming laptop, you are probably going to have to spend closer to $1200. If it doesn't have to be a laptop, go with a good gaming pc. I have a dual-core processor and upgraded the videocard myself and spent less than $900. That is definately doable with the new dual-cores. It depends on what kind of gaming you are talking about... I play Eq2 things like that.

I'll check in again when we reach Japan and find a wifi hotspot on base.