Hello! I have just moved to Yokosuka, Japan for 3 years. I wanted to share the TRUTH about the reality you will face in importing your precious pet.

If your pet is not a "child" in your family, I highly recommend parting with your loved one before you get here (especially if 18 months or less tour duration). Being a pet lover who has spent close to $1,000.00 to get my little Molly here, it is hard for me to advise you to leave your animal behind. After that huge amount of money, months of preparing our Molly to pass the quarantine in less than 12 hours, etc.. we were stabbed in the heart the moment we got to base.

Your pet is not allowed in the Navy Lodge...period! That is a universal Navy Lodge policy in which excuses range from flea infestations to allergic reactions, etc. We knew this so we had made the appropriate appointments for the kennel on base. You will have to put your pet in the Kennel because town is really no different & hard to find. (There are some doggy hotels through the military that are way up by the airport).

The Kennel is not a kennel but a small confined space in which you pet is feed & watered. They do not walk your dog, or have litter boxes in the "cage" with your cat. Your pet is confined to very small cramped quarters (usually the cages you see at a Petsmart trying to sell their cats). Larger dogs are allowed to be placed in available indoor/outdoor run that you can barely stand in yourself & are always full. Your pet is expected to eliminate in its tiny cage alongside its bed, food & water.

The kennel is not clean & is very hot/cold. In the summer, due to heat & especially cramped quarters, disease & sickness spreads like wild fires. Yes, this is the same place your pet will reside if quarantine is required & you can't get a home on base. Thus, increasing your pet's chances of getting very ill or having other aliments.

It is ran by a non-English speaking Japanese native that has NO affiliation with the military vet next door (which do no board any animals). The lights do not get turned off at night either. Also, there is not written rules & regulations for boarding your loved furry friend, so it gets really messy & scary on what "may or may not" happen. So not all animals are required to have the "Kennel Cough"/Bordatella (sp?)shot to board (unlike American Kennels that won't board your pet without it). It is highly recommended if you are bringing your pet that you MUST get the "Kennel Cough"/Bordatella shot.

Though you are allowed to come by during the day between 9 AM - 4 PM to take your pet out for a walk, pets are not allowed inside any facility on base. So unless you got a car immediately & it is not summer, you are not able to take them with you throughout the day & then just return them for bedtime. They will spend all day cramped up in this horrible situation.

There are not Pet Sitters that you can place your pet in their home. There are those who come to your home, but if you had a home you would not have your pet at the kennel, right? If quarantine is required you can only do an "In Home Quarantine" in base housing. Since dogs are not allowed in high rises, your wait time for a town house is currently from 6-10 months, depending on rank of active duty member & location of housing. Ikego has shorter wait time.

Housing in town does allow pets, some can be bribed into allowing your pet, but again, not in high rises (apartments). Housing in town is limited currently due to the USS George Washington stationing here, thus all the bigger homes are full & not emptying out soon. So your hunt for a home big enough for a family & a pet could be just as long as the waiting list for housing unless you are willing to live at least 30-60 minutes from base by car.

Personally, though some are the best dogs on the planet, I DO NOT recommend that you bring a dog over 25 lbs. & no more than one dog/cat per household. Just like the military limits the size of families allowed to station in Japan, I say the same applies to pets.

If you are going to bring your pet, be sure to bring to the kennel a water bowl/bottle, food bowl, small bed pad, treats (to coax them back into the "cage"), a crate fan that runs on batteries, a harness & leash, extra bag of food (or place order 1-2 weeks to be shipped to your FPO address before you get here), & any medication refills (because they don't carry everything, just the most common). You can purchase Greenies at the vet next door to the kennel.

If you must have a pet, but aren't sure about bringing yours with you, P.A.W.S. here on base has many pets that have been left behind that need homes. Taking a pet back to the States is easier & cheaper than bringing one over to Japan.

We would never be able to leave our "dog child" behind, especially for 3 years. We would do it again. But be sure you know your limits & your capabilities before you book your pet on the next flight over. Housing is hard even without a pet. Base housing is smaller than those places back in the states, and smaller in town.

I hope this helped. If you have any questions about this post or the importation process be sure to ask. Though our pet skipped quarantine our friend's 2 poodles did not.

things have certainly devloved since we were there in 2000 then . we did NOT have the same experience you did at all.

We were up against similiar obstacles bringing our 2 dogs to the UK. We probably didn't have as bad of time finding housing, but in quarantine they weren't allowed out of their kennels. They were just there 3 weeks but did fine. We got no pet TLF either, and we paid TONS more than you did. We managed alright.

However, I sure as heck hope we don't get Japan cause I do think it would be hard and expensive to bring them.

There's not a huge chance we would go to Japan and if we did it would be Okinawa. Oh well, still hoping we don't mostly for the pet reason! Otherwise I'd LOVE to.

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Your pet is not allowed in the Navy Lodge...period! That is a universal Navy Lodge policy in which excuses range from flea infestations to allergic reactions, etc. We knew this so we had made the appropriate appointments for the kennel on base. You will have to put your pet in the Kennel because town is really no different & hard to find. (There are some doggy hotels through the military that are way up by the airport).

Is the difficulty from Japan laws or US military? What a nightmare and expense!
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This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mitchless,

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Originally posted by Mitchless:

quote:

Your pet is not allowed in the Navy Lodge...period! That is a universal Navy Lodge policy in which excuses range from flea infestations to allergic reactions, etc. We knew this so we had made the appropriate appointments for the kennel on base. You will have to put your pet in the Kennel because town is really no different & hard to find. (There are some doggy hotels through the military that are way up by the airport).

Is the difficulty from Japan laws or US military? What a nightmare and expense!

It is no different than a hotel or motel in the US with no pets policies. The DHL here at Yongsan has the same policy. The sad fact is that most MM's, let alone US dog owners (in general) don't ensure that their pets meet the etiquette standards that make dogs welcome in most European countries.

Also, people just don't stop to think that a lot of AP isn't "with the times" when it comes to how they treat their pets and there is even more disparity in how large dogs are perceived vs small ones. I'm currently in Seoul. On the economy, there are no dog parks, boarding kennels (like we normally think about), or training classes. There is one place that offers a boarded training experience, if you are willing to leave your dog in their care for 4-6 weeks and they have a 70's-esque outlook on training methods. A lot of the vets do boarding, but it is like what the OP listed.

As to the OP's other comments about pets not being allowed into any facility on base. Guess what...they aren't allowed into those same places when they are in the US either. Pets have no place in the PX, gyms, ect. My guess is that pets aren't allowed in the high-rise there for the same reasons they aren't allowed over here; people being too lazy to clean up after and train their pets.

Advising people to make sure their pets are UTD with a Bordatella shot is good, but everyone should also be aware that it doesn't cover all strains of Kennel Cough. The strains prevalent in Japan or Korea could be mutated or completely different than those going around in North America or Europe.

Basically, you can partially blame those that have come before you and do your best to be a positive example while you are there.

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Originally posted by xpaxk:



Your pet is not allowed in the Navy Lodge...period! That is a universal Navy Lodge policy in which excuses range from flea infestations to allergic reactions, etc.

Actually Navy Lodge is allowing pets BUT there is a limit to how many are allowed in the Lodging at the time and there is restrictions on rooms.

Yes the quarantine rules and everything else are horrible to people who are coming from out of the country it isn't the only place you will have to go through it. Japan has never had Rabies and doesn't want it. Then there is Hawaii and Singapore where it happens as well. Harsher rules and regulations are in Australia.

Unfortunately, Navywifeinparadise's response is incorrect. If you look at the following from the Navy Lodge page on Facebook (Navy Lodge on Facebook) it clearly states that although many Lodges are starting to accommodate pets, Yokosuka is specifically mentioned as not among them. We're approaching our move date to Yokosuka in the next few weeks, and it doesn't look good for finding pet-friendly housing on- or off-base unfortunately.

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Originally posted by sdrum:
Unfortunately, Navywifeinparadise's response is incorrect. If you look at the following from the Navy Lodge page on Facebook (Navy Lodge on Facebook) it clearly states that although many Lodges are starting to accommodate pets, Yokosuka is specifically mentioned as not among them. We're approaching our move date to Yokosuka in the next few weeks, and it doesn't look good for finding pet-friendly housing on- or off-base unfortunately.

What I said was that the Navy Lodge not allowing pets Universal was not correct. It didn't mean that the one in Yokosuka was, it meant that SOME were allowing pets to be there. As your pet in Japan has to be in quarantine first it wouldn't be possible.

Sorry to come across as being critical, but with the topic being about Yokosuka I wanted to point out the clarification specifically about that Lodge.

Also, clarity about my other comment is that my wife and I are seeking (so far without success) temporary on- or off-base lodging where our 2 cats can stay with us till we get permanent housing assigned or we rent off-base. The kennel just doesn't sound like an option based on the poor experiences of others.

then board your pets here and fly them out once you have housing if you are unwilling to use the on base facility.

We personally had no issues with boarding our ctas there. .