Our Adventures in Atsugi Japan

So when you first get to NAF Atsugi you will be walking everywhere. Although the base is small and most things are centrally located to the lodge you will see that things will take a lot longer to accomplish due to walking (especially if you have more than one child). Food shopping will seem like an impossible task and you might find yourself going to the commissary multiple times a week or even a day. However you will get a good workout in. I have a Fitbit and in a single day I went from the lodge to the CDC, to Fleet and Family for our AOB/ICR, to the school (near the CDC) back to fleet and family, back to CDC, to the commissary and then back to the lodge and I had over my 10,000 steps for the day and that was with me sitting in a class all day.  I personally do not mind the walking but if you do this might be a bit difficult for you so you might want to take people who offer you a ride up on their offer. So if what I stated above dose scare you then you are in luck this sce...

So when you first get to Japan everything is very overwhelming and scary mostly because it is something new. If you are like us and get here at night then you do not get to really see what anything looks like so venturing off base could be a bit scary. I am here to say do not worry once you get here you are required to go through and AOB/ICR (Area Orientation Brief/Intercultural Relations) which will fully prepare you for going out in town which will be one the 3rd day of your AOB/ICR.  On the 2nd day of our ICR they will show you how to use the trains as well as give some recommendations on where to visit fully preparing you for your 3rd day which is your "field trip."  On this field trip you will be taken on a bus to the train station Sagami-Ōtsuka Station.   Once you are at the station you will be  shown how to get a pasmo card which is a prepaid card you can use instead of getting a ticket every time you use the train or bus. The pasmo card can also be use...

 We made it!! The journey to Atsugi was long and exhausting so if you are going to make the journey ba aware. We started out fine making it from Indianapolis to Dallas without a problem but Dallas is where it all started to go down hill. We thought we had an hour layover in Dallas but by time we landed and got off the plane we had 20 minutes. If you have ever been to Dallas before then you know 20 minutes is not enough time which lead to us pretty much running to the next gate with a 3 year old who had been up since 1:00am so we ended up dragging her  through the airport but we made it and made it to Seattle with no additional complications.  So we spent the night in the Radisson which is right across the street from the airport. Due to the AMC terminal being at Seattle Airport it is very popular for military to stay at. The hotel itself is very nice for an airport hotel however I would not recommend eating it the hotel restaurant it was overpriced as are many hote...