I Need Help, Moving to Atsugi Japan, in About 6 Months!

Hi, I'm sorry but I don't know much about Atsugi, per say, but here is the weather for Atsugi, so perhaps this may help you decide what the pack?

http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/47679.html

I used to live in Hiroshima, Japan, before kids. (I have two kids and two dogs as well.) From my understanding, most people rent condos or apartments and not homes in Hiroshima. It also depends on how "urban" the particular area is in Atsugi.

I looked on line and they have a Naval Base there so perhaps you'll find more 'westernized' things there? When do you leave? One thing I'd recommend bringing is WARM CLOTHES! If you are not the size of a typical Japanese person, then I'd recommend bringing warm clothes for yourself because it was hard to find "western sizes" in clothes in Hiroshima.

Why are you moving there? Company? Job? Navy? If so, perhaps there's someone or some resource from there that you can access? Also, shoes are hard to find in larger sizes. They did have a GAP and H&M in Hiroshima. They also had a store called Uniqlo that was like Old Navy that carried larger sizes in warm clothes.

I used to live in an apartment, but it was 3 bedrooms (3LDK as it was called; "living, dining and kitchen" -- 3 was the number of bedrooms.) SUPER small if you ask me, maybe about 1,000 square feet but for Japanese standards, it was big. It was more like a "mini house" but it was in a high rise apartment building. Finding somewhere that's suitable for your dogs as well might pose a challenge. It also depends on how big your dogs are.

Try this website:
http://www.repropertymanagement.com/JP/x/Atsugi.aspx

or this one:

http://www.e-houses-for-rent.com/JP/x/Atsugi.aspx

How old are your kids? Will they be going to school there as well? Japan can be a very exciting place, but it may help to buy some books on "common kanji" or "intro to speaking Japanese" as well. Most big cities have some people that speak English but as you get further in the rural areas, it gets harder to find English speaking people.

Best of luck to you and your family.

We lived out in town all 3 times we lived in Japan. How we did it:

Move into the Navy Lodge. Start househunting. (MWR & Navy Wives Club & Officers Wives Club all 3 had people to help with that - aka listings, tips, train routes, etc.) Rent a house. Move out of the Navy Lodge.

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Most living in Japan is apartments and condos, land is just not available for so many. Granted, I lived in Okinawa, not main land, but from what I saw when visiting mainland it is even worse there. We could not find anything with a yard or the like until we moved into base housing, but you do not say if you are military. If you are, you should have a sponsor to help you who is already there, and you can also talk to relocation assistance. If not, try to find one of the rental agencies there, there were a lot in Okinawa and they worked just like realitors here.

I think a lot of living in Japan is done in condo's and apartments...because land is so unbelievable expensive there....in fact I think land is "leased' not rented...even for house lots...weird but that is what I have heard.
Who are you going over to Japan with? Military? Civilian company? Either way, there should be a "host family" assigned to you that you can ask these types of questions of. A family there that would have first hand knowledge of the living quarters that are available there in the city.

I just found this site online...sounds like the gal who answered this question has some good first hand information granted the answer on Yahoo answers is a little outdated but maybe the websites are still applicable.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=2009062716184...