Surprise, surprise. I never saw this coming but this year I will be packing up the house and going to Japan for a short temporary “vacation”. More specifically to an island off of Japan. I am a little bummed about not going to be on mainland Japan as Tokyo has always been a dream of mine. However, the good news is Tokyo is only about an hour and half flight away, and only $40. But still, I would much rather live out my Tokyo Drift dream. I will be looking for an international agency over there though to continue acting and modeling. I have found a few so far but am still weighing the pros and cons of each agency I have found. I honestly do not mind though if I have to fly to Tokyo often for this type of work since the flight is only an hour and a half or so. It is basically the same as driving to LA, California USA if not shorter in the end.
Aside from that though, I am pretty excited. You see originally, I was planning on staying in SoCal for good. But that changed for due to work reason. I may be in Japan for like a year or so before I am back in California.
On the bright side I will say the island is home to whale sharks which I am stoked about. You can free dive, and scuba dive there without certifications, or you can get certifications that are insanely cheap (around $200 USD). Price of living there isn’t too bad either. 1 yen is .0093 USD currently. Also can we talk about race cars, like hello! Also fun fact – Okinawan’s diets consist of mainly vegetables, soy, seafood, and sweet potatoes….that is what we mainly eat now plus fruits.
It will be interesting, after all I did study Chinese and the Chinese culture for over 9 years. I know some Japanese and am looking forward to learning more, and the difference between Japanese and Chinese. Both places use some of the same characters but are pronounced completely different. For example, from above, 日本 is Ri Ben in Chinese meaning Japan, where as in Japanese it is Ni Hon but still has the same meaning “Japan”.
If you end up being stationed over there with the military here is a general break down of OHA (aka BAH)/COOLA/Utilities etc. The Move-in-Housing Allowance is a one-time payment to those who will reside off base. However, keep in mind it is MANDATORY to live on base unless there is no housing available.
E-1 to E-5 w/ dependents:
| OHA Rental Allowance | 185000 JAPANESE YEN | $ 1795.77 |
| Utility/Recurring Maintenance Allowance | 78748 JAPANESE YEN | $ 764.40 |
| Move-In-Housing Allowance (MIHA) | 45735 JAPANESE YEN | $ 443.94 |
E-6 to E-8 w/ dependents:
| OHA Rental Allowance | 230000 JAPANESE YEN | $ 2232.58 |
| Utility/Recurring Maintenance Allowance | 78748 JAPANESE YEN | $ 764.40 |
| Move-In-Housing Allowance (MIHA) | 45735 JAPANESE YEN | $ 443.94 |
E-9 w/ dependents:
| OHA Rental Allowance | 260000 JAPANESE YEN | $ 2523.78 |
| Utility/Recurring Maintenance Allowance | 78748 JAPANESE YEN | $ 764.40 |
| Move-In-Housing Allowance (MIHA) | 45735 JAPANESE YEN | $ 443.94 |
Then you receive an additional payment to your basic pay called COOLA, on average, this amount ranges from anywhere to $500-$900 USD monthly. It all depends on how much the yen is currently worth due to cost of living. Also it of course goes off by rank and the number of dependents the service member has.
Do not forget if you have a cat or dog you wish to take with you Japan does require a minimum of 180 days of quarantine. You can find more information about the animal quarantine here.
