I'm transferring over to Sasebo for the Navy. What is the general atmosphere, go-to locations, and need to knows?

CPO Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 14:35:15 -0400

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 1 at 2016 2:48 PM

SCPO Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 14:48:07 -0400

Sasebo is a small quiet town. The whole island of Kyushu is rather rural. The LHD that is home-ported there is the largest command, almost half the navy population.

Fukuoka is the city you will fly into, then take a bus to Sasebo. Its one of the largest cities in Japan with plenty of big city stuff to do, and it's only about an 1 1/2 hour drive from Sasebo. Nagasaki is another nice city to visit, which a must see there is the peace park where they dropped the atomic bomb. If you're a beach person there are a lot of beaches dotted around the coast of the island

Edit: I was going to add that it's nice when the LHD (Bonehomme Richard?) isn't in port, since there are a lot less liberty incidents and shore patrol isn't usually as strict, but I see you're a 48 tech so I guess that's where you're headed.

Response by CPO Greg Frazho made Nov 1 at 2016 8:49 PM

CPO Greg Frazho — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 20:49:58 -0400

It's very humid in the summer, fairly chilly in the winter, but nothing you can't handle. If you have a family, you'll probably end up in Hario Village which is 17 klicks from Fleet Activities Sasebo, the main hub and the homeport of the gator freightors. When they're deployed, as Chief Turcotte mentions below, things are pretty quiet. Hell, they're pretty quiet even when the ARG (or whatever they're called now) isn't deployed.

Fukuoka is the place to spend quality liberty. I believe it's the fourth-largest city in Japan and the biggest on Kyushu. Canal City is a big mall up there, Hakata station is the train station up there and Oyofuka-dori Street is the main nightlife destination for people who come up from Sasebo, down from Iwakuni and occasionally as a port of call from 7th Fleet AO. There are karaoke boxes and bars all over the place, Sasebo as well as Fukuoka, and the drinks are fairly inexpensive, depending on what the exchange rate is vis-a-vis the yen. (Happy Cock, Crazy Cock, Red Devil, Funky Cafe, Off Broadway and the Dark Room, which is an after-hours joint, are the places of choice and they're apparently all still in business. Half the fun is finding those places; the other half is pacing yourself so you still have something left in the tank to stagger to your hotel room or get in the car and drive back to Sasebo.)

Be careful not to get into motor vehicle accidents and beware of very strict liberty policies, especially after liberty incidents, that are put down by CNFJ. When I was there, one Sailor off one of the visiting destroyers got drunk and tried slashing a Japanese girl's throat with a knife. It created a major incident and the CO had to discuss it with the prime minister of Japan at the time, if that tells you anything. Japanese people are very polite and traditional, but they expect Americans to be professional drivers. If you get into a wreck, even a minor one, stand by for heavy rolls.

If Huis Ten Bosch is still there, it's a good place to take the family, especially since it's right next to Hario Village. But that's a one and done kind of place as I remember it. There's the Saikai Friendship Festival every summer which is pretty cool and MWR usually gets some decent acts into the mix every year. There's also Ton Ten Ton, a very dangerous but very traditional Japanese tradition that has to be seen to be believed. They've also got baseball and sumo wrestling in Fukuoka as well as concerts once in a while. I saw Metallica at the Sun Palace in Fukuoka in May, 1998, literally days before I PCSed back to the States. Good stuff that.

If Skinny's is still in business in downtown Sasebo, he and his brother, who has a place right across the way, make really good sandwiches and they taste really good, especially after a night out in town. Watch out for the snake venom in the drinks in the places off kung-fu alley and always be aware of the rice wine (sake) which is some potent shit. As far as Japanese beer goes, Sapporo is a lot better than Kirin or Asahi, although I'd probably take Asahi over Kirin if I had to. If you've got a family, this set of orders is probably tailor made for you, brother. If you're single, you're going to be bored when you're not at sea or off-duty. You can turn into one of three things, as with most island tours: 1.) A student. 2.) A workout fiend 3.) A raging partier. You make the call.

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 2 at 2016 8:36 AM

PO1 Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 08:36:34 -0400

Don't drink and drive down the opposite side of the highway....just sayin'.

Response by LCDR Doug Nordman made Nov 8 at 2016 5:25 AM

LCDR Doug Nordman — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 05:25:30 -0500

For personal finance questions, please visit my shipmate Norm Okada over at the Fleet & Family Service Center. He's an Accredited Financial Counselor who handles the base's financial literacy programs. He's also running the Facebook group "Sasebo Investors Club".

He's lived in Sasebo for well over a decade and he's raising his family there, so he'll be able to help you with the "need to know" and "where to go" questions.

Response by SCPO David Tiensvold made Nov 8 at 2016 10:27 AM

SCPO David Tiensvold — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 10:27:44 -0500

I have not lived in Sasebo (Sasavegas) since 1998, but when I was there the places we went were; Fukuoka for concerts, shopping, sumo wrestling and night life, Nagasaki for the obvious history of that city, BioPark is an interactive zoo not far from Sasebo, The Steak Salon has the best food in Sasebo, Mama’s Chicken is the best food on your way home from clubbing, there is a water park, Ginza for shopping, and a hydrofoil or speed-ferry that will take you to Korea for shopping. American Baseball and Football were huge when I lived there so we would go watch a lot of games. When I lived there if you rented a car all your tolls were free, and that could equal hundreds of dollars if you were to drive to Tokyo.

Response by CPO Greg Frazho made Nov 9 at 2016 1:53 PM

CPO Greg Frazho — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 13:53:48 -0500

Update: there was a massive sinkhole near the train station in Fukuoka earlier today, brother. Be careful when you're there.

Response by PO3 Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 13 at 2017 12:22 AM

PO3 Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 00:22:22 -0500

Rah-Rah Ramen and CoCo's curry are the go to food places. If you're on a minesweeper we all pretty much go to Cindy's bar for drinks