A housing tower being renovated at Yokota Air Base, Japan, should welcome its first unaccompanied airmen after November. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — The U.S. government is spending nearly a million dollars per home and $250,000 per kitchen as part of accommodation upgrades at the headquarters of U.S. Forces Japan in western Tokyo.
Japanese workers in hardhats were busy at several construction sites during a recent press tour of this airlift hub. One was a $13 million renovation for a family housing tower being converted to accommodate 140 enlisted airmen.
The tower, where troops arriving in Japan once isolated to slow the spread of COVID-19, should welcome its first unaccompanied airmen after November, 374th Civil Engineer Squadron project manager Elias Ellison said during the Feb. 5 tour.
Paine Hall, a dormitory for enlisted airmen, is getting a new kitchen, one of six being renovated in Yokota’s dormitories at a combined cost of $1.5 million to be ready for use by July, Ellison said.
The work’s high price tag is due to the U.S. government’s rigorous standards that contractors must meet, he said.
A construction worker mixes cement for a housing project at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Feb. 5, 2024. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
On the west side of Yokota Air Base Japan, 45 garden row houses for families are being renovated at a total cost of $44 million. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
On Yokota’s west side, 45 garden row houses for families are being renovated at a total cost of $44 million, Ellison said during the tour. The homes will be ready for occupants by March 2025.
“These projects underscore the wing’s dedication to providing quality housing to the Airmen and families,” base spokesman Staff Sgt. Wren Fiontar said in a Feb. 8 email.
Yokota is home to 12,000 people, including 3,700 service members, 1,700 of which are unaccompanied, he said.
The base, which manages 3,668 housing units, including 798 vacant ones, has an “on base first” policy for housing and airmen must obtain a waiver to live off base, Fiontar said.
“We do not have precise statistics on the number of Airmen living on or off-base, whether single or with families,” he said.
Some housing units are vacant due to construction, updates and the makeup of the base population, Fiontar said.
“We are experiencing a surplus in family housing and a shortage in accommodations for unaccompanied personnel,” he said.
