Fleet Activities Yokosuka

Welcome to Yokosuka, where you'll work a schedule that makes Norfolk look like shore duty and have access to the greatest city on Earth during the four days a year you're not underway. The base is walking distance to a town that has better American food than most of America — the Honch (Blue Street) has burgers, bars, and karaoke joints that have been separating sailors from their yen since before your parents met — which is both wonderful and insulting. You'll learn just enough Japanese to order ramen and apologize, which covers about 90% of your interactions and 100% of your survival needs. Tokyo is 90 minutes by train, and Shibuya on a Friday night will make every American city feel like a simulation running on low settings. The Yokosuka curry is famous — the Navy literally has a curry recipe competition with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, and yes, it's the most wholesome thing the 7th Fleet has ever done. The shipyard never sleeps, the ops tempo is relentless, and the carrier air wing schedule means your spouse has accepted that 'home by dinner' is a theoretical concept. But the izakayas at midnight, the cherry blossoms in April, and the way the whole bay lights up at sunset — Yokosuka ruins you for every duty station after it, and every sailor who's been here knows exactly what I mean.