We are in the midst of PCSing to Yokota AB, Japan. Among the stress of an OCONUS move, one of the most stressful things has been making sure I have done everything right to get my dog, Murphy there! I am hoping to make a series of posts about the entire PCS process, but for now, I am starting with that I what I thought was the most important thing to get settled–getting Murphy there! 😬
There are a LOT of resources, information, and opinions available about PCSing your animal to Japan, so I am going to attempt to create a blanket resource here in this post. I will try to cover every question that went through my mind when going through this process and what I found out, hopefully to save you some leg work. PLEASE NOTE we are still going through the process, so I will update the post with any changes as we go. Please also check the USDA APHIS guide I linked to below often, to make sure you are completing the right steps. Requirements can change.
What are the general steps and timeline?
My first question was: where in the world do I even start?! To spare you a giant block of text you have to read through, here is an infographic I made that you can screenshot and keep on your phone for reference. For more details, read through the entire post.
Where can I find reputable information about how to PCS with my animal?
After I had already done the rabies rounds and FAVN blood draw, I took Murphy to the on-base vet while visiting my parents in Fort Bliss, TX. I did this because 1) she was out of her monthly preventative meds and 2) I wanted to check that everything my local vet and I had done was good-to-go (we didn’t have access to a military vet on our small base). The vet referred me to the USDA APHIS website, and said to always check there first for any information and PCSing an animal to any country. It is really thorough, and you can check just about any country. Lucky for me, he confirmed we had done everything correctly.
USDA importing your pet to Japan
Now, there are a slew of other resources that I will link to below, but the military vet I saw referred me to the above website, so that is what I trust (it was even written on a posterboard when you walked into the vet office).
Click here for the Yokota Newcomers Guide (another place where I gathered most of this info)
Click here for the AMC Flight pet Restrictions (rules about the rotator)
Click here to see the Military Installations DoD Webpage of information about PCSing your pet to Japan (this is a good one too!)
Click here for a facebook group of folks who have done this or are going to, where you can ask questions and generally get a pretty quick response
Click here for the Seattle AMC terminal facebook page
Click here to see an English PDF from the Japanese Animal Quarantine website about the importing process.
Click here to read a short Yokota AB news article about some basic rules regarding moving to Japan with your pet.
Do I have to quarantine my animal?
I heard all sorts of random things from random sources about animal quarantine in Japan. Everything from “won’t your dog have to be quarantined for like a year” to “I heard they euthanize dogs on the spot if they don’t have all their paperwork done correctly.” Terrifying, I know. But, don’t listen to any of that.
Guys. The island currently does not have rabies. This is why you have to take care to vaccinate and then check your pet before importing them to Japan (seems fair enough to me). If you follow all of the steps for importing your pet, there is a 180 day waiting period (roughly 6 months) after the blood draw. So, if you show up to Japan before that waiting period is up, you will quarantine your animal for the remainder of the days. I.E. if you did the blood draw 4 months before you left, your pet would have two months of quarantine left. Lucky for you, if you live in a pet friendly home/apartment on base, you can quarantine you animal in the comfort of your home. This is why it pays to be obsessed with your animal and prioritize this stuff. 😬
I did read that you need to visit the base vet within 72 hours of arriving to register your pet and show your paperwork, and of course can’t find where I read that. It may not be within 72 hours ( I will keep looking for the source), but you do need to register your pet at the vet as quickly as you can when you arrive.
How much is this going to cost me?
So, this is going to depend on what your vet charges you for vaccines and the blood draw, how many visits you make, if you pet gets a spot on the rotator, and more. My vet only charged what the state department charged them for the blood draw, but obviously I had to pay my checkup fee and then the rabies vaccines. If you can, taking your animal to a military vet is great because they are usually not for profit and therefore a little less expensive. Plus, they have experience with the process and can answer questions confidently. The cost to put your pet in cargo is a minimum of $125, and goes up as they weigh more. Call the passenger terminal for an exact number.
You’ll need to also pay for your pets travel kennel, TLF which is an extra $10/day for pets or boarding is $18/day for one dog if you do not get pet friendly TLF.
How to book your pet travel
This is actually one of the most important steps. If you are lucky, and have enough lead time before PCSing WITH orders, your life will be so much easier. I realize, that rarely happens. But, here’s what to do anyways. Now, I read on the AMC guide linked above that you do NOT need orders to book your rotator, but I have also heard that you do. We had ours, so I can only really speak to that.
There are 10 checked baggage pet slots on every rotator and 3-4 cabin spots (that can change). They fill up very fast, especially if you are in the heavy PCS time between may-august. You can book your rotator slots 90 days out. So, if your RNLT date was 10 august, you can book your tickets as early as May 10 (sometimes the 1st of the month works, doesn’t hurt to try). Now, there is a an awesome caveat you should know about. YOU DON’T HAVE TO WAIT. If you have your RNLT date, go to TMO as soon as you want (we did it in June, our RNLT is in Dec and we did have orders at this time, they asked for them). At TMO, you can fill out a one page piece of paper requesting a pet friendly flight for a certain window of days.
What will happen is that piece of paper will serve as putting a hold on a flight. So, when (either Scott or Andrews AFB, cannot remember what we were told) go to send out a list of available rotator seats, they will fill all hold requests FIRST, then see how many spots are left, and send that number out.
So, we selected a 10 day window when we would want to fly, filled out information about Murphy like her breed and weight, our info, and sent it in. We do not have to do anything else. We will hear 90 days out what rotator we were booked. How great is that? That should be around Sept 1 for us, so I will be updating this post when the time comes to let you all know whether it worked or not. I have friends that did the same thing, so I believe does!
Rules for the Rotator Flight
Again, these rules can found here from the Yokota newcomers guide.
- Your animal + kennel must not weigh over 150 lbs
- Each family is allowed 2 pets (cats or dogs) total, so regardless of whether they are in cabin or checked below cats or dogs, two total. I asked on the Yokota Pet PCS help FB page if this was a hard rule and I didn’t get very many responses. One response said that they will only book two but 15 days out you can see if there are any other spots left to add a third, and that as far as housing goes if there is an evacuation they will only help you with two pets so more is not recommended. I read here on page 22 of the housing packet that only two pets are allowed in base housing garden homes or towers. If you are married and moving to Yokota, you have to live on base unless there is nothing available within 30 days of you arriving.
- I called the Seattle AMC Passenger terminal and asked about rules for the dog crates after I initially published this post! They do not have any special restrictions as to what can go in your pets kennel. They told me whatever I felt like my dog needed, be it a towel, puppy pads, a toy, etc. I’ll be publishing a follow-up post about my recommendations in the future. Also, you need to have all of your paper work with you, they will place it in a sealed bag and attach it to your animal’s crate for you.
What do I do if I can’t get my animal on the Rotator?
Unfortunately, this is where my resources on the PCS adventure fall short. I read a number of things about what happens if you cannot get a pet slot or if your animal does not meet the rotator requirements (health issues, size, etc). I did not find a reputable answer to how much it would cost or how to do this, other than you will have to use a pet shipping service and it is going to cost you an arm and a leg or about a hefty down payment on a car. I do know that if your pet is flying into Narita international airport, there are additional steps you need to take such as an advanced notification of arrival. More on that here. If you are flying on the rotator, you get to skip the advanced notice step.
What to do when you once you book your rotator flight
That’s right, you are still not done! For an even smoother move, there are other steps you can take in advance as soon as you have your rotator tickets.
- Book a pet friendly TLF. If you wait to book TLF until you PCS and arrive, if there is no pet friendly available options you will have to board your animal at the base vet for $18 /day for one dog, $25/day for two. As soon as you have your rotator tickets and know when you are arriving, you can go ahead and call to try and reserve your TLF. I would do this at least a month out, but it can be sooner!
- Call the base vet and book an appointment. Your animal needs to be seen by the base vet within 72 hours of arriving in Japan. They have to register the pet and ensure you have all your paperwork. I would recommend calling in advance to schedule this appointment.
Final advice
First of all, thanks for reading that super long blog post. Second of all, If you have any questions about moving to Yokota or Japan, please reach out! Also, if you noticed anything that seems incorrect to you or you had a different experience, give me a holler because I would love to add your experience in! I will continue to update this as we take the steps. My advice is to stay proactive and use this checklist to make sure you have it all taken care of! My husband and I got a giant padfolio to store all of our overseas PCS paper work in–Murphy has her own neat and tidy section.
Click below to download a free checklist for all of the steps I mentioned to successfully PCS your pet to Japan!
Checklist for PCSing to Japan with your pet