One Family.
One Giant Leap.

Who We Are

The Emmer Family

Megan is active duty Navy — the reason we move, the reason we stay, and honestly the reason any of this works. Jason is the military spouse keeping the household running, the kids on schedule, the dog calm, and apparently now also running a blog about all of it.

John and Kate are along for the ride whether they asked for it or not. John is deep in baseball season and has already put in a formal request to find good ramen and sushi. Kate is still deciding how she feels about Japan and has opinions about everything. Charley — our Labradoodle — is still working through her overseas vet screening, which turns out to be one of the more involved parts of the whole move.

The Move

Jacksonville Was Never Home

We arrived in Jacksonville knowing it was temporary — a one-year tour before the big one. And that's okay. Some duty stations you put down roots. Some you use to get ready for what's next. Jacksonville was the latter, and it treated us well.

Now we're heading to United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka — the largest US naval installation in the Western Pacific. It sits about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Tokyo in Kanagawa Prefecture. It's busy, storied, and nothing like anything we've done before. That's kind of the point.

The logistics alone are staggering: overseas medical and dental screenings, Charley's ongoing overseas vet screening (still in progress), unaccompanied baggage, household goods shipment, enrolling the kids in school on base, navigating base housing — all while Megan is still actively doing her job. We're documenting every step of it.

Why Japan

The Language, The Culture, The Food

Let's be honest — Japan is intimidating. We don't speak Japanese. We've never lived abroad. The cultural gap between a Navy base in Florida and a city 30 miles from Tokyo is about as wide as gaps get. And that's exactly why we're excited.

We want to learn the language — at least enough to order food, ask for directions, and not accidentally offend anyone. We're also quietly coming to terms with the fact that Florida State football games kick off at 3:30am Yokosuka time. Jason is choosing to see this as dedication rather than a problem. We want to understand the culture, not just observe it. And the food — Japanese cuisine is something we've experienced glimpses of here in the States, and we already know those glimpses are just the surface. We're ready to go deep.

The plan isn't to live on base and occasionally venture out. The plan is to actually live there — explore the temples and train lines, find the local spots, eat things we can't pronounce, and catch a Yokohama DeNA BayStars game at Yokohama Stadium (John is already interested). Japanese baseball culture is something else entirely, and we can't wait to experience it. The goal is to let Japan change us a little.

For Military Families

We're Documenting This So You Don't Have To Start From Scratch

PCS moves are hard. OCONUS moves are harder. Overseas moves with kids, a dog, and a household full of stuff are a category of their own. We've spent hours digging through outdated forum posts, conflicting official guidance, and word-of-mouth advice that may or may not still be accurate.

If you're a military family heading to Yokosuka — or even just considering it — we want this site to be a real resource. The timeline, the screening process, the BAH reference, the honest posts about what the process actually looks like. Not the sanitized version. The actual version.

We're not experts. We're just one family doing it in real time and writing it all down.

The Blog

What You'll Find Here

The Journal is where the real writing lives — honest dispatches from the PCS process, life in Jacksonville before we leave, and eventually life in Japan once we arrive. No polished highlight reel. Just what's actually happening.

The Videos section connects to our YouTube channel, where we're documenting the journey on camera — travel, food, base life, and everything in between.

The Timeline tracks every milestone from orders to arrival, so you can see exactly where we are in the process — and use it as a reference if you're planning your own move.

Subscribe to the newsletter if you want new posts in your inbox. We write when something worth writing about happens — which, during a PCS to Japan, turns out to be pretty often.