Rooms rates at Yokota Air Base's Kanto Lodge, seen here Oct. 7, 2025, rose nearly 75% after per diem rates were increased Oct. 1. (Marc Castaneda/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Defense Department travelers headed to two air bases in Japan will find significantly higher lodging expenses thanks to changes in per diem rates, according to recent Air Force memos.
Effective Oct. 1, the standard room for visitors at the Kanto Lodge at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo rose nearly 75%, from $98 to $171, according to a Department of the Air Force memorandum signed Sept. 29 by David Marzo, deputy assistant secretary for cost and economics.
Standard rooms at the Misawa Inn at Misawa Air Base in northeastern Japan also rose from $104 to $171, a 64% increase, according to the same memo.
The rates are authorized through the 2026 fiscal year, but are “subject to change at any time,” according to Cleto Manzano, guest services manager for the Kanto Lodge.
“We do apologize for the sudden change of the room rates,” he said by email Tuesday. Rates are non-negotiable, but the lodge is “not involved in any way with the establishment of room rates,” he said.
The increased charges stem from changes in per diem rates for service members and DOD employees traveling to Japan, according to Marzo’s memorandum.
The Defense Travel Management Office on Sept. 25 raised the maximum per diem rates for lodging at more than a dozen locations in Japan to $218, effective Oct. 1.
Room rates at Air Force lodges are “market driven within per diem levels for all room types at all locations, and structured to include installation operating costs, centralized costs, and recapitalization requirements,” according to an Aug. 28 memorandum from Marzo.
The same $218 rate also applies at Sasebo Naval Base in western Kyushu, where the Navy Lodge on Tuesday was still offering rooms starting at $91, according to the Navy Lodge website.
Misawa’s per diem rate for lodging increased from $115 in May to $226 in June before leveling out to $218 in September, according to the Defense Travel Management Office website.
Per diem rates at Naval Air Facility Atsugi and U.S. Army Camp Zama – installations about 20 miles southwest of Tokyo – rose from $118 to $218, according to the Defense Travel Management Office.
Atsugi’s Navy Gateway Inn and Suites was still offering rooms Tuesday starting at $95; rooms at Camp Zama Lodging started at $118, according to their reception desks.
Spokespeople for the Air Force’s Services Operations Division and the Secretary of the Air Force’s Financial Management and Comptroller did not respond to email requests for comment after hours on Monday and Tuesday.
