Col. Richard McElhaney, 374th Airlift Wing commander, tours the reopened temporary lodging facility at Yokota Air Base, Japan, June 4, 2026. (Kayla Karelas/U.S. Air Force)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Families arriving at the home of U.S. Forces Japan once again have access to apartment-style temporary lodging following the opening of a 32-unit tower complex.
Air Force leaders, including 374th Airlift Wing commander Col. Richard McElhaney, marked the June 4 reopening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the facility in a housing area east of Yokota’s runway.
The facility, in Building 4304, opened in conjunction with a new fitness annex in a ground-floor space vacated by the Yokota Aero Club.
“It’s a huge enhancement to our community to be able to have a TLF,” McElhaney told those gathered for the ceremony. “We can put the family in one family unit instead of having two different rooms … you have your pets, your children, and all that stuff all together.”
Leaders of the 374th Airlift Wing tour the reopened temporary lodging facility at Yokota Air Base, Japan, June 4, 2026. (Kayla Karelas/U.S. Air Force)
Col. Richard McElhaney, 374th Airlift Wing commander, left, and his deputy, Col. Donavan Laskey, tour the reopened temporary lodging facility at Yokota Air Base, Japan, June 4, 2026. (Kayla Karelas/U.S. Air Force)
The tower will accommodate visitors as well as service members and civilian workers coming to the base for tours of duty.
McElhaney said the apartment-style accommodations complement the 126 units already available at the Kanto Lodge, Yokota’s on-base hotel.
The base shuttered its previous east-side temporary lodging facility in February 2024. It featured three-bedroom units that could accommodate up to six people.
At the time, officials said some Kanto Lodge rooms would be converted to temporary lodging and pet-friendly accommodations.
McElhaney, who previously served at Yokota before returning as wing commander, recalled staying in temporary lodging with his family before departing the base in 2019.
As part of the new arrangement, Kanto Lodge staff will drive arriving families to the east-side apartments, he said.
The Kanto Lodge charges $98 a night for single or family rooms, according to the 374th Force Support Squadron website.
