Navy opens youth center in Japan as $500 million improvement program advances

IKEGO HILLS FAMILY HOUSING AREA, Japan — The Navy opened a new youth center at this housing annex this week, completing one piece of a roughly $500 million construction project that is reshaping facilities used by military families around Yokosuka Naval Base.

The two-story, 23,000-square-foot Ikego Youth Programs building includes a School Age Care Center, Teen Center, indoor basketball court, music room, kitchen, laundry facilities, offices and other multipurpose spaces. It can accommodate about 150 people.

Base spokesman Justin Keller said Monday he could not immediately provide construction costs.

Ikego Hills is in Zushi, a little less than 5 miles from Yokosuka’s main gate.

Base commander Capt. Jonathan Hopkins joined employees and visitors for a tour following Monday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“You made this a special spot,” he told the staff after the tour. “The building itself can’t do anything without the people, and the people and the connections are what make our youth remember Yokosuka and Ikego fondly.”

Lt. Cmdr. Jesse Crider, director of port operations for Yokosuka Naval Base, checks out a music room in the new youth center at Ikego Hills Family Housing Area, Japan, Aug. 10, 2026. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)

One of the new building’s multipurpose rooms is larger than the former spaces used by the School Age Care and Teen centers, said Debra Fuselier, director of Yokosuka’s Child and Youth programs.

“I’m excited for the space,” she said after the tour. “I’m excited for the teens to have their dedicated space where they can enjoy and relax after school.”

Trischa Sanders, youth director for Ikego’s Youth Programs, highlighted the facility’s 4-H kitchen, which includes stoves, food processors and other equipment.

“We’re looking into them actually creating meals and learning those life skills for cooking,” she said.

Construction on the broader program began in July 2023 under the Facilities Adjustment Panel-Kanagawa initiative, a roughly $500 million effort between the Navy and Japanese government.

Trischa Sanders, youth director for Ikego Youth Programs, and Capt. Jonathan Hopkins, commander of Yokosuka Naval Base, cut the ribbon on a new, two-story youth center at Ikego Hills Family Housing Area, Japan, Aug. 10, 2026. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)

The projects are tied to the return of the former Naval Housing Annex Negishi to Japan and include new or replacement facilities at Yokosuka and Ikego.

At Ikego, additional work includes a new fire station, facilities for school buses and a multipurpose community support center with an indoor pool, fitness space and a Child Development Center.

The Navy is also renovating 356 family housing units at Ikego under a separate five-phase, $220 million revitalization effort expected to run through next year.

Hopkins said the remaining projects will take several more years to finish.

“We would love to get done faster, but it’s just the speed at which we can get it done and done right,” he said. “But it’ll be at completion a big draw for coming out here.”

Capt. Jonathan Hopkins, left, commander of Yokosuka Naval Base, and Lt. Cmdr. Jesse Crider, director of port operations, discuss a new youth center with Trischa Sanders, youth director for Ikego Youth Programs, Aug. 10, 2026. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)