YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The new USO lounge might look like your parents’ living room — if your parents’ living room was wired for Wi-Fi and full of sailors.

Yokosuka’s USO Service Center opened Friday in the former Liberty Loft on the third floor of Yokosuka’s Alliance Club.

The 2,000-square-foot facility now has a theater-style gaming and relaxation area, 10 computers, massage chairs, a music room and a living room — complete with art on the walls and an electric fireplace.

"It’s for when you take time to settle down and let someone take care of you like Mom and Dad would," said Rear Adm. James Kelly in his opening remarks.

A couple of sailors sank into the overstuffed recliners to take in the NBA Eastern Conference playoff game on the wide-screen TV.

Kitty Hawk Strike Group Command Master Chief William "Terry" Etherton checked his e-mail on a computer.

A number of volunteers who assembled the furniture accepted plaques and handshakes.

The $75,000 project was two years in the making and "a long-awaited milestone," said director of USO Japan Juliet Bucayu-Domingo.

Though the USO already has two centers in Sasebo and one in Camp Fuji, they set their sights on Yokosuka as the largest overseas Navy base, she said.

Sasebo’s USO sees up to 4,000 visitors a month, Bucayu-Domingo said.

In Yokosuka, with the sheer size of the population, we think we’re going to get between 4,000 and 6,000 visits."

Moreover, the new center — along with a new country office in Yokosuka — "solidifies" the private, nonprofit organization’s Japan presence, Bucayu-Domingo said.

"We’re centrally located and plan to do more outreach at the other bases like Yokota, Zama and Atsugi," Bucayu-Domingo said.

But setting up USO in Yokosuka wasn’t easy, Kelly said, as there was "unbelievable resistance" at first and competitive anxiety about providing similar services for the same population. Currently, Yokosuka offers a number of perks to sailors, including the Single Sailors Spectrum Lounge and free base Internet "hot spots."

"It was absurd. I think people were looking at it like a rice bowl, worried that there was going to be competition between MWR, CFAY and USO," Kelly said. "But what’s the matter with that kind of competition?"

A USO devotee at his former duty station of Sasebo, Chief Petty Officer Harold Gibbs wondered why Yokosuka didn’t have one, he said.

"It didn’t make sense," Gibbs said. But now that Yokosuka’s is open for business, Gibbs plans to volunteer as well as try out the "United Through Reading" rooms to read to his two daughters in the States.

"It’s phenomenal how much I miss them," Gibbs said.

Keeping families and friends connected is one of USO’s goals, as well as providing a "safe haven" and relaxation for servicemembers, Bucayu-Domingo said.

"We’re a home away from home," she said.

The USO center is open to active-duty servicemembers and families. Hours of operation are 2 to 10 p.m., with future extended hours on the weekends, Bucayu-Domingo said.