Well…we’ve seen a bunch since the last update. First, I have to say that taking the train is very convenient and that this picture says a lot. The trains are VERY quiet. The Japanese are very concerned about not disturbing the other passengers. So, most people are either on their phones playing quiet games or sleeping. If this really was an accurate depiction of Japanese train behavior, there would be someone passed out next to these boys. DJ has asked me how they are so good at waking up in time to get off at the right stop and well…they’re not. Many Japanese wake up several stops past theirs or better…at the end of the line. Shara and I were asked to get off a train once. We weren’t asleep, but rather, foreigners who didn’t know any better. It was pretty amusing. It was the last stop and she was already on the train. I got on and we sat down and started talking. Soon, a couple of train engineers came over and asked us to get off. It was the last stop for that train and it wasn’t going anywhere. Oops.

Anyway, DJ and I went to Yokohama, twice. We spent about twelve or so hours walking around both times. We came across a mall that blows bubbles at people as you walk in. Cute for the kids. It was pretty massive inside. The food court was huge and has a wide variety of worldly cuisines. Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese (of course) and a bunch of others. We wandered around that mall for awhile. We looked for a wine rack, but everything was waaaayyy too expensive. We also found a wine shop (yah!!) that wasn’t too expensive. Lucky for us, we drink a little bit of wine. Then as you exit the mall you can ride the ferris wheel or roller coaster. Pretty neat. But it was very cold, so we didn’t. We did, however, continue to walk around the place and found many different Starbucks. They are everywhere. It’s so crazy. Starbucks and Tully’s. Who would’ve thought? Not me! At least the coffee drinks there are listed in English. It’s hard to ask for a Mocha when no one knows what that is. We found that out the hard way at DouTour, a Japanese coffee shop. They’re everywhere too.

Then later in the week we decided to go back. We ate lunch at some restaurant above the train station. It’s in a mall of some sort. Don’t ask me the name of the place, but we had Yakiniku. They bring you plates of raw beef and you cook it on a grill that’s built into the table. I LOVE this stuff. I took DJ to a place in Yokosuka that the Americans all call Twelve Frogs, because no one really knows the name of the restaurant and there are twelve frogs smack dab in front of the entrance. I nabbed a picture of the stuff from Wikipedia. It’s so yummy. Probably not the best cuts of meat, but it’s good anyway. With it you get soup, salad, kimchi, some sort of bean sprout stuff and rice. Afterwards we stopped for tarts. The kind you eat. I know what you were thinking. They looked so good, DJ just had to get a picture. And I just have to show it to you. Yes, to make you jealous and drool. I had the mixed berry and DJ got chocolate something. They were divine. They tasted exactly like how you would imagine they would. They were also very expensive. Trips like this will eventually get us broke and me very fat. I can only hope that walking to and from the train will counteract some of this. A girl can hope, right?
Ok, so now Tokyo. Shara, DJ and I went up for a weekend. We left Friday and ended up coming back early on Saturday because DJ was a little hungover, but it was his birthday too. We stayed at a hostel in Asakusa. Pronounced “a-sock-sa.” The hostel was supposed to have sent me a map to find the place, but didn’t. I had directions from one stop, but the site said that another stop was closer so I got us off the train at the other stop. Of course then I had no idea how to get to the hotel so I stopped an old woman walking down the street. She didn’t know how to get there, but asked around. She called the hostel with my phone and when couldn’t get good directions, took us there herself. She stopped about every block or so and confirmed that she was going in the right direction. It was really sweet and she spoke a little bit of English, so on our way there she kept pointing out good places to check out, like the Sensoji (the oldest temple in Japan). We checked it out at night and then came back the next morning to see it in the daytime. The way to the temple is lined with shops called the Nakamise and on the way we stumbled across some Geisha. In the middle of the Nakamise an older gentleman came up to us and asked if he could walk around with us and practice his English. We had no problem with that and asked him all about the temple. DJ was so engrossed in conversation with the guy, that he never even noticed the Geisha. They were plugging some kind of doll. I think they were probably the models for the dolls. We walked all around Roppongi (clubbing town) later that night. We found a hooka bar that was fun and a couple of dance clubs and finally an English pub. DJ really would have been fine Saturday morning except for the smoking. Confession time? I have to admit that when I “smoke” that I’m not actually inhaling. Haha. I’ve made that mistake before. I get ultra sick the next day too. So I like the taste of the Apple, Grape or whatever kind of tobacco we have, but to inhale is too much for me. I can inhale when it’s not very strong…like at the beginning and at the end of the coal, but otherwise it just burns my throat and I cough and cough and look very stupid. So I am very lame, but whatever.

Then for Christmas Eve, DJ and I decided that our Christmas gift to each other would be the day in Tokyo again. We saw Akihabara, which is the electronic area of Tokyo. It was fun, but doesn’t excite me too much. DJ liked it a lot though. So, good for him. After that we headed to Ginza. Now Ginza was cool. It’s an amazingly large shopping district with an amazing amount of people with amazingly large bank accounts. Never have I seen so many Tiffany & Co.’s, Chanel stores, Armani, Gucci, and other places. While we were wandering around we saw about 300+ people dressed as Santa on Mopeds and Motercycle’s. It was pretty funny.
So that’s it so far. I keep updating Flickr. So there are more photos there that I didn’t post. Check them out too.

Saturday December 2nd, Shara and I went to Kamakura and Diabutsu to see the Great Buddha and later the Hase-Dera Temple. We took a TON of pictures, but I’ll just share my favorites. Anyway, we took the train to Kamakura and then hopped on the bus to go to Diabutsu. The bus lets you off and you have no idea just how close you are to the Buddha. It’s such a giant statue that you would think that it would be noticeable from the street, but it’s tucked away quietly behind a mass of trees. I have a lot of other pictures, but this one is my favorite.

The statue was cast in 1252. In 1498, a tidal wave swept the area and destroyed everything but the Buddha’s body. Then an earthquake hit the area in 1923 destroying the base, but again leaving the Buddha’s body intact. The base was repaired in 1925. The Buddha is hollow and you can go inside. For 10 yen (about a penny) you can stand in a very long line, squeeze up a very narrow staircase with people squeezing down past you to walk in a circle inside the shoulders (I think we were in the shoulders). Then you squeeze your way back down. You can feel the stone though and there is a BIG difference between the stone in the sunlight and the stone in the shade! After posing for about a hundred photos with Shara and wandering around the place for awhile we wandered down the street. We stopped at some stall and got a fried sweet potato. We had no idea what it was when we ordered it and had no idea as we were eating it, but it was quite tasty. Later at a restaurant we met up with a couple who spoke English and they explain to us what we had eaten. I guess the area is famous for their purple sweet potatoes. And believe me, it’s such a vibrant color purple, you’d think we were eating nuclear potatoes. You get the idea. We also stopped to get ice cream. Shara got a green tea flavored one and I think I had hibiscus. The flower was sitting next to the ice cream, so I can only assume. Maybe it was lavender? No idea. It was good though.

Then we ran into the Hase-Dera Temple. This is a temple with little carved Buddha’s EVERYWHERE. They are carved to honor the souls of fetuses that have died. The temple is dedicated to the eleven headed goddess Kannon. According to the pamphlet that I picked up, there is a legend attached to the Hasedera Temple. In 721, a Reverend made two statues of the eleven headed goddess from a holy camphor tree trunk. The statue made from the lower part of the tree was enshrined in Hasedera and the upper part was thrown into the sea with a prayer that it would one day reappear to save the people. Sixteen years later it washed up on shore on the Nagai beach (the one in my neighborhood) sending out rays of light as it did so. They transported it back to Kamakura and enshrined it.

I have a couple of shots that I love here. I love the prayers blowing in the wind. We had just walked up a long flight of stairs and this is what greeted us at the top. Then you continued on to the right and were able to see a lot more of the temple. I would have taken a lot more pictures, but many of the spaces are sacred. Not that the signs that said “No Pictures” stopped the Japanese from snapping photos, but I don’t want to be the ugly American. Especially in a place that sees their fair share of them. In one particular room was a turning scroll holder (or rinzo). This is where the important Buddhist sutras for the temple are kept. And it is said that by rotating the rinzo, one can earn the same merit as from reading all of the sutras. Of course I turned it. I can’t say that I felt much more knowledgeable, but hey…when in Rome.
And here’s two more pictures. Here are the two of us in front of the Temple. Shara is on the left, I am on the right and when the camera man turned around the other picture is of what we saw.

We arrived at Narita International Airport sometime around 4:30pm local time on November 3rd, 2006. Our sponsor picked us up and took us back to the base. It was a quick drive since we were lucky enough to miss traffic. Once we arrived at the base we checked into the hotel, dropped the kitties at the kennel (yes I sobbed) and got some dinner (breakfast?). It was the middle of the night for us having left from Seattle, but we ate anyway and then went to bed. When morning time came we took our time (it was Saturday) and found our way around the base. We quickly discovered that this base (Yokosuka) has a McDonald’s, Subway, two Mean Gene’s (a burger joint we were all too familiar with, thank you Rota, Spain), Dunkin‘ Donuts, A&W, Long John Silver’s, Popeye’s, Cinnabon, and they’re working on a Chili’s. Can you say mini-America?

After a couple of nights in the lodge we went to dinner at our sponsor’s place. He introduced us to his real estate agent, Fusako who let us know that she had a place in mind for us. We quickly made time to go see it and by Tuesday of that week, we had decided to take it. Then we just had to get through the AOB/ICR class. It’s basically the military’s version of orientation and culture intro. And it’s mandatory. You have to take the class to get your license, so be it. In that class I met Shara, an active duty military member who is on another ship. She’s very sweet and we’ve done some sightseeing together.

So, after the class finished and the license was gotten, we moved in. Note the picture from our balcony. We still haven’t completely finished unpacking or put everything away, but we’re getting there. I’m getting there. DJ is out on a mini-cruise, but he won’t be gone long.

There are so many things to get used to in Japan. One, the slippers. No shoes are allowed on in the house. It’s even in our lease! Two, the trash. They are waaaay into recycling here. I have a separate bag for just about everything. A bag for plastics, a bag for metal, a bag for paper, a bag for cardboard, a bag for magazines, a bag for food, a bag for Styrofoam, a bag for batteries, etc. Heated toilet seats. At first I thought that they were really strange, but now I can’t imagine how Americans can do without them. Nothing like walking into a cold bathroom to sit upon a nice warm seat. It makes the fact that they don’t have central air a little more comfortable.