Sep 2008

I need to back track a little here and tell you about an event here on base a few weeks ago. There are two pools on base; an outdoor and an indoor. At the end of the season they drain the outdoor pool and the weekend before they have a dog days of summer party and all the dogs on base can go swimming. So of course, we had to bring our little prince Ethan to partake in the action.

There are a lot of things to do on base. They have tours every weekend to see different things in Japan. There is an outdoor recreation department that has outdoor tours including white water rafting, camping and the like. There are gyms, pools, work out classes, an auto hobby shop to work on your car. There is an arts and crafts center that has every thing you could want to buy or make and classes to teach you how to make things you didn't know existed. They offer a bunch of classes in traditional Japanese arts. There are language and cultural courses and tons more. The officers club has something going on just about every night and on Fridays they have "heavy" hors de vours with tons of food. So, there is not excuse to get bored around here. Not to mention we are in JAPAN. It is kind of like living on a college campus with tons to do except that we are in an awesome country and there is not enough time to see it and take advantage of all the things on base as well.

We are enjoying the outdoors here in Japan. Two weekends ago we went hiking up in the mountains somewhere around Oku-Tama but I am not really sure since we didn't drive. We have become friends with a guy who works at the outdoor recreation department and his wife (Chris and Jodi) so they have been showing us all the outdoor things to do. It was a pretty tough hike and we were very sore the next day. The mountains here are no joke and everything is very steep. Apparently they are not very big into making switchbacks on their trails. Everything is very well maintained and clean. The Japanese love to get decked out in all the latest gear for whatever sport suits their fancy so you can see well equipped hikers on trails and the best gear around. We went up into the cloud line and ran into some fog which made for a spooky hike. The scenery changed quite significantly throughout. Very beautiful.

We saw three really pretty waterfalls and forests full of spider webs. You can only see a few spider webs in these photos but there were loads of them.

Ethan and I were a little tired after the hike so we had to take a nap. Quinn of course is super strong and did not need a nap.

Last weekend we went on a camping/rock climbing trip. After all of our rock climbing indoors we finally have climbed outside. It was much more difficult. We were not prepared for the weekend in that the temperature dropped and we went in higher elevation and we did not have the proper clothing. So the first day I hunkered down in the tent trying to stay warm after I got chilled and the second day I borrowed some more clothing from Jodi and Chris so that I could climb too. It was a really cool experience getting to the top and looking down over the climbing area and seeing all the trees and rivers and rock formations. The scenery in this area is just gorgeous. Lots of water and exposed rock faces. Much different than Arizona scenery. I do miss the desert scenery though. Brown can be just as beautiful as green. Here are some pictures of us climbing. I am wearing orange and Quinn is wearing red.

Here are pictures of Quinn, Ethan and me trying to stay warm.

There were many climbers in their 50s and 60s flying up the rock past us! From what I am told, many Japanese people work so much when they are young that they don't have time to recreate. Most Japanese work 6 days per week and only have off on Sundays. So once Japanese people retire they recreat with the zeal of working. Therefore, there are many retired people out rock climbing and hiking and whatever. I don't know if this stereotype is true but this is what I have been told by many Americans here on base. We haven't made any Japanese friends yet so I can't confirm the veracity of the above generalizations.

Another interesting tidbit: there are loads of flowers everywhere in Japan. Here is a close up of a seven eleven parking lot. And another one further away to prove that it really is a seven eleven parking lot. Gasp! yes, they have 7-11 here. That is where you pay your bills for your utilities and phone and whatnot. They are on every corner. Circle K is here too. But no big gulps! They do have many other foods/candies/magazines/ and whatnot that you have never seen.

Well, now that I am back from my whirlwind tour back to the United States I am resettled in Japan. For those who didn't get the update, our condo in Phoenix flooded, and I flew home to repair the damages. I am an avid installer of laminate flooring at this point.

Anyway, I returned home to Japan to find that Kristen was sort of moved in to our new place and was kind enough to leave most of the unpacking to me. She figures that I really like the work. After allowing myself one night of rest, I was greeted at 8 am by the guys from the moving company to unload the additional boxes of our belongings. I have been puting stuff away for days now.

Yesterday I went to help out Kristen at school. She is a little overwhelmed by the amount of speech materials that are in her room and I did my best to help her sort through some of it. I am so glad that Kristen also shipped over about two bookshelves worth of her own material because after seeing everything that is here I don't know if she would have been able to provide therapy to any of her kids (insert sarcastic gesture here).

I started painting our place today. We are trying to brighten the place up a bit since all of the walls are exactly the same color. They are currently something a little to the yellow side of eggshell white. We decided that orange was a good place to start. I thought that I was going to get some time to relax since I am not working and all, but I have become quite the domestic. Not only am I organizing the house, and painting, but I am taking care of the laundry and dishes. Now if only I could cook I would be the full package. There has been a lot to do, and we are thinking about installing a fence so Ethan can go outside, but he has made a few dog friends in the neighborhood, so we may not do the fence after all.

The reality of what a small world the base can be is really starting to sink in. It is a lot like living in a small town, and since in this case there is only one grocery store, we often run into people we know when we are shopping. I will have to make sure I don't get into any trouble around here, or need to go to the doctor for anything embarassing (we have four doctors living right around us). In all reality though the people in our area are good people and the president of the Striders running club lives across the parking lot, and the track coach lives next door. I took advantage of the kindness of others yesterday and used a random lawnmower to cut our grass. We were told that they are community lawnmowers. Good for us not to have to buy one.

When I was away Kristen got some info about a planning job that opened up on base, and I am in the process of hunting down what department exactly is hiring. I think it will be a bit tougher than what I am used to since many of the jobs can only be filled by enlisted personel.

I think I will finish my post with some photos that we have been unable to post previously or did not have a reason to post them. I realize people like to see photos, and we like to share them. I know we have been a bit lax lately on the posts, but between everything with the condo, and moving into our new place, this last month has been quite the time for us.

This entry is out of order and we did this a couple of weeks ago, but with the computer issues I could not get the pictures up. The title of this blog refers to types of food and not cities in Tokyo. Both are cook at the table kind of meals which typically annoy me because if I am paying for food I don't really want to cook it. But these types of food are definately the exception. Anyway, onto Shabu Shabu. At this particular restaurant you have to take your shoes off to enter. You sit on the "floor" and put your feet in a sunken in part of the floor. We ordered the all you can eat meal and they bring you trays and trays of thinly shaved beef and different types of vegetables. You put the food in a boiling pot of water at your table and your food cooks within seconds. In the meantime you get a pretty nice fragrant facial from all the steam coming off of the pot. I didn't know I liked beef until I came to Japan.

Yakiniku is another do-it-yourself kind of place but intstead of putting your food in a pot of water you put it on a grill in the middle of your table. The slices of meat for this meal are a little thicker and you can cook things like garlic and mushrooms to add to your meal as well. This is very delicious but a bit more work. They also have an all you can eat option but I didn't feel quite up to it on the day we went.

As a general update, we finally moved into our apartment on September 10. We got our furniture on September 18! I am very happy to have our stuff. Our place is bigger than we expected and we wish we would have brought more furniture but we didn't so now we will have a chance to buy some Japanese style furniture. I will be uploading picture of the place soon. It feels very institutional right now but Quinn will be painting this week to make it feel more like home. Ethan is finally back with us and he is not yet adjusted. He doesn't want to leave our side and just slept in his own bed for the first time last night.

Now I usually pack light but this trip was exceptionally ridiculous. We didn't really have any bags for a long weekend since none of our stuff is here so this is what I was stuck with for a 3 day 2 night trip (including rain gear)

This was truly a trip where we took the most types of transportation possible. We rode our bikes to the train station, took a train and had to change trains twice, then walked a few blocks, then took a subway, then another train for 2 hours, then a bus, then more walking. It was crazy! All of this and it would have taken about the same amount of time to drive. You have never seen more traffic and stop lights than in Japan.

When we arrived at the train station we ate. What else would we do? We had awesome curry and pizza at this bistro type place with faux brick and a vault door inside leading to another dining room. Really cool place.

The purpose of this grand effort was to get to Nikko. This is a historic area north of Tokyo. There were amazing shrines, temples, and other historic sites. We had to take our shoes on and off about a zillion times to enter these sites but it was well worth it.

Everything is ornately chisled in wood and then vibrantly painted.

These are prayer slips that people write on and then tie on different spots.

Here is another temple/shrine. I am not sure exactly what is the difference yet. It seemed like there were a lot of temples. It was basically a whole little town of buildings, one more ornate than the next.

Quinn looked like he might have been in danger.

Not sure what these were but they were everywhere and very beautiful.

Here is a really cool water fountain.

We stayed in real log cabins. The owners of this place are a trip. They run a school for learning to make log cabins and they definately know what they are doing. The places are very small but have really interesting architecture. The area is beautiful and they have multiple acres of property which seems to be very rare around Japan.

There is also a beautiful lake and waterfall in Nikko. This waterfall is one of the biggest in Japan. THey have an elevator you can go down to see the whole waterfall but we skipped that this trip. I would like to do a hike into the canyon next time though.

You can also rent peddle boats to go around the lake. They seemed a little top heavy to me!

Here was the start of a hiking trail. We ran into a person coming down with a ton of gear and he told us it was six hours to the top. Needless to say we turned around immediately. Quinn was wearing flip flops and the only water we had was in a small bottle. Maybe next time.

Here is Quinn and I in front of a historic bridge. Not sure what is the historical significance is though because everything was in Japanese. But all the Japanese people were taking pictures in front of it so we did too. When in Rome.....

Sorry it has taken so long to write. Unfortunately we have had some technical difficulties with getting the pictures onto this website so I might have to make some changes to the program I am using. This entry will be photoless until I fix the root of the problem.

Two weekends ago we went to Roppongi which is another area of downtown Tokyo. We took the train and made it there without any major difficulties. The area is full of shopping and restaurants and is known for its night life. I guess it is sort of like old town Scottsdale but about 200x the size. The restaurants, bars, and clubs are in highrises. As we were walking around I saw a sign for Blue Man group. We tried to see them when they came to Phoenix but it sold out in about 15 minutes and we couldn't get tickets. Needless to say I was very excited and I was determined to find the ticket office so we could buy some tickets for an upcoming show. Using a lot of pointing and gesturing with random Japanese people on the street we finally found the building. Turns out they were 3 shows that day and if we waited in line we could get tickets that were cancellations and what not. We ended up with 9th row seats! It was awesome. THey have these little symbols every where in Japan and you can scan them with your cell phone and get information sent to you about the restaurant, show, or whatever it is they are advertisin

Then we ate at the most amazing Chinese restaurant ever.

We also saw the most amazing flower shops with orchids. The orchids here are unbelievable.

Quinn also went back to his roots during this trip and milked some cows. This fake cow was outside of an icecream shop and you could actually "milk" it and get water out. The Japense are so clever!