Figuring out the time in Japan

I made this quick video (mainly for my family) to show how to figure out the current time in Japan by using a shortcut method.

All alone on the train!

I show off my Pasmo card. It's preloaded with money so all I do is swipe it when I get on the train or bus and swipe it when I get off. No standing in line to buy tickets or figure out the machines.

I had roller derby practice this morning in the Ikego Hills Housing area, which is an area of the Navy base located about 20 minutes from the main base (where I'm staying). Ikego only holds a few indoor basketball courts, a small gym, a camping area, and lots of Navy family housing.

For morning derby practice, I had been getting rides from other girls coming through Yokosuka on their way out to Ikego. I really wanted to try taking the trains, though. There is a train stop right outside of the Ikego housing area.

So, I took the base bus (it's free) from the Navy Lodge to the Main Gate of the base and walked out into the town of Yokosuka. I walked about 5 blocks to the Yokosukachuo train station. I stalled here because I was afraid to go up to the ticket window and ask for a train pass card. I pretended I was looking through my bag while I gathered up my courage.

Side note: It's hard here to ask for simple things. I get embarrassed about my Japanese, so I use it sparsely. Plus, you can never be too polite here in Japan and unfortunately, "Thank you very much." has little to no meaning to them. So, you have to "aragoto gazimasu" your way through a conversation...then there's custom things that come into play, like you have to make a big deal of handing your cash to the cashier and they get a little miffed if you deviate from the norm....so all of these factors combined can make for some nervous face-to-face experiences for me.

Once I gathered my courage, I managed to purchase my train card and load it with money. The train card can be used in the station to buy snacks, drinks, reading material, etc. I bought a donut like item with no problem.

My frst train arrived and I counted the stops to my transfer. I had read online it would be six. so after six stops, I transfer to a smaller train station. I hop aboard the next train and before I know it, I'm facing the entrance to the Ikego Hills Housing area. Painless, and took less than an hour.

It was so easy! I did the same going back and made it back to Yokosuka just fine. I noticed a few things about the train stations here: 1) They're quiet. Westerners tend to babble....even to people who aren't even with them on the train but join them on the phone. And when us Westerners get excited, our voices tend to rise. The Japanese barely talk, not even in the station. It's very few groups of riders and mostly single people like me making their way to work or school. 2) There were no bums. In the US you're liable to share the public transportation with a few ill-mannered bums who may even try to sell you homemade bum bracelets....no such thing here in Japan.

On my walk back to the Main Gate of the base, I stopped by 7-11. The 7-11's here are amazing. The food is made fresh each day. Each dish is scanned into their system and if it has passed it's "fresh" date when its sold to you, they will refuse to sell it. It's not like in the US where the sandwiches have been sitting there for 3 days. The 7-11's have a delightful sampling of all sorts of Japanese foods and drinks.

My lunch is below. It's fish in an orange/ginger sauce and rice. I also had a tiny egg salad sandwich. It was made without any mayonnaise, which was really interesting to me, as all the egg salad sandwiches I've had have been loaded with mayo.

After my stop by 7-11, I walked from the Main Gate to the Navy Lodge hauling all my derby gear. That's a 5 mile walk and it was intense.

Now it's time for me to go take a shower and maybe an afternoon nap! It's been a big day! :)



I explain yen

I decided to do a video blog post explaining yen. Hopefully in the future I can do more as sometimes talking is a lot easier than typing :)

Enjoy!

A night out in the Honch!

I took some photos of our recent night out in the Honch. The Honch is the area right outside of base full of bars and restaurants. It's a mixture of Japanese and American clientele. There's a lot of American people that turn their noses up at hanging out in this area ("Oh, there's too many Americans!") but the truth is, they just haven't dug deep enough to have any fun. I've had a blast every time I go out and meet plenty of Japanese and Americans alike who are friendly and good company. I'm sure in the near future, we'll venture farther into Japan, but for now as we still live at the Navy Lodge, the Honch is good enough.

Our first stop of the night was TGI Friday's...yes, I know...but I went with friends and it was their choice, not mine. One of the features of this Friday's menu was "small plates." They cost about 480 yen and are half the size of the regular plate. I ordered fish and chips. As you can see, the plate came with four tiny pieces of fried fish, maybe 13 french fries, and was no bigger than the size of my hand. This was not a kid's menu or an appetizer, it was a full dish meant to be dinner. I wish they had more things like this in the US as portion control is a key to weight management.

The next stop of the night was the Chu-hi Stand. I've mentioned this place before in my blog and its quickly becoming one of my most favorite hang out spots. The chu-hi's are cheap (about $4-$5) and strong. The owner is a salty Japanese guy. The above sign hangs in the window of the stand. Some cocky Americans have tried to correct the English, but even more cocky Americans went behind them and further corrected the English.

These are chu-hi drinks. The liquor that goes into them is called "so-chu" and then it's mixed with any flavor juice you want. I like the coconut one the best. John had the banana and our friend had great grape. Chu-hi's are in no way good for you, by the way. So-chu is a brown sugar based liquor and fruit drink mix is mostly sugar. 

The Chu-hi Stand is in a residential area, off the noisy bar area of the honch. There are only a few chairs and for the most part customers gather out on the sidewalk with their drinks. The above two pictures are of the residental area flanking the Chu-hi Stand.

The above three photos are just some gratuitous shots of us enjoying a night out.

After the Chu-hi Stand, our friends left, so John and I decided to explore some of the small bars in the Honch area. This one had a saucy waitress who overheard John playfully tell me to "Shut up." and she stepped in and said, "Don't tell her to shut up!" (To be honest, I was probably being annoying about something...I usually am.)

The final stop of the night was the taco/flafel stand. The Navy people in the area call this place, "Taliban Taco" which is more than a little racist and makes me grimace in distaste. The place is owned by a Pakistani family and only opens after 9pm. It's in a small little shed on the corner of the Honch. To be fair, the place really does have no name. The owners blare their Pakistani music louder than any of the clubs in the area and dance with enthusiasm while making your falafel/taco. Their food is delicious and a must-stop at the end of the evening. They have any number of sauce mixes you can put on your taco that make it delicious. These tacos are meant to be eaten while you make your way back to the gate of base.

Yokosuka Sushi Rollers!

I have joined a roller derby team. In case you don't know what that is, it's a sport in which the players wear roller skates and try to knock each other off a track. While roller derby was popular in the 70's and the pioneer of the sport was Japanese, roller derby has seen a resurgence in the 2000's as a women's sport in the US. The women adopt crazy names with sly pop culture references (like Mad Donna or Smashley Simpson), they wear silly costumes, and basically play a rough game of derby.

I had wanted to join a derby team while I was in San Diego, but it can be very intimidating being the new person in a highly competitive sport. When I got to Japan, I saw the flier for the Sushi Rollers and thought "no fear!" and joined right up. I just completed my first week of practice! Every muscle on my body is screaming in pain. However, it has been a great way to get out of my hotel room and meet people.

Speaking of which, I have to stop this moping around in the hotel nonsense. Tomorrow, while John's at work, I'm going out in town to pick up lunch!! I'll post pictures of what I get, I want to go to the 7-11....I know, I know, it doesn't sound like THAT much of an adventure, but I assure you, the 7-11 here is far different than the one in the US. If they scan something and the "freshness" date has passed or is soon to pass, they'll refuse to sell it to you. There's no "Big Gulp" slurpee machines or free coffee, only bento boxes, seaweed wrapped rice, and Japanese pudding.

A lot of things have happened this week, all bad news, so I'm trying not to wrap myself in this blanket of obsessive depression where I just Google the things that are bothering me hoping to seek an answer in some stranger's experiences that have been posted on the Web. One of the keys, I think, to controlling depression and anxiety without medication is to remind yourself there's only so much you can control. The world keeps on spinning and what will be, will be....no matter how much I push back or want to push back, the world is still coming. I can't be that little figure pushing against a wave.

So, I'm going to get back to blogging regularly and having great experiences in Japan.....

Japanese Baths and Showers

This young lady does a great job explaining Japanese bathrooms, specifically the shower and tub area.

Let me tell you why this is the aspect I am most excited about when we move....first, I grew up taking baths at night, I don't know if it's because my parents didn't want to deal with the hassle of having a four-person family all clamor for the bathroom in the morning or if it's a hold over from their childhoods.

As it turns out, the Japanese also think of a bath as a way to relax at the end of the day. And they take their relaxation seriously. All tubs are heated with a kerosene heater, pumps pull the water from the tub to the heater, heating it to your specifications and then the water continually remains hot while you soak. No worries about it turning cold halfway through your relaxing bath.

Second, I grew up taking baths. The home I grew up in had a large clawfoot bathtub in the master bathroom. I can probably count the number of times growing up I used the stand up shower in my parents house. Baths just feel right to me and I feel cleaner when I take a bath as opposed to a shower (although 98% of the American population would disagree with me).

So yes, I'm very excited about the bathtub. The one in our house is about 4ft deep and about 5ft in length. The best part is....the bath is located in the shower room (as shown in the video) so you can fill the bath as full as you want and if it overflows....so what...it'll go to the shower drain and no worries, the whole room is designed to be wet.

Ah....can't wait to light some candles, pour a glass of wine, and just soak........sounds wonderful!

Ohayo Gozimasu!

One of the delightful things about Japan is their selection of canned coffee. The gas station on base sells a brand called Dydo that is served hot from the can and it's delicious. You can buy coffee cold from almost any vending machine in Japan.

This morning I bought the two canned coffee's pictured above. The brown and cream color canned has half coffee and half milk. The other can....well, I'm not so sure, I haven't opened it yet. Some of the canned coffee is served just black, so you have to watch out for this if you don't like straight black coffee.

Not a lot going on lately. Our extracurricular schedule is starting to fill up. I have roller derby practice on Monday and Wednesday nights....John has soccer practice on Tuesday and Thursday nights....on top of that, we're going to take a Saturday afternoon Japanese language class that goes on the entire month of June.

We're still in the hotel. I'm crossing my fingers that the necessary paperwork for our house will be approved in the upcoming weeks. Once this paperwork is approved, it's only 2 weeks after that until we move into our house. I'm thinking we'll be moved in by the end of June.....just in time for me to consider throwing a 4th of July BBQ!! :)

Earthquake!

As everyone knows, Japan was rocked by a 9.0 earthquake in March of this year. The earthquake was felt as far down as Yokosuka and was very violent. Side note: If you've ever been through an earthquake you know there's violent earth shaking back and forth with no mercy ones and gentler the earth is rolling ones, Japan has always been rocked by earthquakes. I mean, look at the country itself. It's a mountainous chain of islands created by what had to be some of the most violent natural events in Earth's history.

Since Japan is aware of it's propensity for earthquakes, many of their large buildings are built to strict earthquake standards. As a result, I feel fairly safe in any building now standing in the area that felt the 9.0 earthquake as it made it through.

Scientists are perdiciting that the aftershocks of this 9.0 earthquake will be felt for nearly a year. It's true, I've felt more earthquakes here than I ever did in California....and I was in California for 3 years. I've only been here for 3 weeks.

This morning, John and I felt a nice 5.5 magnitude earthquake. The bed was shaking, I was at the table on the computer and the water bottles on the table began to shake. I look across the room and the shoelaces on John's shoes were moving back and forth. It lasted about 20 seconds and then stopped. This is by far the biggest I've felt, but nothing compared to the disaster that happened before we arrived.

Eating My Words

One of the things I said I'd miss about the US is "one-stop-shops" like Super Wal-Marts, Targets, etc. Basically warehouse sized buildings where you can buy everything under the sun in one place. Well, I was wrong about them not having them in Japan. They do. And they have them in sizes bigger than I could've ever imagined.

Take your normal Super Wal-Mart, now stack it up five times high....that's Homes. When we first arrived, John and I thought Homes would be very similar to Home Depot, they have the same orange square and white font as the Home Depot logo. John's friend assured us it was much more than just your average Home Dept.

The first floor had groceries, liquor, household items, lumber, tatami mats, knick knacks, clothes, a McDonalds, and a pet store. The second floor had aisles and aisles of home furnishings such as couch and loveseat sets, living room furniture, beds, bed frames, etc. The rest of the floors were dedicated solely to a parking structure.

Fascinated, I strolled the aisles, looking at almost everything. Of course, I encountered Japanese people who became impatient being stuck behind me, but then I thought about how quickly we speed through Wal-Mart knowing exactly what we need and where it's located so we can make a hasty exit.

Below are some pictures of things I saw today, for your perusal:

 This is a weeing angel. The blue circle next to the angel's head says something like "anytime, anywhere." However, something I saw on the display lead me to believe it was a cloth for wiping water off your windshield before you drive. Looking at the packaging now, though, I'm not sure what lead me to believe that.

This is an iguana that was in the pet store section. I don't think he was for sale and he was at least as long as I am tall.

Let's hear it for Alabama! In Japan! With a circle that says North Carolina! Woo!

20 days

I woke up this morning to a $650 charge on my debit card. $650...means another ten days have ticked by at the Navy Lodge. $650 means we have been in Japan for 20 days.....wow, that's almost one month.

The thing I struggle with the most right now is feeling useless. I don't have a job and can't really start applying for them until we settle into our house.I know people make excuses all the time for why they don't have a job, but the first two weeks of moving into our house will demand my full attention. So it's better to wait than apply for a job, get one, then immediately have to ask for days off.

I spend my days reading, practicing my Kana alphabets, watching the Travel Channel, and trying to avoid napping. I clean the hotel room often and check and see if there's anything I can help John with in the ongoing arrival process. Every other day I go to the gym and work out for about two hours before walking back to the hotel.

Yesterday, I decided to take my book to the waterfront right outside of the Navy Lodge (pictures below of the water, it's beautiful). I found some steps to sit on and settled in for some good reading. By the time I looked up an hour later, the waterfront was full of wives from the Navy Lodge, sprawled out on benches and stairs, reading, going through documents, and napping. It made me smile because it means I'm not the only one bored out of my mind everyday.

I could go off base, but I don't feel comfortable wandering around by myself and probably shouldn't anyway. The buddy system was invented for a reason.

Oh snap! My mirror is heated!

John and I have been taking Japanese language writing courses. When we first arrived in Japan, the Japanese characters everywhere were almost too much for my brain to handle. So, my brain did the only thing it could do and shut them out.

On our first week in Japan, we noticed some fliers announcing free writing classes to learn the Hirigana and Katakana alphabets (the Kanji alphabet I will work on in the near future). Now, after these classes my brain can process the characters into sounds, which turn into words. Even though I might not know the word, it's better than being fully illiterate like I was before.

Since I'm only a beginner, watching TV is too fast for me as the characters quickly flick across the screen and then disappear before I'm able to sound it out. Out in town I can recognize things like the name of the city of Yokosuka. I've also been spending time translating the stickers and directions on appliances in our hotel.

Everytime I blowdry my hair, I puzzle over the characters on the switch on our bathroom mirror. Here's a picture of the switch below:

The left side is written in Kanji, and I think it means "off" because when the switch is that way, the light turns off. On the right side, I can read the characters perfectly now: kumaritome......I didn't know what that meant so I took to the internet and tried to translate it...no luck...so, I broke my new word up into pieces to see if maybe pieces of it would translate....

Kumari = fogginess

tome = stopping

So, stopping fogginess.....buuuuuttt wait, I thought this switch only turned a light on above my bathroom mirror. I slowly bring my hand up to touch the mirror. It's warm. The mirror is heated. Oh snap. Oh snappity snap snap....I just had my first successful translation experience!!!! I discovered the bathroom mirror was heated!!

We got a car!! But wait, don't celebrate yet....

Thar she is, in all her glory, our new car. A beautiful 2000 Toyota Vitz. Let me just say after buying a car in Japan, I will never complain about having to wait at the DMV. Ever. You literally bleed money during the car buying process in Japan.

Our car was $2500...okay, that's fair. They say spend about $1,000 for each year you know you will be in Japan on your car. While we'd like to be here more than 2.5 years, it's still a fair price for a small car in great condition with low miles.

Then you have to pay for a full 12 months of liability insurance upfront which is $500. Okay, that's cheaper than in the US, but in the US we have to option to do a payment plan, not so here. Then you have to pay for Japanese insurance (wait, didn't we just pay for insurance? Yes. You have to have two, one for base and one for out in town). The good news is that the Japanese insurance (JCI) follows the car, not the driver. The previous owner has already paid two years for us. So, no money lost there.

Then we have to register the car to park on base. The woman at the vehicle registration office on base worked quickly and when she finished handed us a stack of papers equivalent to a small novel. She explains the paperwork and can tell by our deer in the headlights look we're overwhelmed. She starts over. We still don't get it, but we do know the next steps.

The next steps (explained below) have to be completed within 7 days of buying the car, otherwise the fine can be in the thousands of dollars. The official offices you have to visit are only open during the exact hours you are at work. Of course.
So back to the process...we now have to take this small stack of paperwork issued by the base vehicle registration office to the LTO office (not sure what LTO means) in Yokohama, which is an hour drive away and it takes all day as you have to visit three different floors with your ever growing stack of paperwork until they issue you a temporary licence plate.

They have people called "LTO runners" whose sole job is to take your car from Yokosuka to Yokohama and navigate the maze of official buildings for you. The cost to hire one is about $50. It's $50 well spent as most people (such as ourselves) have never driven off base and it's a tough drive for your first venture out to town. So, we hired our runner and she's coming to pick up our car tomorrow afternoon. We don't have to go with her.

Then, you have to give the runner 20,740 yen, which is the cost to register your car and equates to about $290...so for those keeping track, in addition to the $500 we just paid for base insurance, we now must pay $50 to hire a runner, and $290 to pay four other fees spread amongst three different floors in an official building in Yokohama.

Got it? Are we done? Nope. Now, we take the stack of paperwork, which by this time has grown to the size of War and Peace, the temporary plate, and ourselves to the City Hall in Yokosuka (at least that's within walking distance of the base). They issue our permanent license plate, and provide us a battery of stickers that indicate we have paid all of our fees.

Are we done now? No, of course not. Now we take the stack of paperwork (by this time you're probably carrying it in a backpack and considering getting it bound at Kinko's to make an attractive coffee table book) to the base vehicle registration office where we started our journey. The base finalizes your car registration on base and issues you your base sticker, which allows you access to the installation.

And now, you are done. At least until it's time to pay your road tax again and then you do the whole process over. Can't wait for that.

Wylee Is Comfy!!

Due to a paperwork error that can't be fixed, Wylee was sentenced to the full 180 day quarantine period as required by the country of Japan. To any out there reading, if you want to bring any pet to Japan, don't let anyone mess up on your paperwork, no matter how many times they try to tell you they've done it correctly. Go to someone else.

Upon arrival in Japan, Wylee went straight to the on base kennel. The on base kennel is no five star accommodation. They have concrete dog runs and metal cages. The staff is friendly and is very kind to the animals, but the conditions are not ideal for a 180 day stay. Not to mention, the cost is $16.50 a day which adds up very quickly.

Wylee lost weight and injured himself trying to dig out of the metal kennel. After seeing him deteriorate, I made a plea to an online community for the bases in Japan for anyone to take him into their home until October. Many people responded and I chose a house where there were older children and they had previously had pets.

The family of four lives in Ikego, which is an extension of the main Yokosuka base. Ikego is a base which contains only housing, schools, campgrounds, paintball area, and a small bar. It's located about 20 minutes away from the main base of Yokosuka.

One of John's friends drove us to Ikego and we met the family and introduced them to Wylee. They were very excited to have him and Wylee immediately made himself at home on the couch. They later texted me during the day saying Wylee was settling in nicely, was sleeping under a blanket, and had been given some table scraps on the sly.

I am so incredibly happy that they are able to do this for us. Wylee seems so happy and I can quit worrying about him in the kennel. And to those that worry about legality, don't...I wrote up a simple contract stating how we will pay them (we are paying them for their time), what happens if Wylee gets ill, and other small things that could possibly be points of contention.

Needless to say, Wylee seems to be very happy.

The Big Day?

I'm pretty sure there's a saying in Japan, "If it dosen't involve a lot of paperwork and waiting, it's not worth doing!" Coming to Japan, I knew how much of a stickler the officials were that all your paperwork be in order. Little did I know that they whole country operates on paperwork. As a matter of fact, their love for beauraceracy and blind eye to how troublesome it is comes very close to that of the Vogon's as described in the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Anyway, the same goes for buying a car. Today we take the first step in car ownership in Japan. We actually buy the car! The magnent I'm holding above goes on the front and back of your car if you have less than one year of Japanese driving experience. If you're pulled over and don't have the magnent, you can get fined. If you keep it on for more than a year and are discovered, you can get fined. They also have a different magnent for driver's over 75.

In Japan, the cars are riddled with stickers, no, not fun stickers that let the world know your political opinion on gay marriage (marriage = equality for all!) or that let people know you love to joke around (I miss my ex husband, but my aim is improving!) but official stickers. You have to have a sticker to park not only on base, but out in town...yes, park...even in your own driveway, you can get ticketed for not having the proper prefecture parking permit. Then you need to get a sticker showing you paid your road tax. The road tax seems to be very similar to our annual registration fees for our vehicles. Then you have to show you paid your recycling fee, which the best I can figure is an offset fee to how many people want to junk their cars every year. You also pay your insurance up front for two years.....and the list just goes on.....it's little wonder why so many people depend on Japan's complex and reliable public transportation system.

With that being said, it's unfair and wrong to assume that most Japanese people do not own cars. Many do. They just don't rely on them as much as we do in the US where we have been ingrained to rely only on ourselves, not on the system.

Our car is a 2000 Toyota Vitz, which is essentially a Toyota Yaris, even though the Yaris didn't make an appearance in the US until 2007. It has about 54k miles on it, which is nothing considering it's a 2000 and it's dark blue.

One step towards our independence and one step towards moving off base!

Monday

I know, I know. I need to add more pictures to this blog. It's no fun to read a big block of words. I swear more pictures will come as we warm up to Japan. During the week, we don't really leave the base as we're staying at the Navy Lodge and we don't have a car to wander farther than the area immediately outside of the base.

We could take the train places, and we've thought about heading to Tokyo, but can't because staying at the Navy Lodge is expensive and riding the train is expensive, so it's one or the other for the time being. We'll eventually get out there more than once.

Today I went and saw Wylee. He's doing a lot better. He's gained some weight and seems happy and less stressed. He is however still fairly tired. Whenever I go visit him, he's not interested in playing. He wants me to hold him and then he falls asleep curled up in my jacket or laying on my backpack. Tomorrow we move him to a family who lives in Ikego, an area of the base 20 minutes from the main base.

Other than that, today's been a boring day. We go to our Katakana writing class tonight and learn another of the Japanese alphabets. We should be getting the car this week and I'll post lots of pictures of that.

A Night Out!

After two weeks, John and I decided to venture out on Saturday night and explore the nightlife in Yokosuka. Nightlife in Yokosuka happens on the streets nearest the base in an area called The Honch. The Honch holds numerous bars, eateries, and small shops. The makeup of the people there are an even combination of Japanese and American Navy personnel along with some foreign tourists.

Bars in The Honch stay open all night, but at 2am, Shore Patrol comes and cleans all the Americans out of the area. Shore Patrol is a kind of police force manned by the various Navy ships stationed in Yokosuka. It's a little out of control because each boat has their own Shore Patrol force. So, when you walk out at night, you see many uniformed people identified by their armbands as Shore Patrol. They frequent the spots where sailors are known to get into trouble. If trouble should breakout (fights or over drinking) they haul the offender directly back to the base and let the system deal with them.

So, our night began when we met one of John's work friends for dinner at a Chinese restaurant in the Honch. I know, Chinese....but it was delicious and you used an electronic bell at your table to signal the waitress you were ready to order. We were the only Americans in the restaurant. John and I ordered gyoza and it was better than any I had tasted in the US.

After that, we headed to get chu-hi's. Chu-hi is the drink of Yokosuka. It's a special type of liquor mixed with any juice you can imagine. They're cheap and delicious. There's two special chu-hi stands in the area. Both have no sitting space inside and patrons are left to mingle on the sidewalk. We went to both of the stands to check them out.

Now is the time to note that drunk in public is NOT a crime in Japan. If an American is drunk in public, then Shore Patrol will deal with you, but for the Japanese, there is no such law. So, we saw many extremely drunk Japanese people stumbling down the sidewalks. Additionally, the Japanese have no open container laws, which means you (by you, I mean the Japanese, because the Americans are still expected to adhere to American law) can have open beverages and walk down the sidewalk. Also, passengers in a car can drink as long as the driver isn't drinking. Weird, I know.

After the chu-hi stands, we walked to a bar that was six stories above the bustling Honch scene. The bar said it was named Rogic (their best guess at the spelling of Logic), but inside it had a different name plastered everywhere. The cover charge was $10 and we got a free drink. We got to watch many Japanese people dance and John played beer pong with a Japanese DJ type person. He spoke no English, but we got along just fine by pointing, laughing, and just generally being friendly. John's Navy friend also introduced us to a girl from Tokyo and we enjoyed talking to her during our stay at the club.

After a few hours, John and I decided it was time to go home. We walked back to the base making a stop by a falafel stand. The owner of the falafel stand in from Pakistan and he was blaring his native music and singing and clapping while he made John's falafel.

Overall, it was a great night. The best time to practice your Japanese is at night with the bartenders. You don't even have to be drinking, but because of the nature of their job, most are very friendly and enjoy helping you work on your Japanese. In addition, your guaranteed to make a few new Japanese friends and they enjoy helping you as well.

Today John and I have done some shopping. We bought a fan for our hotel room because a/c is nowhere near as cold here as it is in the US. Tonight we're going to the base theatre to see whatever they're showing and to enjoy some popcorn and hotdogs!

Killer Shower

So, I think the shower in this hotel is trying to kill me. It's not a traditional Japanese shower. It's a Japanese interpretation of an American (they say Western) shower.



Firstly, please note the doors. When they close, they close airtight. So when you take a hot shower, you're encasing yourself in a sauna. There's a weak fan inside that spins around the heat.




Inside there's a platform you stand on and the drain is to the side. If you open the door to let in fresh air, the water splashes on the platform and right onto the floor.



Finally there's this detachable shower head. There's two levels on which the shower head can be placed and two knobs, one to start the water and one to adjust the temperature. The temperature is in Celsius, and let's just say my math is getting better quickly after being initially burned thinking it was in Fahrenheit.

So yes, during my shower I gasp for air, then open the shower do slightly to let the steam out and water ends up all over the floor.

I think I have to be smarter than the shower.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Welcome Back, Blogger

So, Blogger has been down all day yesterday and then it decided to delete my last post and bring it back. The problem with Blogger is that when it doesn't want to work here, it tells me in Japanese. Translation software on most browsers is terrible, so it's hard to figure out what's going on.

Again, sorry no pictures. John has been really getting into the swing of things at work and the whole week is comprised of him going to work and coming home and going to sleep. During the day, I stick around on base, because my confidence to wander out in town alone is not there yet. Plus, it's never ever a good idea to wander alone in a foreign country.

I've been frustrated lately. So much of what we have to do here right now depends on someone else. It's tough being this dependent on a system. In the US, we can do what we want because no matter what state we are living in, we KNOW how to do simple things, like, drive, choose an apartment, pay our bills, get a car, etc.

For example, right now we're trying to buy our first car. It's a 2000 Toyota Vitz (basically a Yaris). It's small, gets good gas mileage, has about 54k miles on it, blue, $2500. I went to apply for the loan, got approved only to find out I applied for the wrong type of car loan because Navy Federal does things differently overseas. So, they had to cancel that loan and had us apply for a new one. Now we have to wait and see if the new one gets approved and while I don't think it will get denied (since the "wrong" one was approved), it's something I worry about.

If we want to move out of this hotel room, that depends on when the higher up at John's work feels like approving our request to start our overseas housing allowance. If we want to stay in the hotel room, it depends on the hotel and the housing office approving our request to stay for 10 day increments (that's right, we have to request permission to stay every 10 days and it is a paperwork process).

If we want our driver's license, we have to depend on a strict Japanese official to pass us and give us our license (which thankfully he did). If we want our household goods, it depends on when San Diego feels like releasing the shipment of our stuff. We told them to go ahead and send the stuff and they didn't. We had to go to the household good office here and get them to prod the San Diego department to send our stuff.

If we want to get paid correctly, we have to depend on John's office to figure out why they didn't pay John the full amount he's entitled to.

So, as you can see, it's an extremely frustrating position. I could really go on and on and on about the ways in which we've been forced to become dependent on the system. I think the most frustrating aspect is that there's nothing we can do. We can just wait for the most part.

I'm looking forward to the day when we're all settled in and there's no more of this dependence on anything.

It's just across the board

Sorry no fun pictures. We're under a typhoon warning until Saturday, it's been rainy and windy and we've been hiding out in our hotel room. A typhoon is kind of like a hurricane, I guess. I have no reference point for bad weather caused by the sea. I know the weather is nasty, but its nice to have weather again. San Diego was constantly the same....and it gets really old having the same weather day in and day out no matter how beautiful it might be. I'm the type of person who gets very bored with the same scenery all the time. So, this nasty weather is welcome in my book.

Okay, the good news:

First, I found a foster home for Wylee (a halfway house if you will) with a local military family who lives in base housing. A dog can be in quarantine on US base housing instead of in the kennel. I am so happy! If we had kept Wylee in the kennel at the end of his stay in October, we would have paid $3500. I'm paying this family $1500 to keep him until October. That's just to ensure that they have money to cover his food and to pay them for their time. So, we're saving about 50%.

Second, I joined the Yokosuka Sushi Rollers roller derby team. This is exciting because it lets me be part of a team, learn a new sport, get exercise, and generally enjoy myself. I wanted to join the Derby Dolls in San Diego, but never had the time and was kind of intimidated. The Sushi Rollers are a relatively new team and they seem like they're ready to get their compete on!

Third, John and I completed our first Japanese writing class yesterday. It's amazing how characters I see EVERYWHERE have gone from being so foreign and so alien to actually having meaning. However, we did three intensive days of learning and our brains have hit a wall. In the last class, we both had trouble remembering the characters we had just learned. After each class, we would go back to the hotel and recognize all the characters on the Japanese tv channels...last night we had to implement a "no reading Japanese" rule to give our brains a rest.

Finally, John and I both passed our Japanese driving test! Which means we both have our Japanese licences. Driving on the left hand side of the road takes a lot of getting used to after driving on the right side for over 10 years. The Japanese officials that gave the test were just as intimidating as the American officials I faced when I was 16. I thought then that I would never have to feel this level of nerves again....but I was wrong.

Now the bad news:

John submitted a chit asking permission for our overseas housing allowance (oha) to start. He also asked for advanced oha in order to pay the $10,500 move-in costs to our new home. Now these two items are not abnormal. Everyone (EVERYONE) who plans to live out in town (not on the base) asks for these items.

In the US, your housing allowance starts automatically, you don't have to ask for it to begin. You also get a cap amount (in San Diego, we got $2,100 a month for housing) and if you find a cheaper place than your cap, good for you! You get to keep the extra! However, overseas, you only get the amount of your rent. So, our cap is 210,000 yen but if our rent was 189,000 yen, we'd only get 189,000 yen and we can't pocket the rest.

So, anyway, the differences are frustrating. Not only that, John's request for the $10,500 move in costs got kicked back....why? Because he hadn't completed financial counseling....why does he need financial counseling? Because by submitting the request for the $10,500 you admit that you do not have $10,500 and the Navy has flagged this as a problem. To be clear, the Navy is saying that by asking for their entitlement of move in costs, you admit you can not save money properly..........

No one I know (my age anyway) has $10,500 saved. Those that do have it saved are not going to use it to move into a rental house. Those that do have it saved would want to be reimbursed anyway....no one in this whole wide world is going to wave good-by to $10,500 in savings without asking for it back. So even if you do have the money, use it, then ask to be reimbursed through the entitlement, you STILL have to go through financial counseling. How backwards.

So, John's going to take care of this (hopefully it only takes a day to get the financial counseling straightened out) and resubmit his requests. The requests to start the housing allowances and get the move-in entitlements take about 30 days to be approved. 30 days. 30 DAYS. They go to a higher up and sit around on his/her desk until they feel like getting to it. In the meantime, hardworking Navy families are living in a hotel. Not cool. Not cool.

So, it looks like we'll be in this hotel until the middle of June. Man, they do not make this easy. In the meantime, I'm going to dream of my big house with the two balconies on the hill. Sigh.

Japanese Bug Fighting

In one of the malls John and I went to, there was a pet store. The pet store sold your normal gambit of puppies, birds, and rodents (no cats...the Japanese are a little icked out by cats for some reason). Additionally, the pet store also sold BATTLE BUGS! DUN-DUN-DUUUUUNNNN!!!

Yes, the two beetles pictured above were two of the bugs you could purchase. They also had some scorpions, centipedes, and other bugs I couldn't identify. You could buy food for them, large cages, bedding, basically everything you need to care for them. Then, for sport, you pit your bug against a friend's bug and they battle to the death (or until one beetle flips on it's back)! I guess there's no PETA (or PETI) in Japan.

Each bug is assigned a "category" and I guess they can only fight other bugs in that category. Anyway, it's a pretty big past time. Thought I would share with my readers so that everyone can share in my nightmares after having seen these massive beetles up close and face-to-face.

If you have time or care, there is a website dedicated to videotaping and showing these fights (japanesebugfights.com). The website is super simple and has a variety of videos to watch, if you're into that.

Coming Up With Titles Is the Worst

The Blogger wasn't working yesterday/today, but it seems to be back on track.

A few things...I went to go see Wylee and he has definitely lost some weight. I found someone in base housing to care for him until October, so he's at least living in a house until then. I don't like to talk about it much because it stresses me out and upsets me. I'm hoping we can transfer him to the house on Friday this week and I can have such a piece of mind.

John and I also took our first Japanese writing (Hiragana class). The Japanese language has three alphabets and Hiragana is one of them. We have two more Hiragana classes this week and one language class on Thursday. It's cool because after one class, I can recognize some of the characters when I see them on TV and can start forming words and sounds.

Tomorrow we take our road test for our driver's liscences! Wish us luck!

New Culinary Treats!

So today John and I went off base and spent a majority of the day walking around the town of Yokosuka. We ate lunch and dinner out. We also explored many of the shopping malls. One mall even had a thrift store inside, selling clothes for about $8.00 a piece.

Below are some of the pictures I took during our day:



This is Pepper Lunch. It's a little eatery that's done Japanese stlye. When you enter, you go to the vending machine (pictured above) and pick out your entree, drink, and any sides. You get a ticket for each item you chose. The tickets are very tiny and unimpressive. You take the tiny tickets to the bar and lay them out side by side. A server comes and collects your tickets, brings you your drink and any sides. The vending machine is easy to use because it's mainly pictures and a few English phrases.

As you wait for your entree and eat your sides, you can read how to prepare your entree when it arrives at your spot at the bar. It advises at the top for you to pour the sauce last or it will burn when the sizzling plate comes out.

When the entree comes out, it is entirely raw. The plate is incredibly hot and sizzling. You cook the meat and veggies on the plate. The plate is so hot and the meat is such a thin cut that it cooks very fast. In about five minutes, you have to put the meat on top of the veggies to prevent them from overcooking. Then, one it's done ETADAKIMASTA! Or bon appetite!

After Pepper Lunch, John and I went to get some tea at a local mall. It's suprising how hard it is to find green tea considering it's served in households Japan-wide. We thought we were ordering green tea, but instead it was green herb tea (herbs that are green and are in tea) not green tea. It was a mint tea and we each got a whole teapot full (which is apparently how it's done). It was delicious.

After that we walked around a 7 story shopping mall and a 9 story shopping mall. This took us until about dinner time as we took our time at each store, marveling over the items and prices. We found a used designer purse store, watch shops, and any number of Japanese fashion stores. After this we decided to eat a quick dinner and what's quicker than McDonalds?

At McDonalds, I had the teriyaki burger (only one patty) fries and a drink. John had the Big Mac meal. I normally wouldn't mention a stop at McDonald's, but I have to this time. Firstly, the meat was extremely good quality and you could tell it was never frozen and grilled fresh. The medium sized drink and fries were actually medium sized, not large or tub sized. The drink was about the size of a tall coffee from Starbucks and the fries were not greasy, overly salted, and came in a container I would actually classify as medium.

Which brings me to another point that portion sizes in Japan are very small....at least small compared to what we might get in the US. Some restaurants do have a large sized option for those of us who might not be used to the idea that a serving size is only a cup of rice instead of a bowl filled with rice. It's nice and it's suprising how much you need to fill you up without making you feel ill because you ate so much.

Sorry if this post is a little broken. It's been a full day of walking and biking nonstop. It's also hot and humid outside. It was a beautiful day today. However, the airconditioning here is no where near as cold as what I'm used to in the US. So, you just kind of stay hot and sweaty all day. At the end of the day, I could feel myself getting cranky. I'm a little better now, but I'm doing laundry so that's no fun.....

Time to lay down and watch some TV to relax for a little bit. I can't wait to move into our beautiful new house....can't do that until the end of the month or later, but at least I can look forward to it.

Great Day!

So, the first picture is looking outside of an umbrella. Why is this a big deal? It's the first umbrella I bought in more than 3 years. It rains so little in San Diego, there was never a need for an umbrella. I love the rain...it's nice and having an umbrella again was delightful!

The second picture? That's the house John and I chose!! It's beautiful and you can see more pictures on Facebook. We start the move in process on Monday and should have the keys by the end of the month!! I can't wait! It's the house that was on the really narrow two way road. We negotiated a parking spot at the bottom of the hill so that we don't have to drive up the road if we don't want to. The move in cost is $10,500. That's equivalent to 4 months rent. The agent, the owner, the security deposit, and upfront renter's insurance all play into the large cost. The Navy of course covers this for us, but still....it's a scary number.

The agent (basically the landlady, but not the owner of the house) had us to her house for lunch. Her English is great and she served us curry and gohan she had made the night before. It was delicious!! We practiced our Japanese with her and she counted to ten in Spanish for John. She also had these fancy massage chairs in her living room and she had me and John sit in them while she made lunch.

I'm so glad we like our agent as she will assist us in every aspect of our Japanese home. We pay our rent to her and she sends the rent to the owner. She also will help us set up the cable and the Internet.

After we left Saito (that's the agent's name)'s house, we headed to the Cantina for a celebratory Chu-hai drink. I can't believe we're only  weeks away from a permanent beautiful home!!!

Something that's been bothering me

Well, my first week to Japan has come to a close. The jet lag has gotten infinitely better (although I'm still falling asleep at 8pm....but hopefully moving out in town will stop this) and I've ventured out into Japan (aka off base) many times. I've also taken a lot of the military courses on living in Japan.

One thing that's been bothering me is that the US military has taken this stance that we (Americans) are all going to be tourists in Japan for the ENTIRE time we are here. So, this brings up three issues: 1) They assume we will never speak the language, 2) We will never be able to read the language, and 3) We will never understand the culture. To make it worse, they assume that most of us in those introduction classes will never even try to understand these items.....so they make comments like, "Since you won't know what the police officer is saying to you, just be polite..." and "Since you won't be able to read your ticket..." or "You'll probably never understand the driving culture here...."

I even had one person tell me not to buy a round trip ticket on the train because I wouldn't be able to understand which ticket was used for getting to the destination and which one is used to come back. Even if I DON'T know, it's all about trial and error and making mistakes and learning. So, I bought a round trip ticket out of spite and managed just fine.

Nothing makes me simultaneously angry and determined as being told I'm too stupid, lazy, or unwilling to do something. John and I are here for a minimum of three years. Already in this first week we LOVE it here, so there's a chance we may stay here for a long time. I don't intend to be a wide-eyed tourist the whole time I'm here. I mean sure that stuff is great, but I am now more determined than ever to learn the written and spoken language and to understand to the best of my ability the culture.

You can take oodles of classes, but the only way you're really going to understand it all is to practice, learn, and immerse yourself.....making mistakes is a good thing because then you remember for next time.

Anyway, it just bothers me. Sure some people stationed here are here for two years and then they jet on over to the US as fast as they can.....but I hope that's not John and I...

Driving Test!

So today John and I took the written portion of the driving test. We sat through a three hour long lesson about driving in Japan, broke for lunch, and then returned to take the written test. The test was much like the ones you take in the US. It was 50 question multiple choice, a lot of the questions were about the signs and pavement markings. Out of a class of 125, 3 people scored perfectly....neither John nor I was one of those. Each test had a number written on the top. At the end of the test (after they were scored) all the failing numbers were called.

To be honest, I was scared I had failed. I didn't study the book, but I paid close attention in the class. The class really does help you pass the written portion if you pay close enough attention. So, after the test, the passing people were able to sign up for their road test. John and I signed up for Wednesday afternoon. Once we pass the written portion, we will be eligible to drive in Japan.

As everyone knows, driving in Japan is done on the left-hand side. This is a little scary because for 15 years or something I've been driving on the right-hand side of the road. I have to admit when the cab drivers pull out onto the main road on the left-hand side, my adrenaline pumps a little bit as I'm scared we might run into head on traffic.

So, that was today. I didn't get to go see Wylee today and I probably won't get to until Monday. Tomorrow John and I go see the house we liked again and negotiate a few more aspects of the house. Then we see one more house before making our final decision on where we want to live.

Kamakura!

So part of checking in to Japan is to attend an AOB (Area Orientation Brief) when you arrive. The briefing lasts one week and covers everything you need to know in order to live in Japan. It also covers military items like health care and base rules. The wonderful thing about John's command is that they are the ones who teach the AOB. They suggested John and I go to the class today and tomorrow and then I can hop in on Monday through Wednesday of next week and take care of all my military benefits items. You're realy supposed to do it all in one week, but John will eventually be teaching the class, so they're not worried about him not getting the information. Today (Thursday) is the day they teach you the Japanese bus system and you go on a field trip to Kamakura.Kamakura is a large city about 40 minutes from Yokosuka. It attracts all kinds of tourists from all around Japan. Tomorrow we will be taking our driver's license test to be licensed to drive in Japan.

Below is the photos I took on our trip today! Enjoy!

 The above photo shows how to purchase a re-usable train card. John and I opted to just buy the train ticket (way cheaper) and buy the cards when we move out in town and will use the trains more often. The penguin is the mascot of the train card company.

The above picture is the Japanese train system. As you can see it's all in Japanese. Sooo...good luck with that.

We made it to Kamakura okay! This is the clock tower in the square next to the train station.

We had lunch in a basement restaurant that sat about 10 people. I had minced beef over rice and John had thin pepper steak. I meant to order a green tea, but my Japanese failed me and I ended up with a regular brown tea. John got it right and got a green tea and a beer made in Kamakura. We also overheard people talking about how cool it would be to be with the command that gave the tours in Kamakura (which is John's command)...we giggled to each other. 

This is Kamakura. It's Golden Week in Japan, which is a holiday. Everyone was out today and it was CROWDED.

This is the gate entrance to the shrine in Kamakura.

This is the shrine. There's real live Buddhist monks there.

Big smile!

The shrine is a common wedding spot and it's absolutely beautiful. These are the leftover sake casks from weddings that they store here.

We were lucky enough to come on a day the monks were gving demonstrations of their prayers.

This is the shrine.

Before you enter the shrine, you had to wash. You have a copper cup you dip in water. You use your right hand to pur water over your left hand. You do the same to your right hand using your left hand. Then you pour water into your right hand and rinse the outside of your mouth. Then you tip the copper cup striaght up to empty it. You return the copper cup to the bamboo fountain upside down for the next person.

Once you enter the shrine, you throw a coin into the donation box (literally throw). Then you bow twice, clap twice, then bow your head in prayer. Once you finish your prayer, you bow again and leave. All the while. there are monks praying in a section above you. Afterwards, you can buy gifts at the gift shop. One of the more famous things to do is get a fortune. You pay 100 yen, shake the fortune box, then pull and stick with a number on it out of the box. You are then given a fortune based on the number you pulled. My fortune is shown above.

Once you read your fortune, you tie it to this thing (not sure what it is) for good fortune.This is John tying his to the thing.

Okay, that's it for today! Tomorrow I take my written driver's exam! Then next week, not only do I have the military information I need to receive, John and I also taking some Japanese writing and language classes. I have to say that I had my first case of culture shock today. It's very frustrating not to be able to read the signs, understand the chatter going on around you, and not to know the customs. I know it sounds silly, but it really does make you mentally exhausted after a few days. I hear this type of mental exhaustion lasts only about two weeks before your brain becomes more open to the unfamiliar. I wish I could explain the feeling better.....it's somewhere between frustration and exhaustion. I just wish for once I could understand a sign or read my train ticket or even know what all the products were at the convenience store. I know I'll adjust...but still....also I think moving off base will hep.