Raining it's pouring!

It just started pouring rain and thundering. A few seconds ago I hear the three beeps "dong dong dong!" that the Japanese people use to indicate an announcement.

Then the announcer said something in Japanese. Here in Japan trucks come through the neighborhood all the time with loudspeakers and announce such mundane things as "large garbage pickup." However this announcement was the loudest I had ever heard.

Then the announcer began to speak English, which usually never happens. Flood warning for the Yokohama-Yokosuka area due to torrential rain. Wow! We have tornado sirens in the US but usually no city wide very loud spoken announcement.

I was very impressed with their warning system and how loud it was. I don't think we have anything to worry about. Landslide maybe as we live on a hill...but so far it's just been rain and thunder.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

4th of July??

With all that's going on in my life lately I completely forgot it was the 4th of July weekend. I found out when I called an American military hotel in Tokyo to try to make a reservation. The lady said they were booked and then informed me in a tone that implied I should know, "It's the fourth of July weekend." (PS - If an American military hotel charges me $35 a night for two people and a Japanese hotel charges $150 a night....well...which one would you go with??)

Without the constant TV ads for sales, red white and blue fliers in my newspaper and mailbox, and no pop up fireworks stands, one is very likely to forget this patriotic holiday. For the Japanese life goes on as normal. The base has already erected two red and blue event tents in their 4th of July preparations. There's a small parade on base and some fireworks.

I dunno, I just think it's strange. The 4th of July is usually my favorite holiday. It's in the summer and close to my birthday. Without a barrage of marketing to remind me about it, it seems I simply forgot.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

London exhibition provides view inside typical Japanese residence | The Japan Times Online

London exhibition provides view inside typical Japanese residence | The Japan Times Online

Saitosan!

Our landlady (or agent as they're called here in Japan) is a very special lady. Her name is Saitosan and she manages about 5-6 rental houses. She often has her renter's over for dinners, outings, and even to soak in the hot tub on her roof. She also asks her renters to bring over any single sailors who might be in need of a good meal to "help eat so there won't be leftovers." She's always smiling, funny, and very traditionally Japanese. Her English is good and borderlines okay at times.

Saturday night, she had John and I and her other American renter families over for dinner. Her husband cooked most of the dinner and drank most of the sake! The kids gathered around the TV to watch Japanese cartoons and we ate and had a wonderful time.

The dishes included:

Baked potato

Grilled corn

Home grown edamame

Boiled strips of eggplants (it looked like long flat noodles) with a sweet sesame dressing

Raw octopus in a vinegar dressing with leafy greens and home grown basil

Japanese interpretation of lasagna. There was not much cheese at all. The ground beef was very finely ground, which seems to be the norm for them. The flavoring wasn't Italian but had a noticeably soy sauce flavor instead.

Boiled squash and zucchini slices in a tomato sauce with fresh basil

Thinly sliced raw salmon with thinly sliced avocado slices covered in a soy sauce dressing.

Tempura fried very thin pork cutlets

Fresh made bread from a local bakery

Desert was a small scoop of vanilla ice cream and cheap sake called Maru.

It was all very very very VERY good. On our first week in Japan she invited us over for lunch and we had curry. Her other renters recalled tales of her taking them and their children to local theme parks for a day out.

Yesterday she dispatched her two best friends to my house to take pictures and translate all of my remote controls. I should have a binder in a few days with the results of their venture.

I'm glad she's our agent. She an extremely busy woman. Her cellphone is constantly ringing. Her and her husband really work hard to make their client's stay in Japan enjoyable.

I would have taken some pictures, but it would have been a little rude to snap pictures at the table.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Winning

I have managed to take the trash out three days in a row with no incident! On some level it feels like I'm winning this Game of Trash. If they take my trash today, I will have completed a complete trash cycle and don't need to change anything about what I'm doing.

Sorting the trash so precisely makes you really think about what you're throwing away. For example with the label peeled off and the jar rinsed, a jar that was once used for potato chip dip looks like it could have a second life as a craft jar or pencil holder.

Once again, I apologize for the updates being so slow lately. We do have the Internet, but it will only connect on John's computer and not mine. Once we get our desktop computer we can set up our wireless network and it will be back to business as usual.

The theatre manager job I applied for is following up with my references. I should know by the end of this week if I got the job. I didn't want to take a regular full-time job where I have to worry about accruing sick and vacation time. With this job I can take off when I need to, which will allow me to pursue my roller derby, explore Japan, and stay with any US visitors who come to stay with us.

Of course I have a ton more updates. Our landlady invited us and her other American renters over for dinner and I have a video of our house. I'll be updating sporadically until we get our household goods, which shouldn't be too much longer.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friends and Family Night

Friday night was Friends and Family Skate Night for the Yokosuka Sushi Roller derby team. I got to show John what I'd been learning and he took the above pictures of me showing off!

It was a lot of fun, but the rainy season is almost over which means the hot and humid season has begun. Saturday at 9am it was about 95 degrees Fahrenheit and nearly equal that in humidity. I thought being from Alabama would help me adjust to the weather here, but it is a new level of hot.

On my bike ride home the other day, I got lost and it was burning hot. The road up to our house is extremely hilly. Pushing a bike up those hills in the heat is gnarly. Plus my bike was the cheapest we could find so it's also the heaviest.

John and I went to a nearby bike shop the other day to look at getting a lighter bike for me. Driving in Japan is too stressful for me and I don't know how often I'll do it. It's not the left side driving that's the problem. Cars, bicycles, and mopeds like to dart out in between traffic. It's nerve wrecking and you have to be very vigilant.

So I want an electric bike. One step below a moped so I can ride it in the bike lanes, but with a tiny electric motor to help me up and down the big hills near our house. With an electric bike, the rider does about 30% of the pedaling and the bike's motor does the rest.

- Posted using BlogPress from
my iPhone

The return gift

One of the interesting things about Japan is that they have a custom called "the return gift." Anytime anyone gets you anything as a gift, you are required to return the favor by getting them a gift. This goes for things like birthdays, weddings, etc.

For example, my landlady was saying a nice serving bowl she has was a return gift for a wedding. My landlady and her husband got the couple a wedding gift and the couple gave the serving bowl as a return gift to all guests who got them presents.

This is why you want to be careful when giving gifts in Japan. The return gift is usually equal to the value of your gift. Many times a gift might be simply fresh fruit so that a return gift can be bread from a local bakery.

Our lady andy brought us over coffee cake, juice and rice crackers so I took her a small thing of chocolate covered pecans from Godiva.

Interesting concept and we don't really have such a custom in the US.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Some more house pictures

Yard.



Tatami room entrance.



Living room view.



Bedroom view.



Bedroom view.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Appliances!!

Dryer controls



Washer controls.

When the Navy delivered our loaner items, we got an American fridge and that's where the familiarity stopped. The washer and dryer are all in Japanese. They dropped off an English control guide, but it's horribly translated and is useless.

The washer and dryer are both really small and the washer starts not by wetting your clothes, but by agitating them. The dryer works like a hair dryer not like a US dryer that vents the hot air. The Japanese dryer makes your clothes super hot until they dry. I wonder how much energy these things use....

The Japanese people hang their clothes out to dry and then use the dryer for a finishing touch to banish wrinkles or make it soft. Since it's windy and rainy and I have no hangers, drying outside is not an option right now.

John called about our personal property which we still have not received. It's frustrating because we're getting different answers and no one seems to know where our household goods are. I just want to finally make our house a home. Right now I'm laying on the living room floor with my head propped up on a suitcase.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Updates

Will update soon. No Internet yet. Hard to get across everything using my phone.

I miss my American appliances. I don't understand the Japanese ones. Frustrating. Also fell off my bike in front of a crowd of Japanese people. Tore my pants. Bled. Pretty horrible day.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Laying in bed

This is my bedroom. Three windows and hardly any curtains. I'm thinking I can make some custom curtains cheaper than we can buy them. The little window faces east so the sun is very in your face in the morning.

Today I have two job interviews! Two! Wish me luck!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Moved in!

Tub controls and whole house water control (above).

I am now blogging to you live from my Japanese soaking tub! Oh man is it heaven! Remember though not to wash in the tub, soap corrodes it pipework. Right now the pipework is sucking out mediocre water and shooting it back in the tub as hot relaxing water. Delightful!

Today was a busy busy day. We started at 8am moving our stuff to the house. Our landlord met us at the house and helped us obtain our parking stickers and showed us how to work some appliances. Then the gas guy came to hook up our gas line to the house.

After they left, the Navy movers showed up to drop off our loaner items. We got a bed, some lamps, two dehumidifiers, our washer and dryer and our fridge. Most of our items are in Japanese so they also dropped off an English cheat guide to help us use the appliances.

Then we went grocery shopping to buy food for the house. We got so much stuff!! Our house is now full of food. I made fried spam, rice, eggs, and seaweed tonight and it turned out great.

After that we worked on unpacking. We'll use this weekend to finish a bulk of our unpacking. Then we rushed out to our balcony to see the gorgeous nighttime city view.

Such a good day. Just want to never leave this gorgeous house.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Trash Again

Let's touch on the topic of trash one more time. It's serious here. If you don't seperate your trash correctly, the trash collectors will return your bag to your doorstep. You don't get the luxury of knowing what was wrong with the trash, you have to figure it out on your own.

How do they know it's your trash? All trash for the community is placed in a central location for collection. Unfortunately, there's very little hiding who the American is in the neighboorhood. Your trash will likely be full of American products and English language items.They know where the American lives and will return the trash to you. Too many trash violations (repeated failure to properly sort your trash) will be reported to the Navy. The Navy will then report it to your command, your command will evict you from your house and you will be placed in Navy housing (the Negishi annex, which is an hour and a half from the main base) for the duration of your stay in Japan.

The trash sorting is the reason a lot of people chose to live on base where you don't have to sort your trash. I kind of like the trash sorting for two reasons: 1) It's a challenge...I wanted to live Japanese, well, here it is...and 2) It makes me think about the things I consume and throw away. As of right now I never give a second thought to the things I put in the trash, but being forced to think about it will probably make me realize how wasteful I can be.

Here's a sampling of our trash booklet:

We did it! We signed the lease! We do our walkthrough on Sunday and on Monday we officially move in!

We were given a garbage calendar (above), a five page garbage sorting booklet, a two page handy garbage sorting index guide, and a notice from the Navy sternly warning us to properly dispose of our trash.

There's four trash pickups a week, each for a different type of garbage. We need to buy four trash cans and clear plastic garbage bags, the only ones authorized for use. John says he's going to put together an information binder to keep by the trashcans.

We also bought our first set of brand new pots and pans, a rice cooker, coffee maker, and blankets for our bed. We've been so busy today and can't wait to be moved in!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

We sign the lease!

Today we sign the lease for our house! Finally! At 2pm we meet with our landlord and the Navy Housing Agency and exchange money and sign our lease!! I can't wait! Maybe we'll even get our keys??

We will be signing what is known as a Navy lease. This provides us such guarantees as: we only have to give 10 days notice when we move out, we can use the Navy legal system as recourse for any rental problems we may have, and our lease has no renewal requirements. It also means our rent is a lot higher than a native Japanese person. Additionally, a Japanese lease requires renewal every two years. A bonus equal to one month's rent must be paid to the landlord each time the lease is renewed. We don't have to do this under a Navy lease.

They provided us a copy of the lease to read over before we sign it and here are some notable notes:

1 - "Quiet Enjoyment" clause - Guarantees us the right to live in the home without intrusion of the landlord.

2 - "Floor Loading" - The tenant is responsible for any damage done by "exceptionally heavy" furniture.

3 - "Foot Wear" - The wearing of shoes is prohibited inside rental premises.

4 - "Nails and Tacks" - written approval must be received before we drive nails and tacks into the walls.

Interesting, huh?

Through the magic of exchange, we turned $11k into 870,500 yen.

Japanese Special

A flavor of Mtn Dew found only in Japan and only in certain vending machines!

John liked it. I tried it. Not bad if you like Mtn Dew.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Condundrum....

I got a call this morning for a job interview. A job I usually would've been more than excited about in the US. A job in which their job description matches my resume perfectly. A manager job. The next step in my career.

I'm at a crossroads about this though. As I said, John and I are seriously considering life after the Navy in the next 5 years. We need to save as much money as we can so that we don't have to be stressed when we return to the US. Who knows, maybe we can save enough for an upfront cash payment on a house in a nice neighborhood. This job could definitely help towards those goals. We wouldn't need any of my paycheck and we could throw it all into savings watching it pile up year after year.

On the other hand, this job is a full time managerial position. Do I really want to put myself in a position to be stressed like I was in San Diego? Do I really want to cut down the time I have to explore Japan? Am I exploring Japan now sitting in a hotel room? I don't like to explore without John and he works 7-3 five days a week. He has a full-time job and he's not stressing about it.

I just don't know what to do. I'm going to go to the interview and hopefully they'll talk about salary. The price is going to have to be extremely right for me to consider taking this job. The money would be nice, but at what cost?

Ugh. This is going to be a hard one folks.

This is happening!!

We're actually moving into our house on Monday! All of the wheels aligned perfectly (almost) and we're looking good for a Monday move-in date.

First, we had to wait for the Navy to give us the move-in money. It totalled about $11,000. Next, we had to take the money out in cash, which is always safe. Today, John's taking the money to exchange it to yen and then tomorrow we give it to our landlord. Yes, to move into a place in Japan it costs 4 times the monthly rent. You pay the first month's rent, agent fee, landlord fee, and renter's insurance all up front.

I'm so nervous. I'm the type of person who believes that bad news is around every corner, so I hope everything goes smoothly today when John exchanges the money. Then on Monday, we check out of this hotel!! We've already started looking for appliances we will need for the house. I found a wonderful rice cooker I can't wait to own.

To be honest, I'm a little nervous about readjusting to life outside of the base. We will live near a train station, but I can't remember how close. I also wonder how I will get onto base. We only have one car, so if I need to get on base while John is at work, I guess I can bicycle or figure out how to use the bus.

Well, either way, it's happening on Monday. Eeek!

Dancing in Japan

One of the things I've consistently noticed when going out on the weekend is that Japanese people are bad dancers. Think about it though, in the US, we pull from many, many, many cultures to make our dances. Our country is a melting pot and our dance culture is wide, varied, and pretty amazing.

Now, let's think about Japan and their tradition of dance....they have the Japanese Fan Dance....if you've seen that...it's..well...very reserved even though they can do some great things with the fans. Now this is not to say that Japan has not discovered things like hip-hop dance. John and I watched a hip-hop dance competition in the mall. This type of thing seems to be reserved for children though.

So, all this boils down to is that in clubs they like to do dances that have preconceived moves. This ensures that the dancing stays fairly orderly and everyone can do it.

So I present to you a few videos:

This is the Cupid Shuffle at a club in the Tokyo area. Most clubs play the Cupid Shuffle at least twice in a night and the ENTIRE club runs to the dance floor for this line dance.

I've actually been to this club. It's half on base, half off base. You see EVERYONE doing the electric slide.

Lastly, we have a flash mob in a suburb of Tokyo doing the YMCA.

Also the other night, we did the Tootsie Roll. I can't find any videos of that though. I might have to make one myself.

Finally getting outside the box

We move out of the Navy Lodge on Monday. It seems like strokes of genius strike me when I least need them. Firstly, John and I have made a goal of being multi-thousandairres by the time we leave Japan. In San Diego, we got into the bad habit of when we wanted something we bought it. Now, we wait a few days to see if we still REALLY want something.

This also means not buying things just because we don't have them right now. For example, I have a full set of pots, pans, and dishes in our households goods shipment. Those should be here in the first week of July. I'm moving into my home on Monday, but I am sad I won't be able to cook right away. I'm also sad I've been unable to use anything but a microwave to cook since arriving in Japan. Last night I saw a slow cooker on sale for $12......we accidentally left our slow cooker behind in San Jose and I find it is one of my favorite kitchen appliances.

I then went to the commissary and bought locally grown carrots, onions, and US grown potatoes. I also bought some chopped beef. Voila! Beef stew! Why didn't I think to do this weeks ago?? I also wanted to buy an electric griddle, but I can't think of any other time I might use one, so I had to drop this idea.

I think when I move out into town, I'm going to do some grocery shopping at a Japanese farmer's market (mom, dad, and sis will get to go!) and pick up some amazingly fresh ingredients to whip up a delicious meal.

Here's a picture of my crock pot stew:

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Today I'm going to apply for some MWR (the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation office) jobs. For some reason, people always perk up when I say this. Job? Are you struggling? No. Not at all. John makes more than enough to support us.

However, John and I have seriously been considering a life after the Navy. What a better time than now to start kicking some serious money back into a savings account. Most people on shore duty here in Japan get a second job and you have stories of people saving $90k or more during the duration of their time in Japan. John wants to lifeguard during the summer. Even if he's making $400 a month, that's money that can go straight to a savings account.

As for me, I'll get a job doing....something...and kick all my money into savings as well. It would be ideal when we finally decide to leave the Armed Forces that we have a cushion to help us get on our feet. Neither of our jobs will be serious full-time work, so it will leave us with plenty of time to explore Japan and be with our families.

Wylee!

John and I saw Wylee yesterday. He looks fantastic and seems so happy! If everyone remembers, there was an issue with his import paperwork and he was sentenced to an 180 day quarantine period. The animals can complete their quarantine period either in an in-base kennel or in an on base house. We first had him in the kennel and he did very poorly there. He lost a lot of weight and was injuring himself digging at his cage. We were able to find a family who lives in base housing to foster him until October, when the quarantine period ends.

The family that's fostering him has been fantastic. They love him dearly and let him sleep in their bed, just like John and I do. Here's some pictures of him enjoying life:

Wylee loves to pay with their big dog, Lilu.

They moved a rug to the front door for him and Lilu. They take turns laying on it, but never together because that'd be too icky for Wylee.

When no one else's lap is available he will climb into their son's lap. He dosen't like it much though because their son is too wiggly.

Just a little sad

Last night John and I went out with some friends in The Honch area right off base. Since we've been here nearly two months already, we're starting to sort out the places we like to go and the places we don't like to go. Unfortunately, a lot of places in this area cater specifically to Westerners. They think 1) all Westerners like to drink in excess and 2) Westerners like music so loud you have to yell over it. The saddest part is that these two points attract Westerners like you wouldn't believe. All bars have their music all the way up with the bass sounds pouring into the street. Military people pack these places wall-to-wall, dancing, shouting, and drinking like they just turned 21.
As for me, I like my nights to be more mellow. I like music at a reasonable volume and preferably local, good conversation, good company, hot wings, and maybe a glass of wine. We decided to try out some new places last night and they all got sadder than the last place.

To top it off, I'm still living out of a suitcase. I have four or five outfits I've been rotating out. I don't want to buy more clothes because that would be a waste of money. I have plenty of clothes on the way. My clothes are starting to show wear because I've been wearing them too often. My favorite shirt developed a hole. So while most ladies go out in their nighttime finest, I'm stuck in comfy jeans, the same t-shirt I wore I on plane flight over, and sneakers.

I guess I'm sad because I'm missing the US something fierce right now. In the US if I was in this predicament I know: 1) anything labeled "sports bar" would be more my style (nothing's labeled that out here and if it is, it's false advertising...it's most likely a club) and 2) I could go to a thrift store and buy some really cheap and cute pieces to spice up my wardrobe until my clothes arrived. Even the thrift stores here are expensive and they're nothing like the bargain bins of the US.

Since it's not my style to mope around for long, I did an internet search of places around Yokosuka I may enjoy. I found a fun jazz bar and restaurant where local acts perform. Since it's tucked away on a street few military people wander down, it's mellow with live jazz piano music on the weekends. I'm definitely going to have to try this place out. I'll let you guys know what I think.

I'd like to have a local haunt, because sometimes you want to get out of the house, but you don't want to travel far. I'm crossing my fingers we find something :)

Food, food, food

This morning I headed up to the 7-11 again for some delicious food. As I've mentioned before, the 7-11's here are extremely fresh and delicious. Take whatever you know about western 7-11's and destroy that knowledge in your head, because the Japan 7-11's are amazing.

I wish I knew what this was called. I searched everywhere online and can't figure out what it is. If anyone knows, please let me know. It's a large bun like thing that seems barely baked. The very outer layer is almost uncooked and then it's bready all the way through without being dense. The bread is lightly sweet. The meat inside was pork and it was flavored with light ginger and a little sugar. The whole thing was served hot. Delicious.

Next, I got this bread corn thing. Let me emphasize that neither of these products were densely bready. It was more of a light and fluffy bread that fell somewhere between a dinner roll and a pastry. This bread wasn't sweet, but had a coating of sweet butter that sometimes tasted like cream cheese and sometimes tasted like butter and then a layer of corn. It was good and would have been good with a meal of noodles.

I hope to get John back up to the 7-11 tonight so we can get more of the first food I ate and some mochi balls dipped in a sweet sauce. I am just so amped about Japanese food right now!

Kristen on the Case

My grandmother is 100% Japanese. She met my grandfather when he was in Japan shortly after World War II. My dad's been showing her pictures of my time in Japan via his fancy iPad. She has solved a couple of mysteries for us :

The Mystery of the Kit Kat Bar Flavor

The case: I mentioned this Kit Kat bar in my blog post last night. When I picked it up in the 7-11, my American friend told me he thought it was wasabi flavored. I had my doubts because 1) why would a candy be wasabi flavored (but I still wouldn't put it past the Japanese) and 2) The picture just doesn't look like wasabi to me...it looks like mochi.

The truth: The written Japanese next to the Kit Kat logo says "zundafume." Thanks to my Japanese language course, I was able to read "Zunda" on my own, but couldn't find a translation, so I gave up on figuring out what it meant. My grandmother confirmed that the last two kanji characters read "fume" or "flavor." So this candy bar is Zunda flavored.....well, what's that? After some light Googling, I learned that Zunda flavored is a type of mochi flavoring.

Please note, mochi IS NOT a Japanese ice cream (for some reason the term mochi has become synonymous with Japanese ice cream...please go forth and dispel this rumour). Mochi is rice pounded to a pulp and reshaped into cubes or spheres. These rice shapes can then be coated in flavoring (such as ice cream) or a flavored paste. So Zunda mochi is these pounded rice balls covered in soybean paste...so it's an edamame flavor. Therefore, this Kit Kat bar should taste like edamame.

On that note, I found this blog about one girl's quest to try all the Kit Kat bar flavors she can during her three year stay in Japan: Jen Ken's Kit Kat Blog. If you click on the link, it will bring you to a post about her experience with the Zunda flavored Kit Kar bar.

Case Closed.

The Case of the Weeing Boy

The case: I came across this in the automotive section of a large all-in-one store. When I first saw it, I thought it was something to wipe the rain off your windshield before you drive away. However, when I took a second look a the picture, I couldn't figure out what it was.

The truth: My grandmother says this is a package of pills to help deal with things like motion sickness or traffic jam anxiety. Why the weeing angel? No one knows. It may be some sort of cultural reference that American's don't understand. To put this is perspective, let's think of some American logos that have nothing to do with the product:

Chuck-E-Cheese - A pizza place with a rat as a mascot. Make sense? Didn't think so.
Aunt Jemiamah Syrup - I'm not even going to touch this one.
Kentucky Fried Chicken - Old southern man with a white moustache, we get it, but do foreigners?
McDonalds - The golden arches are easy....but think about the clown. What does a creepy clown have to do with fast food?

Case closed.

Now I'm off to the 7-11 to get a pork filled dumpling. See you guys later!

Sushi-Go-Round and Kit Kat Bars

Tonight John and I met up with one of our friends for dinner and a fun romp through the 7-11 (in Japan it's technically called 7 and I-holdings). We decided to eat at a sushi-go-round place, where the sushi is placed on a conveyor belt and as it circles the seating area, you pick the plates you want. They have these places in the US as well, so I'm sure many of my readers are familiar with how they work.

If you aren't familiar with sushi-go-round places, let me go into a little detail. The sushi chefs make a variety of sushi and place it on a conveyor belt. As the conveyor belt goes around, the diners can pull plates from it and eat the dish. Each dish is color coded to denote price and you stack them up as you finish your plate. At the end of the meal, the waitress will count your plates and their cost and charge you appropriately. Simple! One rule though, if you touch the plate while it's on the conveyor, even a little bit, it's yours. So, be careful.

Here's a few pictures:

Look at that sushi zoom by my plate!

They had a huge conveyor belt.

I just thought the squid on the wall was adorable.

Finally, I come to my last point of the evening. Kit Kat bars. I thought about making this an entire post to itself, but I figure it's okay to do it here. In the US, Kit Kat bars are pretty basic. Red/orange packaging, 4 bars, wafers covered in chocolate. Yeah. Yeah. Snooze-o. I like Kit Kat bars, but never thought they were THE candy bar to munch on.

In Japan, Nestle clearly found a market in which the Kit Kat brand thrives. They have flavored Kit Kat bars. What makes things even more interesting is that you can collect them. Certain flavors are a one-time only release. Certain flavors are specific to a certain region and certain flavors are specific to certain seasons. On top of their special flavors, they have flavors that are out year round.

Today at 7 and I-holdings, I found a wasabi flavored Kit Kat bar and a bitter strawberry flavored Kit Kat bar. I tried the bitter strawberry and it's dark chocolate with a hint of strawberry. Nothing spectacular. I'm a little nervous about the wasabi. I don't know if I want to try it or keep it forever and ever.

To be honest, I don't know if this is wasabi, mochi, or green tea. Everyone is telling me wasabi.

Bitter strawberry.

I'd rather you gimmie a break, gimmie a Kit Kat. Guess Western slang doesn't translate well.

A tour of my Navy Lodge Room

This is a little tour of my Navy Lodge room. Forgive my short post. I just got back from derby practice and took the wrong-ish train. It put me a little farther from the base than I would have liked to be, so I had to walk back in 80 degree heat with 88% humidty with all my derby gear. My legs are like noodles and I'm so beyond hungry nothing sounds good to eat. I think I'm going to shower and nap.

Flurry of Paperwork and Irritation

Navy Lodge: We don't have your extension paperwork on file.
Me: Well, the manager of the Navy Lodge signed it almost a week ago. I don't know why you guys don't have a copy.
Navy Lodge: Can you bring a copy to the front desk?
Me: I guess.
Navy Lodge: So, when are you guys checking out?

That was the very irritating conversation I had with the Navy Lodge before I went to sign my housing paperwork. The manager signed our request to stay in the Navy Lodge beyond the initial thirty days, but neglected to make a copy to keep in their file. Irritating.

So, with a stop in the hotel lobby, we made our way to the housing office to sign our paperwork. The first contention was that our house was listed as having two parking spaces and we were also requesting one additional parking space at the bottom of the two-way hill of doom. The Navy will only pay for two parking spaces....since our house is listed as having two, the third one was out of the question. Now, this wouldn't have been irritating if this was the first we'd heard of this. It's not. We went through this same discussion before we even started this appointment and things had been sorted out. However, no one made a note that the discussion happened...thus, we had to go through explaining ourselves all over again. With a call to our landlord, things were once again sorted.

Then, the flurry of paperwork started. Sign here. Read this. Do you need a loaner bed for 90 days? A washer and dryer? Dehumidifiers? Transformers? Microwave? Smoke detectors? Dressers? The list went on and on of things we might/might not need in our house. Some of the items we can keep for the duration of our stay in Japan. Some of the items will be collected by the Navy in 90 days. It was slow moving and confusing.

Then we learn that the Navy doesn't pay renter's insurance and for most units, the renter's insurance is required. Personally, I wouldn't be without it. There's no payment plan option like there is in the US, you pay all the insurance upfront. So that's $250 out of our pockets. The Navy will however give us money for everything else.

The total cost for us to move into our house: 875,000 yen. That's roughly a little over $10,500. They said to bring the money to our next appointment. They gave us no guidance on how to get this money out of our account. We need to get it out in yen and banks are very touchy when you withdraw that much money all at once. So, we have to perfectly time ourselves to give the banks notice of our withdraw. No money = no next appointment.

Our next appointment is next Friday. We actually meet with the agent and give her the money and sign out lease. We also may get the keys.

Our move in day is officially June 20th. We will have our loaner furniture, our appliances, and the gas turned on on that day.

I'm happy to be moving out of the Lodge. I think I will be happier when I know things will go smoothly. Once again, I'm in a position where so many little parts have to line up perfectly in order for everything to go correctly. Frustrating. Stressful. At least we'll be out of this hotel room in a week and a half.

Thank you!!

I just want to give a big thank you to all my readers and supporters. It makes me feel good when people say they not only read my blog, but enjoy it!!

Thank you all for taking the time out of your life to read what I have to write. Can't wait to share more adventures with you all in the near and far future.

Yokosuka Sushi Rollers!

As my readers may know, I have joined Yokosuka's Roller Derby team called the Yokosuka Sushi Rollers. Roller derby as a sport has its origins in 1970's and 80's Japan where it was originally played by all men. They usually wore those one piece speed uniforms and helmets. The rules were similar to derby as we know it today.

In the 2000's, derby experienced a revival in the US as an all woman's sport. It can be boxed in the same category as wrestling. It's half sport, half entertainment. The girls take on skating personas, dress up in costumes, and may fight dirty on the track. Since derby experienced its origins in Japan there are many old roller skaters left in this country. We have a Japanese "coach" that comes all the way from Tokyo about once a month to help us on our derby skills. His name is Hiroshi and he came to practice yesterday. He is intense. He had us running drills non-stop until I was sweating so hard and my legs were shaking. I can skate just fine, I think it's from the years of non-stop yoga in San Diego as my balance is impeccable, but I'm working on things like my timing and skating backwards.

Our team is a flat track team (as opposed to a banked track) and there are a number of skills each skater has to be proficient in before they are allowed to bout. We practice in Ikego (the Navy base annex about 20 minutes from the main base) and on the main base. When we have practice in Ikego, I take the train. Since there is no place to change at the gym, I have to wear my workout gear on the train. I try to make my workout gear look as normal as possible so that I don't get stared at on a train full of people in business suits. I have gotten good at taking the train from Yokosuka to Ikego. The cost is about $6 roundtrip.

Lastly, as part of derby, you chose a derby name. My name is Robbn' Sparkles. It's a character on an American TV show.

I leave you with a video explaining how flat track derby is played:

Yokohama!!

Today John and I decided to go visit the city of Yokohama. Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan next to Tokyo. We took the trains there and the travel time was about 30 minutes. As always, I'm doing one of my infamous photo dumps to show you all the things we saw today. We walked for miles and miles and I am pretty tired, so hopefully I can hold it together to make a coherent post. 

Nissan Global Headquarters. This is cool because this is the place where they carve designs into clay. We're talking about the some of the world's leading engineers work right here! They have a small museum inside, but it looked rather dull if you're not into cars and energy conserving cars.

See that tall tower way off in the distance? That's the Yokohama Landmark Tower. It's the tallest building in Japan. That's where John and I are headed.

Yokohama has a large ferris wheel. It takes about 10 minutes to make a full turn. It's not only a ferris wheel, but also a clock. It used to be the world's largest ferris wheel.

Remember my previous post about food? There's a Hard Rock Cafe in Yokohama. Also a McD's, which is where we ate a small lunch.

This is the basement area below the large tower.

Looking up at the Yokohama Landmark Tower.

The Yokohama Landmark Tower also boasts one of the world's fastest elevators. It goes so fast your ears pop on the way up. John and I took turns jumping in the elevator noting how heavy we felt when we jumped because of the speed of the elevator. The second picture is the ceiling of the elevator because I thought it was cool.

We made it up to the 70th floor of the Tower, which holds a lounge. I had a glass of wine and John tried the Japanese scotch. We took lots of pictures from the lounge's viewing deck. The Tower also contains a five-star hotel. 

This was a park outside of the Tower and along the waterfront.

I just thought this was funny. We didn't stop here. In Japan, it's common for bars to have strange names, like they just drew an English word out of a hat. Want to make up a Japanese bar name? First, take the word "Bar", now reach out and touch the nearest object on your right. The name of your Japanese bar is now "Bar [whatever you touched]" Mine's Bar Phone.

One of the attractions in Yokohama is it's large Chinatown. There were so many shops and restaurants!! SO MANY!! Both John and I bought little key chains for less than $1.



So, there you have it, our day in Yokohama. We didn't get a chance to get on the ferris wheel, but we'll definitely be back. Today we just wanted to have an easy day outing. Nothing crazy or expensive. Next, we'll go up to Tokyo...