Early Morning News

This is early morning for me (though for most reading it will be almost lunch time on Monday). Today I have a big tour and wanted to let everyone know. There is an Admiral coming through our facility for a visit, but it is not him on the tour I am so worried about. Rather it is the captain of the shipyard back at Puget and the Head of NEPD (the department I work for, who is also the head of the shipyard). So these are my two bosses all the way up the ladder. Any higher and I start talking about government officials who are elected into positions kind of bosses. So this morning will be exciting. I know the system well enough, I just hope I can answer all of their questions and sound logical.

And on a side note, I thought it was funny that last night I was in Japan, eating at a Chinese restaurant, that was playing French music... Just to say that America is not the only place that gets those types of things a little backwards. More to come later. I am working on another video update for everyone and the results of those green tea kit kats...

Middle Of The Week

I was thinking about my blog today while I was at work, and yes I was focused mostly on my work, but it was a slower moment and so I began to realize that most of my posting happens on the weekend for some reason and thought I should update tonight for some of my mid week action.

Yesterday I got to go to an all men's Bible Study from the church I went to on Sunday. It meets in the food court across the street from my hotel so it is super convenient. It is a good mix of ages and really it isn't so much of a study as rather a time of relationship building and sharing life from what God is speaking to us and moving around us. A great time to connect and I wish I had found out about it sooner because it is a nice break to the monotony of the work week. 

Today is my Thursday random restaurant night. There is a group from work who goes to a new restaurant in the area every Thursday just to try out new places. It is really fun and tonight we went to a Mexican place. Yep Mexican in Japan... It actually was really good. Not as big of helpings as you would get in the states but I really like the meal. Some of the food had a different kind of flavor to it... I have tasted its undertones in other food before... so I will call it the flavor of Japan. It seems to be in a lot of things. 

Thursday is also laundry day! This is a bachelor's dream. Every Monday and Thursday I send in a bag of dirty close and then the following Monday or Thursday I get them back, clean folded and put in a little plastic bag. So if I turn in clothes on Monday, I have them back Thursday all done up just like the photo. It is awesome! 

I got to thinking about it and right now I, have breakfast made for me every day, fresh towels for my shower every morning, someone else makes my bed for me, does my laundry, I have a 15 min walk to work along a harbor, and I get to eat out all the time. I have to say that I have no reason to complain about Japan. My only wish is that I could have erin here to share it with me.

Relaxation Day

So after weeks of busy and yesterday's excursion around Kamakura and related area I thought that I would take things a little slower today.  I slept in (which is still 6:30 for me but hey that is 2 hours of extra sleep!). After showering I wandered up to have the breakfast buffet the hotel puts out. Last night the wind and rain was so hard it woke me up twice but by the time I made it upstairs to the 19th floor for breakfast it was almost clear skies. The view up there was great for a lazy breakfast. I only wish it was acceptable to wear my PJs to breakfast too...

After wards I got back to my room and had plenty of time before church so I uploaded some more photos which failed to upload last night then headed off for the train. The stop for the church is only two places down on the local rail and so it doesn't take more than 20 min total with both the train ride and walking to get to the building where the church is. So being the overly cautious person I am, I arrived way early and ended up across the street int he McDonald's for a coffee and read until it wasn't too early.

The church is on the 3rd and 4th floors of an office building. Honestly you almost miss it when walking by. I am glad they had photos of the building up online to help in spotting it. The congregation is smaller than Harbor Life back home and you can tell it is a mission planted church. The pastor leads worship, his two teenage children help by singing and playing bass, while one of the local teens plays drums. The church is bi-lingual (both English and Japanese). So during worship we would switch back and forth. During the message the pastor's wife translates for him.

After the service their youth group was serving lunch for 500 yen up on the 4th floor so I stuck around and got to know some of the congregation. Most of the americans there are related to the shipyard in some way. A couple engineers, some office people and a few sailors. About a third of the church is in this group. The people are very nice, though I am not sure they knew what to do with me when I first walked in, or even what language to speak to me in because I started off by saying good morning in Japanese. I think then I was given instructions to feel free to sit wherever I wanted, guessing by the body language of the person helping me.

Overall I had a great time there. The service started at 10:30 and I didn't leave the building until 15:00 when all done with lunch and chatting with everyone. I got a few contacts and there is a men's Bible Study on Wednesday nights in the mall across the street from my hotel I am going to probably go to this week.

The rest of the day was very laid back. I finished organizing some photos and getting ready for the week. Went out for dinner to a place I thought was Japanese noodles only to find out after sitting down and looking at the menu I figured out it was Italian. Oops! Well either way the meal was great and after a quick run through the grocery store I was home with a couple needed things for the week and some green tea ice cream. Really strange flavor combo but good.

Now though it is off to bed, ready for another week. Strange to think that I have already been here for two weeks. I am sure before too long it will all be over and I will have to get used to things like driving, cooking and doing my own laundry. Though no promises on me making my bed...

Saturday Travels a.k.a. The sight seeing blitz

Yesterday was a big trip for me. With my supervisor now gone any traveling that I do, I do by myself. So I thought no reason to kick it all hidden in my hotel room and instead I planned myself a trip. Close to here (about a 25 min train ride) is the area of Kamakura. Back in the 1200 - 1300's it was the capital and thriving city center of Japan. Very rich in older culture and sights. I had been through briefly last weekend and on my check list of things I want to do, returning to here was a high priority. So using a map or two, some information about the different sight I planned out a weekend of wandering around this area. I think over the day I saw maybe 8 or 9 shrines/temples. So I won't take the time to hit everyone but rather some highlights.

The main reason I wanted to go back was because of two particular places. The first was the Zuisenji Temple on the far outside of town. This was so remote and out of the way I my thought is that it would be the best to just visit without many other people. Most of the sights closer to town attract both foreign travelers as well as local people on the weekends. So in trying to avoid a few crowds and wander through some old Japanese gardens in peace, I figured this was the spot. Turns out I was right. The walk was probably a good 20 min from anything close to resembling the main city. Tucked back in the hills was this small temple. Unlike many of the other ones I had seen it was not overly ornate or glamorous. Most temples or shrines have a small entrance fee (usually 200 to 500 yen, or 3 to 6 bucks) which gives you entrance and some kind of informational brochure to read. This was the only place that didn't have an english one and you could tell they don't get too frequented by out of town folks. Most of the people I saw where there to pay respects to their elders in the cemetery right next to the temple. But the place was wonderful. There had been only needed restoration on the buildings so everything actually looked and felt like it was from the period when it was first built. And the gardens were just wonderful, I wish I could see it in full bloom.

The second place I wanted to go was Hokokuji Temple. Not so much for the sake of the temple but rather the 2000 year old bamboo forest behind the temple. Yep, bamboo forest. I had been waiting to see some actually (strange as it is there isn't much real growing bamboo around unless you search hard for it). The forest actually isn't too big but it was really neat. The light plays tricks on you as the wind blows causing the bamboo to part then close up again, moving the shade around. In the back of the forest is a small tea shop which I had to have a drink of. To the best of my ability I can tell you that green tea ranked up with some of the best I have ever had.

There are tons of photos uploaded for Kamakura and I am sure you all will have some questions. Send me some and I can try to answer them. Also while I was out I made sure to see some of the "typical" tourist sights and so I did go see the giant bronze Buddha, I was not super impressed and there was tons of people, and the caves on Endosima Island, which were really cool. Legend says that one of the caves goes all the way to the ice caves under Fuji... I am not sure if I believe that, but it would be one long walk if they did.

Hope you all enjoy the photos. Today I am going to go to church. The service starts in a little bit so I better get ready.

Food experiences...

It has been a little while since my last full post and this might be a short one, but last night I had another interesting experience. There is so much different food here it is hard to not have something new on the menu but last night I had something I don't think you will ever see on the menu in the USA... raw horse. Yep ground up dipped in citric acid then placed over shredded cucumber, garlic, bean sprouts and a raw egg yolk poured around it.

I was eating out with a group from work who every Thursday night goes out to try new and different restaurants in town. I had wanted to start bridging out and with a group that always seems a little safer. So we ended up in this place that was much more traditional (take off your shoes kind of place) that actually I realized when going here that I actually had been to the restaurant before but missed the horse on the menu. There was six of us and so we ate family style sharing lots of dishes, everyone ordering something they thought sounded interesting and wanted to try. Some how it got to the horse and we ended up ordering a plate for our table.

The dish was small, maybe a cup of horse total and three cups of food overall. But when it did arrive there were two guys who really wanted to try it, leaving just about one helping left... so I tried it. Yep, I ate raw horse. And actually it tasted great. To that point it was the best thing we had on the table. I think the other three people were missing out, and by the time I had finished my serving I was kind of wanting a little more... though I wasn't up for ordering another whole platter of it for myself.

Now I can definitely say that I have eaten something here I don't think I will ever get the chance to over there in the states. Oh and don't worry about any food sicknesses, the cleanliness level in restaurants is very high and the way the horse is "prepared" the citric acid it is dipped in kills off anything on the exterior to the meet and so writing this blog post the next morning I still feel great and have no worries about getting sick.

Today is my Friday. I have plans to wander around Kamakura all of Saturday so expect some more photos and a post or two about the trip. My supervisor who has been also my personal tour guide leaves today so this will be my first major trip venturing out on my own. Also, for Sunday I found out how to get to a local Church and I am going to try and make the morning service there.

Thanks to all for the warm wishes and support.

Japanese Auto Tour

Yesterday was another blast up in Tokyo. This time venturing off of where my rail/subway map covers we went to the Megaweb showroom. It is the main headquarters for Toyota/Lexus. Tons of people and lots happening. It was neat to sit in all the new cars (well the race cars were only for the kids) but we did get to see them and also look at the new concept cars they have out. The other neat thing about the area is the historic car museum. They had a couple American classics but my favorite was the old Porsche they had there... oh, if only I wouldn't have gotten in trouble for getting into it, I would have loved to known what it was like to sit in that car....

After that showroom and history area we wandered around the complex a little, took a ride on the really really tall ferris wheel, the hit the train back to Yokohama where the Nissan Global headquarters is. Similar story except you could sit in the nice race cars here. Oh and I didn't know this until today but they still make the Nissan Skyline... Just only for the Japanese and sadly you have to wait until the car is 25 years old to import it to the US easily... I think I know what I am going to pick up in 25 years from now. The car was a blast to sit in, really nice and actually more awkward to get in and out of than my Mini. 

Overall a nice guys day up looking at some cool cars. It was nice to have Brain there with John and myself. I am slowly getting to know some of the other shipyard workers stationed here. Enjoy the photos (mostly cars). I am going to add some of the non-car shots up when I get a chance to a Toyko folder.

Tokyo Time!

Yay for Tokyo! So today was the blitz tour of the city. Of course I didn't get to see everything but I did see some of the more major sites. Started off the morning with the train ride up there. Once out of the first stop we went over this bridge to look at a few buildings, one of which is this famous brewery. We didn't go in but I did take pictures of the weird sculpture on top... It has been called many different things but I will refer to it as the giant golden yam... 

So, after the quick stop we headed up this cool little alley filled with street vendors getting ready for the day. For such a big city it still doesn't really wake up until about 9:00 so walking through at 8:30ish most of the stands were still being set up. The main reason we went there was to visit this area outside of Asakusa was at this location a long time ago one of the Japanese Emperors tried to combine the two religions in the county (Shintoism and Buddhism) by putting a Buddhist temple and a Shinto shrine on the same piece of land. Culture and history aside this place was really cool and was my first touch of "old" Japan. Here are some photos of the giant yam and the shrine/temple.

After that trip we headed to the gardens near Ueno. Only the plum trees are in bloom so when the cherry trees start this is a place I am sure going to be returning to. This time the place was fairly desolate. 

After this we made the trip to the royal palace. Like Ueno things are still kind of dormant so only the evergreen trees are there but I did get some good photos of the palace exterior. They wouldn't let me in though :,( 

From there we caught the subway to Roppongi Hills which is one of the better high points in Tokyo. Nice area with some neat architecture, actually now that I mention it most of the buildings here are really neat. If they don't carry some unique design to the shape some are kept so clean that they reflect other buildings around them. Makes for some great sights and fun photos.

Roppongi left us a little hungry so my supervisor (who I have been doing most of my traveling with) and I went to the Hardrock Cafe in Tokyo. First time ever in a Hardrock and kind of funny it was in another country. One main reason we went was for the 15% off for showing our military IDs.

The last stop we made was Shibuya. It has been claimed as the busiest crosswalk in the world and I believe it. You have to see the photos. Once the cars stopped and the little crosswalk man turned to green it was like someone let class out of high school on a friday with the sun out. I mean there was hundreds of people crossing all at the same time in all directions. Then just like they appeared everyone cleared the area and the cars moved again. Of course though being the busiest intersection everything around there is busy too. Including the worlds busiest Starbucks! Yep, had to get a drink from there. The place was about the side of a shoe closet but man were they quick. I think in the five minuets I was there I must have made 20+ orders. I added in a few photos and also a shot of the guy in charge of making sure everyone got their drink. He wasn't a happy camper but I did get what I ordered in close to the fastest I ever have when ordering a fancy coffee. 

After our coffee we were both very spent. We took a few subways to get to the express train home. It took about 20 to 30 min to ride the express back and I think I fell asleep at least once. After a little rest we went out for probably the most traditional Japanese meal I have had while here. They even had me remove my shoes before entering the restaurant. Oh, and have I mentioned that the food here is absolutely amazing? Well tonight topped it all off again, as if I needed any reminder to the fact. 

So now with the day over I am off to bed. Lots of little things fit into today also, and as I remember them I am sure to share. Enjoy the photos, I added a few to my older galleries, including some new ones in the "Random" file. Including my first sight of graffiti, a sick looking packman bad guy. 

The Trips Continue

Today after a good day of work we got to travel up to Yokohama. It was nice to have the train ride and see what some of the other shipyard workers are doing everyday for a commute. Made me glad I have just a 10 min walk from the hotel to the gate.

Up in Yokohama I got to see Landmark Tower, which is currently the tallest building in Japan. It isn't super tall compared to some of the other large towers in the world but in a land that gets 400+ earthquakes a year, it kind of makes sense to not build things too tall. The trip was tons of fun. I think I am going to have to take a train up there a time or two in the future. The ride is super easy and there is lots to explore. I loaded on some photos of the trip, including many of the tower.

Also exciting part of dinner, tonights meal came with a nice heart shaped fried egg on it. I uploaded that one to the random folder too. Followed by some ice cream from Cold Stone (yep they have them over here too) and the sing to you if it is your first time, or if you tip them... kind of embarrassing but fun.

Video Update for the Youth

Many blessings on Tyson and Dirk as they lead while I am away.

Hoping all goes well.

As the days continue...

Today was another good experience day for me. Life here seems to go so fast. Next thing I know it is going to be time for me to leave. Stranger to think that I have actually only been working for three days now.

After work today my supervisor took some time to wanter around Yokosuka, which is the town I am staying in. I finally got my rail pass, or my Suica. It is a nice card which has a micro chip in it that stores train fair on it. The nice thing about the Suica is that I don't have to purchase tickets every time I change trains. I can just scan the card. It doesn't save me any money just time really.

The rest of tonight we wanted up and around Blue Street here in town. I took some photos on the walk. The area was busy, well busy for me. I guess that area is almost always full with some people. But we went to this 100 Yen store (same thing as like a dollar store in the states). It was tons of fun though I could easily spent too much time (and money) in this particular one just due to the size. I also got to try these really tasty pancake creme filled things, I loaded those photos on too.

I am almost fully over the groggy effects of the jet lag and felt like today was finally one of the first days I was really sharp and on the ball with work. These earlier days getting in and following all that was going on has been a little tough but today was a success.

One last funny thing I found out about my hotel room was that my safe has a "foot light" but when it is turned on it looks like the safe has ground effects... kind of like some of the cars I have seen here...

Room and Life Overseas

This makes the end of day 2 for me. Sorry for no post on day one of work, after the work day and a trip after work and then all the walking and jet lag... well lets just say that I didn't have the energy for a blog entry. But tonight I am doing much better and I have the time before bed.

Here are a few shots of the room. Yes I am quite literally living out of my suitcase but it works out well.

I think the most exciting thing I found out about the room is that they have free laundry service. Like not just a free washer and drier that I can use but you put all your close into this little orange bag with your room number on it and then a few days later all of them come back to you clean and folded! I could get used to that. Even better is that it happens twice a week. So check out some room photos on smug mug and of course other random fun shots.

I am getting used to how the train system works. It is a lot like Europe in some ways, but I can't wait until I can pick up a travel card and just buzz through the rail system instead of buying tickets.

My boss and myself went by an outlet mall north of where I am staying. Part of my train traveling experiences getting used to being able to travel on my own.

On a similar note, the food has been very excellent and I still cannot fathom even the amount of restaurants and selection in this small area. Most places have pictures and some english on the menu so you have an idea of what you are ordering. So far that strategy has worked out well. But mostly I have been eating curry at different places. Strange to come to Japan and east a lot of indian food but it is really good.

More stories to share, but not all at this time. Probably very soon.

Arrival

It is late and I have been up for a little while so this will be short. I am in Japan, in Yokosuka, safe and sound in my hotel (pictures to come). The room is a little small but to be expected, and I have the internet. That is something I am very happy about.

Thanks for all the best wishes and prayers from everybody!

Mid Flight Thoughts...

6^th March 2010 20:18 (State Time)

So I can’t update my blog mid flight so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to still take a few notes to post later. The in flight meal was I guess something to be expected. Though I am happy with the constant supply of green tea and random plane snacks. I am very glad that I took the recommendation from my supervisor to have a bulkhead seat. Even though I am close to the center, I can still get out easy without bothering the others too much and I have more than enough legroom for my height.

The company on the plane has been nice. One guy didn’t talk the whole time, but my other neighbor did. He is napping now, so I thought a good time to write about him. Nice guy from Utah, does something in sales with other countries and imports. He and another guy are traveling on a business trip for like two weeks. Makes my trip over for 6 or so weeks seem like a permanent move.

Well the time is passing; I think this is all on my mind for now. I think they are going to feed us again in an hour.

More Packing... or Repacking...

Not sure if it is a good thing or a bad one but night before I am to leave I am repacking sections of my bag, changing some of what I am bringing and in the mix of it all I know I am going to forget something or need something else. But as I keep reminding myself that anything I forget now I can always get while I am over there.

So these are probably the final messages before I fly out. Thanks for all the best wishes and prayers, see you all on the other side.

Packed and Counting

I am down to only 2 days before my flight. Orders all printed and today I actually got the bag all finished up and for the most part final packed. Work boots hidden away, and other shoes all stored. Actually looking at my bag, almost a third of the space is devoted to footwear... I blame it all on the work boots.

Either way I was happy to find that my bag only weights 30 lbs! Crazy to think my life from this Saturday until the middle of April is only that little weight. I guess it means I have some spare room for gifts and trinkets to bring back too.

And the packing job doesn't look too bad either I might say. Gosh, only one day of work and then the flight... It still hasn't fully sunk in yet that I am actually leaving.