Mr. Snelson Goes To Yokosuka

Week One

2011-06-26T13:58:00.002+09:00

Well another week of living in Japan is in the books. The thing that I am starting to realize is that not much changes around here. The faces and places might shift but being a Navy town there are things that will always be constant. The higher than usual concentration of restaurants, convenience stores, and bars a block off base. The weather which is currently "sticky" not very warm but humid enough to make one uncomfortable.

The food was standard fair for me. Tonkatsu near base, Ramen, Pizza, Thia, Za Watami all good food.

On Saturday Dave, Bryan and I went up for a half Tour de Tokyo. This was mostly the same sites as usual, Asakusa, Akihabara, Shimbashi, Daiba. We did go to the 47 Ronin grave sites in Tokyo. There is a movie coming out next year which I am sure like most movies will do an accurate job portraying the facts. Basic honor revenge story. Pictures below.

Week One June 2011

Happy Fathers Day - June 19th

2011-06-19T18:30:00.002+09:00

Nice and cloudy here today, slept a lot. Rolled my ankle a little bit, hurts but it will be fine. Had my favorite curry at Nirvana's for lunch. Went to dinner at a Restaurant called Family Garden, basically like a Denny's. As it was fathers day here it was packed, took around an hour to get in. Had the Japanese version of Pizza which is different but still very good.

Back in Japan - June 18th

2011-06-18T19:43:00.000+09:00

Another successful trip. I will fill in the details later, however it was nice that I was on a flight that took off prior to the United computer system failure.

Another Trip Wrapped - 1st Week May 2011

2011-05-08T12:37:00.000+09:00

Well the weather and food have been great. The last week was a very good week to pack in as much great food as possible. I had Korean BBQ, Teppanyaki (Japanese Steak, helps to lighten the wallet), Mexican, and Yakitori. All in all this was a great trip.

Monday

Teppanyaki Tuesday

Wednesday

Cinco de Mayo

Fly Day Friday

Tokyo Weekend - April into May

2011-05-02T16:18:00.003+09:00

Saturday morning after walking around Yokosuka. After getting caffeinated and feed I headed over to the Costco in Yokohama. Always an interesting experience to go to Costco, a lot like US Costco's but with a lot more people.

After getting a little lunch I walked over to the Yokohama Marina Outlet mall. Hit up another MontBell. After finally settling on a messenger back I headed up to check into the New Sanno hotel.

It is a very nice hotel operated by the Army. Active Duty and DOD Civilians can get rooms for under 100 bucks a night. It is a couple of stops from Shibuya which can get you anywhere else in Tokyo within 40 minutes.

First I headed over to Asakusa and got some pictures of all the crowds out for Golden Week. There is a street on the backside of the area that has a lot of street food places. I got a few sticks of Yakitori and watched as some interesting people walked past. There was one Japanese women that had pink hair, which you really don't see that much. In a sea of black hair that would really show up.

After that I walked back and went through the Asakusa area again and got some night shots that came out pretty good. After going to walk around Shibuya at night I went back to the hotel to get some rest.

In the morning I took a few different trains and went out to Machida where they had a Shrine Sale. Basically it is like a big flee market with a lot of different things for sale. If you like second hand shops it would be a good thing. It was interesting to see and I did pick up a couple of smaller things. It did actually mark the first time that I bartered to get the price lower.

From there I headed back to Yokosuka, and came back to the rain. After being nice up in Tokyo for Saturday and Sunday it was dumping. I had my usual at Nirvana's for dinner. And then went to Church afterwords.

Mega Meat - Friday April 29th

2011-04-29T21:39:00.000+09:00

Friday is the start of Golden Week in Japan, it kicks off every year on the 29th of April for Showa day, the Emperors day. There are a few other holidays over the next week, it is a time where most of the Japanese workers are off and the schools get out. One per trip I like to arrange a met up between the Japanese and American workers to spend time in a non work environment. Burger King has just released a new burger last month. It is made of two Whopper patty's, cheese, bacon, and chicken. Totaling at 1300 Calories and 65 grams of fat we figured there could be little better to bond over. In total we had 8 people hanging out, so when I ordered 8 Mega Meat Burgers at Burger King the woman thought that she had misheard us. It took 10 minutes to put together. It took much less time to eat them, the surprising thing was they were really good and it seemed like there was more room left. So we went out and got Gyro's at a stand down the street. Not the best food night, but it was good to get out. Most people tried to 3DS, which makes you look foolish but can be fun.

Yokohama Chinatown - April 28th

2011-04-29T16:18:00.001+09:00

The weather has just been great, not from the aspect of recovering from a sun burn. After work I headed up to Yokohama to buy a new jacket from MontBell, it is very orange. After that I tried a restaurant in China Town called Dalian, very good. They serve a Black Sesame chicken dish that is up on the list of best foods I have eaten.

TonKatsu Yokosuka - April 27th

2011-04-27T19:57:00.002+09:00

Well after the spread at the BBQ place Tuesday night combined with the large rain drops I decided to forgo the gym this morning. There is also a bug going around work right now that I think I picked up, so the extra sleep helped a bit.

For dinner I met up with a few coworkers and went to the Tonkatsu expert. The way that he prepares the food is a show in and of itself. Very good, sad that I have not been back in a few trips. It is very difficult to get a seat and when the place is full he is closed.

B BBQ Tuesday - April 26th

2011-04-27T16:42:00.001+09:00

Before the sun came up it was off to the gym, you have to offset the amount of great food here somehow. By the time I left the gym the sun had come up and stayed up unimpeded for the remainder of the day.

For dinner a few coworkers and myself headed up to Chinatown in Yokohama for Brazilian BBQ of all things. It is called the Travesso Grill and is located in a building called "China Square". It was interesting to see the different ways that we approached the meal and how the Japanese handled it. For the Japanese it was a great time to get out and try a lot of different meats grilled well. For us it was a challenge, probably speaks to the weight difference between our countries. The train ride was nice and packed. I opened the window in the middle of the train and received the look of scorn by one of the passengers. Perhaps it is a challenge to see how hot and sweaty it can get before someone cracks and opens a window.

Monday - April 25th

2011-04-26T06:00:00.001+09:00

Started the day by going over to the gym and working out. This helps set the tone for the day, and it flew by at work. After work I enjoyed some of the sun, before crashing to wake up on Tuesday for more fun in the gym.

Easter - April 24th

2011-04-24T22:14:00.002+09:00

As much rain as was here yesterday was answered in sunlight. There was not a cloud in the sky the entire day. I went for a walk to find the large metal sculpture that is in Yokosuka. With a little help from Google Maps I found it. Very impressive views from there, you can see Yokohama and Fuji and the same time.

The next spot I decided to get roasted a little bit by hanging out on the beach in Kamakura. I used sun screen, however I didn't reapply it on the normal schedule. So I am slightly red currently, consequences that are soon visited. For lunch I had pizza at an "Italian" restaurant in Zushi. I was good, but different. Went to church on base and then had CoCo Curries for dinner.

A much slower paced day, which is good not sure if I could have done two Super Tokyo Tours back to back.

Super Tokyo Tour IV - April 23rd

2011-04-23T20:04:00.003+09:00

The adventure started out like all of the previous by catching an early train to Shinagawa. The forecast was for rain and it was heavy at certain times. Leading to around the last half of the day going around in wet socks and shoes. Anyways back to the timeline.

Starbucks opened a new concept store in Tokyo to celebrate their 40th anniversary. So the first stop was the Otomesando B-Side Starbucks. The interior was done very well and it felt more like a place where you could get some amount of studying or work done over that of a traditional SB location. This location can be reached just off the main street that is by Meiji shrine entrance.

After going and enjoying breakfast and coffee the walking portion of the day began. We walked through the Meiji Shrine. There was a wedding party going around getting their pictures taken before the cermony. The rain made it such that you needed to move quickly from covered area to covered area.

After walking out of the Shrine we went over to an area that sells a lot of vintage Tee Shirts. The only downside was that the shops stock Japanese sizes and they opened at 11. At the very least you can take the private railway out of Shibuya and it is on the first stop.

We made our way to Ginza to go to the Sony building. This is basically a big showroom for their upcoming technology and the current lineup. 3D factored very heavily into all of the their strategy.

For lunch we had Katsukura, which is the same place that I had down in Kyoto. Easily the best Tonkatsu I have had. Lunch specials are also hard to beat. While walking to the train station we got caught in an absolute downpour. There was around an inch of water running over the sidewalks, hence the wet socks. We finally made to the train station and made our way to Asakusa.

A quick walk through the Shrine/Temple and it was over to Kappa Bashi Dori. One of the guys bought a Japanese knife that he got engraved. The whole area is a great place for anyone who enjoys cooking, lots of ideas you can get from all of the equipment for sale.

Then it was time for the standard Akihabara stop. Doughnut plant, Yodabashi, etc. To finish off the out of Yokosuka activities we headed down from Akihabara to Sakuragicho and walked around Landmark Tower.

After a very full and humid train dinner was at Nirvana and now its off to bed. The one major thing that I noted as I traveled around was that lack of people. Easily there is probably a tenth of people out in the normal places. A lot of electrical things have been shutdown to support the lowered production capabilities of the TEPCO. It all is very interesting.

Kamakura Friday - April 22nd

2011-04-22T20:02:00.002+09:00

Finally made it back over to Kamakura for dinner. The thing that is striking is how few people are out, now given it was later in the evening. I had a Korean dish for dinner and then it was time to prepare for the next Super Tokyo Tour.

Thursday - April 21st

2011-04-21T20:26:00.002+09:00

More and more people are rolling back into town. It was extremely quiet on Monday, but over the week it has gotten much louder at night. The bars are back in full swing. Hopefully this means that some of the restaurants will open again.

For work I met up with a coworker and had an excellent Thai meal. This time I didn't go with anything spicy and it worked out much better. I guess that I am just not built to handle Thai spicy.

Caught up - April 20th

2011-04-20T18:55:00.002+09:00

Well finally got a good night of sleep and was able to make it through the entire day without a brain lapse moment. Besides a little bit of wind being outside was great today. After work I walked around for a couple of hours to further help in the acclimation process.

Started planning the next great Tokyo tour tonight.

Rain - April 19th

2011-04-19T18:36:00.002+09:00

The forecast had called for rain and it came as predicted. I ran over the 7-11 and bought an umbrella, which didn't top me from getting my pants wet. The next time I went outside the rain had gone and the sun had returned. It was like that for the remainder of the day. I walked around 7 miles after work in hopes that it would help me adjust to the time. Only time will tell.

Tired - April 18th

2011-04-18T17:36:00.004+09:00

I am still on UK time or somewhere in between. So a short post. I have noticed that fewer people are out and about. While going through grocery stores I have noticed that there is probably around 30 percent of what is usually out for sale. The meat selection is also reduced. Hard to put a concrete reason as to why, but perhaps it is related to all that happened.

There was an earthquake this morning, however I slept through it. The earth continues to move around as things settle out. There was a massive amount of energy released during the quake and it stored some of that in other places.

Return to Nippon - April 17th

2011-04-17T19:56:00.002+09:00

Well it feels good to be back. Had my favorite meal and now am attempting to stay up as late as possible to reset my body clock quickly. Well back to the details of the day.

The guy who sat next to me on the flight graduated in Mechanical Engineering from WSU in 84. We had a good talk about Cougar athletics and discussed the best and worst moments. Always good to run into another Coug.

All in the all the flight was smooth and we made good time. We landed at 1447, then we taxied for 17 minutes before getting to the gate. What happened was that we came in on the newest runway and our gate was on the exact opposite side of Narita, got to see so different areas. However there is a bus which departs south at 1530, so I was motivated to move expeditiously through the airport to try to get to the bus. After getting off the plane I walked past everyone to get through Immigration first, then I waited for the baggage to come out. By having business class my bag was the 7th to come off the belt. I grabbed that and hurried to Customs gave them my slip and headed to check in. There was someone from work who was waiting for people on the flight, he told me that if I hurried I could make the bus in the parking lot. I got to the bus just as they were closing the cargo areas. So I got checked into the hotel by the time the next bus left the airport. It is always good to move with a purpose.

Of course one of the stops that I had to make was Starbucks. Just like the US stores there is a broad selection of Tea Lattes, although they are heavily advertised here. The Earl Grey one is definitely in the drink rotation while I am here.

I recently replaced my netbook with a laptop, and it is a much better experience. For basic web stuff netbooks are great, but for any photo or video stuff they suffer greatly.

Very Quick Turnaround - April 16th

2011-04-17T02:40:00.002+09:00

Well after getting back from the UK on Tuesday evening, I got a call saying that I was needed in Japan. After sorting out all of the details, I got my flight setup and finished unpacking and then packing again.

I used Miles to upgrade to Business Class for both ends of this trip. Originally it showed that I was wait-listed for the upgrade. When I got to SEATAC there was no line for check-in. When using the Check-in machine it told me to contact a United representative. What had happened was the my Business Class ticket had cleared and I was all setup. So I got to use the short security line getting through and into the Red Carpet Lounge in record time. It took my 15 minutes from the curb to my seat on online.

The flight leaves in a couple of hours so now it is just time to sit back and enjoy some Top Gear on Netflix.

Travel Completed - February 11th

2011-02-12T10:44:00.002+09:00

The plane was brand new. This is the first flight I have been on with the lay flat seats in business class. My seat was facing backwards so it was an interesting takeoff and landing. I could see the wing and engine bouncing with each bump. The gentleman I was sitting next to was a retired Boeing engineer. He had worked on the fly by wire systems on the 787. It was pointed out to prevent from losing all control of an aircraft you have to project where the turbine blades will go when the engine breaks apart. Our seats were right in the kill zone, at least it would have been quick. However air travel is extremely safe and we arrived at SEATAC a little ahead of schedule, despite being delayed at Narita for de-icing.

Photos:

2011-02-11

Narita Snow? - February 11th

2011-02-11T13:59:00.002+09:00

I got a taxi from Bryan's to where the bus picks people up on base. With no house phone or working cell phone I had to use Google Talk. Worked very well, as do most Google products. Of course the taxi was waiting for me by the time I got down to the lobby. A quick stop at Starbuck's and I was ready to go. The bus ride only took an hour and a half today slept the whole way.

After wandering around the mall for an hour we checked in and had lunch at a great Korean place in the mall. Then it was through security and into the lounge. The snow has really picked up. Soon back to the Northwest.

Silent Tokyo Tour - February 10th

2011-02-10T21:42:00.002+09:00

I have found out a new thing today. If you are traveling alone in Japan you likely will not have an English conversation all day. I have people try to talk to me in multiple languages which were not mine. Good times.

Nothing too new on this trip, just hit up Akihabara, Asakusa, Roppongi, and then Yokosuka. I did go to the top of Roppongi Hills this time, very nice day for it.

Packing and then travel tomorrow.

Photos:

Silent Tokyo February 10th

Kurihama, Kamakura, Enoshima, Yokohama, Yokohama February 9th

2011-02-09T22:59:00.002+09:00

After the vacation starts another vacation. I didn't meet my goal of leaving Bryan's place by 600, I actually got to the train station around 830. I decided instead of heading back to Yokosuka to instead go to Kurihama and then transfer to the JR Line. After the transfer I could ride the train right to Kamakura.

After I left the train in Kamakura I went to Starbuck's for breakfast. I really do enjoy coffee shops that have real mugs that you can sit down and enjoy the handcrafted drink.

I then walked up to the Kenchoo-ji a temple around a mile away from the station. At the very top there is a temple and then a view point. I made my way to the top, and then kept climbing. At some point I thought about turning around, but just kept going. After around 4 miles I was finally back to the station, always moving forward.

I then rode the Eoden line to Enoshima. My previous time to the island was during a weekend and the train was very busy, this time everyone got a seat. After a quick walk to the Island I went to the top and down to the caves on the far side. I wouldn't recommend the caves, check the pictures you will be 500 Yen ahead. On the way back there was a side path that I had seen on my previous trip, so I took it. Turns out it is how all the supplies get to the top, just a regular road back to the bottom of the island.

After getting back to Kamakura I transferred to the JR line. I was planning on going back to Yokosuka and walking around there. Instead, I ran up to the platform and hopped on the first train that I saw. This was headed to Yokohama, as soon as the doors closed I realized that the train was heading away from where I wanted to go. No worries the plan just changed a little. I went to UniQlo in Yokohama and tried on sports jackets. Then I got onto the Keikyu line back to Byran's apartment, the timing worked out well I got back just before him.

We had wanted to go the a Brazilian restaurant in Yokohama on Saturday but he was a little under the weather. We decided today was the day and headed back to Yokohama. The Restaurant is in Chinatown and is great. It is an all you can eat place that has high quality options. Servers walk around with meet on swords and cut you off pieces as you request. The only downside is the price, but a great experience to have once in a while.

At Yokohama I had never seen so many people on the platform. We went to the last car and then realized as the train was pulling in that we need to be two cars ahead. We ran and were the last two people on. It was as full as any train I have been on here. Fortunately most people departed at Kamiooka.

Photos:

Kamakura, Enoshima, Yokohma, Yokohama - February 9th

Sapporo Day 3

2011-02-08T22:30:00.002+09:00

Another day in the cold. After breakfast it was back out into the cold. We went over the Susukino to see the ice sculptures and how they had progressed over night. It was impressive to see what had been done in such a short amount of time. After we stopped at Starbucks for some warmth it was back through Odori street and then to the hotel. From the Hotel we went to the Sapporo Beer History museum and outlet mall. They had the largest UniQlo I have seen outside of Tokyo there.

We then went over to another Factory Outlet mall for lunch. We ate at a Ramen place in the basement that was really good. I did forget one thing about ramen, it is very salty. So we then went and filmed these.

After that excitement it was to the airport. After getting some last minute shopping done it was onto the plane. The plane ended up leaving around 30 minutes late, because someone in our travel group was not there. Finally we took off and left them behind.

At Haneda I decided to pass all of the people in front of me while getting out of the airport. When I got outside it felt really good. The one thing that I will remember about Sapporo is that it was very cold outside and very warm inside.

Photos:

Sapporo Day 3

Sapporo Day 2

2011-02-07T22:44:00.003+09:00

Today was the free day of the tour, so it was up to us to find stuff to do. Breakfast at the hotel is included with the trip so it was Japanese style western breakfast. This basically means that everything is slightly cold and undercooked. I mean you wouldn't want to ruin something by cooking it. The most interesting piece at breakfast was the pancakes. They were around 1/3 of the size but 4 times the thickness. Pretty good, it was almost like an English muffin.

The first idea was to head over to Otaru. This is a small fishing village around 40 minutes north west of Sapporo by train. We did stop at a MontBell store to pick up grippers for our shoes. These have turned out to be the best purchase of the trip. It is very icy everywhere we go. After taking a couple of local trains we got to Otaru. There was a restaurant that I had heard about on the Japantimes website. Very cool little German Pub, very happy German music being played. We got to the pub at exactly the right time as a flurry kicked up. I part of me was hoping that there would be a TV to see how the Superbowl was going, but that is not the purpose of this vacation. Also pretty cool to have a WSU commercial shown for a few folks in the Northwest during the SB.

After we finished lunch the plan was to walk around Otaru for a while longer, but the wind was making it too cold. We decided to cut that portion of the trip short.
We got to the station just prior to the Rapid Express to the Airport left. Got a perfect seat by the window and got nice shots of the Sea of Japan. After we got back to Sapporo it was back to the hotel to get some energy back.

We then headed out to find another MontBell store. We finally got there and realized they had another Sapporo factory right by the mall. The mall is huge, inside they have a little garden area with three "Windmills" being as they are indoors I don't think they count. The selection of outdoors stores is impressive, just about every brand you can imagine has a store. The tour bus stops there for lunch tomorrow, so we will get another shot. On the way back to the hotel we stopped by Toys R Us.

Another time back to the hotel to get some warmth back before heading out once more. We walked over to the Hokkaido government building. As the temperatures began to drop the ice started becoming a factor. All vehicles do really well here, but it started to take them more time to build up speed. On the topic of full speed next we went to the snowboard ramp. Lots of people doing tricks. Pretty cool, but there is not a lot of room to stop at the end.

After this we went up the TV Tower. Cost was 700 Yen, but you do get a great view down Odori street. You can take the elevator down or use the stairs, if you do the stairs you get a discount at their cafe. The stairs were interesting, and took around 5 minutes.

Dinner was now in mind. I had seen a place that services Japanese steaks in the Snow Festival pamphlet, and that has become a tradition for the winter/spring trip to get great steaks. The restaurant is called Cairn Annex and is located over by Susukino in the Tokyu Inn basement. It was a great meal and it is very entertaining to watch the show they put on. Some of the high lights included a flaming onion volcano, flaming steak, and Hello Kitty fried rice. The meal was around 8000 Yen, so not cheap but very good.

This dining establishment was also chosen for its relation to the Ice Sculptures. There are around three blocks of Ice Sculptures, two are finished and they were working on the last block tonight. This probably was the most interesting thing that I have seen on this trip, how they plan it out and then use chainsaws and chisels to get the work done. Most of these sculptures were sponsored by different companies.

After we finished walking through this area it was back to Odori to see the Snow Sculptures. They close the walk through around 2200, so we had to move around. They have various groups from around the world competing in a competition. One group of from Oregon and is doing a scene where Salmon are swimming up river. There is also a group from Hawaii. After walking through this for around half an hour it was time to head back to the hotel. Which was a little longer than it should have taken, we got a little over confident and kept walking. Luckily the phone showed that we needed to turn right and then get to the hotel.

Another good day in the books.

Photos:

Sappro Day 2

Sapporo Day 1

2011-02-06T23:26:00.002+09:00

Long Day, seems like vacations always are over here. I suppose that is just the way that I do them though. So it was up early at 420, quick breakfast and then the walk to the train station. The walk takes around 15 minutes. The original idea that we had was to get a taxi to the base, but this was a much more elegant solution. We just use the existing services and go that way. We got to the bus and piled on.

It took around an hour to get the Haneda. This was my first time taking air transit in Japan. Very interesting, they do not check your ID at the airport. It is all based off of you boarding pass. You scan your own pass at security and then again at the gate. They have little blocks at the x-ray machines to keep luggage which is too big from being brought aboard the airplane. I was told mine was too big, which I took care of and no worries after that. At the airport there was a Pokemon airplane, it apparently is one of the ones that goes to Sapporo. It was amazing to walk around the gates and look at the schedule for the Sapporo runs, it is like the Seattle to Portland. This is high travel season though, as approximately 2.3 million people will visit Sapporo this week.

The airplane had a feature which I have never seen before, it had a camera facing forward, and one facing down. So you could see what was happening, that was cool. As cool are the temperatures up here in Sapporo. We arrived at the airport and had an hour and a half to eat. We choose the Mos Burger, always a little different. We then hopped on the bus and headed over to the Lake Shikotsu ice festival. Interesting place, very slick everywhere. I wish that I had purchased the shoe grippers around the second time I almost fell. The one really cool thing they had was a room with evergreen branches built into the wall. It smelled awesome, just like home. They use a wire mesh to make the shapes and then spray lake water over it, to form the ice houses. It was back to the bus and then to the ANA Sapporo.

The ride took around an hour and was really quiet. We picked up our hotel packed dropped off our stuff and headed out. We walked around and saw the Snow Sculptures. Some amazing work. I slipped and performed a perfect slide tackle and took out a teenager. Everyone was okay, but they form could not be better. Also the question was asked earlier which I would protect in a fall my camera or my body. The camera won the first round. We went back to the hotel and got on the bus to head to the Sapporo All you Can Eat Buffet. Which turned into around one round of meat and vegis. Apparently they had no negative ventilation and all the smoke from the grills just hung in the air.

After we got back to the hotel, it was mission Starbucks. Using Google and my phone we headed out. It was a nice walk and we eventually got there. The snow had really started c0oming down at this point. We found a boot without an owner on the street. After a little time inside it was off to find the ice sculptures. It was a nice walk and we found some very impressive sections of Sapporo including a Ferris wheel on top of a building. Then it was back to the hotel to recharge and sleep. 420 to 2345 a decent day.

Photos

Sapporo Day 1

Yokohama to Kurihama - February 5th

2011-02-05T21:29:00.002+09:00

Finally had the experience of transiting mid day with your luggage. I left the hotel around 900 and got to Bryan's place around 1020. It is not difficult, but it is not the easiest thing either. We spent the early part of the day playing games and cooking stew.

A coworker came over and then we headed out to Kamakura. I ran around quickly showing the hi-lights; Starbucks, Shrine, and central path. Then it was back to Yokosuka for dinner. Had to get in one more time at Nirvana.

After a quick train ride back to Bryan's it was time to pack and then sleep for tomorrow we travel.

Photos:

Yokohama to Kurihama - Saturday February 5th

Yokohama Friday - February 4th

2011-02-04T22:50:00.002+09:00

After work I headed up to Yokohama for dinner with a coworker. I had not had a chance to ride the Yokohama subway line as of yet, so we tried that. After taking a local from Shioiri we transferred at Kanazawa Bunko and transferred to the subway at Kamiooka. Not too much different than any other train I have been on here. Once you get the process down you can navigate around fairly easily.

We wandered around Yokohama for a while before finding this BBQ place that was pretty good. It is always interesting to see what portion sizes are in Japan. Between the two of us it was a decent amount of food. Back home this would not have even made up one portion size. And we wonder why we are fat.

After dinner we walked over to, around, and through Chinatown. The lights are pretty amazing at night. Another nice walk and it was time to pack.

Photos

Yokohama Friday

Train Training - February 3rd

2011-02-03T21:09:00.002+09:00

After work I had an opportunity to take a coworker who just arrived and show them the train system. Obviously it is always important to bundle travel with a meal.

After work it was my new favorite stop in Yokosuka. The new Starbucks is awesome. The only downside to the whole thing is that it doesn't open earlier. If 630 was the time they would make so much more Yen it would be ridiculous. They have prime location next to a travel path where thousands of potential customers are being missed everyday because of the fact that Japan sleeps in compared to the western world.

The next stop was the Shioiri station and the crash course as how to use the ticket machine and the important things to remember. My favorite is, "There is always another train, bro." After a quick discussion and throught the wicket gate. A short burst of speed got us onto the Red train to Yokohama. The timing was rather good. When we arrived in Yokohama, we stopped over by Yodabashi Camera. I needed to pick up a couple of things, but additionally they had the 3DS to try. The woman helping tell people about it, was a little concerned that I didn't know Japanese. She apologized for not knowing more English. I like to collect information in my brain so I knew everything she was telling me.

Now onto the 3DS experience. It is a little heavier than a DSi, but very similar layout and feel. The game they were demoing was Nintendogs and Cats. The type of screen that this unit uses is a paralax set of screens, basically two screens which are slightly offset. A slider is on the lid of the unit to adjust the amount of 3D you are seeing. She had adjusted the unit to full 3D, after about 30 seconds I was a little overwhelmed by the experience. My eyes had a little trouble with that much information. This type of technology is different than what you may see at a movie theater. When you boil it down to the simplest terms, the images are into the screen on this unit. Most movie theaters the images appear to come out of the screen. Now I am of the opinion that 3D is a waste of technology and we should be investing instead in holographic images. Things which are truly 3D, and not tricking your brain into interpreting something as if it is 3D. Sorry to turn this into a tech blog, but it was cool to get a quick hands on with the unit.

After that experience it was over to Minatomirai for dinner. We ate at a Ramen place that was really good. As my coworker was staying in Yokosuka I got him to the last train station and gave him some quick tips as how to get back and let him go. It will be good to hear how it went tomorrow morning. It has been one of the more satisfying things in my travels over here that of the people that I have taken out and shown the ropes, they have progressed and surpassed me in many ways. It is nice to be a force multiplier, as an Engineer I come at things from a different way than some of the other coworkers over here might and sometimes engineers need to be with engineers.

Photos:

Train Training - February 3rd

In the groove - February 2nd

2011-02-02T20:21:00.002+09:00

I have now timed the commute down to the minute. A nice brisk walk from the hotel gets me to the train station and on the platform as the train is rolling up. I then wait three minutes at the next stop. I enjoyed an episode of Top Gear Series 5 on the train this morning. Then another brisk walk and in at work. A nice and healthy commute.

After picking up more cold weather clothes from MontBell I went to dinner with a coworker. It was the Okinomiyaki place in Landmark Plaza. Always good.

I got in a nice walk after dinner then it is off to bed.

Photos

Back in the groove

Morning Jog - February 1st

2011-02-01T21:16:00.002+09:00

What better way to start out the day then waking up late and running to your train. Now normally I am all for waiting for the next train, but I really wanted to start work at 600 so ran I did. Normally I deplore the practice of running, I think humanity should have moved beyond an activity like that by now. We can come up with much more creative ways to exercise. Running did pay off in this case though. I hit the top of the platform and jumped on the train and then slept on the way to work.

After work I met up with a coworker and went to the Thia restaurant that I enjoy. Turns out that it is a lot of food, but as always it was great. On the way back to Yokohama I stopped by Starbucks and tried the Earl Grey roll. Basically it is a cinnamon roll covered with a frosting that tastes like the tea. Very good, but I am really sleepy now.

I also noted today that the Cosmo Clock 21 (Ferris Wheel) is on a 12 hour clock, not the standard 24 hour that you see with digital displays. In an effort to not run tomorrow off to bed.

Photos

Morning Jog

Slippery when Snowy - January 31st

2011-01-31T19:44:00.002+09:00

One thing that I had forgotten to mention yesterday was the it was snowing up in Tokyo. The commute this morning was a little later than I would have preferred, but for one day it isn't that bad. It was interesting to see a bunch of people on a train platform that passed the which one is not like the others test.

When I got off the train and headed in I realized that it had snowed down in Yokosuka as well. Needless to say it was amazingly cold.

After work I was able to meet up with Art again at the New Starbucks by the mall. It is really impressive, two story building and has a great view. Easily the best Starbucks this side of Kamakura. For dinner we met up with my coworker and his wife for Nirvana's. Always a good choice.

I headed back to Yokohama and was in the right car to get off and transfer to the JR line and would have made it to next train if it weren't for a gaggle of people coming down the stairs. No worries though because there is always another train. A nice evening stroll and I was back at my hotel. It is really mellow here, which I enjoy quite a bit.

Photos

Slippery when snowy

Now in Current Events

I forgot who was the Pac 10 Freshmen of the Year?

Another Mini Tokyo Tour - January 30th

2011-01-30T19:45:00.002+09:00

It is always difficult to adjust to the time change when traveling multiple time zones. Japan also operates on a different time scheme all together. Such as, normally if one were up before 6 you would be able to find somewhere to eat in a Major City. Not so in Japan, the earliest Starbucks to open was 700. So I got a little more bit walking in this morning.

Another nice things about being in Yokohama is that you are much closer to Tokyo. I met up with a couple of coworkers and headed up to Tokyo. I just hopped on the train and 20 minutes later we were at Shinagawa.

The first stop was the Tsukiji Fish Market. As it was the weekend there wasn't much happening, but it was interesting to see where the highest percentage of fish in the world is sold. Using the cached map feature and the PDF map for the Tokyo Metro Subway, I was able to get to the next place the shortest route possible. It was over to Korean Town which is right near Shinjuku. Bryans big mission was to find a whole chicken in a bag. I think this might catch on if Costco ever gets wind of it. All you do is boil the bag for 5 minutes and BAM chicken. We then ate lunch at a Korean restaurant. All of us had the hot stone bowl thing.

The next stop was over to Ikebukiro to go to Namjatown. I had heard of this before, it basically is a theme park for food. Bryan was looking to go the this Ice Cream Musuem. They literally have hundereds of flavors from the mondan to Viper or Salt. Between the three of us we got: Viper, Creme Cheese, Garlic and Mint, Pistachio, and Custard. Surprisingly the Pistachio was on par with the Viper we how terrible it was. Basically it was like just taking the whole nut and shell and grinding it up.

We then headed back to Yokohama and had Idaho Burgers from McDonalds. It has a hash brown, bacon, and a mustard sauce. It was alright. I was beat at this point and took a nap. I walked around the area by the hotel after I woke up. The amount of lights around this area are really amazing.

Japan Soft Drink Challenge

Photos

Another Mini Tokyo Tour

Mini Tokyo Tour - January 29th

2011-01-29T21:06:00.002+09:00

I got a solid four hours of sleep last night before waking up at 230. I chatted with my eldest sister for a while and then got an hour nap, before heading into work. Using Hyperdia to chart my route I had picked the cheapest train combination to get from here to there. For 480 Yen and around an hour it really isn't that bad. The start time for the journey is rather early to accommodate arriving at a decent time. This morning I took the 507 train, I may pick an earlier one to get into work around 600 on Monday.

While sitting at the train station a set of fuel cars rolled by, sound like they were empty but hard to tell. There are multiple exits for every large station, depending on which car you hop onto will determine which is the closest exit. This morning turned out to be a good dry run through the real deal. I choose the wrong exit and ended up walking for an extra three minutes for it. I know it is a very minor time, but things add up. I like to seek efficiency in all things that I do, and I assume most other people like to do as well. Also they have numbers for each station. This makes it even easier to travel. Yokohama is stop KK37, and Shinagawa is KK1.

After work I went to the Starbucks and found that they have all of the mugs that I want to get during this trip. This includes refreshed versions of Kobe and Kyoto and the Japan 2011 set. I picked up the Tall travel mug, I will wait until later to pick up the others. The only other one that I want to pick up will be the Sapporo one.

A coworker and his wife joined me and headed up to Tokyo. The train was a standing room only to Shinagawa. The first stop was Akihabara so the Yamanote line was the way to get there. After the required Doughnut Plant stop we looked around the Yodabashi store for a while. They did have the 3DS availble to play, but it was Nintendogs & Cats so I passed. It is going to be released for purchase in Japan in one month. From what I have seen they are advertising it almost everywhere. When we got back into the train station I noticed a touch screen vending machine. It shows pictures of the items that you can purchase. As you put more money in it tells you how much you need for each item. You select the item you want and it pops out. Very cool.

At Shibuya we stopped by the bronze of the dog that was faithful to his master. The real story is that a Japanese man had a dog and would walk the dog to the train station and when he got back from work the dog would be waiting for him. Eventually the man died, but the dog continued to wait at the train station for his master for several years. There has been a Japanese and American film adaptation of the story.

Harajiku was just a quick walk around to show them some of the stores, then it was off to Kawasaki for lunch. California Pizza Kitchen had a Chicken pizza that was pretty good. I went from there to get a quick nap.

There is an annoying trend of Metallic Puffy Jackets in Japan. So I thought if you can beat them join them. What I got from Mont Bell did not have a fake fur coller but it does pack well and has a windstopping layer. It weighs 12.8 oz and is like a sleeping bag. It feels like you don't have a jacket on except for the heat.

For dinner we ate at the World Porters mall at a restaurant named La Salsa. Pretty good.

Photos

Mini Tokyo Tour

Yokohama City by the Bay - January 28th

2011-01-28T21:16:00.002+09:00

Flying from SEATAC to Narita on a Thursday makes for a light passenger load. In business class there must have been over half of the seats empty. I sat next to a doctor who works for the Navy. Interesting conversation to say the least. When the plane arrived I used my usual speed to pass everyone on our flight and another flight that had deplaned in front of us. I was out of Customs and Immigration in under 10 minutes. Very fast. There were a few folks waiting to pick up the group and get them down to the Yoko towns. A short bus had been procured to guide our way. Instead we tried something different.

We took a Y-Cat bus from the terminal directly to the hotel it was nice. From the time we arrived in Japan until the time I was in my hotel headed out for dinner was 3 hours, fastest time yet. Being in Yokohama has a lot to do with that, but still.

The hotel is very nice I have two full beds, and the floor space is actually larger than the previous rooms I have been in. This was the same hotel used during the G8 summit back in the fall, so it is fairly nice. The best feature of all .... WiFi. I can use my phone to make calls through Google Voice which is great.

Had dinner at this little American place that was alright. Then hit up the Starbucks by Landmark and picked up a Hojicha latte. Excellent as I remembered them. Off to bed then up early and another adventure.

Additionally is great developments is Google Map Caching. Worked great, all I had to do was look at the Tokyo Bay area before flying, turn on the GPS. The map was stored and ready to use when we were riding the bus down.

Photos

Yokohama, city by the bay

Fly Away - January 27th

2011-01-28T03:31:00.003+09:00

It has come time again for another trip to Japan. This should be a good one. I will be staying in Yokohama right by my favorite building (Landmark Tower). This does make a longer commute, but the extra walking will be good. It is around 2 miles each way, by taking the earliest train I should be able to get close to my usual schedule.

I used miles to upgrade to Business class for the flight, they have dropped the amount to 12,500. I am interested to see what the route will be from the airport to the hotel. The train is always an option. They do run a service from Narita to Yokohama station with buses.

Work in the morning and then up to Akihabara to see the sites. Out of all the things I am looking forward to at the top of the list is the food. I have been unable to find decent curry around home. The speed and quality of the food always amazes me.

After the week of work I will be heading to the Sapporo snow festival. It was interesting to pack for it being similar weather wise to home and for a place that has a high of around 0 C. Then I will spend a few days going around the Tokyo bay area picking up a few of the places that I have missed in the past.

Narita to Seattle August 6th to August 6th

2010-08-07T05:42:00.002+09:00

We finally got to the gate around a half an hour prior to boarding. During boarding I thought I heard something close to my name over the intercom. I didn't go check, should have. So when they started boarding priority 1 seating I went in and got my bag settled in the overhead. There was exactly one empty seat on the flight. So everyone gets on board the doors are shut and I see one seat in Business class that doesn't have anyone in it. I think that is odd because if anything that seat should be mine.

Well ... one of the flight attendantes came back to Economy Plus and looked at the different seats. Saw me handed me another ticket stub that had the empty seat in business class on it. So I got my stuff sans the overhead bag and went up to Business. A little awkward to get up in front of all those people. Then all the people in Business class where like, who is this guy. Johnny come lately just sitting down. It was a Great thing though. I had Filet Mignon and Strawberry Ice Cream before they started serving dinner in Economy. I was asleep before they finished. I was in the middle so I had to navigate around people to get up, but it was well worth the 12,500 miles to upgrade. The only downside is that at SEATAC my bag did not have the prioirty labels from being Business from the beginning, so I had to wait. Although that was better than the Delta flight from Tokyo, they were waiting for their luggage when I got through customs and still waiting when I left.

One funny note is that leaving Japan I had to show my other ID because the guy was questioning if my Passport was me. Then at SEATAC I had to smile and take off my hat before the guy would let me go through. Oh good times.

Good to be back home, but Yuzu and Dark Mocha Chip Frappucino's I will miss thee.

Narita August 6th

Back to Narita - August 6th

2010-08-06T14:06:00.002+09:00

The time has arrived once more to make the journey back across the Pacific to Washington State. I woke up around the same time as always, always seems to happen. For breakfast I went of the Yokosuka Chuo Starbucks and had a delicious Hojicha latte. After getting back to my room and finishing up packing it was downstairs. The hotel took me to where the bus picks us up from. Traffic was very heavy and it took probably twice as long as if I had walked it. On the other hand it was air conditioned and that is just great.

My coworker arrived shortly after I did and we both got checked in. I went over to Starbucks on base and got a Yuzu Green Tea Frappuccino, as it always is, very good. There were a total of 20 people on the bus today, so everyone got their own seat. The other nice thing was that everyone was going to the same Terminal so it was a straight shot. The route we took today was different than I had taken before we went on the Tokyo Wan Aqua-Line expressway. We must have been traveling for around 6 minutes in a tunnel under Tokyo Bay. It was very close to Narita that we got onto the same road we normally take.

At the airport we walked around for a while and then went to check in. I am get to wait until I go to the counter to see if I get upgraded to Business. I do not have my hopes set too highly at this point. Immigration took around 20 minutes to get through, the line was to where the escalators come down. I made a sad discovery when I got through that Starbucks was closed on the other side. My next Dark Mocha Chip Frappuccino will have to wait.

After making that sour discovery it was off to the Red Carpet club. After taking a relaxing shower it is just time to wait until boarding is closer.

Back to Narita August 6th

Thursday - August 5th

2010-08-05T22:21:00.001+09:00

Another trip almost in the bag. Tonight we met up with a mixture of Japanese and American coworkers and had pizza. Of course this lead to a second dinner at PepperLunch, which is good because I almost missed it this trip. Packed up and ready to get going in the morning.

Thursday August 5th

Wednesday - August 4th

2010-08-04T19:46:00.001+09:00

Took it easy tonight. Dinner at Nirvana, shopping at Uniqlo and then packing. Oh, and of course catching up on Psych.

Wednesday August 4th

Yokohama Once More - August 3rd

2010-08-03T21:13:00.002+09:00

One last trip up to Yokohama during this trip. Caught the 5:12 Red Train up to Yokohama. Had a seat the entire way up. Once at Yokohama station I promptly left the wrong exit and had to walk around the station, but it was the first time that I had done that. New experiences are fun.

Tokyu Hands was the first location. I find it interesting that each store has a slightly different inventory. It is good to check out a few if you are looking for something in particular. After shopping it was back on the train to MinotoMirai for another walk around Landmark. The view from the top was pretty good. You could barely make out Fuji's shape. After walking around the Sky Garden it was time for dinner. Ramen is always a good choice on a nice hot day.

The ride back to Yokosuka was fun. Every time one is in Japan they need a packed train experience. It is not for the claustrophobic but it can be fun being pushed inside of a train for someones fear of missing this particular train.

Yokohama Again August 3rd

Monday August 2nd

2010-08-02T21:04:00.002+09:00

After work I headed out to Homes. I have it figured how to quickly get to Home's. If is always interesting to see what they have at Homes. All the animals they had for sale looked like they were on the verge of expiring as they were really hot. I finished up the evening by going to the 100 Yen store at the Prime.

Monday August 2nd

Great Tokyo Tour - August 1st

2010-08-01T20:18:00.002+09:00

After sleeping in, it was off to Tokyo one last time on this trip. I met Bryan at the Yokosuka Chuo station at 9:57 and we were off. The first stop was Akihabara, so after arriving at Shinagawa we transferred to the Yamanote line. We noticed that there were a lot of school age children riding the line. At each station they have a Pocket Monster (Pokimon) stamp for a book that they hand out for free. This is an interesting way to drum up business, as you have to get out at each station to collect each stamp. To travel from one stop to the next it is around $1.50 and there are around 20 stops on the Yamanote line.

At Akihabara we tried to get into the Gundam cafe but There looked to be a 45 minute to a hour wait to get inside. It was off to Yodabashi for another Black-Out doughnut from Doughnut Plant. This time we stopped by the camera section which is on the third floor. It can be a place that one could be separated from money quickly. The nice thing is that they have almost every camera currently on the market, so you can try it out for yourself.

From Akihabara it was off to Shibuya, which happens to be 28 minutes on the Yamanote line. A benefit of being on the opposite side of Tokyo. On the way to Tokyu hands I noted that there was a store called "Three Coins" or a 300 Yen store. After Tokyu hands we went back to the UT store. The T-Shirts were still on sale for 990 Yen. During that walk we saw a Perrier Stretch Hummer Limo twice. From there it was off to Roppongi, but it was getting rather warm. I lead the way to the nearest metro station. After two transfers in air conditioned tunnels we arrived at Roppongi.

The sole purpose of this stop was to get lunch at the Hard Rock. I had chicken and steak fajitas, the tortillas were branded with the Tokyo Hard Rock logo. After lunch it was time for some coffee, as I am only able to savor the Dark Mocha Chip Frappacino for a few more days that was my selection. After this refreshing beverage it was off to Yokohama.

One of the oldest tricks that I employ every time coming back from Tokyo is to get on the Asakusa Toei line. This subway line turns into the KeiKyu line at Shinagawa. This results is being able to set for the train ride back. When we got to Yokohama we switched to the JR line and went to Sakuragicho (Cherry Tree Town) station. It was packed, there was a big fireworks display held tonight in Yokohama and everyone was out. It was the only time I had seen security directing traffic inside of a train station. After walking to World Porter's it was time for another trip to Montbell and then through the Nissan building back to Yokohama station.

Everyone must have been in Yokohama because we were able to sit down on the way back to Yokosuka. This is the first time I have ever been able to get a seat right away at Yokohama. After we got back I headed on base for a little bit and then met up with Jean for dinner at Nirvana, always good.

Overall physical condition I am doing pretty well. I have a few blisters on my hands and feet. Other than every stair feeling terrible things are going well. It was interesting going into some of the outdoor shops today and seeing people gear up for Fuji.

Great Tokyo Tour August 1st

Fuji-San July 31st

2010-07-31T22:34:00.002+09:00

Until 10 minutes ago I was covered in sweat and dust. To sum up the trip the wise words below are really applicable.

He who climbs Fuji-san but once is a wise man;
he who climbs it twice is a fool.

-Japanese proverb

The trip started out early we were to meet at the Outdoor Recreation Center at 130-145 Saturday morning. I managed to get around 5 hours of sleep Friday night before waking up. After signing an all encompassing waiver they let people of the bus. Through no planning there were 5 people from work on the same trip. It made sense to hike up Fuji together. MWR had chartered two buses to make the track to Fuji. The trip takes somewhere between 3 and 4 hours. After everyone was on the bus they briefed us and told us to get some sleep. We woke up at a truck stop just prior to where the bus begins to climb to take you to the fifth station. Fuji is broken down into stations, most people start at a 5th station the top is the 10th station. The truck stop is basically like a UK rest stop, where it is operated by a company for monetary gain. There is some logic to this as it was very well kept.

We arrived at the Kawaguchiko fifth station at 4:45 and started the hike at 5:10. It is an interesting progression as you start walking down for around a mile before heading up the Mountain. After half an hour we had reached the sixth station that currently is nothing more than a closed building. Clouds engulfed Fuji for the majority of the day. It was nice as they were not rain clouds and added a cool breeze at times. On the downside it did take away some stunning views. The trade-off of SPF protection from the clouds is easily accepted as at the summit you are over two miles above sea level.

We reached the seventh station an hour after starting. The elevation is 2700 Meters and the 5th station sits at 2305 meters. The oxygen content of this air still high enough to move quickly. The terrain was also decent. At the 7th station hut two guys started talking to me about WSU. One was a foreign exchange student at WSU and the other at OSU. In total I saw 4 Cougars today on the mountain. The stations of Fuji are elevations set on routes. On the routes as you travel up you pass mountain huts. That will see you a variety of things from the standard bananas to the puzzling oxygen and beer. All of these huts have brands that they put onto your hiking stick for 200-300 Yen ($3-4). I collected all on my journey as I only want to make the trek once.

After the seventh station the terrain became more difficult you would have to use your hands to pull yourself up. I bought trekking polls to make this journey, they are amazing. My knees which have been bothering me were not a problem during the entire trip. The up is a lot easier than the down as I will go through.

Another thing that you notice when you get about 10,000 feet is that your muscles start to ache. A good sign that they lack oxygen. So often breaks were taken on the way up. It was amazing how much difference a 2 minute break could make. Your muscles felt fine and you had your breath. That was the most difficult part of the ascent is dealing with the lack of oxygen.

Staying hydrated is always a battle, but I had purchased a 3 Liter camelback last week. By the time we started our descent it was gone. Which is why I also packed an additional liter of liquid. An average person burns around 7000 Calories to hike up and down Fuji. To stay ahead of the curve you are snacking a lot, even when you don't think you need to. Part of the lack of appetite is the lack of oxygen, but to make it an enjoyable trip you have to eat.

Traveling with a big group can slow one down, but that can be a good thing as it can make sure that someone who would burn themselves out is kept in check. Also that the person who might not make it is given motivation to continue once things become difficult.

We reached the Eight station (3020 Meters) at 750. Per the schedule provided we were 2-3 hours ahead of schedule. At this station is where the one foot in front of the other policy started. It is amazing how crippling not having enough oxygen can be. Things that were normally easy became very difficult. We all took pain medication at this point because headaches are known to set in when you get much higher than the elevation.

The terrain between the eight station and the Original eight station was difficult. The Fuji-San hotel sits at 3360 Meters. To gain 340 Meters it took another hour. Which is still better than the 80 minutes that they give you on your trip guide. The important thing was to reach the Fuji-San motel before 11 or they would not let you go to the summit.

The Ninth station sits at 3600 meters. It was another hour before we reach this point. The two guys in better shape took off up to the summit and I hung back to make sure the other folks were making it okay. There were some interesting moments when you come around a corner and see no guard rail and a 700 foot drop. It gets your heart racing even more.

The final push to the summit was interesting, there were around 200 people in line getting their picture taken at the Torri gate which sits as you summit. So you were moving 2 feet every 20 to 30 seconds. I bypassed a lot of traffic and was able to reach the summit at 10:23. Total travel time of 5 hours and 13 minutes. I could have done it faster, but it is always good to look out for others well being.

The summit was interesting because it is littered with buildings. Lots and lots of stores selling you overpriced Fuji trinkets that you can buy for half the price at the airport. We walked over to the Post Office and left the summit around 12:00. It was at that point that everyone in our party save me was having horrendous headaches.

The nice thing about descending is that you have more pore with each succeeding step. The downside is the manner is which they make you travel. This was easily the most difficult portion of the trip. They are effectively slide fields. Everyone in the party save me fell at least once. The trekking polls made a huge difference. I would have fallen several times if not for the extra balance from the polls. That was 11,000 Yen well spent. I didn't get many pictures because there was a lot of fog and I was trying not to fall. It took the first group two hours and fifty minutes to get to the bottom with a good 15 minute rest to allow the stragglers to catch up. The second group arrived 10 minutes afterward.

The amazing thing was to see all the tour groups heading up, it was a solid line of people. Now the fun started we got dinner at an overpriced but decent restaurant. One person said the buses had moved to somewhere else. I decided to find where that was, turned out it was 10 spots down. Buses are the way to get to the fifth station as they make cars park between 1-5 miles away. We got changed and got on the buses. The instructions were very clear as to be at the buses at 5Pm. One women in the group was taken to the hospital with an ankle injury (later we found out that she had twisted it and was dehydrated). They other bus waited until they had taken her away and then left at 5:45. Two people on our bus decided it was a great time to not show up. Eventually they found them at 6:45. We stopped at another rest stop on the way back. This is to comply with the consecutive hours rule for bus drivers. We arrived back in Yokosuka around 10 PM. It was a very long day. I would suggest hiking Fuji to anyone who is interested, but know this, it is difficult and the way down is harder.

Fuji-San July 31st

Fuji Prep - July 30th

2010-07-30T18:08:00.002+09:00

I finished packing and am getting some sleep before getting up at midnight to get to the pickup by 130. A very long day is starting very shortly. I have plenty of snacks and water. I will pick up a lunch tomorrow at 7-11 before heading out.

Fuji Prep July 30th

Rain commith - July 29th

2010-07-29T20:01:00.002+09:00

Total and complete down pore walking into work today. Rain coat is great, but not so great when not coupled with rain pants. It continued the cycle of rain to calm several times during the day. Fortunately that ended before I went back to the hotel.

For dinner I tried a Yakitori place that I had seen on my last trip. It has more room to sit and is a little cheaper. It does not hurt that the Yakitori is also very good. Which is the key to any great restaurant, having good food. Afterwords I went to the Sakiya Food court to get the pancakes which are filled with custard. Still awesome. There was a little confusion as the entrance I normally would enter from has been locked down since my return. I found another one tonight though, order has been reestablished.

Rain July 29th

Angry Whopper - July 28th

2010-07-28T19:39:00.002+09:00

The temperature and humidity dropped off today. Combined with the wind it was actually comfortable at times. For dinner I decided to take the plung and have an Angry Whopper. I went with the hottest version they would sell and it was pretty hot. I counted around 15 Jalapenos on the burger. Coupled with the hot sauce it turned my mouth into a sauna for a couple of minutes. The Coke Zero did nothing to help on that count, but what could one expect.

angry whopper july 28th

Tuesday - July 27th

2010-07-27T19:21:00.001+09:00

The big excitement of the evening was going to the Mount Fuji safety brief. The room was packed out. Everyone going through MWR on base needs to attend one of the briefing sessions. There are currently 37 spots left for Saturday's trip. After you complete the brief you are handed a slip to allow you to sign up for the trip. MWR is closed on Wednesday's so a special trip will be made Thursday morning to sign up. I think I have everything that I will need to get up and back down. The mental aspect is one that I will find if I have it only during execution.

Tuesday July 27th

Back to Yokohama - July 26th

2010-07-26T22:06:00.002+09:00

I met with a coworker and headed up to Yokohama after work. The first stop was back to Mont Bell. I found a shirt that is specific to that store that I just couldn't see not having in my collection. After that we walked to the Worldporter's mall on the other side of Minotomirai.

I wanted to get some night shots of Landmark and the surrounding buildings so I went to the roof to check the line. It was good so I decided after dinner I would head back. We ate at a Mexican restaurant named Salsa. Instead of tortilla chips they bring out tortillas and you go get your own salsa. They had them ranging from mild to burn your sinuses out. I sample the variety. The combo platter was much smaller than in the US but it turned out to be the right amount of food. During dinner there was a lighting storm that looked very impressive.

After dinner we headed up to the roof and got some pictures. Fortunately the lightning was done for the most part. This is good because I have no desire to ground that much energy and I am not yet ready to take nice pictures of lightning in action. It eventually stopped raining on the roof and we headed back to the train station. I got more pictures in the place where I have had good returns in the past. I played around with the rear flash feature. You get two successive flashes. The concept is that the light from the first flash is returning around the time that the second flash goes off. It turns into a light painting situation.

The train ride back was packed and I was able to make myself as small as possible to allow as many people on the train. A tripod is never your friend on a crowded train but I made it work.

Back to Yokohama - July 26th

Another Hot Sunday - July 25th

2010-07-25T19:56:00.003+09:00

I have never slept better in a hotel than I did last night. I am mainly focusing on the insane amount of stress my body went through yesterday. Walking that many miles is tough under normal conditions. When the added bonus of oppressive heat comes in it sets a new standard. The navy uses different temperatures as gauges for the amount of activity one should do. Anything over 92 is suspended activity. From 10 to 6 it was over 92 yesterday, so lesson learned the hard way.

As a result I decided to scrap the plans for today and take it easy. I only made it 8 miles today. I started out breakfast at Starbucks with a Blueberry and Cream Scone. I then walked over to the JR station and caught the first train to Kita-Kamakura. This is one stop past Kamakura and it has several Temples right outside the station. I checked out Engaku-Ji which is one of Five main Rinzai Zen temples in Kamakura. The grounds were very well kept. At times you can continue walking up to the top of the hill, but service was being held so all the monks were occupied. After I finished I started to head for Jochi-Ji, but waived off after realizing that it would not be a good thing to keep hiking around trails when the temperature is over 88. I decided to ride the train into Yokohama.

I spent more time exploring the Minato Mirai area. I was in search of a Mont Bell close to the station. After exploring for a while I found it. The shop did not open until 1030 so I decided to walk over to a park that I had not seen yet. Rinko park grounds were decently kept, but the fountain area was shut down. I headed back and got fitted for a pack and picked up trekking poles. Imagine skiing poles, except for hiking. I headed back to Yokosuka by taking the JR from Sakuragicho to Yokohama and switching to the KeiKu line. I was heading the right direction.

Once back I decided to take a nap that turned into another night of sleep. I had been hearing about an Indian restaurant called Delicious since I have been back. I decided tonight was the night to check it out. I had the garlic nan and spinach mutton. It was larger portion sizes than Nirvana, but I prefer the nan and curry. The one thing decidedly in Delicious's favor is that it is on the street level. No matter what Americans will not expect to look up or down to find an eating establishment. It takes some time for calibration.

Sunday July 25th

Super Tokyo Tour July 24th

2010-07-24T23:22:00.002+09:00

A very long day started out very early. I met up with Bryan at the Yokosuka Chuo station at 550. The plan was simple, go do as much stuff as you can in one day in Tokyo. Several key places were put on the itinerary, but it would be a free flowing trip. The first thing on the list was the Tokyo Sky Tree.

Tokyo Sky Tree is now the largest structure in Japan. The current height is 398 Meters, the next closest structure is Tokyo Tower at 333 Meters. It is an interesting trip to get out to the location. From Yokosuka you just stay on the train after it turns into the Asakusa Line. It is the Seventh stop. From the station it is around a 10 minute walk to the base. It is all cordoned off currently to prevent any falling debris from hurting passers by. The aspect of the structure changes as it goes up, it is pretty interesting to see. The official open date will be sometime in 2012, so still a while before one can get some good shots out of one of the two observation levels it has.

The next stop was Asakusa for a quick trip. They have removed some of the covering over the shrine. I found out that they are installing Titanium shingles to save weight. From Asakusa we walked over to Kappabashi to see some kitchen shops. From Kappabashi we headed to Ueno and walked from the station to the lakes. The lakes are currently full of lily pads, which are sticking around 8 feet above the water. Impressive to see this lake full of them. From Ueno we went to Akihabara and had a Doughnut Plant Pineapple doughnut, very good.

We then headed back to Ueno and on towards Kashiwa. Kashiwa is around 30 minutes outside of Tokyo by train. The only reason for this end point is the fact that a Gyoza restaurant is hidden in one of the back ally's. There are around 50 different types of Gyoza. It was an interesting experience, I had my first Curry and Dessert Gyoza. The table next to us ordered the spicy gyoza, they bring it out and light it on fire. Interesting. After lunch it was time to start walking.

We arrived back at Tokyo station around 1500, the plan was to head to the Imperial Palace East Gardens and then to the War Museum. It took a little longer than expected we walked around the outskirts of the palace. Although this did lead to a guy coming up and telling us that he went to WSU in 2007. It was around 94 by the time we got into the gardens. We found the rest house in the grounds and sat there for a while. Then it was off to the War Museum. They have streamlined some of the exhibits, but some of the facts are not fully developed.

Once we were finished with the Museum it was on to Harajuku. We walked to Yoyogi and then caught the train to Harajuku. It was around 1700 by the time we arrived at the Meiji Shrine. It closed at 1820 so we moved with a purpose. Which worked out great until we came out another entrance and had to walk about 3/4 of the way from Yoyogi station to Harajuku. Once in Harajuku we walked around for about an hour looking for the UniQlo T-shirt store. Turns out we took a wrong turn. The store is interesting they have all of the current selection of T-Shirts in bottles on the wall. You pick out which one you want and you are off.

We stopped an ate dinner at TGI Friday's in Shibuya and then it was off to Tokyo Tower for some night shots. There were quiet a few people around the tower. The wait time to get to the second observation deck was 65 minutes. The way back was pretty easy we caught the train from near the tower to Daimon and got on the Asakusa line and found a seat. It was a long ride back the trained pulled into Yokosuka Chuo around 2252. A very long and hot day. Hard to say how many miles were walked but more than 14. Time to catch some sleep.

Super Tokyo Tour July 24th

Hot and Humid - July 23rd

2010-07-23T20:30:00.002+09:00

Amazingly enough I managed to sleep until 5 am. That is pretty awesome, so I will have to try and repeat this same routine the next time I travel westward.

I had forgotten about the oppressive heat until I opened my door in the morning. It was like stepping into a heated room. The entire day it was extremely hot. The temperature at 1600 was 92 degrees F as we were walking out.

I decided to head back to Kamakura to see if the tree that had fallen in March was put back in place. Sadly the tree is no more, but just as Rock beats scissors so does wind beat tree. The city was fairly empty as we walked from the Shrine to the beach. The vacation season is upon Japan so the beach restaurants and bars were setup. It was interesting to see the makeshift city that has camped out for the month. On the way back to the train station I noticed that the same Hawaiian burger joint that I had gone to in Tokyo had a location in Kamakura. I had a Turkey Avocado Sandwich, that was pretty tasty. The next priority is to rest for the Tokyo Tour tomorrow.

July 23rd

Travel Fun - July 22nd

2010-07-22T22:17:00.002+09:00

Another long travel day. I am currently entering hour number 24. The flight was uneventful save the fact that it was less than half full. I suppose that can be chalked up to the midweek travel. For about half of the way it looked like I might be able to catch the first bus to Yokosuka. We hit some turbulence and the arrival time got pushed back just outside the window where I could make it.

Faced with the decision of whither to wait for the bus or ride a train and switch. With the additional information that it was like an oven outside I decided to wait. The piece of information that I did not have was that all of the major roads were locked down to transport the North Korean spy to the airport. It took an extra half hour to get to Yokosuka. If I had taken the train I would have arrived an hour and a half earlier. Information for future travel.

It did lead to seeing the roads less traveled, so all was not lost. At the end of the ride I have never seen people escape the bus as quickly as they did. I met up with a coworker for dinner at Nirvana. Still very good and the three is just the right amount of spice to make you appreciate a nice warm day. A little unpacking and then the attempt to sleep.

Travel Day 7 22

Once More - July 21st

2010-07-21T23:47:00.005+09:00

Japan in late July and early August can be described as many things. The one that I will focus on in this post is hot soup. Being from the Northwest makes one not like hot and humid weather. Currently the weather in Japan resides in both categories. Staying cool is not something to aspire too, staying hydrated is. At least I know that it will be shorts weather, so all is not lost.

One of the events which will occur over the weekend in Japan is that Gundam will turn 30. That is to say that it has barely hit its stride. This image below is from a wedding at the base of the 1:1 scale Gundam, crazy.

The lounge at the airport is always a nice way to start out a trip. As it is nice and quiet. Plus free WiFi that is decently fast is also appreciated. The flight is scheduled to take just under 10 hours to arrive at Narita, so another long day is already underway. I have been awake for five and a half hours thus far, hopefully I will be able to get some sleep on the plane. That really isn't the best expectation based on previous performance, but one can try.

It is the official season to climb Fuji-San right now so that will be one of my goals during this trip. Also there is a number of places in Tokyo which I have not visited. I should be able to pick up some of those in the evenings. It is impossible to prepare for the severe temperature and humidity difference, so one must drink as much water as possible. In addition to air travel not being conducive to staying hydrated, and it will be during the hottest portion of the day when I land. Will be an experience to remember, onward...

So Long Farwell ... Japan - March 24th

2010-03-24T14:47:00.002+09:00

Took at taxi from Bryan's apartment to the bus pickup on base. It cost about 1000 Yen extra than train hopping in between taxi's. The straight shot was well worth it, as it has been raining all day. After getting a number, I headed over to Starbuck's and McDonald's to get ready for the trip. It was absolutely pouring when I was going around base. When the bus pulled up I was in the right position to be the first person on the bus. The bus was very foggy so no good pictures where to be had to day.

The computers for United decided that today was an excellent day to take a vacation. It took just about an hour to get checked in. For the most part I am an ocean of patience, but with the thought of the United Red Carpet Lounge just on the other side of customs I got a little perturbed. Which the woman at the counter sensed and got me through before some other folks. It also didn't hurt that I was easily a head taller than everyone else in line.

The loading time is about an hour away and I am enjoying the lounge, hard not to.

So long Japan - March 24th

Kyoto Trip End - March 23rd

2010-03-23T20:17:00.002+09:00

We decided to get in a walk around an area that we had not gone yet. The most interesting thing we saw was the original Nintendo Playing Cards company building. We had lunch at the first place we had eaten in Kyoto. The Ramen was still good. We got to the platform about 30 minutes before the shinkansen departed. During the ride we saw about the bottom third of Mount Fuji. We got on a packed train from Shin-Yokohama back to Bryan's apartment which was an interesting experience trying to balance three bags while not falling over or bumping into anyone. After dropping off the bags we went to back to Yokosuka for Nirvana dinner.

Kyoto End - March 23rd

Kyoto Day Four - March 22nd

2010-03-22T21:30:00.004+09:00

The first stop after eating breakfast was the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Which you reach by taking the JR Kobe line two stops. The shrine entrance is directly outside the station. This Shrine is open all the time and it is free. Dawn to Dusk are the normal hours that people visit. There was more Torii gates in this small area than I have ever seen combined. Each one was sponsored by someone, from the largest to the smallest. You could get a small one for 4000 Yen. The large amount of foxes can be attributed to them being the messengers of the Shinto god of rice Inari. There were many people running/hiking it is about a two hour loop to complete. After seeing pretty much half of the path we headed back to Kyoto.

We walked from JR Kyoto station to the Imperial Palace garden. That took around an hour with a pitstop at the Starbucks Concept store. The Sakura look like they are within a week of blooming. The plum trees were in bloom as you can see in the series of photos of people taking photos of flowers. We even got into the fun of it. It was pretty funny to see people with lens worth several thousands dollars taking pictures of flowers.

After walking back to the city hall area and getting lunch it was a quick walk through Gion. This area is the most famous area in Japan for Geisha. Our quick walk did not find any, but I do like to keep a steady pace. We then headed through the area we had walked through on Friday night.

The next stop on the fast walking tour was Heian Shrine. This shrine is made to look like the Imperial Palace of the Heian era. It was built in 1895 to celebrate the 1,100th anniversary of the time that Kyoto had become the capital of Japan. There were two very cool washing stations on the grounds. One I will say it looked like a cougar and the other a dragon.

From the Heian shrine we walked towards the Path of Philosophy. The path is next to a small river and is covered by various types of trees. At the head of the path is Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) which is not actually covered in silver. It was built as a complement to the Gold Temple on the other side of Kyoto. The funding never came together to make the outside silver. One reason may be that it is a 2 hour walk from Kyoto station. The grounds were very well kept and it was my first time to see a Zen pebble garden. The flan shaped object was about 4 feet high and 8 feet in diameter. We headed out to the hotel after that, it was a half hour walk to the subway station. For dinner we went back to the city hall arcade. I did some long shutter time shots with my camera near the station.

By rough estimate we walked 12 miles today. I will be feeling it tomorrow for sure. The shinkansen leaves at 1400 so we can get in a little more of Kyoto in the morning.

Kyoto Day 4 - March 22nd

Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto - March 21st

2010-03-21T21:37:00.005+09:00

Osaka:
We left Kyoto around 752 on a limited express train bound for Osaka. At the same exact time a Special Express left. It was very strange because both trains arrived at around the same time at JR Osaka station, but were making different stops. The trip took around 33 minutes to complete. Once outside the station we found a information station and got a map. We also asked where the closest MontBell was, which resulted in about five minutes of the guys in the information area saying Mont Bello before realizing it was right next to the station. Being in Japan nothing opens early so we had some time to burn.

The only major thing we did in Osaka was go to the Umeda Sky Building. There is a path to get from the station to this building, but there is no English instructions. That is one thing that we noticed in Osaka, there was very little in English. At 1000 we went to the 32 floor in a glass elevator. There was a woman in the elevator who was saying scary in Japanese and had her eyes closed the entire time. The final five floors is a ride up an escalator the next five floors. The escalator is in between the to buildings and you can see out and up. This activity is not suggested for those who do not like heights. They let you on top of the building it was very windy and cloudy so I didn't get too many shots. Later in the day it became very nice, so timing was a little off. If you are in Osaka and it is a clear day be sure to check this out.

We stopped at a Starbuck's to buy an Osaka city mug and then it was off to Kobe for lunch.

Kobe:
The train ride to Kobe was interesting. We got on the first train that was on the correct platform and headed the correct direction. We soon realized that it was the type of train you need a ticket to ride, so we hopped out at the next station. Did not want to run into a "No Ticket" situation Once in Kobe we spent 10 minutes looking for an information station before deciding just to head up to lunch. It was just one station on the subway line to the Ana Crowne Plaza hotel where the restaurant was located. We stopped in the restaurant and were told that it would be around a 30 minute wait. So we decided to try and find the Starbucks Concept Store in Kobe.

Kobe was the first sister city to Seattle back in 1957, so it is only fitting that it should have an awesome Starbuck's. It is located inside a house that was constructed at the turn of the last century. The house was destroyed in the 1995 earthquake that killed 6000. The American owner donated it to the city after the earthquake. The building has since been rebuilt and reinforced to prevent destruction by earthquake again. After picking up a city mug it was time for Kobe in Kobe.

Kobe steak is something between extreme excess and an art form. When you walk into the restaurant you will see posted by the door the different grades of beef available that day. With each grade you will also get a number, which can be entered into a Japanese Beef Lineage website. This way you can know exactly where the cow was raised and slaughtered at. The cows for Kobe beef are feed only the choice grain, Sake, and massaged many times a day. It is said the meat is so tender you could cut it with chopsticks.

Well it wasn't that tender but you didn't need to chew it. It was both the most expensive meal I have ever had (13,700 Yen) but also the best steak. For obvious reasons of pocketbook and health you couldn't do this too often, but for an experience it was awesome. The steak is presented to you to verify that is what you want and then the chef cooks it right in front of you. It worked out to be a 7 coarse meal. It was back to Kyoto after lunch.

Kyoto:
We got to the JR Sannomiya station at got on the 1610 train bound for Maibara. In the scrolling Kanji I figured that the train would stop at Kyoto so we were good to sit the whole way. We arrived at the JR Kyoto station at 1730. Quick stop at the room and it was back to the festival of lights area. The stop tonight was
Kiyomizudera (Pure Water Temple). It is famous for the fact that it is built on scaffolding. I finally figured out how to control the shutter speed and brought the tripod so great shots were had. After spending an hour of so we headed back to the hotel room after grabbing so McDonald's for dinner. Tomorrow is the last full day in Kyoto so time to recharge once more.

Osaka Kobe Kyoto March 21st

Kyoto Day Two / Nara - March 20th

2010-03-20T21:59:00.005+09:00

We headed out this morning around 700. Getting going took a little more effort than preparing for one of my Tokyo trips. I attribute it to the running around we did after getting in last night. After having breakfast at Starbucks at the base of Kyoto tower to was off to Ni Joo-Joo. To get there we bought a one day pass for 1200 Yen, they also sell a two day pass for 2000 Yen. The one day pass gets you access to most buses in the city and all subway lines.

Ni Joo-Joo:
This is the castle that is just north of Kyoto station. It was built in 1603 for a shogun Ieyasu. The interior floors were made to make noise as an alarm system (nightingale floors). It was interesting walking around hearing the floor constantly squeaking. The interior was fairly large, no photography was allowed inside. There are striking similarities to the castle design here and what I saw in the UK. After finishing up we decided to go check out the Kinkaku-Ji.

Kinkaku-Ji (Golden Temple):
To get to the Golden temple we got on a bus right outside of Ni Joo-Joo. On the approach to the entrance there is a hill off to the right where the Kanji for big was. They lite it on fire at night, this is a ways away from where we are staying so I doubt I will be getting a picture of it on this trip. The Golden Temple was in a very good place for picture taking. The lake that it sits on was still so there are a few very nice reflection shots. There was a good amount of walking around this area. The next stop was lunch.

Okonomi-Yaki:
We found an Okonomi-Yaki place in the mall right next to the city hall. This is an interesting dish and this was the first time I had it prepared at the table we ate at. It is mostly cabbage with batter and then fish flakes. It took a little longer than I had thought to eat, but it was a decent meal for a good price. After we were fueled up it was off to Nara.

Nara:
If you want to travel from Kyoto to Nara there are two different train lines you can take. We decided on the JR line. This was mostly based on the fact that I have a Suica and it is really easy to get around. The express train takes 44 minutes from Kyoto to Nara.

Nara is celebrating its 1300 year anniversary right now. So if you see a crazy deer human thing in my pictures it is the symbol for Nara and it is everywhere for the celebration. From the station it is a 15 minute walk to the area with most of the sites to see. The first thing was stopped and got pictures of was a five story pagoda. While walking to our next stop we got into the deer park. There are over 1000 deer living in this area of Nara. For 150 Yen you can buy a deer biscuit. This is not to eat but to give to the deer. They were everywhere, we saw an unsuspecting guy leave his hand down with a biscuit and he got nibbled by the deer. He ran away from the deer heading straight for us and basically hiding behind us. I supposed just head for the scary white guys and the deer will know not to step. They did have someone shoot a deer last week with an arrow. That was the third deer that has been shot in the last 10 years. Two with arrows and one with a harpoon interestingly enough. I don't believe that anyone accepts deer as land whales. One of the deer was trying to cross the street and almost got hit by a taxi. I am guessing if you do that very stiff penalties will be enforced. The next stop was the largest wooden building in the world which holds the largest bronze Daibutsu (Giant Buddha) in Japan. Toodai-Ji is very awesome in person, it is hard to believe that the original casting of the Daibutsu was done in 746. After checking this area out we headed to one more stop before going back to Kyoto. The last thing in Nara was Kasuga Taisha. There are hundreds of lanterns spread throughout the approach and inside the shrine.

Kyoto:
We basically ran back to the train station in an attempt to make it on the express. Which we found we had enough time for and it was delayed an additional 4 minutes. The majority of the track in between Nara and Kyoto is only one rail, so if you miss your time you will wait along the way. We got to the second station and were in a holding pattern for 10 minutes. The train was nice and warm with several miles walked already I found myself falling asleep I woke up about 10 minutes before getting to Kyoto. The train had filled up in that time. We had dinner at a Katsu place in the covered arcade area by city hall. It was really awesome once you got inside. It was pretty strange they had a large table which seated 16, so it was like eating at home with a bunch of strange people. I got a custard dish that I thought was going to be a desert. Well I was wrong. It had shrimp, pork, and fish hot dog. I need to quickly cleanse the pallet after that experience so 100 Yen well spent on a soft cream from McDonald's did that job. We walked back to the hotel from that area which took around 40 minutes. We got back just in time because as the forecast had promised rain has arrived. Time to get some sleep to recharge for tomorrows trip to Osaka and Kobe.

Kyoto Day Two Nara - March 20th

Kyoto Day One - March 19th

2010-03-19T22:29:00.004+09:00

I walked a lot today, as is testified by the pictures. Before arriving in Kyoto I maybe walked 4 blocks. After I got packed up in the morning I headed to Shiori station and went to Yokosuka Chuo to get Starbucks. After reading up on Kyoto in my Lonely Planet Guidebook I headed back to Yokosuka Chuo. Bryan had left work at 930 and the train was leaving at 952. He arrived at the station out of breath at 948. It takes a little longer than 15 minutes to walk from work to the station. He realized this and ran most of the way. As that was the biggest thing that happened today, it was a pretty good day.

We road the Limited Express to Yokohama and transferred to the JR Yokohama line and road it 3 stops to Shin-Yokohama. It is a much smaller station than I had thought, it just services Shinkansen, Subway, and JR Yokohama line. As we got to the gate we got the tickets out. We inserted them and they came back out with an alarming chime and the wicket gate shutting. After observing a few people go through you needed to use your Suica/Pasmo to get through the gate. After we got on the platform we got ready for the "Bullet Train" which arrived and we had barely gotten to our seats when that train started rolling.

Overall the train ride was extremely smooth. The only times where it got a little turbulent was when the train would pass through a tunnel at the same time another train was going the other way. Fluid dynamics always works. The train was a 300 Series Shinkansen capable of speeds of around 170 MPH. To get the 16 cars moving that fast it takes 25 kV at 60 Hz. The train also stops quickly, without passing scenery you would not know that you were going that fast. It took 2 hours 20 minutes to get from Shin-Yokohama to Kyoto. There were 5 stops along the way. A guy came through the train checking tickets, I was hoping for a "No Ticket" moment but everyone was good on that account.

After we got to Kyoto station we set out to find the hotel which took us around 20 minutes. As we now know it takes 4 minutes to walk from the other side of the station to the hotel. Check-in was 15 minutes after we arrived, so we headed out to get something to eat. We ended up in a mall on the North side of the station. And found a Ramen place that was excellent. We both went with Gyoza sets, I got the soy sauce ramen and Bryan went with the Miso variety.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel and got into the room. The hotel is very nice and has a good location near Kyoto station. If you are going to visit Kyoto the New Miyako is not a bad place to be. We headed out to the visitors center in the station, and got Maps for the bus system and Kyoto. Kyoto has a light festival right now so we also received a map for that.

The next stop was going to Kyoto Tower to get our bearings set. It was 770 Yen to go to the top. The one thing that sticks out to me about Kyoto is how low all the buildings are. The roads are wider and there are a lot more bikes on the road. I got some nice shots from the Tower and then headed to the Starbucks that is in the ground floor of the same building. We then decided on a plan to head North and go up to an Arcade and then hit an Irish Pub for dinner.

On the way up we stopped at a large temple just north of Kyoto tower. The grounds were very large and they had coy swimming around in the exterior moat. One thing I have noticed is that there are pidgins at every temple. The birds know where the food is so it is not surprising. After the temple we found the Kyoto Starbucks Concept store and another temple. It was then time to try out the local public transportation. We found out that for the subway system in Kyoto Suica/Pasmo are not accepted, so we got to buy a ticket.

The arcade was really cool and had many interesting shops. My favorite was an wood block print store, that had a lot of traditional Japanese artwork created using the old method. After walking through two more Arcades it was dinner time. The staff was in the process of taking down all of the Saint Patricks day decorations, seems a little late to me. I went with Bangers and Mash for dinner, Bryn had an Irish Stew. Both were excellent.

After dinner with crossed the river and headed up to the light festival and almost ran into many Japanese people carrying tripods and cameras. It was extremely busy, this coming Monday is a Japanese national holiday to celebrate the spring equinox. It also signals the start of Japanese spring break. It was refreshing to walk around and see non-Japanese people who were not speaking English. In Tokyo almost everyone you see who is Western is speaking Ego-Ga. About a third of the way through the path I noticed that I was down to 1 bar on my camera so I had to ration out the pictures. Tomorrow I will have my spare battery on hand and charged up.

We headed back to the hotel and transferred at one station to a JR line. Bryan found out the Pasmo does not work for JR West trains. At 2320 you can still hear the trains going strong at the station, but they will soon quit. Time to recharge for another day.

Kyoto Day 1 - March 19th

Thursday March 18th

2010-03-18T22:02:00.001+09:00

After the last day of work on this trip I met up with some coworkers for dinner. None of them had been to Za Watami. We tried the horse tar tar, which was pretty good. After dinner we tried to go get "Japanese Pancakes" filled with custard but they were all sold out, so we got ice cream instead. After getting desert I walked around and showed them where my favorite spots in the Yokosuka Chuo area were. Then it was back on base looking for Bose QC15 noise canceling headphones. Which the NEX did not have in stock, well something to look forward to for my next trip.

I spent the rest of the evening packing for tomorrow.

Thursday - March 18th

Wednesday March 17th

2010-03-17T22:06:00.002+09:00

Top of the Morning to you all. Or from whatever time zone you are viewing this hello. Happy St. Patrick's Day. After work I introduced Nick to the pizza place on base at Club Alliance. They were serving shepherds pie, So I had to get some of that. As I was wearing green I got my soda for free. Talk about luck of the Irish. One more day of work before vacation.

Wednesday March 17th

Tuesday - March 16th

2010-03-16T21:39:00.002+09:00

After work I walked around Mikasa park and got some decent shots. Then headed back on base for dinner and more work. Two more days until vacation. Not that I would be counting or anything of the sort.

Tuesday - March 16th

Monday - March 15th

2010-03-15T17:42:00.002+09:00

Tonight I introduced Nick to Yakitori. The place that I normally to go was not open tonight, so we went to the one just down the street. It had even less space, but it was cool to eat Yakitori while watching Sumo.

March 15th

Kamakura to Tokyo - March 14th

2010-03-14T20:15:00.002+09:00

This morning we set out to head to Kamakura and Enoshima. After getting to Kamakura we went to the Starbucks Concept store and planned the day. We first headed up to the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-Gu which is the shrine at the end of the major avenue in Kamakura. As we approached we saw that a crane was being used to do something near the stairs. The tree which was rumored to be 800 years old had fallen over during the large wind storms that we have been having. They were attempted to get it set right again.

We decided to go to the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) next. Just as we got to the train station Bryan called and said he wanted to go the the Mega Web in Odaiba. I had wanted to got there so we changed plans and headed back to Yokosuka and then onto Tokyo.

After a quick stop at the hotel we hopped on the Keikyu line from Shiori and headed to Yokosuka Chuo. The timing was perfect as we got to the platform heading to Shinagawa just before the train pulled in. Six stops later we were in Tokyo. To get to Odaiba you have to ride the Yurikamome line which starts at Shimbashi. If you stay on the Keikyu line the train will turn into a Toei line car. This was a green car today so it was better suited for the Toei. Four stops on the Asakusa Toei line we were at Shimbashi.

As we were leaving the station we followed the signs to the Yurikamome line, if I had been paying better attention I would have realized that we were walking to the second station in the line. So after a 10 minute walk we got on the Yurikamome line and head to Odaiba. Lunch time was fast approaching so we got some grub at the Hawaiian burger restaurant in the mall.

After that we headed to Toyota Mega Web effectively the largest Toyota showroom in the world. After looking around the cars we hopped on the Ferris Wheel and got some more shots of the Tokyo Sky Tree. Toyota was showing off some Segway lights, they were pretty cool, just big enough to stand on. After we had seen what we were going to see we got back on the Yurikamome line and headed back to Shimbashi. This time we headed the correct direction and got on the train headed to Yokohama.

We got off at Yokohama and headed to the Nissan world headquarters which also has a showroom. It was about a 15 minute walk from the train station. We looked at the various cars and each took turns sitting in the GT-R that was on the floor. It was a fingerprint magnet and one of the women working on the floor kept wiping them off as each group cleared out.

Headed back to Yokosuka and got dinner at Nirvana, portion sizes are smaller than other alternatives for Indian food in Yokosuka but the Garlic Nan cannot be beat.

Kamakura Tokyo - March 14th

Tokyo Again - March 13th

2010-03-13T20:35:00.004+09:00

After breakfast this morning we went to Shiori and hopped on the first train that pulled through, which happened to be a Limited Express. It was a decent ride up to Shinagawa, not too packed. The first destination was Asakusa, the Keikyu-Line turns into the Asakusa Toei line at Shinagawa. The Limited express train had two doors for each car and a rows of four seats between the two doors. This style of train does not work for a subway situation. So as I had expected everyone got off the train at Shinagawa, we waited a couple of minutes and another train came in and we got on that. It is 12 stops to Asakusa from Shinagawa which took around 15 minutes.

Asakusa:
One of my standard stops for showing people on their first trip to Tokyo. It has a good selection of shops with souvenirs and has a unique temple and shrine. The Tokyo Sky Tree is in the process of being constructed, it currently stands at around 300 Meters tall, which is taller than Landmark Tower. We crossed the Sumida-Gawa (River) and got some good pictures from the Asahi Brewery complex. Which also seemed to be home to several homeless people and dogs. There were a lot of people handing out the watchtower around the entrance to Asakusa. After we crossed back across the river we had to stop at Starbucks. We walked around the grounds of Senso-Ji which is the temple for the Buddhist goddess of mercy Kannon. The temple is still being refinished. They are using solid modeling CAD to help in the restoration. The ceilings of the building had some very nice murals. After walking through the Nakamise-Dori (Avenue) shopping area it was back on the train.

Ueno:
A quick change of plans resulted in us hopping off the train at Ueno. I had never been there and I had heard many good things about the park. We spent around an hour walking around the park area. We found the entrance to the zoo and a Totum pole, which was fun. A few plum trees were in bloom Ume, the cherry trees still have yet to blossom into Sakura. This is a great area to go when the Sakura are out, or at least in spring it should be nice.

Akihabara:
Back on track we had to hit Electric Town. We stopped and had Doughnut Plant doughnuts before heading into Yodobashi, I had a berry doughnut this time. It was decent but it does not compare to the "Black-Out" anyone who has an opportunity to try a Doughnut Plant doughnut, make the Black-Out your first stop. I finally picked up a polarizing filter for my Nikon. I spent the rest of the daylight hours playing with it. It is awesome, I am still trying to get the hang of it, but it is another tool to use.

Tokyo:
In another change of direction I decided to walk around the Imperil palace area. It is about a 10 minute walk from Tokyo Station. The day could not have been nicer, clear blue skies. Which worked for the runners who were running around the Imperial palace grounds. This was my second time to visit the area and both times I have seen a lot of runners. The area does have a good deal of elevation change and decently wide paths. After taking some pictures of the guards it was back to Tokyo Station.

Roppongi:
A quick tour around the Roppongi Hills area. I did find something out this time, there is an exit that makes it very quick to get over to the complex. I had been walking 10 minutes to get there, but if you use the correct exit from the station you pop right into the complex. As it was extremely windy I had no desire to go to the top of the building today. We hit lunch at the Hard Rock, with the 15 percent discount we get it is a pretty good deal. I had a chicken club sandwich. They did have a themed meal for the coming holiday. Not sure who would really want Corned Beef and Cabbage, the 25% of me that would care about such things was overruled by the rest of my heritage.

Shibuya:
The last stop of the tour today was the mass crossing. It was decently busy, but nothing like it is at night.

Dinner was Za-Watami. Tomorrow should have more walking so it was an early night in preparation of the fun.

Saturday March 13th

Friday March 12th

2010-03-12T20:10:00.002+09:00

Took it easy today in preparation of the two long trips this weekend. Went to the place refereed to as 12 frogs for dinner. Korean BBQ style food. Rode the train back from the Yokosuka Chuo station to Shiori to cut down on the travel time.

Friday March 12th

Back to Minatomirai - March 11th

2010-03-11T20:54:00.002+09:00

Now that Nick has had a few days under his belt to digest what it is like to be in Japan it was time for Train riding 101. The ride from the airport does not count because of the semi awake state that one experiences while traveling. The one from Shiori to the outlet mall counts as a 98 level course because it is pretty simple and does not have the traffic that heading into the big city has.

Yesterday we swung by the JR Yokosuka station after work to pick up a Suica card. This is a card which you can put money on for train travel. You pass the card over a section on the wicket gate and travel through. When you leave the next station you perform the same action and it deducts the difference between the station you entered and exited. This is an extremely fast way to get through the train system here.

So after we got off work we headed back the hotel and then headed to Shiori and hopped on the next train. Which was awesome because it was an Rapid Express meaning it was 5 stops to Yokohama. After three stops you can transfer to a Limited Express, but this does not gain you anything because it is two stops from there to Yokohama. At Yokohama station we exited the Keikyu line and transferred to the Minatomirai line.

After arriving at Minatomirai we walked around the area for about half an hour. Taking loads of pictures as you can see below. Then we headed into the Landmark Plaza Mall. I made a stop at a shop that has many things from Studio Ghibli films. Then it was to the ground floor of the mall to eat some Okinomiyaki, which is really good. I will allow those interested to Wiki item themselves. After words we went and got some Coldstone. As they were preparing our Ice Cream they sung. I rewarded them with a tip which resulted in much bowing and another song. Nick was bright red at the experience, but I was not too many shades off myself. As we walked out a group of Americans were in line and one of them said to me, "You must have tipped them."

We then headed back to Yokohama station and got on the platform to head back to Yokosuka. The green train pulled up and 30 people got off, it was still pretty packed when we got in. Being a Limited Express it was three stops back to Yokosuka Chuo. It is about a 15 minute walk from that station to our hotel. We could have taken a local back to Shiori, but it was a good experience for Nick to see how the stations were related.

Back to Minatomirai

Wednesday - March 10th

2010-03-10T20:36:00.002+09:00

After work Nick and I spent an hour or so wandering around the Yokosuka Chuo area. We visited the 100 Yen store in The Prime. For dinner we went to Pepper Lunch. It is a good place to take people to get good fast food, and to introduce them to the vending machine concept.

Wednesday - March 10th

Hail Tuesday - March 9th

2010-03-09T20:42:00.002+09:00

Have to love the weather in Japan right now. The cold weather has continued, unlike yesterday where the sun made brief but full appearance it was hidden all day. Hidden by large rain clouds. These particular rain clouds where moving very fast driven by the high wind. All told not the best day to be working outside.

For dinner Nick and I met up with a guy that I had hung out with last year Eric. His wife could not make it to dinner, but we ventured out and tried a new Indian restaurant on Highway 16. I had the Chicken masala Curry super spicy. It was very spicy, during the meal I had to order a Mango Lassi to quench the fire. A fire which was burning in my throat, and demonstrated in water coming from my eyes.

After dinner I went to meet up with Bryan to plan our trip down to Kyoto at the end of next week. On the way there I started to feel like sharp pains on my face and hands. I then realized that I was walking on hail. It is a good ten minute walk from the restaurant to where we met and by the time I got inside I had to go put my hands under water to warm them up. On the way in I noted that the temperature was 34, very cold. A nice white chocolate mocha warmed me up for the journey back to my hotel, but it does feel good to be back inside.

Hail Tuesday

Back in the Groove - March 8th

2010-03-08T20:59:00.002+09:00

I am staying at a different hotel this time in Yokosuka. The breakfast is awesome, buffet style and the view is not to be missed in the morning. The weather during the day changed cloudy to sunny. When it was sunny it was okay to be outside, when the clouds rolled back in it got cold. The forecast looks like it is going to warm up Thursday, which would be nice. Tokyo is an awesome place to wander around, but the experience is much better when it is 10 degrees over freezing.

After work Nick and I headed out to the Yokohama Marina Outlet Mall. It was a good experience to teach him how to use the train with tickets. It is important to start with the basics. The Integrated Circuit cards make life very easy, but it is important to understand how and what your card is being charged. I tried a Sakura Steamer when we got to the mall. Not my cup of tea as it turned out. It was sweet and floral, too much so on both counts.

We got back into Yokosuka and headed out to get some food. I asked Nick to name a type of food he wanted. Noodles was the reply, so I then asked Ramen, Soba, or Udon. Ramen won out so we went to a place that also served Gyoza. I went with the Hot Spicy Ramen, a dish which lived up to both of the adjectives. Many glass of water had to be consumed to quench the fire.

March 8th

A very long travel day March 6th and 7th

2010-03-07T22:56:00.005+09:00

My coworker arrived at the terminal about 2 hours prior to boarding. We hung out in the Red Carpet Club for an hour. Enjoying such treats as trail mix and yogurt. By the time we got back to the gate they had started boarding seating group number 2. As I was in one I went in and got settled.

All told the flight went extremely smoothly, just a few rough patches of turbulence. Once we had crossed the IDL we were pushing against 130 MPH headwinds. So the total flight time took 10 hours 15 minutes, which happens to be about an hour longer than I like being in an enclosed space. The landing was rough due to high winds and a lack of visibility. As always it is extremely reassuring to have the front of the plane drop in its time after the rear wheels have touched. It just took one bounce before the rear wheels were on the ground.

As the flight was longer than was expected we arrived in Customs at the same time as 7 other flights, it was extremely busy. The only thing that made it bearable was the fact that I was able to get through Immigration without waiting. When we came out of customs we were met by a guy from work who informed us that we had missed the 1730 bus to base. This is something I knew. So the options was to either wait for 2 hours for the next bus or ride the train.

The train won out on the fact that on the way to the train is a Starbucks, and with being awake for 18 hours I was starting to fade. I informed the guy that I would be able to get my coworker and myself to the right place. He was relieved as he lives in Yokohama and it would have been very time consuming to travel down to Yokosuka and then back. Taking the train also proved to be the perfect opportunity to use the NEX Narita Express. It used to take three hours to get from Narita to Yokosuka. It took two and a half hours today with about a 20 minute delay at one station.

The one thing I failed to account for was how could it was going to be, it was 38 when we got in. Sitting on the platform waiting for the train to come, it got pretty cold. The luggage did not bother me like I thought it might have, but we were traveling at a lower demand time.

We arrived at the hotel at 2200 local time, 500 pacific. The check in process was a breeze, after getting set in the room. We went out for a walk around town. There is nothing like a hot curry to warm you up on a cold day. So we ate at Nirvanas, I had the Spinach Chicken Curry and Garlic Nan as always.

As I am posting this I opened my luggage to discover a nice not from the TSA about searching my bag. Everything is there, it is packed a littler better than I had managed. I should have known not to put a bag of 10 yen coins wrapped around my tripod with some wires. I can only imagine what it must have looked like. It is the slightest bit reassuring that they checked it.

Here are some photos

Travel Day

Trip Number 7 Begins

2010-03-07T04:13:00.002+09:00

Well it is that time once more to enjoy another Journey to Japan. Long flight and lack of sleep always start off one of these trips. I am enjoying the quiet of the Red Carpet Lounge at SEATAC while waiting for a coworker to arrive. This will be his first trip to Japan. I always find it enjoyable to introduce someone to life in Japan as a Gaijin. The easy part of the trip is completed, now for the fun part.

The hardest decision today will be deciding where to eat dinner.

Travel Day

2009-10-24T07:30:00.001+09:00

Back in America. Everything went smoothly.

October 23rd

October 22nd

2009-10-22T22:05:00.002+09:00

After the last day of work this trip it was Yakitori time. Had several different kinds. Of course you must have bacon wrapped asparagus. I added in Wasabi flavored chicken breast, which literally was wasabi rubbed on chicken. Then I moved to Mushroom and Cheese wrapped in bacon. Next up was Tomato wrapped in Bacon. And then the grand finale Egg Plant wrapped in Bacon. All very good.

After dinner we headed to get some treats and then it was time to pack.

October 22nd

October 21st

2009-10-21T21:45:00.002+09:00

As a thank you to everyone involved with helping over here get work done, the engineers and I put together a get together after work. It was really great to see Americans and Japanese interacting regardless of level or position. One more work day and then another long flight.

October 21st

Tuesday October 20th

2009-10-20T18:06:00.001+09:00

Got dinner at Taco Bell on base and then stayed in and caught up on TV shows. Lazy Day, but I did find a drink worthy of a Soft Drink Challenge

October 20th

Monday October 19th

2009-10-19T20:14:00.002+09:00

After work I headed up to Yokohama for some dinner and shopping. I had Okonomiyaki without fish. Which is hard to do since the majority of it comes with a ton in and on top. They will top various dishes with fish flakes that seem to dance on a hot dish. It is really just the heat rising and causing the flakes to move.

October 19th

Sunday October 18th

2009-10-18T21:44:00.002+09:00

There was a big event going on in town today. There was a Mikoshii parade from the Yokosuka Chuo station into base. I lined up and spent around three hours taking pictures of the event. I have paired the selection way down. It was interesting to see and the sound of the Tyco drums was pretty cool as they marched down the street.

A coworker put on a BBQ on bass. Several of the Japanese coworkers brought there families. Fun was had by all. Lots of Wii Boxing was played.

October 18th

Hakone Trip October 17th

2009-10-17T20:32:00.002+09:00

Got an early start this morning. Arrived at the JR Yokosuka Station at 620. We caught the 638 train to Ofuna. Not too many people on the train at this time in the morning. Most people looked like they were actually heading home instead of heading to work.

We switched trains at Ofuna and headed for Odawara. This was about a 40 minute ride, with almost no one on the train. A lot of traffic was going the other way into Tokyo, but going away was very light. At Odawara it was time to switch again. This time to the Odakyu Hakone Tozan. We purchased a "Free" Pass to get around Hakone for the day. In variation from the name it is actually 3900 Yen for the pass.

From Odawara we headed to Hakone Yumoto station, we stayed in the same area but headed for a different car. The next train was very intere3sting it was much shorter than any train I have been on. This was to allow for its use on switchbacks. It is only one track, so as one train goes to a stop it waits until the train in the opposite direction is at that stop and then proceeds on. It took 40 minutes to get from Hakone Yumoto to Gora.

At Gora we walked around and head to Gora Park. It is a very nice park with a lot of plants, trees, and a fountain. I also purchased my puzzle box from the gift store there. Hakone is known for puzzle boxes, it is a 10 move box. Next up it was Cablecar time. The Cablecar was up a pretty steep incline in 6 stops it gained about 220 meters of elevation. Ears popped twice. The car itself was interesting as it was in steps so as the car went up everybody was on a level platform.

We arrived at Sounzan and switched to the Ropeway. When the car took off I thought we had been launched up the mountain, it was a pretty good trip up to the first stop. Incredible views of the Owakudani steam vent area. At Owakundani we hiked up the hillside and got some nice shots out into the valley. We also tried the famous black egg. It is an egg boiled in the hot-springs, but because of the high sulfur content it colors the eggs black. It tastes just like any other hard boiled egg, but it is the thing to do at that stop. Next we headed down to Togendai at the head of Lake Ashi.

At this point besides the black egg our stomachs wanted to be filled so we wandered around town looking for a place to eat. We settled on the place where the owner came out and said English menus after looking around town. Great choice had an awesome Katsu Curry dish. And the view was great out into the lake. After lunch we headed to the Sightseeing Cruise "Pirate" ship. It took around 20 minutes to get from Togendai to Hakone Machi. Got some nice pictures of the lake. The downside to going today was it was cloudy so there was no chance at all to see Fuji-San. Oh well perhaps next trip.

From Hakone Machi we walked and got some ice cream, I went with Banana. Which happens to be delicous in any language. After that pit stop we headed to the Hakone Checkpoint. A very interesting place. When the transistion of power happened and Edo (Tokyo) became the seat of power for the empreror over Kyoto they built this checkpoint. Its main purpose was to keep weapons and women from going south to Kyoto. History is pretty crazy sometimes. The next stop was the Cedar Avenue, which I got some good shots of. Most of the trees in the avenue are over 360 years old. Duanting to think about someone planting something that long ago and it still being here today. In America we would have chopped it down long ago for firewood. After getting a few shots of the waterborn Tori it was time for the last different mode of transit, bus. It took 30 minutes to get from Moto Hakone to Yumoto station. We hopped back on the train to Odawara.

It was now time to check out my first Japanese castle. It took around 10 minutes to walk from Odawara Station to the castle grounds. Around 7 minutes into transit my camera got to wear my hat because it started dumping. The rain lasted the entire time we were in Odawara. On the castle grounds they have some form of monkey in a cage. We headed inside around 20 minutes before closing. They had shut the ticket counter down so we got in for free. They had a lot of artifacts invloving the castle inside. It was 4 stories tall, at the top you could get out and see around. On a clear day the view is fantastic. On a rainy day, it just looks like it perhaps might be awesome on a clear day.

We headed back to Odawara to catch the train back to Ofuna, we caught the express so it took less time. It may have been the sulfur fumes from the black egg stop but we all took a little nap on the train ride. At Ofuna we transfered to the JR Yokosuka line, which insteresitngly enough started service 120 years ago on June 16th. We got on the 2nd car of this train and headed back to Yokosuka. Now the thing about this train on this route is the first 4 cars do not go past Zushi, which is 4 stops from Yokosuka. Right when we got to Zushi I remembered so we rushed back 3 cars and got in. We when got back into Yokosuka We decided it was a fine evening for some Curry and Nan. And when one wants Curry and Nan in Yokosuka one would be foolish to eat any other place than Nirvanan on Blue Street. Delicous as always.

That about raps it up. In conclusion Hakone gets two thumbs up and would be a great place to spend a weekend. It is full of hot-springs and great places to hike and with the Free Pass you can get around for 2 days on 3900 Yen pretty good for all that you can see. Just try to schedule it for a clear weekend and it would make an excellent trip.

October 17th

Friday October 16th

2009-10-16T21:53:00.001+09:00

Took it easy tonight preparing for the Hakone Trip. Start at 550 at the hotel and hopefully will be back around 7 PM. Should be a blast. The question is can I get to 700 pictures in one day. I will aim to find out.

October 16th

Thursday October 15th

2009-10-15T18:00:00.002+09:00

Ate dinner at Pepper Lunch tonight, but the magic is truly gone. Without the risk of getting E Coli it just isn't fun any more. Waited around the hotel for another coworker to show up. We then went out to the Yakitori stand for another quick bit. Plans for Hakone are almost set up.

October 15th

October 14th

2009-10-14T20:06:00.002+09:00

Another day without rain. October is really an awesome month to be in Japan. With the obvious caveat of no Typhoons rolling through the weather is hard to beat. Tried out a new Ramin place tonight on a suggestion from a Japanese coworker, very good. Although I did learn an important lesson, if you ask for extra seaweed in Japan they are going to give it to you. See the pictures for the explanation.

October 14th

Tuesday October 13th

2009-10-13T20:33:00.002+09:00

Back at work after the long weekend. Had Thia for dinner, got some nice shots with the point and shoot camera. The sunset lit up the Yokosuka Skyline nicely.

October 13th

Monday October 12th

2009-10-12T18:25:00.002+09:00

To celebrate Columbus day I made up another little trip. This time we started back at Landmark. Walked around for a couple of hours and got some awesome shots of the tower from every angle I could get it. The lighting was very unique clear skies and the tower seemed to glow silver.

Next it was a quick trip through China Town, didn't do any shopping but walked through the whole of it. I found a train station I didn't know existed and used that to get back to Yokohama station. From there we went to Yodabashi and Tokyu Hands. I got a really nice camera strap. The included one is decent for limited use, but when you have the camera around your neck for more than 5 hours, you need something more substantial.

The next place was brand new to me, Enoshima. It is past Kamakura on the train. One you get out of the train you have to walk around a mile to get to the island itself. The island has a lot of shrines dedicated to a Dragon who fell in love with a woman, lots of really cool dragon statues around the island. There is two options, you can pay 310 Yen to ride an escalator near the top, or you can walk it yourself. I decided it was well worth the money. For some reason there were a lot of cats on the island. They were all extremely friendly, so obvious signs of rabbies. The one thing that was freaky was the amount of spiders. And they were big ones, I got a good shot of one. Got up to the top and went up lighthouse and got some great pictures. You could see Landmark tower in the distance. On the far side of the island are caves, but when I got down to the other side, I found that it was closed because of damage. I think it may have been from the Typhoon as this area had some extremely high winds. It was 352 stairs back to the top, and then a bunch down.

Had TGI Fridays for dinner. One of my coworkers had given me 1000 Yen off coupon. So in all it worked out to be a decent price for the meal. Now time to recharge for another 4 day work week.

October 12th

October 12th Part 2

Sunday October 11th

2009-10-11T21:29:00.002+09:00

What to do after a day replete with walking, start out with a 2 hours walk around town. I made it twice as far as I had ever walked and ended up finding a few new things. A bunch of art that has fallen into disrepair. It included a staircase perspective piece, and a big faucet. I also found another fishing pier with a few neat pieces of art.

After the walk I met up with some coworkers for brunch at the officers club, they do put on quite a spread. Then it was over to my buddy Bryans house, I rode the train he rode his bike. He met a branch going about 20 miles an hour so he took a pretty good tumble, broke his helmet and got some road rash. After making sure he didn't have a concussion I headed back to base for Church. I ate dinner at Taco Bell then headed back to my room to catch up on Psych, very good episode.

October 11th

Super Tokyo Tour 2009

2009-10-10T21:32:00.005+09:00

The Super Tokyo Tour 2009 was completed in 14 hours. It involved 8 stops, 18 different trains, and 3600 Yen in fares. I still have a ton of energy but the two other guys that went up were tuckered out at the end. So lets break it all down.

The first stop was to watch around Tokyo Tower area. It took around an hour and a half to get up there. Took some really good pictures, saw another one of the crazy big spiders. This one was enjoying breakfast, a nice big fly. When we got on the other side of the tower I noticed that the moon was right behind the tower. Really nice shots. In the same area there is a tree which was planted by George H. W. Bush. We walked around from the other side and got a few more shots. Then it was on to Akihabara.

First up was to go to the Yodabashi. After enjoying a delicious "Black Out" doughnut it was time to look for a camera bag. I ended up getting a LowePro Nova 160 AW. Fits all my gear and has a rain cover. Stopped by Burger King and wandered around the area for around an hour, and then it was on to the next destination, Asakusa.

After overshooting the entrance and backtracking we finally arrived at the Asakusa Temple/Shrine. This area is unique in Japan because it has both a Shinto Shrine and a Buddhist Temple. One of the early emperors did this in an attempt to unify Japan. Still to this day most Japanese follow Buddhism and Shintoism. Took some nice pictures of a bronze statue of a famous Kabuki actor. I have always missed this statue because it was behind where buses drop people off. The next stop was Shinjuku.

The main purpose of the stop at Shinjuku was to ascend the first building of the day. This was the Metropolitan Government Offices South Tower. The building is compressed of a main portion and then two towers. The South Tower has a more pictureqs view of Tokyo. Another benefit it is free. After taking photos up at the top we went down to Shinjuku park. At this point it was around one thirty, so everyone was getting hungry. So we headed off to Roppongi.

Once we arrived in Roppongi we headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. After the grub we headed over to Roppongi Hills and Tokyo City View. The trip to the top of this building cost 1500 Yen, for an extra 300 Yen you can go out on the top of the building. I decided that for me 52 stories was enough. The view from this building is the best you can get in Tokyo. You can see the Shinjuku area, Tokyo Tower, and on a clear day Fuji. These days don't happen too much, if you can get up right after a Typhoon rolls through the sky will never be clearer. Then it was back on the trains headed to Shibuya.

This is one of the worlds most famous Mass Crossing Areas. We sat and chilled at Starbucks for about a half hour. This Starbucks is always one of the top 5 in the world for business each year. Got some good shots of the mass crossing in action. There are even more people if you go later at night. At this point we had our fill of Tokyo, so where better to go than Kawasaki.

There is a train from Shinagawa directly to Kawasaki that takes 8 minutes and cost 290 Yen, a pretty good deal. We headed over to California Pizza Kitchen for a Califronian Club Pizza, Chicken, Bacon, Lettuce, Tamato, and Avacado. As we walked into the mall where the CPK is there was a J-POP band performing. The pizza was good the music was not. After dinner it was time for the final stop on the trip, Yokohama Minato Mirai.

Spent around 2 hours around Landmark Tower. Got shots up from the dry dock to the building, then went up into it for some night photos. A tripod would have been awesome. I did me best to set the shutter speed very low and let the magic happen. This only works so well when the camera is in motion during the shot. You can see those pictures in the second album. New camera took 570 pictures without losing one bar on the battery, very good. It did lead to the discovery that picasa only lets you upload 500 pictures per album. I am assuming that most people will never know that limit.

Enjoy the pictures from the Super Trip.

October 10

October 10th

October 10th Part 3

Friday 9th

2009-10-09T21:38:00.002+09:00

Tomorrows trip is all planned, should be a blast. 3600 yen in total fares for the trains and 180 minutes on trains 8 stops in one day.

I did receive my travel certificate from United today, so I get $300 off my next flight. The downside is it is only for travel within the US. Although I can think of a couple of tropical places I would like to visit again, and that would make it easier to get that trip in line.

October 9th

Typhoon Day

2009-10-08T20:06:00.002+09:00

In anticipation of Typhoon Melor work was canceled today. Over night and during the morning it was extremely windy with periods of rain. Around noon it cleared up to blue sky. When typhoons come through it knocks all of the pollution out of the sky. Very clear. I decided to take advantage of this, by heading up to Kamakura.
I remembered that they had opened a Starbucks Concept store last year. So that was the first stop, really neat layout for the store. Then it was to the beach. The wind was blowing hard enough that it was creating a fine mist, so in about three minutes I was covered in a fine layer of salt. Ate dinner at a Thia restaurant, went with a level two for spiciness, good call anything more it would have brought me to tears.

October 8

October 8th

Wednesday October 7th

2009-10-07T21:32:00.002+09:00

Typhoon Condition 1 was called today so the big wind and rain event is now 12 hours away. Should be fun. In anticipation of the big rain, I went to the Yokohama Marina Mall to buy a rain jacket. So far it has handled the rain decently.

Had dinner on base at Taco Bell before they lock the gates. Now it is just time to wait.

October 7th

Typhoon Prep

2009-10-06T20:26:00.002+09:00

I am now stocked up for the oncoming Typhoon. The level for Typhoons is in 4 sections. Level 4 means it is 72 hours away, 3 48, 2 24, and 1 it is present. Today it was raised to level 3, so it looks like it will arrive sometime Thursday.

Went out to dinner at Nirvana again. I am spreading the word about the Chicken Spinach Curry and cheese Nan combo. Very good.

October 6th

Monday October 5th

2009-10-05T19:45:00.002+09:00

Working a full day after the travel day can be pretty brutal. Your brain at one point will just want to turn off. It knows that it should be asleep, it is just the light keeping your body awake. After work I attempted to go on base and get supplies for the oncoming Typhoon, I forgot the piece of paper that allows me to shop in my room. So it turned out to be a nice walk.

Ate at a Chinese restaurant in More's City. They had a UFO dumping plate. Interesting arrangement of delicious familiarity. I also had something made out of hot lava apparently. It had one pepper next to it on the menu, it still burns. I would hate to think what a three pepper item would do. Probably melt your face.

Looks like it will drop around 3 inches of rain tomorrow then around 20 between Wednesday and Thursday. That is life in the path of a Typhoon.

October 4th

Travel Day Attempt One and Two

2009-10-04T21:24:00.004+09:00

Flights to Japan generally include one takeoff and one landing, not so fast for this trip. The plan was to fly Friday. Everything was going according to the plan, check-in, security, boarding. During takeoff the right engines generator failed. Not really a problem for flying, but as the 777 requires a lot of power during flight the APU would lower the fuel to the point where we wouldn't quite make the journey across the Pacific. So we turned around and landed. As we stepped off the plane they handed a sheet of paper with information about hotel and what number to call to get a new reservation. I called the number and was offered two options. I could fly to DC, then Singapore, then Osaka, and finally Narita; or I could fly the next day. I chose the option with one flight. I also decided to sleep in my own bed.

So Saturday was attempt number two. Before I left I noticed that I could use a shorter line to check in at the airport, so I used that line. Both that and the security line I had no one in front of me. So I was checked in and through security in 5 minutes. Not bad at all. Did all the normal airport stuff and then got on the plane. And it was completely full. Once we got in the air and the generator did not fail, the pilot told us that there would be areas of turbulence during the flight, it was the most turbulence I have ever been in. It was not bad but it was 90% of the time in the air.

Once landed, I headed for Immigration and Customs, and what a line. 4 flights had arrived at around the same time, it took 40 minutes to get through immigration, but I was one of the first off the Seattle plane so I got through customs quickly, my bag was waiting for me. Then it was time to check into the 1730 bus. It was about an hour before we headed out to the parking lot to load. Everybody was loaded and we were about ready to leave when I noticed one of my coworkers running towards the bus. She was returning from vacation in the Grand Canyon. Her boyfriend is someone in a different organization that I work with. So I got a ride to the hotel. I had called my other coworker Dave to tell the hotel I would be a day late, and they had everything lined up. Checked in and got settled. Then I met up with Dave and we headed for some late grub at Pepper Lunch. The e-coli scare has had an effect on the way that they deliver the meat. It now is cooked to the point where it is just about right. At least it is back open.

Got back to the hotel around 2100 and headed for bed. I woke up not at the usual 230-300 (Jet Lag) but by sirens going off. There were sirens, chanting and drums. All very exciting and I have absolutely no clue what was going on, but it has been quiet since then, also no earth quake so maybe it was a celebration.

Pictures

October 3rd

I apologize for the order, it is not chronological, still getting used to having two cameras.

Travel Day July 2nd

2009-07-04T05:38:00.002+09:00

Got to visit the Red Carpet Lounge at the airport. Very nice, internet and a shower. The flight was delayed twice. We were on the runway ready to take off and a guy in business class started complaining about his seat. After trying several things, they eventually kicked him and his traveling companion off the plane. They removed their luggage and then we were back on the runway. A plane lost a tire, so we were standing by for around half an hour. After the all clear was given we took off.

The food was great and the flight went by fast.

Pictures

Thursday July 2nd

Wednesday July 1st

2009-07-01T16:13:00.004+09:00

Today was Tie Dye day at work. We had a small group that put on shirts. It is a tradition back at the mother ship, it is the first time it has been done away from Bremerton.

Had a bbq for lunch today, we had a mix of Japanese and Americans who work together. About 50 in all showed up. It was good fun.

After work I met up with some coworkers. We went to Burger King. Then we headed to a Japanese restaurant and tried many different things. Good times.

Pictures

Wednesday July 1st

JSDC July 09 - 1

Tuesday June 30th

2009-06-30T21:08:00.002+09:00

Went to a coworkers house for dinner. Brand me neighborhood, as we were having dinner, he received his first gift. It is traditional for people as they move in to give gifts to their neighbors. It is supposed to make up for any inconvenience that you have caused them.

Pictures

Tuesday June 30th

JSDC June 09 - 28

Monday June 29th

2009-06-29T19:51:00.002+09:00

Had dinner at Taco Bell and then enjoyed Star Trek for the fifth time. Still awesome.

Pictures

Monday June 29th

JSDC June 09 - 27

Sunday June 28th

2009-06-28T20:24:00.003+09:00

Started out the morning with breakfast at the hotel and then headed on base for a while. Did a little shopping and got lunch at Taco Bell.

New Hope Yokohama was having their 5th Anniversary celebration today. I met up with Paul to check it out. We had gone to the 4th Anniversary last year. It was a really big production with Hula dancers etc. The sermon was good and a few people made decisions. All in all pretty cool.

Paul had told me about this store that was near where the church met. So we looked for it, we walked for about an hour, did a loop and then realized that we had passed it within 5 minutes of starting to walk. Oh well, just a typical Japan adventure.

Had dinner at Nirvana, the chicken spinach curry was great.

Pictures

Sunday June 28th

JSDC June 09 - 26

Saturday June 27th

2009-06-27T23:01:00.008+09:00

Had to head up to Tokyo one last time before I head back to the US. Got on the 902 limited express to Shinagawa. My buddy Bryan was already on the train as his house sits further out on the peninsula. Like the train schedule it worked out perfectly, both on the same car. The train conductor was being overly cautious in the corners. But a little extra time is worth the safety gained by it.

From Shinagawa we rode the Yamamote Line to Shimbashi. This is where I got to use a train I didn't even know existed. After a quick walk we hopped onto the train. We rode it out to Diaba station, where we got off. The entire area where this station is around is built on fill. It is a complete man made island. Pretty neat. The reason for the excursion up to this park was that they had built a 1:1 scale Gundam. After taking many pictures of it, we headed to the mall just north of the park. One quick stop to see a replica of the Statue of Liberty and then to Toys R Us. Pretty much exactly the same selection as back home, except everything has Kana and Kanji on it.

We had lunch at a Hawaii Burger joint. I had an excellent Turkey Avocado Sandwich on wheat bread. After walking around the mall, it was back to the park to take one last look at the craziness of the size of the statue of the Gundam.

From there we headed to Akihabara in search of AirSoft Guns. After going to Yodabashi and looking in every floor I found something very special. We came out a different exit than we had entered in. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a Doughnut Plant sign. I have been looking for one of these for about a year. I had a Black Out doughnut to celebrate the discovery. Best Doughnut I have ever had, hands down.

The search for Airsoft Continued by the station, we did find a place that had a really large selection of them. It is still strange to me that these BB guns have the same weight and feel as a real gun. In Japan they are not required to put the orange tips onto toy guns. The main reason is that they do not allow private ownership of actual firearms.

Decide to take the easy way back, go back to Shimbashi switch to Asakusa Toei line. This subway line turns into the line that goes directly back to Yokosuka. If you start out at Shimbashi you can sit down during the entire trip. Well worth the few extra minutes it takes to wait for the limited express train.

The rest of the day was made up by playing Little Big Planet (PS3) and then dinner at Denny's. It also marks the latest train I have ever caught. I caught the 5th to last train for the evening. Not too many folks ride this particular train.

Pictures

Saturday June 27th

JSDC June 09 - 25

Friday June 26th

2009-06-26T21:07:00.004+09:00

Last Friday in Japan on this trip. Headed up to an outlet mall in Yokohama after work. The thing about shopping in Japan is you get a 10-15 percent markup on prices in the US. So even an outlet mall will be more expensive than they would be back home.

Had dinner at a restaurant at the mall. The waitress was the shortest person I have every dealt with. Sitting down I was looking down at her. Headed back to town. Got on the wrong train and ended up near where some additional Navy housing is. Got back to town after getting back to the correct line.

Burger King opened up tonight, there was a line outside the restaurant and many people were wearing the crowns. They also had one of the mayoral candidates giving a speech on the street tonight. Seems like wherever i got I cannot escape the madness of politics.

Pictures

Friday June 26th

JSDC June 09 - 24