Merry Christmas from Japan!

James and I would like to wish you a very wonderful and blessed Christmas this year.  May it be filled with great friends and family, and may you make many splendid memories that you will treasure forever.  May your travels be safe and my God bless your day with happiness.  Sending our love from across the ocean! Always, Angela, James, and AJ

And we chose….

House #5!

James and I chose house #5 due to its location.  The house is only a 3 minute drive from the front gate, which means James can easily ride his bike to work.  The convenience is perfect for us!  The home is beautiful, and was built in the last few years.  There are beautiful hard wood floors throughout, with the exception of the tatami room.  The house has three bedrooms upstairs, which means we can have an official guest room for all of our visitors!! (*HINT*HINT*)  As if you didn’t need another reason to come and visit us, you have to come and see the pink toilet upstairs!  Pink toilet…hello!! The master bedroom has a huge walk-in closet, and there is ample storage space throughout the house.  Not only does the home have a beautiful balcony, but there is a small backyard for AJ, complete with a Japanese maple tree and a cherry tree.  We should get beautiful fall colors and spring blooms to celebrate the changing of the seasons.  We are spending our Christmas moving into the new house, and I will definitely post pictures when we are all settled in.

House Hunters International

After living on base for six months, James and I are ready for the adventure of living off base! This has always been our intentions, but we wanted to get to know the area before we committed to a house.  We love the adventure of living in Japan, but living on base makes us feel like we are just visiting, and we want to experience living in Japan.  So a few weeks ago, we began the official search for an off-base, Japanese home.  I felt like we were on House Hunters International, one of my favorite shows!

We looked at five houses before we found one that we fell in love with.  Honestly, we thought this was going to take us a few months, but then we found a house we couldn’t pass up!

Here’s a brief look at the houses we looked at.

House #1: This house was very cute from the outside, but was very small on the inside.   It was a three bedroom home, with hardwood floors throughout, and no tatami room.  It was about 15 minutes from base, and a wall needed to be repaired before we could move in.

House #2: This house was HUGE! It had four bedrooms, with a party deck on the roof with great views.  On a clear day, you could see Mt. Fuji.   The house was built in the 70s, and had a great deal of character.  This house also had a ton of storage, which is always a plus.  But, it was a little old, and needed some work.

House #3: This house was built only two years ago, and was very modern.  The kitchen was beautiful, and so was everything in it!  It had a video doorbell, so you could see who was at your door on a tv inside the house before you opened it.  There were two heated toilet seats, but not much storage space.

House #4:  This house was a beautiful three story home, about 20 minutes from base.  The home was full of upgrades, and was right next to a park.  There was a beautiful tatami room, heated toilet seats, and hardwood floors.  However, this house had a weird layout, where the living room would be on the 2^nd floor.

House #5: This house was only a 3 minute drive from base, and was a modern Japanese home.  There was one tatami room, and hard wood floors throughout the rest of the home.  This house had one heated toilet seat, and a Japanese style oven.  It also had a small backyard in addition to the balcony.

So, did we choose…..

House #2 with lots of space and a great view.

House #3 with modern upgrades and a great kitchen.

House #5 with a short commute and a backyard.

Stay tuned to hear our decision!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Angela, AJ, and I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.  We have truly been blessed this year and hope that you have been as well.  We also hope you all are able to gorge yourself by devouring among nature’s most noble and delicious animals, the “Wild Turkey”.  In any form, be it bourbon, mascot, fried or baked, the turkey is a majestic animal deserving of presidential pardons and your respect.

Our first official visitor!

James received the best birthday present ever this year….a visit from a great friend!  We celebrated James’ birthday by driving to Narita airport to pick up Jonathan, a friend of ours from college, who would be visiting for two weeks.  Driving to the airport was very exciting, and we thankfully didn’t hit any traffic.  We did lose our toll ticket (first time ever in our lives), and I tried to explain in English and gestures that it was gone.  (Which is actually much more difficult than it sounds…) We backed up the toll gate a little bit, but no worries, as there is a big Y on our license plate, alerting everyone that we are American and don’t know what we are doing.  Eventually, the toll booth person understood, took down our information, and charged us the regular toll amount.  (Thankfully!)  It’s moments like those when I am mad at myself for knowing as little Japanese as I do.  (We found the ticket when we got to the airport. We are AWESOME!) On our way home, we stopped at Yoshinoya, a Japanese fast food restaurant that is amazing, for Jonathan’s first meal in Japan.  Meat and rice bowls = fabulous!  It was the perfect start to a great two weeks.

Kit Kat Awesomeness

Since my first Kit Kat post, we have found many new flavors of Kit Kat’s to share with you.



Almond Tofu: We found this Kit Kat in a little shop in Chinatown, Yokohama.  Annin Tofu is an awesome almond jelly tofu pudding that is served at many places for dessert.  This is the Annin Tofu Kit Kat.  It tasted just like the dessert, a very sweet almond taste.

Sweet Potato: We found this Kit Kat in the train station at Odawara.  The Kit Kat is very sweet, and has a sweet potato aftertaste.  I would have preferred more of a sweet potato taste, but it was still very good.

Marron: Marron is another name for chestnut, and is put in everything here in the fall.  We have been buying many marron products these last few weeks.  This kit kat was very nutty in taste, and used a dark chocolate.  It left a strange aftertaste, but not a bad one.  We found this one at a grocery store in Odawara.

Google Directions: Japan to China

Google Maps directions from Japan to China.  Step number 43: Jet Ski across the Pacific Ocean.  782 km.  Awesome.

Talking on your cell phone is rude

We all know how irritating it is to be sitting next to someone screaming into their cell phone in a public place.  I don’t really care about your plans tonight or how crazy the party you were at last night was, so please, don’t add to the noise pollution around me.  (I’m assuming most people feel the same way…or I am just a very angry person.) This public announcement about cell phone use on the train makes me laugh.  You don’t want to make the elderly woman with a cane next to you cry due to your obscene cell phone use.  Nor do you want to make the cute girl next to you uncomfortable.  So please, turn those cell phones off!

Blessing of the Car

At the base of Mount Takao, on the outskirts of Tokyo, a Buddhist monk performed a ceremony of blessings.  Dressed in bright orange, the monk prayed over the white Toyota van, banged the drum a few times, and dripped holy water onto the hood.  The family watched quietly, perhaps praying along with the monk, for no accidents and safe driving.  We had just witnessed a Buddhist car blessing.

This was the first I had heard of a car blessing, and Sumi from Host Nations Relations explained to us what was happening.  “This is very exciting for you to watch,” she said.  This particular temple is specifically for car blessings, as you can see the parking spaces painted at the entrance of the temple.  They perform a blessing about every 15 or 30 minutes, depending on the demand.  After the van ceremony was done, a motorcyclist drove up to receive his blessing.  After a bit of research, there are both Buddhist and Shinto car blessings in Japan, and they are becoming more and more popular.  Shinto blessings involve flower petals being sprinkled on the car, and they are performed by a Shinto priest called a kannushi.  Based on the crazy driving situations in Japan, I can understand why they feel the need to have the extra assurance.  I wonder if our car was blessed when it was brand new (in 1998!).

Following in Howard's Footsteps

One of the first things we wanted to do in Japan was visit a site that Grandpa Howard did in 1945-1946 as part of the post-War occupying force.   He often tells of a visit he made one day with some shipmate into central Tokyo on a train from their ship in Yokosuka.  They rode the train past fields of burnt homes from US bombings, leaving only metal safes.



He said there was a Japanese girl on the train learning English through a vintage Reader’s Digest (interesting for the occupied country to embrace American culture so fast).  When they got to Tokyo the thing to do was visit the Imperial Palace, partly because it was not targeted by Allied bombing and was actually still intact.  All his sailor buddies got pictures taken in front a famous bridge on the palace grounds by a random Japanese photographer, who miraculously got the photos back to the correct ship.  Howard always finished this anecdote with his encounter with General MacArthur whose headquarters were nearby.  He watched as guards seemed to know precisely when to open the doors for the General to step out, wave at the Japanese well-wishers, and get into his famous black sedan.



Before we moved to Japan we spent an evening in Yorktown, and stumbled across Howard’s old photos.  We took a digital photo of his aging 1946 photograph from the Imperial Palace and used that as a reference to find the exact spot he stood over 65 years later.  On a nice late summer Saturday we took the train to the center of modern Tokyo to walk the outside of the palace grounds to find the photo spot.  The bridge was remarkably easy to find and is still THE place to get your photo taken.  Dozens of tourists, both international and Japanese, were lining up to take pictures with this bridge in the background.  In 1945 the Emperor officially renounced his deity status to a shocked country, but the place is still revered. And guarded.  Across the before mentioned bridge were stern looking uniformed guards that kind of reminded me of the Queen’s Guards in England.  I am pretty sure we were being watched the whole time.  But we got a photo of another Naval Gouger in the same spot as Petty Officer Howard did in the 1940s.

Classy Rest Area

On Monday, I went on a trip with the ladies to Shimada for the triennial (every three years) Obi festival.  On the way to the festival, we stopped at a rest area, and discovered the most amazing thing.  An electronic stall vacancy sign!!  This sign was right when you walked into the restroom, and it tells you which toilet is in use, and which one is vacant.  (Green – Vacant; Black – In Use) It also tells you which stall has a western vs. a Japanese toilet, which is very useful!  I don’t know how many times I’ve wandered through a bathroom here trying to figure out which stall had the western toilet.  Squatting isn’t really my style, so I only use Japanese toilets if there is nothing else available.  I’m sure everyone in the restroom was laughing at us for taking pictures, but I had to get a shot of this!

Hate is a strong word

I HATE SPIDERS!!  I don’t use the word hate very often, because it’s a very emotional word in my opinion.  But when it comes to spiders, I can’t think of a better word.  I despise them.  My childhood is filled with very vivid memories of spider incidents, none of them ending well.  These included the spiders that used to live in the tub and pretend to be dead, but would pump themselves up and walk away after a few minutes.  Then there was the time we were picking mushrooms in Michigan, and I picked a big one that had a huge spider living inside of it.  Then there was the enormous tree spider that had to be killed with a hammer outside of our house in Charleston.  I touched it with my hand thinking it was bark…and then it moved.  I can still feel it on my hand when I think about it.  And then in high school I was bit by a spider, and the doctor told me in could be living in my mattress.  You’d better believe my parents bought me new mattresses that day!  And there are a handful of other stories, traumatizing moments in my life involving spiders.  When James was deployed, there was a spider on our ceiling in the bedroom.  I slept in the living room for three weeks.  That’s just how it is with me and spiders.

Last weekend, James and I spent a nice day at the Bazaar in Yokosuka, a few horrible hours stuck in traffic, and we came home to a monster spider outside of our door.  James didn’t believe me that it was a spider, but I can spot them from a mile away, in the dark.  He tried to kill it, but it was on the ceiling outside, and in the dark, it was difficult.  I didn’t sleep that night.  I kept thinking of that evil thing living outside of our door.  I couldn’t wait for the moment when I was sure it was dead.  The attack was easier in the day light, though it still proved to be trying.  James used a whole can of bug killer, while I stayed behind the screen door screeching and watching with anticipation. After James had sprayed a ton of killer on it, I got up the courage to walk outside and take a picture. (Honestly, I'm not even sure why I wanted a picture...)  I figured that even if the spider came after us, he was covered in poison, so he couldn’t come that fast.  James kept telling me he was dead, but then he would keep moving, and I wanted confirmation that it was over.  He sat on the wall clinging to life, when all of a sudden he made a run at us.  I started screaming and ran to the grass, and James was spraying him with what was left in the can.  James was yelling at me to get him something to squish it with, but that would involve me walking towards the spider to get to the house, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  Thankfully, our neighbor came to the rescue with his tennis shoes.  And the spider was squished for good.  The incident gave my heart a good test, but I can sleep well knowing he is dead.

Four Years Later

Four years ago today, James and I braved a Texas storm to drive an hour and a half to Austin to meet our little furry bundle of joy.  We had been married for only a few months when we decided to adopt a little poodle.  Actually, I decided to adopt a little poodle, and spent an entire month convincing James that I absolutely needed a puppy.  While reluctant at first, James gave in when he saw the personality of a cute little gray poodle shining through a photo online.  I would spend hours browsing the adoptable dogs in our area on petfinder.com.  When this little gray poodle became available, we called immediately!  Unfortunately, the lady told me that we didn’t actually want him, because he needed a lot of work, and couldn’t be around children.  She encouraged us to submit our adoption application, and then to meet two other small poodles, who didn’t need nearly as much attention and training.  I was disappointed, but still wanted to meet these other dogs, so we bought a kennel and drove to Austin, just to “meet” them, of course.  After about 20 minutes of driving, we realized we had a made a terrible decision braving this storm.  We couldn’t see anything and we were literally being blown all over the road.  We pulled over (with everyone else) and prayed that a tornado didn’t interfere with our hopes of getting a puppy.  At least that’s what I was praying for!  I think James was praying for safety! :)



After about 45 minutes, conditions were finally good enough to drive again, and we inched our way to Austin.  The adoption agency was also late due to the storm, and we arrived before them.  We wandered around Petsmart for a few minutes before a tiny gray puffball came barreling through the door.  I fell in love the moment I saw him!  There was no way I was going home without that little dog! The lady apologized for being late, and then explained to us that the dogs we were supposed to be meeting were stuck in the storm, so she brought Rudy instead (the dog we had originally called about!).  I was very pleased! We played with him for a few minutes, and she explained to us the adoption agencies policy about a two week trial period.  During a short ten minute period, this little dog had run away three times, bit the lady who brought him, and growled at a little white poodle.  It made me love him that much more.  He was spunky and had such an awesome personality.  I was sure he was the one.

We had been approved for an adoption (well….for a two week trial), but there were a few things they needed to talk to us about.  Divorce and Death.  Who got the dog if we got divorced? ME!! (No discussion was needed there…. :) ) And then we discussed the importance of having our dog in our will so that our dog didn’t end up in a kill shelter one day.  After those two important discussions, we were allowed to take Rudy home.  Rudy (formerly named Rusty) became little Ambler Johnston Gouger, also known as AJ!

Our life hasn’t been the same since AJ came into it.  He has been the perfect little dog for us, and he has learned to love to travel.  The traveling began after his two week trial when we took him to see my grandparents in Corpus Christi, TX.  Then a few months later we took him on a road trip to Nebraska.  A few weeks after that, we moved him to Virginia.  A year later, he was moving to California, and two years after that, he boarded a plane to Japan.  He is quite the little traveler, and we love him!  For those of you living in Texas, check out Austin’s Little Paws Maltese Rescue.  http://www.lilpaws-malteserescue.org/

"Kit Kat" translates as "Surely Win"

Before moving to Japan, I had no idea there were so many different types of Kit Kat’s.  The only one I knew of was the original chocolate wafers I craved after every “Give Me a Break” commercial.  I admit it.....advertising works on me!

Since moving to Japan, we have discovered that there are a TON of Kit Kat flavors.  I was taking a class about grocery shopping in Japan when my adorable Japanese grocery shopping teacher took me down the candy aisle and told me about the different Kit Kat’s in Japan.  I was hooked!  I bought a bag of Crème brûlée or Flan Kit Kat’s on the spot.  They were sweet and awesome!  Since this first purchase, we have been hitting up every 7-11, AM/PM, and Lawson’s we can find looking for more.

So far, we have been able to find a few, but there are many more we are still looking for.

Crème Brulee: Very sweet, and very awesome!

Strawberry/Banana: Good, but very sweet. Almost too sweet.

Coke/Sprite: I think this tasted horrible.  Especially the coke part!  The sprite part was better.

Aloe Yogurt: Tasted like sunscreen….ick!

Salty Caramel: Soooooooo good!  Tasted exactly like it sounds.

Bitter Almond: Dark chocolate with almond slivers.  This is my favorite so far!

Semi-sweet: Dark chocolate.  Tasted a lot like the original.  Very good!

Let the Kit Kat search continue!  I will update you when we find more flavors!

Walls Need Love

Moving from a gorgeous apartment with granite counter tops, hard wood floors, and vaulted ceilings in San Diego to a 1960’s apartment with industrial tile, brown walls, and a brown tiled bathroom left me in a bit of a funk.  How were we going to turn our military housing unit into a livable, modern home that was fresh and fun?  After countless hours of Google searching, I found our answer: WALLS NEED LOVE!! Yes!! Our walls DO need love!!  Most of our rooms are coming together nicely, but the bathroom had a lot to be desired.  Our brown tiles from floor to ceiling made it impossible to hang any kind of decorations, so vinyl wall art seemed perfect.  With Walls Need Love, you can pick out all of your colors, and we went with a black and red Japanese cherry blossom tree (perfect….I know!) to match our shower curtain (which is 6 inches too short here).  I was stoked when the art came in, and James and I spent last night hanging it up.  The tree branches were a bit difficult, as the branches are very skinny, but overall, the process was extremely easy.  I think the tree looks fabulous, and it has completely transformed our bathroom.  We also purchased flying red and black birds, but we haven’t decided how to use them yet.  For those of you looking for something to spiff up your room, check this company out.  It’s definitely helping our place feel more like home.



WallsNeedLove.com comes with the following warning.... (It's too late for me!!)

“WARNING!! Wall Decals are addictive and may induce uncharted levels of fun & creativity. DO NOT use if you are: spontaneous, creative, fun, unique, stylish, trendy, fashion forward, progressive, or just simply love to decorate. You just might be prone to a seriously fun decals addiction. :) ”



Grape Wine > Rice Wine

I LOVE WINE!  I love going to wineries to sample local varieties.  I love smelling the aromas, the way my taste buds tingle during tastings, and holding my glass up to the light to inspect the liquid in my glass.  I love talking to the owners and wine makers, hearing their stories about the winery, and getting to know the winery dog.  I especially love going on wine trips with my girlfriends!  All in all, I just love wine.  I love the wine itself, and the experience that is wine tasting.  I was really hoping that this love for wine would transfer into a love of sake tasting, but so far, that is not the case.

Before we moved to Japan, I had tried sake a few times, and I never really liked it.  I thought maybe it was because I had never had good sake, or that perhaps it was an acquired taste.  If it is in fact an acquired taste, it is a taste I would like to acquire while we are living in Japan.  The O Club was holding a sake tasting and seminar, so we bought tickets and were excited to learn more about sake and to do some tastings.  This was truly a seminar, and included a three hour lecture on every aspect of sake brewing, tasting, serving, and purchasing that you would ever want to know.  The seminar was taught by a Sake Sommelier, Ad Blankestijn, and most of it was a bit over my head.  Some things I learned about sake:

• Sake has been the national drink of Japan for almost 2,000 years.


• Sake is made of rice, koji (a mold), yeast, and water.


• There are more than 1,400 sake breweries in Japan.


• Rice comes in different qualities, like everything else.  Who knew?


• Japanese sake only uses Japanese rice.


• They have to polish the rice first.  The more expensive your sake, the more polished your rice.


• There are four grades of sake: Honjozo, Junmai, Ginjo, and Daiginjo.


• I still have no idea how to tell the difference between the four.


• Most quality sake is served in wine glasses.


• Sake is closely connected with Shintoism, and you will see sake barrels at Shinto shrines.

During the lecture, we sampled a variety of sake with food pairings.  I greatly enjoyed the food pairings, especially the sushi and tempura.  The sake on the other hand….not so much.  While I’m glad that we attended this sake tasting, I still have no taste for it.  Most of my glasses stayed full, as I couldn’t bring myself to have more than a few sips.  Despite our first sake tasting lacking anything I could drink, I haven’t given up hope yet!  We still have three years to acquire a taste for sake!

Happy 60th Anniversary Howard and Ethel!

We received this email today from Dad G and thought we would share it with everyone! Happy Anniversary GM and GP!

"We would not be here if not for this event 60 years ago September 2, 1950.  La Plata Md."

Japanese Dog Treats

And this is why I buy AJ's treats online.  Although I'm interested to know if he would eat them....

My Japanese iPhone

This is what my inbox looks like on my iPhone.  I am constantly receiving text messages in Japanese, mostly from our carrier Softbank and our Wi-Fi box Fon, but I have no idea what they say.  At first I was a bit confused, so I would go in and talk to the Softbank lady, and she would smile and tell me not to worry.  But I was a bit worried, since Sprint used to send us important messages regarding our account through text messaging.  They have a cell phone kiosk on base, with English speaking saleswomen, to ease the communication barrier.  While it was helpful having an English speaker, the process was still confusing and we left not understanding what we had signed.  But we had new iPhones, so we were happy!  I asked a lot of questions, and the woman just smiled and told me not to worry about it.  In the end, we gave up and signed our contract (that we couldn’t read) because we figured everyone else was doing it.  We had a laugh with the JAG about it later, because he felt the same way.  He was asking questions that weren’t being answered so he finally just signed because everyone else was.  The cell phone plans are opposite of those in the US.  Our free minutes are from 1 am to 9 pm, and our calls are only free if we are calling other Softbank users.  If we call any other number (which is most of Japan and on base), then we are charged 17 cents a minute.  If we call to listen to our voicemail, we are charged 40 cents a minute, so we just don’t check our voicemail.  Plus, we can’t figure out how to change it to English, so we aren’t really sure how to check it in the first place.  We don’t get cell phone service in our house, or in any building on base, so the actual phone part of our iPhones isn’t that useful.  Even so, we use Wi-Fi in the house to use the internet, and we get service out in town which allows us to use google maps GPS.  This is the most useful app ever, and James and I would be lost without it (literally).

Chocolate Mushrooms

Okay, so these aren’t really mushrooms. They are just chocolate cookie treats shaped like mushrooms (yummy).  These little fungi are by far my favorite treat in the Japanese candy aisle to date!  So cute!

Sushi-Go-Round

I never imaged my lunch involving a conveyor belt, but sitting in our booth at the local Sushi-Go-Round, that’s exactly what happened. As we sat down, I was mesmerized by the yellow and white plates slowly moving past me with bright oranges, reds, whites, and pieces of fish I couldn’t decipher sitting on perfect rectangles of rice. How fabulous! We pulled cups from the stand above the conveyor belt, and an old Japanese man sitting behind us motioned for us to get water out of the faucet at our table. We filled our tea cups with scalding hot water, and were then instructed to pour two scoops of green tea powder into the mizu (water), which he demonstrated for us. Hai, Domo arigato gozaimasu! Though he also laughed at me a few times, he was extremely helpful. I thought he was going to fall out of his seat laughing when I dropped a piece of sushi that didn’t quite reach my mouth from the chopsticks. I’m sure he told all of his friends about the funny American girl who couldn’t eat sushi with chopsticks. But, after he stopped laughing at me, he motioned for me to eat it with my hands. So I followed suit and found it to be much easier.

Sushi-Go-Rounds are fast food sushi restaurants, where you literally pick the sushi you want off of the conveyor belt. James, Cliff (one of James’ co-workers visiting from the states), and I enjoyed a fast-food sushi lunch before heading to an office barbeque. While it’s not the best sushi you can get in Japan, it’s fast, cheap, and convenient. The best part about the Sushi-Go-Round is you can try something without having to order a lot of it. Each plate has one or two pieces of Sushi on it, depending on the type. And if you don’t like it, no worries! The sushi chef isn’t there to offend, so you can just leave it on the plate. It gives you the opportunity to be adventurous without having to spend a lot of money and without having to eat something you don’t like. The perfect combination for us! Our local Sushi-Go-Round is on the 2nd floor of the grocery store, and each plate is only 105 yen. That’s basically a dollar a plate. There are other things besides sushi on the conveyor belt, like sides and desserts, and those have different prices associated with them. At higher end Sushi-Go-Rounds, the color of the plate will coincide with the cost. When you have finished eating, you ring the bell for the waitress to come, and she counts the number of plates you have eaten. In her hand held device, she punches in the number, and out comes your bill. It is a must see in Japan, and I can’t wait to take all of our visitors to experience our local Sushi-Go-Round!

Hase-dera Temple

In Kamakura, we visited our first Buddhist temple, Kaikozan Jisho-in Hase-dera, or simply Hase-dera temple.  When we entered the gardens, I was blown away by the hydrangeas in bloom! We just so happened to be visiting during the hydrangea festival, and I saw variations of hydrangea I had never seen before.  Vivid shades of purple surrounded the koi pond and covered the garden grounds.  We wandered through the gardens, admiring the blooms of Japanese hydrangea and the meticulously kept gardens before finding our way to the bottom of the steps leading up to the temple.  The temple sits on a hill, overlooking the ocean, and the gardens cover the base of the hill.  As you walk up the steps, tiny statues line the hills, a dedication to children who have passed away.  The closer we came to the top of the steps, the smell of incense began to fill the air (the holy smoke of Buddhist temples).  I enjoy the smell, but it gives James a headache, so we didn’t stand next to the incense for very long.

The Hase-dera temple houses a statue of the Buddhist goddess of mercy.  The statue was carved from a single tree, stands over 30 feet high, and is covered in gold (and has eleven heads).  It is disrespectful to take photos within the temple, so I didn’t, and just observed what others were doing.  Many people were praying in front of the statue, buying trinkets to commemorate their visit, and I believe buying fortunes.  We didn’t stay inside very long, as seeing people praying to a golden statue made me a bit uncomfortable.  I kept seeing verses about the golden calf idol in my head, and decided to admire the architecture and gardens outside.  I know that seems strange, and I respect others for having different beliefs, but gold religious statues are very foreign to James and I.  I also wouldn’t want people who didn’t believe the same things as I did watching me pray in church, as though I was just a tourist attraction.  There were other statues of smaller gods there as well, including the god of luck (I think) and another one I was shooed away from by a tiny Japanese woman before I had a good look.  I was later told that a Japanese person making a big X across their chest doesn’t mean they are strongly telling you something, but it is similar to shaking your head no.  I didn’t know that at the time, and thought that I was aggressively being told to leave the area.

The architecture and woodwork of the temple was incredible, as is the age of the statue, which is believed to have been carved in the 700’s.  Being in Japan has really made me understand that the United States is a very young country.  James and I have been all over the country visiting historic American sites, and we are continuously amazed at how much older everything is in Japan than in America.  Another interesting aspect of the temple was the Shinto shrine that shared the temple grounds.  Shintoism was the religion of Japan long before Buddhism was brought from China, and it remains very important in the lives of the Japanese.  What I find interesting is the convergence of the two, as it is not uncommon to find a Shinto shrine at a Buddhist temple.

Field Trip to Kamakura

Being new to the country, the Navy requires us to go through an Intercultural Relations Course where we learn the basic customs and manners of the country, including some language, and helpful things like how to use the train systems and order food at restaurants.  It was a week long course, including a field trip on the fourth day of class.  For the field trip, we had to plan where we wanted to go in small groups, and our group (James and two of his coworkers) decided to go see the Great Buddha in Kamakura.  Kamakura is only about a 45 minute train ride away, yet it feels like you have traveled across the world.  It was the first time I realized we were in a totally different country, in a place where the culture, beliefs, history, and tradition are entirely different from ours.  In Ayase city, you notice the signs being in a different language, and a few things that are slightly different, but for the most part, it’s very similar to the US.  People wear similar clothes, the stores are pretty much the same, and so are the roads, lights, and 7-11’s.  Really, everything kind of feels like home.  But when you start to venture out to the shrines and historical sites, the Japan you read about in books comes to life in front of your very eyes.  This was definitely my experience during the field trip.  It was very exciting!  We only got lost once, trying to switch train lines, which somehow took us wandering around inside of a mall, and when we got off the train in Kamakura, we were transformed into a little oceanfront Japanese town.   It seemed like we were worlds away from our congested metropolitan suburb.  On our field trip, we had to do various things like interact with a local, visit a place and write about it, use a Japanese pay phone, and fill out a report sheet that discussed our experiences, impressions, and questions.  We visited the Hasadera Temple, The Great Buddha, another small shrine, and a Soba noodle shop.  There were many Japanese students on field trips as well, and I felt like we had been transformed to the 3^rd grade (like many of these students) as we filled out our three page report sheet.

Our “New” Ride

After a one-day class of memorizing Japanese road signs (Japanese Road Signs) and learning how to perform “goman” (apologies), in case we are involved in an accident, James and I took a test and received our Japanese driver’s licenses.   Without every stepping foot in a car that drove on the other side of the road, James and I became professional drivers in Japan.  And by professional, I mean professional.  This means that if we get into an accident, we are more at fault than the other person, because we are experienced, professional drivers.  Seriously.  With our new licenses in hand, we began the car search.  My eyes were set on a little Mercedes Benz, but it was a bit too expensive for us, and James convinced me that it wasn’t practical due to the fact that it only had two seats.  Most of the cars available were minivans, and I definitely didn’t want one of those, so we began looking for something in between a two seater and a minivan!  We ended up getting a 1998 Toyota Nadia, which wasn’t sold in the US, so I’m not sure anyone knows what it is.  It’s a hatchback, which gives us plenty of room to pick up people and their luggage at the airport.  (*Hint**Hint*) I don’t really like the rims on it (or lack thereof) but I do like the sunroof!  It’s the perfect little car for us, and it will be our ride for the next three years.  I also don't like that it beeps whenever you back up.  This is a standard safety feature in Japanese cars, but it only beeps inside of the car, so the driver is aware that they are backing up.  It always makes me think that something is wrong! If you want to know what it looks like to buy a car in cash….here it is! (Cash money) I had to take a picture!  And this is minus our deposit.  It is very strange driving on the other side of the road, and I find myself having to focus much more on driving than I ever had to in the US.  Your entire spatial awareness shifts.  I’m not really sure how to describe it, but it is definitely interesting.  Sometimes in parking lots I forget which side of the road I am supposed to be on, and I have to recite the very useful phrase: “Keep your hiney to the liney.”

Adventures of our little International traveling poodle!

Our little family of three is whole again!!! Three weeks ago now (wow...time is flying by over here!) AJ boarded a plane by himself in Virginia Beach to travel half way around the world to be reunited with his parents.  Bringing a dog overseas is a very trying process, especially when you do not speak the language of the new country.  Our journey began in February when AJ began the importation process by getting the FAVN rabies test, thus beginning his 180 day quarantine period.  He had to get a few more booster shots, another rabies shot, and there was a stack of paperwork to fill out.  Most of the stuff we were able to get done before we left California, but there were some requirements that had to be done within ten days of AJ leaving the United States.  The only breakdowns I had about moving to Japan involved getting AJ ready to fly.  I felt like every time we thought we had completed everything, another form or requirement made itself known.  Seriously....it was dramatic.  Initially we had planned on bringing AJ with us on the flight, but we didn’t know how long we would have to wait until we received housing in Japan.  Without housing, AJ would have to be in a kennel on a different military base until we were able to secure a place to live.  James finally convinced me it would be better if we left AJ with our parents, and shipped AJ later as cargo. It was tough convincing me, but I finally gave in, conceding that as a rescue dog, AJ probably shouldn’t spend weeks in a kennel without us.

When we arrived in Japan, we were told we could move into our house in two weeks, and I began to doubt our decision to leave AJ.  I called and made AJ a flight reservation, and was reminded that he could not fly if the temperature was warmer than 85 in any of his connection cities.  That would be difficult to pull off in June in Virginia, but I was praying for cool weather.  When I got off the phone with Delta, I was ecstatic!  AJ had a plane ticket and was one step closer to Japan! About twenty minutes later, I received a phone call from my mom saying Delta called and canceled his flight because we didn’t have a quarantine number.  I didn’t have that number on any of my paperwork, so I called the lady back and asked where I would find that number.  She recommended that I call the US consulate, but I wasn’t sure about that since military members have different requirements, so I decided to call the vet here.  I understand that the vet here is very busy, but they seem to never answer their phone, nor do they return phone messages.  I was phone stalking them, and I would have gone there, but we didn’t have a car, and it was over an hour walk from the train station.  I called and called and just began to get depressed about leaving AJ in the US.  Thankfully, I finally got through to the vet, and they told me to fax all of his paperwork to the Narita airport without his flight information.  Then, AJ would be given a quarantine number, and we could book his flight.  We faxed the forms to the airport and were told that they couldn’t give us a quarantine number until we booked a flight.  It was at this point that I really had a breakdown.

I decided to send the forms in with the flight we wanted him to be on, and crossed my fingers that it would work.  Thankfully, the Japanese customs workers are extremely efficient, and responded with a quarantine number within 48 hours.  So with that, we rebooked AJ’s flight and watched the weather like crazy. He was flying through Detroit, so the only city we really had to worry about was the temperature in Virginia Beach.  I didn’t sleep for two nights before he was supposed to fly.  I was praying the temperature would be low enough for him to fly, because if we didn’t get him now, we would have to wait until September.  To add to the stress of the situation, we had to figure out how to get AJ home.  We didn’t have a car, and neither of us had ever driven on the other side of road.  We had recently received our drivers licenses, but the class didn’t involve any driving, so really all we could do was read street signs.  We looked into taking the train into Tokyo, but that was going to cost us about $200 dollars, and we’d have to lug AJ’s large carrier through the trains with us.  We weren’t sure that we were confident enough to drive the 2 hours to Narita, but changed our minds at the last minute and decided we could do it!  The tolls round trip from the airport are around $80, so it was going to cost us half the price to rent a car and drive.  I rented a car, and practiced driving around base.  Thankfully, AJ departed as scheduled from Virginia Beach (Norfolk) and we just had to wait the very long 22 hours until he arrived.  I think the most stressful thing was not knowing how he was doing.  When friends and family are flying, they can call you from their connecting city, but AJ couldn’t call, and we just had to hope and pray that he made his flight and would show up alive and well in Tokyo.

James and I left for the airport four hours before his flight would land, to give us plenty of time to deal with traffic and to find the cargo section of the airport.  The airport is only 120 kilometers away (74 miles), but it takes over two hours to get there (on a good day with no traffic).  We also wanted to give ourselves time to find the Cargo terminal, since that is where AJ would be flying into and we had no idea where that was.  James navigated the whole way for me on the iphone, and I basically just stared straight ahead and let James be my eyes on everything.  It was a little stressful, as I had never driven before, and here I was merging onto freeways following signs I couldn’t read, but the anticipation of picking AJ up was greater than the stress of the situation.  We made it without getting lost, which was pretty amazing considering we can’t read any of the signs (despite our driving class!), and we found the cargo area pretty easily.  That’s when the fun began!  We had no idea where to go after we found the cargo area, and after giving us digital guest passes, the guards waved us on into a chaotic airport cargo facility that consisted of warehouses and office buildings and semis and hundreds of little cargo lifts driving every which way.  We stood at the corner for a few minutes contemplating how we were possible going to cross the road without being killed and looking in every direction for a Delta Cargo sign.  We spotted one, darted across the road, and tried to find someone in the office who spoke English.  It turns out that this wasn’t the Delta office, and that there aren’t very many people who speak English in airport cargo facilities.  After ten minutes of pointing to things and showing our paperwork, they realized where we needed to be, made a phone call, handed us a map, and pointed us in the right direction.  It was in a different warehouse with a bigger Delta sign.  I still haven’t figured out why this office had a Delta sign, but I realized it’s easier to not ask questions and just accept how things are around here.

They were expecting us at Delta, and handed us a map and a list of 7 steps we had to complete, not including the starting point in the Delta office.  We had to wait another 45 minutes for AJ to land so they could get the paperwork off of his kennel.  After we had the paperwork, then we could begin the process of going to all of these offices and getting forms filled out.  James tried to take a nap in the office, since he was working nights all week in order to pick AJ up, and I was too anxious to do anything, so the time slowly ticked by.  Finally, a man arrived with all of AJ’s files, meaning AJ was alive and well! :) They went over the check list with us again and sent us on our way.  The first stop was the office we went to originally, and this time we had the forms they wanted.  So, they took some forms, and gave us more forms and sent us off to Quarantine Services, which was extremely difficult to find.  I was able to practice a little bit of my Japanese when we got lost. Sumimasen....Excuse me....and then I pointed at the form.  The guy was so helpful!  He jumped up and we followed him through a warehouse until suddenly we ended up in a nice little office that was Quarantine Services.  There, they made copies of our forms and gave us another sheet of steps (which this time was only 6 steps) that was in both English and Japanese.  That was extremely helpful, as we could now point to what we were trying to tell people, and they could read it! They sent us back to the IACT office, which is that first building we had stopped at, where we were supposed to give them more forms and ask them to get our dog.  When I saw AJ rolled out, I was so happy!  He was all smiles when he saw us and he was giving us kisses through his kennel.  He looked exhausted, but happy.

A warehouse member wheeled him into a quarantine room, and then left us there.  It was a small, cement room, with an inspection table and that’s about it.  We noticed that AJ kept licking his water bottle, and it was completely empty.  He was so thirsty, yet there was no water around.  Finally, a vet came in to check on him, and I tried to explain that he bites by using hand gestures. They understood, and when they cut his kennel open, they let me pick him up out of it.  AJ was so light....he only weighed 11 pounds, and had clearly lost a lot of water weight.  He clung to me, and I started freaking out about getting him water.  The vet scanned him to make sure he was the right dog, and then did a look over to make sure he was healthy.  I tried to explain that he needed water, but no one understood us.  Then suddenly the warehouse guy came back, and he and the vet began to have a discussion that escalated into an argument.  James and I were standing there trying to figure out what to do, and they kept going and going for almost 20 minutes.  They had made me put AJ back in his kennel, and I just wanted to get him water, and go on to the next step.  Then as suddenly as the argument began, it stopped.    The vet left and the warehouse guy took AJ and wheeled him out of the room.  We followed him until we got to another warehouse, where he gestured that they were putting AJ back into the warehouse.  I tried to explain to him that AJ needed water while James went looking for a vending machine.  He found one, but by the time he had gotten back, they had already taken AJ and kept pointing for us to go on to the next step, which was customs.  So we went to the front desk with the water, and tried to explain, but everyone kept pointing to the next step.  After 10 minutes of trying to get AJ water, we gave up and went to customs.

Customs went through all of our paperwork, and then asked us if we had completed the health inspection at quarantine.  We told them that is where we came from, but they told us we didn’t have the right forms.  They made some phone calls and told us we needed to go back to Quarantine Services and get the forms.  I think this step was lost amidst the arguments of the two employees, but we went back and got the right forms.  He was extremely apologetic, and rushed to get everything done.  I was just flustered that they had taken AJ away again, and he was in a warehouse stacked like a regular piece of mail.  With the correct form in hand, we went back to customs and filled out more paperwork.  They sent us to the diplomatic customs section, as we didn’t have to pay any customs fees since we were PCSing here.  After customs, we were sent back to the IACT counter with more new forms.  They looked over everything and then handed us a bill for 1900 yen.  We weren’t really sure what it was for, but we paid it.  As we were paying, the little man from Quarantine Services came running into the office, which made me panic, since we were sooooo close to taking our dog home. He had given us the original of a form, and he needed the original, so we just swapped forms.  He thanked us over and over again, and then ran back across the road.  Finally, after three hours of running around, AJ was wheeled out to us to be taken home! :)

They explained to us how much more time he had in home quarantine (56 days) and gave us more forms that the vet needed to fill out within 72 hours.  It was already after 8 at night, so we would get to drive home in the dark.  AJ drank almost the whole bottle of water, and passed out for the entire drive home.  Two hours later, we made it home, and AJ ran all around the house.  He checked out his new toys, put one in each room, drank his water from his new dishes, and made the backyard his own.  Then he crashed, and spent the next two or three days sleeping.  AJ was home, and our little family was whole again! That didn’t mean the paperwork was done, and on Friday, we rented another car and drove to the vet at Camp Zama to have his initial quarantine paperwork filled out and for AJ to have a health inspection.  The visit went great, and we were told he has to see the vet once a month until his quarantine period is over.  Everything was great until we tried to start the rental car, and all we heard was *click* *click* *click*.  Great.  We weren’t supposed to have animals in the rental car, and here we were broken down at the vet with AJ.  Thankfully, the rental car agency picked us up and didn’t say anything about us having our little poodle with us!  We are thrilled AJ is home and couldn’t be happier to have our little family whole again!

Geji Geji!

Usually I am okay with bugs, with the exception of spiders. I think it has to do with the legs. If something has more than 4 or 6 legs, I tend to not like it. Today we were in the backyard doing yardwork when I saw an uncountable number of legs sticking out of a beam on our patio roof. It was disgusting, and I might have freaked out a little bit. After further research, I found that it is a Geji, a household centipede that eats cockroaches and other bugs, and it is considered a good bug in Japan. I am still disgusted, and hope that I never find one inside the house.

Fish Shaped Waffles

Being from the south, we are accustomed to sweet things, especially sweet tea!  However, nothing prepared us for sweet beans, an awesome dessert that is....well....sweet beans.  We like to try something new everywhere we go, and while we were in Yokosuka, we saw fish shaped waffles at the mall.  They smelled amazing, and looked awesome, so we decided to try one.  I thought the inside was filled with chocolate, but as we ate, we realized they were beans. They resembled refried beans, just sweet!  And they were delicious!  Waffles filled with sweet beans....it doesn’t get much better than that.  I also love that the waffles were shaped like fish, and am on the lookout for a fish shaped waffle maker.

Follow the yellow school hats

A huge difference between the US and Japan is the way children are treated in terms of independence.  Japanese children are only bussed to school until they are 6, and after that, they walk.  They don’t walk with their parents, or get rides, they just walk to school.  After school they will meet their friends by themselves, and they will play around town by themselves.  You will be on the bus with little kids around you, and they are just hanging out and doing their own thing....no adults.  It’s strange, but very neat.  Our orientation teacher attributed it to the low crime rates in Japan.  Whatever it is, it is certainly eye opening for Americans.  While we were traveling to Kamakura, so were large groups of school children on field trips.  You could tell which group the students were in based on their hat color.  A group of about 15 students would walk by wearing green hats, and then a group of 20 would walk by wearing yellow hats.  I thought it was the cutest thing ever, so of course I took lots of pictures! We must have seen 500 students that day, and probably only about 10 or 15 chaperones. (Another eye opening thing for Americans!)  Many of the students were working on English projects, so they would come up to us with their school books and ask us questions.  James and I talked to 15 students (in about 4 different groups) about where we were from, what we liked about Japan, and then we would write them a message in their school books.  I never really knew what to write, so I would always write something about how it was nice to meet them and that their English was very good.  I should have written about how I loved their hats. 

Grandma's Garden

Tree on Spotslvania Battlefield

Home of Thomas Jefferson