Love & Hate

Rabu hoteru or a "love hotel" is a short-stay hotel found around the world operated primarily for the purpose of allowing couples privacy for sexual activities... the name "love hotel" originated from a hotel in Osaka, Japan that was called Hotel Love and had a revolving sign in the 1960's. The one to the right is the one located directly outside the main gate of the base here in Yokosuka! These kind of hotels are very common here in Japan because of the generational structure of the family home. Many generations often all live under one roof and many times in pretty close quarters... the love hotel gives them a chance to get away! These types of establishments have been around in Japan for many centuries and used to be disguised as inns or teahouses and even had secret and discreet ways to enter and exit so as to not be seen. Apparently they are all over Japan and you pay when you leave and they charge you by how long you stayed. When you rent a room for a few hours, they refer to it as a rest...

On a completely different note, the USS George Washington arrived here in Yokosuka, Japan exactly 3 years ago today, September 25th. When the ship arrived here in port there were many protesters waiting here because they were very upset a nuclear powered aircraft carrier was going to be stationed here. Well, to mark the 3rd anniversary of the ship being here there were 3 protests being held throughout the day outside the gates. While Kate and I were out and about we ran into one which was 5000+ people... They first all congregated at a small plaza near the base and had loudspeakers and a bunch of people were talking... all in Japanese so I didn't get much or anything! Then they marched down the main street outside of the base all holding their signs and banners.

I know what you are all thinking after I said protest and let me just clarify... this is not the kind of protest we are used to... different culture = different protest! This was the quietest, calmest, most organized protest I have ever seen in my entire life. There were all different kinds of people taking part, I saw baby carriages, I saw elderly people with canes, it was a little bit of everyone out there protesting the GW. They were ALL lined up very neatly, they stayed behind the cones, the waited to cross traffic, no one was yelling or making a huge scene... it was the complete opposite of chaos or what we know protests to be. At one point they even waved at us on the other side of the street. It was the epitome of a peaceful protest! I was really surprised with how many people came out to protest and that this issue of the George Washington's presence was something that really bothered them. The thing I find interesting is that they are upset because the GW is nuclear powered and they are worried that it could be unsafe... but what about ALL the nuclear power plants here in Japan... specifically the one that melted down after the recent earthquake and tsunami...

ANYWAY, Kate and I went out for a bit this afternoon, went to a really great 100 yen store... sooooooo fun! And then we went out for some ramen.... oishii! We caught the demonstration on the way back... there was lots of security both military and Japanese police out and about to make sure the protest stayed peaceful.

Japanese word of the day:
Niku: No meat