Where to begin... Let's start on Friday... Damian went to work on the ship all day and I spent a good chunk of my day filling out a 43 page security clearance to be a volunteer.... grrrrrrrrrrrr! Friday was our 6 month wedding anniversary... can't believe it! We spent a quiet night at home with a nice homemade dinner and some Sam Adams Octoberfest... yum!
On Saturday we went up to Yokohama, a city about 30 minutes away by train and the capital of our prefecture (Kanagawa which is the state we live in). It is a massive city with almost 3.6 million people, the second largest in Japan, after Tokyo. It is a major port and lies right in Tokyo Bay. We took the train to an area called "Minato Mirai 21" which means "Port of the Future" and the 21 stands for the 21st century! It is mostly shopping, entertainment, and museums, and all right on the water! 
As soon as we got off the train we walked into a large crowd (shocker I know... a large crowd in Japan), anyway, it just so happened Cup of Noodles was having its 40th anniversary celebration and they had taken over this area with tents, free samples, and games. From there we walked over to Landmark Tower which is the tallest building in Japan. On the bottom 5 floors is a giant mall with many American stores including H&M, Tiffany's, GAP, Talbots, and many other smaller shops, and even a Pokemon store which seemed to be extremely popular! Outside of the Pokemon store there were about 100 people sitting silently playing on their Nintendo DS! On many of the upper floors of Landmark Tower they have an upscale Hotel. There is an observation deck on the 69th floor and how could we miss it! It is the highest observatory in Japan and to get there you take the fastest elevator in the country. 69 floors in less than 40 seconds... whoa vertigo! Once you get to the top you have a 360 degree view... it was pretty overcast so we couldn't see Mt. Fuji, but it was still pretty amazing!
One of the things you could see from the observatory or "Sky Garden" was Yokohama stadium, home of the Yokohama Baystars professional baseball team!
I want to take a moment to discuss our delicious lunch we had at the mall in Landmark Tower. We went to a traditional Japanese restaurant because the tempura they had in the window looked so good! We each got the lunch special for 1200 yen (roughly $15). It came with all the green tea you can drink (as usual), miso soup, a small salad, pickled vegetables, a BIG bowl of white rice, and a variety of tempura including some shrimp, some other fish, and vegetables (I traded the shrimp with Damian for veggies). *note: I did take one small bite of one of the tempura that had a tail on it... I didn't care for it very much as it tasted very FISHY and Damian ate the rest... everything else was all very oishii!
One thing I am still getting used to is how to eat... I know you are all probably laughing at this, but there are many things that are different here... besides just using chopsticks. (I am trying to blend in the best I can, and other than the blue eyes, freckles, and snow white skin I think I am doing pretty good!) One thing is they hold their tea cup with 2 hands... that is hard to get used to. Also, when having soup, you also use 2 hands to hold it right up to your mouth... no spoons here.. slurp slurp! Most meals are served with a bowl of white rice, traditionally you hold the bowl of rice in your non-dominant hand while you have chopsticks in your other hand and alternate eating, tempura and then rice. I try to eat that way, but I'm not used to actually holding half of my meal and eating with the other hand... I feel like I am literally shoveling food in! oink oink!
Next stop was the Cosmo Clock 21 ferris wheel which was built in 1989 and is the tallest ferris wheel in the world! It is also the world's biggest clock, as there are 60 passenger cars and it takes 15 minutes to do one full rotation. Each passenger car fits 8 people and thankfully is air conditioned! It is 330 ft high at the peak! It didn't rock too much, but when Damian came over to sit next to me so we could take a self-photo, it did rock a little and we were were sort of frozen so it would stop rocking! It was a gorgeous view from up there of the water and the city!
Next stop... Chinatown!!! The Yokohama Chinatown is the largest Chinatown in Asia... There are 10 different gates to enter into this Chinatown and the streets were filled with people. We checked out a lot of the little shops and street vendors. We ate at a Chinese restaurant and then Damian and I stopped at one of the street vendors on the way out to get some snacks. Damian got a dumpling looking thing filled with beef and I got a sweet sesame ball filled with bean paste... OISHII! We got home Saturday night and were pretty tired from such a busy day... it was a lot of walking around and we were on our feet most of the day! Sunday was a busy little day or running errands, doing laundry, and getting Damian all packed and ready to deploy. We made LOTS of phone calls on Sunday morning so he could chat with family/friends before shipping out again. We had dinner with one of Damian's friends that he had worked with in San Diego at a Colombian restaurant right outside the base last night. It was great meeting his friend, wife, and daughter and they live right down the street from us here on base. Damian had to be on the ship last night because the ship was leaving this morning (Monday). They will be underway for a few months somewhere in the Pacific, but I am hoping to be able to meet Damian at some of the port calls since I don't have a job or anything keeping me here in Japan right now. It was hard to say good-bye... again, especially because he had only been back 3 weeks, but I am very thankful for those amazing 3 weeks with my husband as we were very busy and had lots of time to spend together!
Japanese phrase of the day:
Wakarimasen: I don't understand :(
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