Cherry Blossom 1/2 Marathon

The Yokosuka Naval Base Cherry Blossom 1/2 Marathon was held today and was sponsored by the U.S.S. George Washington.... whoop whoop!!! I've never done much more than a 5K and I certainly didn't sign up to win... hahahaha There was a little over 100 runners this AM... It was a good goal to set and it has kept me busy and given me motivation to continue running for the past few months! The entire 1/2 was on the base and as you can see from the route, we had to do 2 loops! The wind was sort of out of control in some points as a lot of the route was right on the water... it was really pointless trying to run into it as it looked like I was running in place... think running man!!!! hahaha It was great having Damian along the way to take pictures and cheer me on... 13.1 miles is awfully long!!! I finished and that was really my ONLY goal... my time was good and it was a fun experience... not to mention I got a cute t-shirt and a cool medal!

Cherry blossoms, or sakura as they are known in Japan, are very important and symbolic to the Japanese culture. The cherry blossoms are forecasted just as much as the weather during the time they may bloom. The cherry blossoms begin blooming way down in Okinawa in January and make it up to Tokyo by the end of March or early April... we are still waiting for now! Cherry blossoms are very symbolic (but isn't everything here) and to the Japanese people they can be symbolic of how quick life it... the flowers bloom and have extreme beauty and then are swept away quickly by a gust of wind representing mortality. I guess we could look at it as "life is short" and embrace the beauty of it while we can! During the cherry blossom blooming, it is customary to participate in "hanami" which literally means "flower viewing," but it has also come to mean that Japanese people will picnic under the trees and relax with their families and enjoy the flowers. This also involves sake and cheerful toasts! When the flowers are in bloom, it is not uncommon to see hundreds of people picnicking under the trees in parks! It all sounds pretty fun to me!


Japanese Word of the Day:
Hashire (ha-she-ray): RUN!!!!!!!

Spring Festival 2012

This past weekend was the Spring Festival here on the Yokosuka Naval Base.... wooooohooooo.... although it's not really for us! They do this festival every year to commemorate the gift of the cherry blossoms that Japan gave to the United States and this year was the centennial... sort of a BIG deal! Anyway the gates of the base are open to the Japanese people on this day to show the friendship the U.S. and Japan have! There was music, dancing, entertainment, lots of American foods, and most of the commands had booths set up selling all the kind of food you might find at your local county fair! I even saw a booth selling deep fried twinkies... ugh! The cherry blossoms haven't bloomed quite yet here, but I saw on the news that they are in full bloom in Washington, D.C. Hopefully in the next few weeks they will bloom and we will have a chance to go see some pretty places, but I am also told that one gust of wind can clear the trees wicked fast and that'll be the end of that!!!

On the day of the festival, Damian and I made a quick appearance and walked over from our apartment to see what it was all about... there were people everywhere!!!!! The commander of the base said that over 38,000 Japanese nationals came onto the base on Sunday for the festival... that is A LOT of people!!!! I didn't take this picture but it was taken from the USS GW on Sunday during the festival... if you look closely, Mt. Fuji came out to play!!! The GW was open for the visitors to tour during the festival and they had about 12,000 people tour it, mostly the flight deck and the hangar bay where they had food and activities. Some of the sailors who were dressed in uniforms were like celebrities to the young Japanese kids, they had little books that they were having the sailors sign and they ALL wanted pictures take with them too! There was also a decent amount of Japanese Navy on base that day walking around. It was pretty cool that they do something like this... I know it definitely helps keep close ties with the community! Other than that, quiet week here on CFAY... until next time... sayonara!

Japanese Word of the Day:
Sakura: Cherry Blossom

Island hopping???

I guess I can't really consider it island hopping even though we DO live on an island and went on vacation to another island... even if it is far away like Hawaii. Although, Hawaii really isn't THAT far away from Japan- only a 6-7 hour flight from Tokyo! The really really tough thing is crossing that darned International Date Line both ways! For example, we left Tokyo on Monday night and arrived in HI on Monday morning... we actually got to re-live that day (and let me tell you the 2nd time around at the beach was much better!!!) And then on the way back we left Saturday AM (St. Patty's day) and got home on Sunday afternoon which means we really didn't have a St. Patty's day this year..... booooooo!!!! It's all pretty crazy right???

Well, our Hawaiian vacation was amazing in every way and we really enjoyed the time away and the time together! We went to the Big Island and stayed in Kona and had a really fun trip! We spent a lot of time at the beach just reading and getting some Vitamin D, and we also made time for a few little adventures too! One thing we really waned to do while were there was swim at night with the manta rays because it was the one thing we didn't do last time we visited the Big Island. There are only 3 places in the world you can swim with these animals and 2 are right on the Big Island! You go out on a boat right before sunset and get to the spot that the manta rays always come to feed at night... *side note and fun fact: the manta rays feed on Plankton in the water and there is a higher concentration on plankton when there is light on the water (e.g. full moon), but one of the hotels on the coast has these HUGE flood lights they shine into the water and attracts mantas almost every night... our guide has never gone out at night and not seen at least a few manta rays... until the night we went! Yup, that's right, the manta's stayed away from us.... grrrrrrrrrrr!!! I got seasick (which I don't usually get), but apparently more people get seasick at night because of the darkness and not being able to see the horizon- interesting, right?Anyway, I was feeling a little sick but once we got into the dark creepy ocean waters so did Damian! The swells and bobbing around waiting to see the manta rays really got to us! We stayed in the water for about an hour waiting and waiting for the supposed "butterflies of the sea" and they never showed.... I felt stood up! The ride back to the docks was a little rough and we were pretty bummed out too! We finally were able to get a voucher from the company to go out another time on another trip!!!! At least we had a nice sunset...

One morning we drove down to Kealakekua Bay home of the famous Captain Cook monument and went sea kayaking! Soooooooo super fun! And if Damian says I didn't row he is lying... I did my best- I just got tired faster than him! We got a 2 person kayak and paddled all over the bay! For a minute I felt like Pocahontas and even did my own rendition of "Colors of the Wind" which did not go over well with my co-paddler... hahaha!!! We spent about 2 hours out in the bay rowing around, it was really relaxing and fun. We even saw a huge boat in the bay from Massachusetts!!!!! *Fun Fact Alert: Jerry Garcia, the lead singer of the Grateful Dead was an avid diver and LOVED diving on the Big Island and before he died he donated lots of money to the BIg Island to set up boat moorings off the coast so boats could anchor without destroying all the precious coral around the island- there are now over 100 moorings all around the island!

The Kona Brewing Company was also on our list of places to visit. We had lunch there one afternoon that was very yummy as well as the beer... or "liquid aloha." The next morning we went back for a tour of the brewery and some beer tasting!!! It was fun and very informative! The tour was pretty short, not too much different from any other brewery tour! Then we had the tasting session and got to try 4 different beers. They were all good, although a few were a little too heavy for my liking... and all this by 11 AM! After the tasting we headed to the beach for the rest of the day.... absolutely perfect day! Our last day/night there was our 1 year anniversary!We spent the day at the beach and had a really nice dinner out in town! It was the perfect end to a perfect trip! Now, back to reality in Japan... not that living in Japan is anywhere near reality... BUT here we are! Damian is back to work on the ship and I went back to subbing yesterday. As far as islands go I think I would choose Hawaii over Japan any day!

Fire Walking @ Mt. Takao

Mt. Takao is a mountain located about an hour north of Tokyo and stands at almost 2000 feet tall. It is protected as it is located inside of a National park! Last Sunday we went to the Fire Festival located at Mt. Takao. It was about an hour and a half drive from the main base... Not a bad day trip at all! We were at the mountain by 9 AM and started off! We took a cable car halfway up as it was included on our tour. I don't think I have ever been on something that traveled at such a steep angle... We literally had to hold on to the rail to keep from tipping over- not to mention we were so packed into the cable car that even if we did tip over we would probably just lean into other people...

Anyway, once we got off the cable car there was lots of hiking trails to choose from if we wanted to reach the summit of Mt Takao. The first trail we took was literally straight uphill with lots of slippery and muddy stairs... It doesn't help that it has rained in Japan for the past 2 weeks which has created a plethora of mud to hike through! Somehow we made it to the top in one piece... No slips or falls but VERY muddy shoes and pants! We ate a quick lunch at the top but unfortunately it was pretty cloudy so we didn't have a view of Mt Fuji... But it was still pretty nice! Next we hiked down (yeah!!!) for about an hour, past a little waterfall and some small shrines and made it down in time to see the beginning of the parade that starts this really cool Buddhist festival! Let the festivities begin!!!!

The parade was a bunch of monks carrying wooden structure and flags! Some of them have conch shell horns that they all blow and make lots of noise while parading down the street! There were monks of ALL ages... Pretty sure I even saw a centenarian in there somewhere! After they walked by us we sort of jumped in and followed them over to where the fire walking would occur. We followed the monks down the street and towards the main event. There was at least 3000 people surrounding the branches to be burned... At the spot we stood to watch the ceremony we were about 20 people deep and I had to stand on my tip toes to see anything!

It began with a lot of chanting but unfortunately we couldn't understand a word of it! There was a lot of ceremonial things going on and finally after about an hour they lit the fire... Which was a huge pile of green branches! At first it was really smokey but then the flames were really going... After about 30 minutes they started to flatten out the burnt branches and add water to cool it down some. This sacred fire and rituals associated with it are meant to cleanse misfortunes from the past year, and pray for world peace, longevity, good fortune, and good health. The monks went first walking across the cooled fire to the other side. After the monks go, it is open to anyone who would like to walk across... at this point it has cooled enough that you will not burn your feet. When we saw other people start to walk we tried to find the end of the line so we too could experience this. The end of the line was somewhere far away and there were hundreds and hundreds of people already waiting... our bus was leaving in an hour and we didn't get a chance to walk across the hot ashes.... soooo bummed! Once you walk across, it is believed you will get the benefits of good luck all year... however some believe that the spectators receive the benefits as well! Yeah!!!!! It was a pretty awesome day.... and concluded with some yummy cherry blossom ice cream (even though it was cold out-it was delicious!)


Japanese Word of the Day:
Kasai (ka-sigh): FIRE!!!

The Long Lost Stamp of Enoshima

Yesterday we went out to Enoshima which is a small island located in a bay in a resort area close by to the base. It was about an hour drive from base... mostly because of traffic lights and traffic but is was very scenic as most of it was along the water. Enoshima Island is actually dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten which is what brought us there in the first place to complete our stamps of the 7 Lucky Gods. Benzaiten, if you remember, is the goddess of music and entertainment and it is said she made the island rise from the bottom of the sea. *Fun fact alert: Enoshima was the Olympic harbor for the 1964 Summer games.

Enoshima has a big shrine that has lots of stairs but beautiful views of the ocean all around. We passed lots of beaches on our drive there that was packed with surfers... at 10 AM on a Wednesday.... go figure!!! It was all very scenic and I'm sure on a clear sunny day it would have been even nicer... AND we could have seen Mt. Fuji... but it was pretty cloudy! There is a lot of walking/hiking to do on the islad and you could spend a whole day there and not see everything... on the other side of the island (which we didn't make it to) there are caves you can hike through which I have heard are pretty neat!The actual statue of Benzaiten is very small and you can't take pictures so I didn't even bother paying to go see since I have seen so many pictures online of what she looks like... I really was most focused on getting that last stamp to complete my beautiful page and now I can start looking for a frame so we can hang it up in our house!! At the top of the island there is a "lighthouse" of sorts that you can pay to go up in and see the views.... but it was way too hazy... so I'll save that for a sunny day... and hopefully on a day when Damian can come check it out too! There were botanical gardens there too, but we peeked through the fence to see all the pretty tulips in bloom!

A very cool thing on Enoshima is the Ryuren-no-Kane (bell of Ryuren). Once upon a time, an evil dragon with five heads fell in love with a beautiful heavenly maiden. The dragon cleaned up his act for his loved one and later his feelings came to a head (I don't know which of his 5 heads... hahaha... but you get the drift). This bell was made in 1996 based on the legend of a heavenly maiden and five headed dragon. It is said that couples who rung the bell together will stay together for eternity… Right under the bell is a fence and when couples visit the island together they are supposed to bring a padlock (and decorate it if you would like) and put your names on it and lock it to the fence... there were tons of locks there as you can see in the picture and we kept hearing the bell ring as we walked around! On my "to do" list... buy lock, jazz it up a little with some glitter, write our names on it... take Damian to Enoshima to ring the bell together and lock our love to the fence forever!!!!!!!

Japanese Word of the Day:
Hana (ha-na): Flower

Crafty!

Today was craft day.... wooohoooo!!!! (Jumping for joy, yelling from the rooftops, rolling on the floor with excitement.... ok, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, BUT I was pretty excited about craft day!Today at craft class (woooohooo) we made little origami Hina dolls (as seen to the left on my fingers... as finger puppets of course!) OK, before I even begin to explain Hina Dolls I have to tell you about "Girl's Day" and "Boy's Day" here in Japan! Girl's Day is celebrated in Japan on March 3rd every year (the 3rd day of the 3rd month) and Boy's Day is celebrated on May 5th (the 5th day of the 5th month) each year. Japan sets aside these days to respect children's personalities and to celebrate their happiness each year!!! These used to be celebrated together on 1 day, but now they are split to make sure both the boys and girls are celebrated specially! These days are National holidays and there are lots of different traditions for both!

Since we just had Girl's Day here in Japan a few days ago I will tell you ALL about it... The Hina Dolls can be made from many different materials... the ones we made in craft class are obviously made out of paper and not nearly as fancy and ornate than other ones here in Japan. The girl on the left holds a fan and the boy on the right has a stick of some sort... I assure you they look really cool close up! Hina Dolls are representations of the Emperor and Empress and often there are other dolls to accompany them that represent their court etc... Today, making only 2 dolls was a task in and of itself! It used to be thought that these dolls possessed the power to contain bad spirits so after the festival, people would take these dolls (made of straw in ancient times) and float them out to sea on a little boat to get rid of bad spirits... BUT the fisherman were having a problem with these dolls getting caught in their nets so this practice was mostly stopped. In some places they still symbolically place them on a boat to send them out to sea, but then take them out of the water and put them away. Families of girls will have a set of Hina Dolls that they symbolically put out for display in their house by mid-February each year. ***Superstition alert: Leaving the dolls up for display after the festival is over (anytime after March 3rd) will result in late and maybe even NO marriage for the daughter! YIKES!!!!

The moral of the story is.... put these dolls away immediately after Girl's Day or your daughter's prince may never come... I know it is just a superstition, and I really wanted to put these cute Japanese Hina Dolls out in my house, but I can't have any bad luck, so I will have to wait for Girl's Day to come around again next year! This is a picture of the box we made to store our dolls in... and TRUST ME it was harder to make than it looks! Craft class was a blast as usual and tomorrow we are going on another adventure to finally get the 8th stamp on my 7 Gods of Kamakura tour!

Japanese Word of the Day:
Heiki (hay-key): It's ok, I'm alright, It's all good... It can mean LOTS of different things depending on the context... I even found one meaning that meant "weapons".... basically I am going to go with the first meanings and use it when I trip and fall and someone tries to help me... I will just keep saying heiki heiki... brilliant!

Week In Review... And Other Stuff

Sorry it's been so long since I have written... now to catch you all up on a few things. Last week went by pretty quickly, Damian has been pretty busy at work getting ready for inspections and doing lots of training and mostly just being the BEST GW RN ever!!! It was cold and rainy a lot of the week and also most of last weekend too so we have been laying pretty low! I worked as a substitute teacher at the high school here on base a few times last week as well which certainly helps pass the time. One day I was the gym teacher (pause for laughter) and the other day I was with the ROTC students- but they totally run the show so needless to say I am getting a lot of reading in on my "work" days! I bring my Kindle and pretend I am in charge even though I'm pretty sure the students know I'm not really a "take-charge" person and all goes well! The picture to the right is of me (obviously) cooking dinner the other night... as you can see I really AM turning Japanese!!! I bought this kimono-like jacket at one of the bazaars on base and I wear it around the house as a robe sometimes... Damian walked into the kitchen and got a good laugh out of this, especially with my crazy thick bangs and hair piled on top of my head...

At the end of last week I went on a little adventure with some friends to Costco... yup Costco, just like the ones in the U.S. It was fun... but Costco is always fun! They have pretty much ALL the same stuff as in the states (like the "Kirkland" brand) as well as a bunch of Japanese bulk items too! It was incredibly packed, but pretty much every grocery store in Japan is packed so I really don't know why this surprised me! I got a few staples... like an extra large bag of edamame, which is always in high demand in this house! AND of course we had lunch there... they have the same stuff as regular Costco... hot dogs, pizza, chicken bakes etc... I didn't buy these bananas at Costco but I was standing in the kitchen eating a banana and the Chiquita girl caught my eye... I thought that maybe the Chiquita bananas here should have a girl in kimono with the fruit on her head... it was just funny to see the Japanese print under the word "chiquita." Anyway... that's all for now. Damian and I are leaving for Hawaii next week to celebrate our 1 year Wedding Anniversary.... I know... I can't believe it has been a year already... It's been an awesome year and we are excited for this vacation together!!!

Japanese Word of the Day:
Sukoshi (sko-shi): A little or a bit