Japanese Bicycles... Proof the Japanese Should Rule the World

Buying a Japanese bicycle at our local store was like buying a Cadillac back home... I felt like they rolled out the red carpet for us... once we picked them out from all of the many bikes to choose from we tried it out in the store for size, and then when we decided we wanted it, we filled out paperwork with our name/address etc, then we paid. While we were doing that, they were busy pumping up the tires, adjusting the seats, and making sure they were perfect for us to ride off into the sunset! Absolutely amazing! We knew we were going to be buying bikes and we had looked around before and knew that we were going to get beach cruiser-like bikes to ride around base... mostly for us to get to work on so we don't have to drive everywhere! The store we went to is about a mile away from base and Sunday was very sunny and a perfect day for a walk out in town. By the time we got to the store we were all sweaty because it is finally warm here and we definitely underestimated the strength of the sun! It's already time to break out the sweat rags that we needed when we first got here... great!!! (*note the sarcasm here...)

Damian got a snazzy sliver bike with the works and I got a vintage looking yellow and brown one... LOVE it!!! Usually when you buy a bike you basically get the frame and are lucky if the brakes are included... we not only got a fully working beautiful new bike, but it comes with front headlights... that are activated by the wheel turning (brilliant) and a lock already attached to the bike frame and wheel so you don't have to fumble with a bike lock and finding a place to lock it up, and also the BEST kickstand in the whole world... you may all be laughing at this point because no one should be THIS excited about getting a new bike, but you don't understand until you have experienced a Japanese bike... everything about it is so smart- it blows my mind that the Japanese think of absolutely EVERYTHING and make everything so easy... they should truly rule the world!

I forgot the basket... it came with the bikes... awesome! Who doesn't love a bike with a basket!! I think the best part of this whole bicycle experience was after we bought it and the salesman (who didn't speak much English) was saying goodbye to us, but Damian and I were still standing there in awe of our new bikes... The salesman must have thought we had never had a bike before because I kept asking him how to use everything... "sumimasen..." (which means "excuse me") and then I would point to the lock... and then "sumimasen..." and then I would point to the light... "sumimasen..." and then I pointed to the kickstand... HAHAHA I think he was happy when we left! We rode off into the sunset (not really it was 2 pm) back to base and are very happy with our brand new bikes!!!! Wooooohooooo!

 Japanese Word of the Day:
Jitensha (gee-ten-shah): Bicycle

Golden Week

Happy Golden Week.... oh you don't know what that is??? Let me tell you about it... It is a bunch of Japanese holidays all clumped into one week. It is a very popular time for the Japanese to take vacations and travel as it is a short week for work with all of the holidays. Many flights and trains are completely booked during this week. In Japan during this week, many stores have different hours, and they even change the traffic lights to account for more people not working during this time! It's kind of a big deal! April 29th is the Emperor's birthday, but it was the old Emperor (until 1988) however it is still celebrated today. May 3rd is Constitution Day honoring the Japanese Constitution put into effect in 1947. Greenery Day in on May 4th and is in honor of the emperor who served from 1926-1989. This day is important because it calls for reflection of this turbulent time in Japanese history instead of actually celebrating the emperor. The final holiday is Children's Day, previously known as Boys' Day!!! Now, it is to celebrate ALL children but it used to be just for the boys with lots of fun traditions to go along with it.

Boys' Day is to celebrate the happiness of the boys in Japan. It is on the 5th day of the 5th month at the end of Golden Week! *I'm pretty sure Cinco de Mayo is NOT a big holiday celebration here...* Boys' Day has been celebrated for hundreds and hundreds of years and is also celebrated in many other Asian countries as it is based on the Chinese calendar and traditions. If you remember the previous blog where I talked all about Girls' Day and talked about some of the traditions to have happy, healthy girls who don't have to wait long to get married and they put out the figures of the prince and princess... Anyway, the Boys' Day has it's own traditions for strong and healthy boys. The BIG thing is these carp flags as you can see in the picture. Chinese legend is the basis for this and it all comes from the idea that a carp that swims upstream against the current becomes a dragon... thus being strong!!! The carp blowing in the wind are said to look like they are swimming! So cool! Another big thing for Boys' Day is to get a Japanese military helmet (kabuto) for your boy and display it because it represents strength!!! Very neat traditions here!

Japanese Word of the Day:
Kyujitsu (key-you-jit-sue): Holiday

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Sunday was a FUNDAY this week! We headed up to Tokyo with a group of friends for some amazing brunch at the New Sanno Hotel (military hotel) and of course mimosas!!! After the delicious brunch and finishing off every last drop of champagne at the hotel we headed to Harajuku to see some of the Japanese youth fashion choices, although there weren't too many out and about on Sunday as it was rainy and kind of dreary. Then over to the Meiji Shrine one of my favorites and then to a Japanese baseball game! whoop whoop!!! We went to Jingu Stadium, home of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, built in 1926 and holds about 38,000 fans (although only about 9,000 last night)... only a little bit bigger than Fenway Park (Happy 100th Birthday Fenway)!!! No green monster though...

The swallows have been around since the 1950's, however they didn't become the Yakult Swallows until 2006! Yakult is the name of the Japanese corporation that owns the team- a company that makes a probiotic milk-like drink. The team's mascot is a black and white swallow with a red face and also has a female counterpart which is meant to be the "little sister." The game we went to was against the Yomiuri Giants. *** Fun Fact Alert: Hideki Matsui formerly of the New York Yankees (gag!?!?) started his baseball career playing for the Yokiuri Giants here in Japan.  Now... A LOT of things are very different at a Japanese baseball game than when you are at a Boston Red Sox game or any other lesser MLB team... First off, when you buy your ticket you tell them what team you are there for because they put all the fans for each team on opposite sides... This would be a BRILLIANT idea at a Red Sox vs. Yankees game... much less fighting this way! It would never ever happen in the U.S. but it is for sure a nice idea. So we sat on the Swallows side and all the Giants fans were on the other side... this is much more fun when everyone is cheering for their team!

One other thing that was different were the cheerleaders... that's right, cheerleaders at a baseball game! Unfortunately we did have a rainy evening so there wasn't very many people there, but the ones that were there were definitely loyal fans! Since it was raining everyone had their clear umbrellas UP, but at least you could see through them to see the game! hahaha! We got seats out in right field and were smack in the middle of a bunch of Swallow fans! We made some new friends and learned some of the cheers... they yell "go go Swallows" in English which made it pretty easy! Most of the fans use those clapping sticks so they don't actually clap... Some fans even bring instruments and play songs that everyone sings along to. There was a bunch of guys with trumpets and this was totally normal... kinda different! The swallows fans also have a song/dance where they sing a bunch of stuff in Japanese and then flap their arms just like wings... I liked this one and took part eagerly!!! GO GO Swallows!!!!! Also, when the Swallows scored everyone lifted their umbrellas up and down while doing a cheer... it was sort of out of a scene from Mary Poppins... so awesome looking behind us and seeing all the fans lifting their umbrellas in unison.

Although there was peanuts, popcorn, and lots of beer... there were also BIG difference in food choices! This was the first time I ever had noodles and ate with chopsticks at a baseball game! Damian had a rice/meat bowl which looked pretty good too. Some of our friends had the more common baseball snack foods... french fries and caramel corn! The beer girls walk around with these mini-keg backpacks and cups- pretty funny and ingenious! As you can see from the picture- I had an obstructed view because of all the umbrellas... and because of the plastic bag the man in front of me was wearing on his head... but whatever it takes to stay dry! Around the 2nd inning it started to rain harder... I was surprised the game wasn't called.. then we saw a HUGE puddle forming around 2nd base... still the game went on. We were all getting soaked and still had quite a long train ride home so we left around the 5th. It was really fun and we even got to see  a homerun hit by the Swallows player Wladimir Balentien who played in the MLB Minor Leagues for 4 years before being called up for the Seattle Mariners in 2008, but didn't really cut it so he signed with the Yakult Swallows in 2010 for 65 million Yen for a year (roughly 800,000 depending on the exchange rate)... The Swallows did end up winning last night (even though we left early) and it was thanks to a game winning RBI by Lastings Milledge who also played for many different teams in the MLB before signing with the Swallows in 2011... too funny!

We go to baseball games in the U.S. and see players like Daisuke Matsuzaka (Dice-K) and Hideki Matsui playing for our home teams and then we come to Japan and see players from our country playing for Tokyo's home teams... so weird! All in all a great day had by everyone! A very long day to boot... 12 hours from the time we left in the AM for brunch until we got home on the train... that makes for a rough Monday morning! Damian worked all day, and I am subbing tomorrow at the school. I will try not to take so long for the next blogs :) Thanks for your patience and support.


Japanese Word of the Day:
Yakyu (yaw-kew): Baseball

Vegas baby Vegas!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post... it's been a busy few weeks and the jet-lag really took a toll on us when we got back to Japan and hit the ground running and got back into our usual daily schedules! So 2 weeks ago we spent about 8 days in Vegas... I know, 8 days is WAY too long to be in Vegas, we agree! We went for a Critical Care Nursing Conference that both of us were attending. Damian had a brief 2 day review course before and then we went together to 3 days of lectures and had some pretty good seminars and we definitely both took some good stuff away from this conference. AND we both got all of the continuing education credits we needed to keep up our nursing licenses... BONUS! In Vegas we stayed at Paris which was really nice and centrally located on the strip so we could walk everywhere! Very nice! The first few days were beautiful and warm and we even got to sit by the pool, then it got much colder and rainy, but we were inside at the conference anyway...

We saw 2 shows, Zumanity at New York, New York, and Ka at MGM- both incredible and we highly recommend seeing both! We also ate at some amazing restaurants and got our fill of all the "american" food we had been craving. The first night we went out for Mexican because that is something that is hard to come by here in Japan- it was delicious! My friend Brandy flew down from San Fran for a few days of girl time including a spa day, pool time, shopping, and lots of fun! Damian's Mom was also in Vegas for a conference the next week so we got to spend a lot of time with her which was awesome!

 We got back to Japan after flight delays, missed connections, and a very long 24 hours, and then Damian had to go back to work the next morning... it was a rough few days to get back on Japan time for sure! Then of course that week we had lots of stuff going on with a lot of our friends leaving soon we did a lot of eating out and going to good-bye parties etc. Last Friday night we had a date night and got 100 yen sushi and then finally went to see The Hunger Games- fantastic! And on Saturday we had a going away party at the bowling alley, and then Sunday... you'll have to read about in the next blog ;)

Japanese Word of the Day:
Momo: Peach

Spring Has Sprung

The cherry blossoms have bloomed and we are very lucky that Yokosuka Naval base is full of them! Damian's allergies have been driving him crazy this week, and I don't think me telling him how beautiful the cherry blossoms are all day long helps him feel any better.... This picture is right in front of our building and most of the main streets on base are lined by the beautiful blossoms! It's starting to get warmer here too... the afternoon sun on our patio is helping me maintain my Hawaii tan and it also warms the house up so much! The wind is still pretty crazy coming off the water, but at least the sun is shining! A few nights ago we had 60+ MPH winds, and they shut down the base early (gym, exchange, commissary) and told everyone to move stuff from outside... Damian was at a class at the hospital and when he came home later that night he walked in to our patio set in the living room and our poor plants locked in the storage closet... the wind was blowing so hard the windows were rattling all night! Typhoon season is just around the corner, so I'm guessing this is not going to be the only time the patio set is going to be in the middle of our living room in the next few months!

The new movie that just came out BATTLESHIP had its world premier in Tokyo on Tuesday, but on Monday, the cast and director were here on base and did a press conference on the GW... kind of exciting and neat but we didn't go.... I wasn't about to stand in line to meet Rihanna and Brooklyn Decker, but it was kind of cool that they did the press conference on the flight deck of Damian's ship... red carpet and ALL!

Other than that all is pretty quiet over here on the other side of the world... Damian and I head to Las Vegas on Saturday for a nursing conference for a week... Spring Break 2012!!!! Damian has been busy at work and I have been busy reading all 3 Hunger Games books... so addictive! haha Hopefully we will have some more exciting things to blog about when we get back!!!

Wishing everyone a Happy Passover and/or Happy Easter!

Japanese Word of the Day:
Haru: Spring

Kawasaki Fertility Festival (uncensored)

On Sunday we went to the Kawasaki Fertility Festival, also known as the Festival of the Steel (or iron) Phallus... it is held at the Kanayama Shrine on the first Sunday of April each year. The penis (as you can clearly see in the picture) is the central theme of this event. There is a legend that goes along with this festival that has been around for hundreds of years. It involves a sharp-toothed demon that hides inside the vagina of a young woman and castrates two young men on their wedding nights. After the second unfortunate incident, the young woman asks for help from a blacksmith, who creates an iron phallus to break the demon's teeth... (I can't make this stuff up). When the demon breaks his teeth he climbs out of the woman's vagina and she ends up marrying the blacksmith. From that point on the iron phallus is enshrined. Today, the steel phallus is celebrated on this day!!! Back in the day, this shrine was popular with prostitutes who came to pray for protection from STDs... Today many of the proceeds from the festival go towards HIV/AIDS research. At some point this festival was also popular for prayers for personal health, fertile marriages, healthy deliveries, and healthy children... don't ask how it went from a steel phallus to fertility because I honestly couldn't find that information anywhere!!!! This festival was full of ridiculousness but so worth the trip! (This guy was MORE than happy to pose for this picture for us...)

The guy in the picture above does not win BEST costume... many people had creative accessories and costumes... and you could buy just about anything you could think of in the shape of the phallus. The picture to the left are of some very colorful and creative candles you could buy at the festival! There was interesting shaped lollipops that many people had purchased and ate while walking around the shrine... don't make me spell it out for you! And let me also say that people of ALL ages were taking part in this festival and eating this carnal candy. There was a large pink phallus and a black one that are carried around as floats on peoples shoulders during the parade... we weren't able to actually see the parade because of the insane crowds!!! There was also this man who was cleverly dressed up for the festival... he was extremely popular and many people posed in pictures with him! I have so many pictures from this day that I had to pick and chose which ones to put here so you can really see what it was all about. One thing that we did not get a good picture of was people carving vegetables into the phallus shape... the daikon, which is a large Japanese radish is the vegetable of choice for the carvings and a very popular event at the festival. The "Penis Energy Ball," although we didn't actually try it, was made up of octopus and breaded on a grill... They did have some other food there that was not graphically shaped and also that had nothing to do with the iron phallus. We were able to get some beer and some yummy yakisoba noodles while we people watched at this surprising event. I guess in an Asian country it is a little bit surprising that you would see giant penises being carried down the street while transvestites direct traffic and Grandma and Grandpa suck on phallic lollipops....

Japanese Word of the Day:
Chinko: Penis

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!!!