Upon arriving back to Narita International Airport from our amazing trip to Australia we were greeted by international traveler Rae-Ann (Lawrence-Jodoin-Storz)!!!!!!!!! Slightly jet-lagged but still smiling! She arrived on a nice rainy evening in Japan... a little chilly and the 3 of us had a long ride back form the airport, but the next day was a brand new day...Welcome to the land of the rising sun SIL!!! The sun was blaring by 4:30 AM!!! It was a beautiful day in Yokosuka, Japan! After breakfast of champions... Dunkin' Donuts of course, we got ready and headed to the USS George Washington for a tour! Damian took us all around the ship including the "bridge" where Rae-Ann got to sit in the Commanding Officer's chair, went for a little walk on the flight deck, walked the the hangar bays, to the "focastle" to see the anchor chains, and a thorough tour of the medical department including radiology!!! It was a great tour as usual with an exceptional tour guide!
Next stop was out in town to Mikasa Park where there was a curry festival going on with entertainment and lots of food vendors. Damian got some meat on a stick and Rae-Ann and I got chu-hi drinks! We hung out there for a little bit then headed to a few local stores and then out for sushi-go-round sushi which was so delicious! We had Japanese beers, udon soup, and lots of sushi! SIL even tried a few new things... new beginnings! It was definitely the most fun I have has at a sushi-go-round... I sure will miss these things when we leave Japan!
Monday morning we headed out in the morning to explore Tokyo for the day. I wanted to make sure she saw as much of Japan as possible in just a few days! We boarded the trains and headed up to Tokyo from Yokosuka, about an hour and 10 minute ride. First stop was The Tokyo Skytree which is the tallest tower in Japan and only 1 year old... it makes you dizzy just looking up at it from below.... we didn't venture up in it but did take some pictures and look in some of the funky shops around it! Next up was lunch at a vending machine noodle place... so amazing to have a hot lunch for 2 in less than 5 minutes, that you ordered from a vending machine! Classic Japan! After lunch we headed to Asakusa to see the shrine, pagoda, and many beautiful buddha statues around it.
From here we headed to the other side of Tokyo to the Meiji Shrine- one of my favorites! This is one where you walk for awhile on a wooded path before you get to it- very different from Asakusa! At the Meiji Shrine, we filled out a wooden "ornament" that you can buy and leave there with your wishes on it for the gods to read. You can see what we wrote to the left... From here we went to Harajuku- which is a street famous for it's wild fashion and "Harajuku Girls" who dress is some pretty interesting outfits... we were lucky to see so many on a Monday afternoon! After this we went to Shibuya Crossing- one of the busiest crosswalks in the world... and we crossed a few times and checked out the area... including some very interesting love hotels... yikes! A very long day but we packed it all in! Homeward bound to Yokosuka!
The next day we headed to Kamakura, a very historic area in Japan with of course LOTS to see! We started with the Big Buddha and then went to Hase-dera which was Rae-Ann's favorite temple. Amazing views and lots to explore! We had a fun time exploring it together! We got ice cream... Sweet Potato/Vanilla swirl for SIL and Green Tea/Sweet Potato swirl for me! Then we were off to the major shopping area in Kamakura where we bought lots of unique gifts! and had fun looking in all the shops! Unfortunately everywhere we went was super crowded this day... a true Japanese experience I suppose!
The next day we had our Kimono dressing class that we went to on the base. Lucky for us we were the only 2 students and had the run of the place. Our teacher dressed us up in traditional Japanese Kimonos and taught us all about them as well... everything is very symbolic- right down to the patterns to the length of the sleeves to the different ways they tie the obi. We were able to pic our own Kimonos and Obis (the middle part) which was pretty neat! We had lots of fun with our instructor and took a lot of pictures in silly poses with our props... enjoy a small sampling to your left! The teacher kept telling SIL how cute she was and everything she did was... luckily I taught SIL the Japanese word for "cute" earlier that day!!!
The last day SIL was here visiting we did a few things around the base, then got to go to LT Storz's "hail & farewell" which was really nice... a little long, but they had wine!
It was a great trip and we were definitely sad to see SIL fly back to the U.S. It was an amazing trip and we can't wait to see her again soon!!!
Japanese Word of the Day:
Kawaii (ka-why-ee): Cute
(I know this is a repeat, but it's a good word you can use a lot)
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