Paparazzi Shots

I mentioned that when the girls and I went to Kurashiki we met the cuteset little ol' Japanese man. Well he actually met Andrea first, Alison and I were in a store and I was "sampling" the different nuts they had. I saw him earlier talking to other foreigners and you could tell he just wanted to practice his English and take pictures of us. Before we left he asked us for our email address and sent Alison the pictures, as well as the sweetest note. (I love old people!)

These are the pictures from Alison's new pen pal!

Look Mom I Went to an Art Museum!

Oh my gosh blogger was not working with me on this post!!! It just did not want to upload the pics but don't worry I am more stubborn then blogspot and beat it! When the girls came to visit they only had a few days with me (3 to be exact) and there was a lot that I wanted to show them but I also wanted to do something different with them since I only have a few weeks left here. I suggested Fukuoka, I haven't been there yet and it has a "downtown", so we could have some nite life. There is not much to do outside the gates of MCAS Iwakuni, unless you want to go young Marine bars, and that is not my thing.

I don't think people realize how big Japan is, I really didn't before I got here. From where I live in Iwakuni to Tokyo is about a 12 hour drive or a 4 1/2 hr (EXPENSIVE) train ride. My friends suggested a small town called Kurashiki. Well I never heard of this little town and it was 3 hours by car or 2 1/2 hours by train (and about $190 roundtrip each) so in the beginning I was not very excited about this town. However, after I passed my written portion of the drivers license test and talked to Hiroe I came around to the idea. I asked Hiroe (remember, she is our Information Referral Specialist who rocks)bluntly if it was worth the effort and she said Yes! Now I have to agree with her it was; the drive was super easy, the town is a little quaint village, and the weather was nice.

Kurashiki is a historic city located in Okayama Prefecture; so we had to drive from Yamaguchi Prefecture through Hiroshima Prefecture to Okayama Prefecture. Kurashiki sits on the Takahashi River, on the coast of the Inland Sea. (Thanks to wikipedia here is some info on Kurashiki) The modern city of Kurashiki was founded on April 1, 1928. Previously, it was the site of clashes between the Heike and Genji clans during the Heian period. It gradually developed as a riverport; during the Edo period, it became an area directly controlled by the Shogunate. Distinctive white-walled, black-tiled warehouses were built to store goods. During the Meiji Restoration (Japan's Industrial Revolution period), factories were built, including the Ohara Spinning Mill which still stands as the nostalgic tourist attraction Ivy Square.

In Kurashiki we went to cute little stores, an art museum (yes Mom I went to an art museum and actually enjoyed it), and took a boat tour in this little canal. The boat tour was awesome, we had the cutest little boy behind us that was "fishing" with these long branches and seriously would have jumped in if his dad didn't have a hold on him. We also met this cute old Japanese man, Gunki Yoshimura. He was hysterical and wanted to practice his (excellent) English. When I told him I lived in Iwakuni he told me he went there every May 5th; May 5th is Friendship Day when the base opens up to the Japanese people and hosts about 250,000 Japanese visitors. Gunki was also our paparazzi and wanted to take pictures of us and when we were on the boat tour every time we turned around he was taking pictures of us. He was way too cute so I ofcourse had to get pictures of him and the girls.

The tolls in Japan are very expensive;I recently found out that if you have an ETC pass (Japanese equivalent of Ezpass) there are discount days but only Japanese can have those because you need a Japanese bank account. When I drove up to Hiroshima Airport the toll one way was 2,500 yen (roughly $30)and the toll to Kurashiki was 4,000 yen (roughly $47). That is absolutely crazy, could you imagine if that cost that much to get to Dulles or JFK! However, on base we can rent cars for about $55 a day and when you do that you get toll passes so it doesn't cost a dime at the toll booths. This is fantastic and totally makes renting the car completely worth it. If we didn't rent that car it would have cost us $180 each to get there on the train, I am so glad I rented it.

Before I went to Kurashiki I was excited to spend time with my friends but wasn't so sure about the town but after our visit I am so glad we went there! It was a really enjoyable day.

We debated going to visit this shrine but we were soooo tired and hot. We finally decided to walk over there and when we got there we saw these steps that we had to walk up. I think a 90 year old could have made it up the steps faster than me but I am glad we did it!

Alison discovered a Japanese favorite, the shaved ice with food coloring (like snow cones). I think they are now an Alison favorite too!

Showing Off My Little Town

When the girls were in town we had a busy second day hitting the "sites" of Iwakuni and Miyajima Island. The good thing about the day is that it wasn't super sunny but it was still super ridiculously hot. I think Alison and I were happy to just sit at the top of Iwakuni Castle all day because of the nice breeze and we were finally cooling down, oh yeah it was like 9am. People I am not kidding on how hot it is in Japan, yes I understand the East Coast has had a record hot summer but this weather is indescribable.

At Miyajima: Unfortunately, the tide was out but it was still cool that the girls could walk down and underneath the Tori. It was so ridiculously hot that by the time we walked to the cable car we looked and felt like we ran one of those crazy 100 mile races and we got some extremely odd looks from the Marines coming down from the cable car, they should have sent some paramedics. When we got to the top of the mountain I was extremely happy that the girls did not want to trek to the other side and when I showed Alison where it was she too was so happy.

Kintai Bridge and Iwakuni Castle: I am proud of my little town!

This was the girls reaction to my "asking" them to take the picture. We definitely entertained a little old Japanese lady, she started laughing.

Chicken Shack: MCAS Must Do!

A MUST DO according to MCAS Iwakuni is the Chicken Shack. It is a restaurant that is made up of a different buildings and has some attractions. Everyone for MCAS Iwakuni goes there, it is actually one of the tours through our cultural adaptation group. I had not been there yet, except for when I got lost, so it was definitely a must do when the girls were here and before I leave in a few short weeks. One of the big things at the Chicken Shack, o that is not the real name but the name "the Americans" call it, is that they serve chicken on a stick. It is also traditional seating, no shoes and on the ground, the thing that made me laugh was that the section of the restaurant we were in was all Americans. The food was surprisingly really tasty!

Alison with her chicken and me with my tofu!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game Part 2

One of the things that I wanted to do with my friends was a baseball game. Bridget and I went to one in Tokyo and when I was in Korea (more to come on that later) I went to one and honestly I feel like they are a must do if you ever come here. I used to go Nats games but I never really watched the game, to be honest the last few times I went (a few seasons ago) I basically hung out at the bar that overlooked the field but here you have no choice but to get into it!

When Bridget and I were in Tokyo we were (extremly) lucky to have the concierge at Conrad get our tickets for us. When they offered us the choice of getting our own tickets or having them get them it was a no brainer, we were living it up and being lazy! O how I miss you Conrad concierge! On base I am very fortunate to have Hiroe, she is wonderful and is our Information and Referral specialist. Hiroe is also one of my coworkers so at one of our morning meetings, which are inappropriately called 10 minutes together since the average meeting is about an hour, I asked her how to get tickets. In order to buy tickets for baseball games you have to buy them at a convenience store: Family Mart, 7-11, Lawsons but my 6 words of Japanese are not sufficient for this task. Hiroe wrote it out for me in Japanese and I walked into 7-11 and just handed the paper over and the lovely 7-11 employee just did everything for me and even somehow translated name when I said it to him. There are two types of tickets: reserved tickets and unreserved; the difference is with unreserved tickets you don't actually have a seat but you have to stand in line (maybe for a few hours) and when the gates open you might be lucky enough to get a seat. I was very very fortunate to get reserved seats in the right outfield because I was told it was sold out.

The game was awesome though the Hiroshima Carps lost! However, just like Tokyo the fans are totally 150% into the game. The difference here is that we were BAKING in the sun but when the sun finally went down it was so nice out.

It was so hot out and the Japanese wear these sweat towels on their heads or around their necks. I bought one for Andrea because she was definitely not fairing well in the sun, ummmmmm aren't I the pale one?!?! So Happy Birthday Andrea!

At the 7th inning each team fills up these balloons, does a routine with them, and then lets them go into the air and then people clear them off the field. I was unsure of when to actually do this so I told Alison to do it but it was too early and she let hers go when the other team did. I figured it out (too late) that you do it at the 7th inning right before your team goes up to bat. The winning team also did it again at the end of the game. There was a little girl (maybe around 7) sitting in front of us with her mom and brothers and she kept looking at me like I had 4 heads so I decided to be nice and give her our extra one (they come in a 4 pack). At first she shook her head and looked at her mom and her mom smiled and gigled and told her she could take it so she did and she had the biggest smile on her face. At one point she had 2 and kept playing with them, I really enjoyed watching her with it!

We couldn't figure out the reason why the Hiroshima Carp mascot looks just like the Philly Fanatic.