Tokyo day three

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We went on a great tour today to Mt Fuji. It was a little dissappointing because it was cloudy and rainy so we couldnt see the top of the mountian. But the Day was great anyways. WE went on a pirate ship cruise and a sky gondola ride. It was awesome. We spent a little while in a place the Japanese named Hell... It was creepy and stinky. I will fill in the rest of the skinny later. Its late right now and I need to sleep.

Our second day in Tokyo

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We arrived in Tokyo today!

Hey we made it to Tokyo today. It is SO nice down here. The weather is a lot nicer than Misawa's. While we were aproaching the airport in Tokyo we had a really pretty view of Mt Fuji. We could pretty much just see the white top but it was beautiful. Then once we got on the airport bus I was so happy to see how green everything and there are flowers all over. It is so nice!!

We arrived at Heneda Airport and took a bus to Narita Airport where we met Sandy and Sean. Then we took a bus to The New Sanno. We ate a greally great dinner here at the hotel. Then we took the subway to the Ginza to see it all lit up. It was really neat.

Thats it so far... I am gonna try loading up the photos we took today.... so look out for them.

LOST IN TRANSLATION!!

WE arrived home last night. THANK GOODNESS!! We had a good time but it is really great to be home. It took over six hours on the train to get there on Friday. When we got in we ate McDonald's and then went to Odori Park. They had already cleared out the snow sculptures but it was still really beautiful. We went up the TV tower which is basically just a small replica of the Eiffel tower. It was really cool to see the city from up there. Sapporo is really huge. Over one million people. Hardly anyone spoke English though and it was tough to order food and stuff. In Misawa most menus and shops have English ... Not in Sapporo. We ate at the TV tower at some funky organic restaurant place. It was good. Then we went back to the hotel and passed out. We spent Saturday seeing the sights. Sapporo has a really great history and it was really great to see the buildings from the 1870's that Americans designed and they are still up!! Surrounded by a modern city. Dave was in heaven at the Sapporo beer factory which was the main reason for our visit. The tour wasn't in English so we just looked around and then went to get some beers. HeHe. There was one really cool part of the tour that had all of their old advertisement posters. They are really neat. I bought a few post cards and will scan and put them in the photo album . Check them out.

We had a great time but are really glad to be home. We pick Wendy up from the Kennel tomorrow morning. Thank goodness I really miss her!!! Today I am cleaning house and doing laundry. FUN. No I really don't mind laundry and cleaning.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Enjoy your Monday if you get it off!!..

We made it

We made it to Misawa last night. Everything went ok. It was a little stressful trying to make sure we weren't lost!! I am sure Melissa has lots to tell of what she has seen so far.

Dave is still sick hopefully he will get better soon!!!

Going to Tokyo today!

Ok ok ok... So Dave came home last night. I am so glad he is back.. . He is sick with a bad cough but this morning he sounded lots better like it is all breaking up so hopefully he will be all better soon. He is all unpacked and I got all of his laundry done last night. Then I got my over night bag packed. I am all set and ready to go. Dave is at work now but is going to come home and drive me to the airport at noon or so. Then I am flying to Tokyo. I should arrive at the airport an hour or so before Melissa lands. Plenty of time I am sure. Then we are going to stay the night at The Holiday Inn right there by the airport and on Thursday morning we are going to take the train up to Misawa. whew! I am sure everything will work out great.. I am just SO glad Dave made it home. I am pretty sure Japan is going to blow Melissa's mind... I don't know what she expects but I am pretty sure it won't be anything like what she thinks it will. Did that make sense? Well, you know what I mean.

Well, Happy Wednesday !! I'll let you know how it goes in Tokyo when I get back!!

Have to get a new car

Well, what a day this turned out to be!!  Here is what happened. 

In Japan every two years you have to renew the Japanese Compulsory Insurance.( we also pay a Liability insurance every 3 months)  They inspect the vehicle with a fine tooth comb and anything that is wrong with it must be fixed to renew the insurance. That means any rusted doohickeys under the car must be replaced.  It is a bit of a hassle because the insurance is expensive about 500 bucks but the real cost ends up being the repairs.  The man that sold us the Surf paid 900 in  repairs.  We have had a few troubles with the Surf and Dave knows our exhaust has problems so we figured we'll probably need some repairs.  We thought we had a month until the insurance was due however today Dave dug out the paper work and it turns out it is due next week.  That gives us zero time to get it looked at to decide if the repairs will be worth it.  So, its to the junkyard the Surf will go.  We probably would have junked it anyways so I don't feel bad.  At least we are saving the 90 bucks for the initial inspections up at the auto shop.  Since there wasn't much at the Lemon Lot on base we went to Lucky's Car Sales off base.  We picked out a really cute 4 door sedan.  It is a Nissan  Primera.  We have to put $500 down tomorrow then we make payments interest free for the next 10 months.  I am actually really excited.  It will be so much nicer to have a car to drive around because the Surf can be tricky to get into 'parking lots' and around narrow streets.   Since Jackie is going to come out to visit next summer while Dave is in Iraq it will be a lot easier for me to drive her around.   We should have all of the paperwork done on Thursday.  AND Lucky's is going to junk the Surf for us!! That is a lot of hassle we can skip!!! Yippie!

Well, I am still working on laundry.  Hopefully I can get it done while I watch TV tonight.  Pretty much Monday is the only night with good shows on.  Amazing Race is on in 9 minutes eeeee I am excited even thought I peeked on www.cbs.com to see who got the boot.( I can't handle the suspense!)    

I was just thinking

I was just thinking how strange my life has turned out to be.  You know in sch0ol when you have to think of where you think you'll be in 5 years and 10 years??  I never in my life would have seen myself here.  It is Wednesday and I am changing the sheets like I do every Wednesday, but tonight I am listening to the info on TV about a tsunami warning.  I am listening to warnings for people on the coast to evacuate and they are talking about tidal waves.  How strange.  And what is stranger is that even though I live like 5 minutes from the Ocean I am not worried and I go about making the bed like normal. 

Here is a list of strange things that seem 'normal' to me:

• earthquakes
  
• fish on a stick ( i don't eat them)
  
• LOTS of orange earplugs in Dave's pockets
  
• Holiday Dinners for two
  
• fish markets in the malls
  
• emptying my ice into a special drain at McDonald's before throwing away my cup
  
• using chopsticks
  
• spending weeks at a time apart from Dave
  
• seeing my family once a year
  
• lots of male cross-dressers on TV
  
• eating rice without soy sauce (its so good on its own)
  
• Stopping for a jet crossing on my way to the Post Office
  
• Getting five thousand yen from the ATM ( the minimum allowed for withdrawal)

I know there are so many other things that I can't think of right now.  I guess it doesn't matter how "strange" my life seems at times.  I have so many things to be grateful for.

Yuck what a bad day

Well, it wasn't terribly terrible, but you know when your day starts out really crappy and the rest of the day your just in a bad mood?  My sister called and woke us up this morning at 7 am to tell us that our storage unit in Michigan was broken into!!  We had a lot of our things shipped to Michigan and put into storage when we moved to Japan.  I guess the cops didn't think much was missing. Looked like they went through our storage tubs.  I mostly had extra kitchen stuff in the tubs.... but we did have some really important stuff in there I hope they didn't break!!  All of Dave's childhood ornaments, my Christmas village, my Great Grandma's record player and records( which I have blogged about how important those memories are to me, but I guess its the memories that are important not the actual player. But I want to be able to play the record for my kids one day and tell them about her you know??)  The thing I am guessing is gone is Dave's big 373 piece Craftsman tool set that was setting right by the door.  I suppose his bow is gone too.  He had a box with some really delicate toys from his grandfather which would be broken if the thieves didn't take the utmost care going through the box.  I am guessing that if you were out to steal stuff from others you wouldn't waste time taking great care not to break things though. So probably should be prepared for a lot of broken stuff eh.

So after that I tried to go back to sleep.  When I woke back up we went about our day.  Nothing terrible happen just stupid stuff annoyed the crap out of me.  You know when your just in a bad mood???  Looking forward to a new day tomorrow!! 



Saturday is the Salmon Festival.  We already bought one ticket so Dave can catch a salmon with his bare hands!!  I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!! 

We had a really great day yesterday.  We drove to Aomori to see the Big Buddha.  The drive there was so beautiful.  All of the fall colors were amazing.  We had a really great time at the park.  It was so peaceful and beautiful.  I posted a photo album, check it out.

Scrap-cabinet

I was able to finish cleaning out my scrapbooking stuff this weekend.  I am so happy with it.  I went through my paper and embellishments and took out all of the stuff I will never use.  I am thinking that Melissa might be able to use some of the stuff.  I hate to throw it all away.  I still have plenty of 'stuff' leftover as  you can tell.  I have more scrapbooking to do this week.  I am still working on the Family Fun Facts Book.  I am sure working will be easier now that my supplies are organized better.

We went to Hach today like I had hoped.  Nice to get out of Misawa.  We stopped at the Statue of Liberty and took some pictures.  I posted a new photo album.  Check it out. 

Take Care.  Hope your Monday is great!!

My Step-Sister's Wedding

So my step-sister Jamie was married yesterday.  We had planned to take a trip home but Dave's leave was cancelled.  I was really bummed.  I really wish we could have made it home.  I really hate missing things like this.   I guess today I am feeling pretty crummy.  I get really homesick sometimes.  It is so frustrating knowing that we are pretty much going to continue missing everything for the next 15 years.  It is days like today that I don't think I can stick out 20 years in the Air Force.  I will probably spend the next few days trying to convince Dave that the military 'isn't for us'.  Then in another week I will be back to thinking 'this isn't so terrible'. 

The one great thing is that Dave's mom went to my sister's shower and wedding so she took pictures and sends them to me through IM the next day!  Talk about convenient!  If I had to wait for pictures from my mom I would be waiting for months.   It is nice.  When Dave's brother was married in July we got pictures the next day.  I couldn't live without my IM connection to the real world.  LOL.

Well, that's all I got for now.  Dave has tomorrow off.  Thank you Christopher Columbus!  Hoping to get out of Misawa for the afternoon. Maybe drive to Hachinohe to go to Lapia Mall.  Maybe they will have a movie there we want to see.  We haven't tried watching a movie off-base with Japanese subtitles.  I'll let you know how that goes.     

Parade

So today we went off base where they were having a festival.  They had a costume parade that lasted a couple hours.  There were a lot of really cute costumes, and there were a lot of really strange costumes.  It was fun though.  Check out the album.  Beware I did take a pic of the sumo guys from the rear so don't be shocked.(That might be rude? I am not sure but everyone was looking so I thought it should be okay for me to snap a picture right?) 

Cherry Blossom Festival with no blossoms...

After a really long afternoon in Hirosaki we were so glad to get home this evening.  We had a really nice time in Hirosaki but the festival was busy, and we were warm and tired.  Imagine me complaining about it being warm, but the sun was really warm, even leaving me with some red cheeks and a pink neck and chest.  We couldn't have ask for a better afternoon though, really it was just perfect.  It would have been nice if the Cherry Blossoms were out however, it just didn't happen for us.  

Actually during the day we were noticing some trees were starting to blossom.  The pink buds were nice even though thinking of how beautiful the park would have been with the white blossoms I do feel a little disappointed.  We had a great time though and enjoyed the park with the Farmers.  Keith Farmer is a coworker of Dave's and his fishing buddy.  Keith and his wife Naomi/Ruth are really nice people and it was nice chatting with Ruth.

I thought since there are so many pictures I would mostly blog about the history and info of the Hirosaki park and city.  So...... 

Hirosaki was one the capital of Aomori Prefecture.  Although that title has been relegated to Aomori City, many still see Hirosaki as the cultural and historical hub of the prefecture.               

It is the only city in the prefecture with a proper university, and its citizenry is therefore regarded as more educated and cosmopolitan.  If you are likely to see another non-Japanese person in the prefecture, it is likely to be in Hirosaki.

Hirosaki was founded in 1603 by Lord Tamenobe.  It was the prefecture capital until the Meiki Restoration joined the Nambu and Tsugaru territories (southwest Aomori and Western Aomor, respectively) into a unified prefecture Aomori City  was chosen as the new capital, but never attained the more highbrow appeal that Hirosaki still holds.

While Aomori City was almost completely obliterated in World War II, Hirosaki escaped unscathed, preserving its traditional landmarks and architecture.  This is not to say that Hirosaki is an entirely pleasant city to spend time in.  As was common in feudal times,  Lord Tsugaru deliberately designed the city to be as confusing as possible to invaders.  The streets are a maze of winding,  meandering lanes,  rarely leading where one would expect them to.  A sense of direction is a detriment in Hirosaki-- a visitor would be better off wandering aimlessly and hoping for the best.

Patience and diligence eventually allows one to reach Hirosaki park, the centerpiece of the city.  Within the park are more maze-like footpaths, which lead eventually to the most recognized landmark in Hirosaki, the Castle.  Surrounded by the moat and built high upon a stone precipice, the castle appears today much as it did in Dazai's time, and much as it did during Lord Tsugaru's time.

Hirosaki Castle-

Alternate name: Takaoka-jo                                                  

Founder: Tsugaru Nobuhira.                                                        

Year: 1611                                                                                                                        

Type:   Flatland  Mountian                                              

Structure: 3 levels, 3 stories                                                                                              

Artifacts : Donjon( massive inner tower, 5 gates, 3 yagura(watchtower)                             

Location: Hiroaki, Aomori Prefecture

History:  Hirosaki Castle was built in 1611 and was home  tot he Tsugaru clan of fuedal lords for 260 year.  Like most castles in Japan it has been partially reconstructed.  However, unlike most of them, it still remains the original layout.   The three level donjon of Hirosaki-jo seems disproportionately small when compared to the huge estate encompassed by the castle today.  Hirosaki-jo was originally built with a 5 level donjon which was struck by lightening and burned to the ground in 1627. The donjon was not rebuilt until 1810.   The new 3 level donjon is built atop the inner moat using the stone wall as the palisade of yagura along the top of the moat.  The yagura, however, no longer exists and the donjon stands alone.  Hirosaki-jo has the only extant donjon to the east of Matsumoto-jo( Nagano Prefecture) making it a historical treasure of the Tohoku  region.   

Other Hirosaki Facts:

City Emblem: Manji- Hirosaki's city emblem, the manji or reversed swastika, has a long history.  In fuedal times it was used as the family crest of the local Tsugaru clan.  It is said to symbolize the rejection of selfish motives and the devotion of the individual to society.  It was adopted as the city emblem in June, 1900.

City Flower: Cherry Blossom- Hirosaki's Cherry Blossoms make a spring unequalled throughout Japan.  During the Cherry Blossom Festival, some two million visitors flock to Hirosaki  from far and wide.  The cherry blossom was named the official city flower on April 1, 1993.

City Tree: Apple Tree- Apples are reputed to be good for both health and complection.  Hirosaki boasts the greatest apple production in all Japan, with an annual yield of more than 130,000 tons equivalent to 14% of the nations harvest.  The apple tree was declared the City tree of Hirosaki on April 1, 1993 .                                                                                       

So, now you know. 

Hirosaki Festival

We finally got to get out and see a little bit of Japan yesterday.  We went on a tour the base held that went to a town called Hirosaki.  They have festivals all year round at the park there.  Cherry Blossoms in the spring, fire festival in the summer , maple and chrysanthemum in the fall, and snow lantern in the winter. 

The snow sculptures were really cool.  They had a lot of sculpted lanterns that were lite with candles in the evening and there were also other sculptures like a Tom and Jerry and a snow whale to name only a couple.  There was a sledding hill made entirely of snow,  food vendors selling almost everything on a stick, and lots to look at.  It was snowing really hard when we first got there as you can see in some of the pictures in the album I just added.  Once it got dark it was really just beautiful.  The castle there was absolutely the nicest thing I have seen in Japan so far.   Be sure to check out all of the pictures in the Hirosaki festival photo album.