WWHPD?

I'm no where close to being homeless. Sure, I've worked with my fair share, I've given change to some and food to others and at Saint Joe's we'd go around Philly telling the ones on the street where the shelters were, but thank the Lord, I've never been homeless. Why would I be thinking about the homeless now? We just moved into our new pad for pete's sake! But we have no heat yet and it is cold and raining outside. Japanese houses are known for their poor insulation and their meat locker-esque temperatures in the winter times. This is no joke. At one point i was huddled in a ball on a military issued couch with only enough flesh exposed to jot down my thoughts on paper. The kerosene heaters the military delivered to us this morning have no kerosene in them, go figure. And our blankets and winter coats from home will not be delivered until tomorrow. Bullocks. I am wearing a wool hat, two fleece jackets, a sweatshirt, sweatpants under jeans, and two pairs of ski socks and I'm still chilly. That's got me thinking---WWHPD? What would a homeless person do? Too bad I threw away the newspapers this morning when cleaning out our room at the lodge. They keep in the heat I hear. I could never be homeless, I don't have the stamina for the cold. A lot of people knock the homeless for being this or being that, but i can't do what they're doing and i bet you can't either. So what would a homeless person do? Nothing, I guess just sit it out and wait to thaw in Spring. And then it hit me. Aha, the heated toilet seat! It's like a homeless person's city steam vent. With much excitement I dashed into the bathroom and opened the door to the toilet. The bathroom is actually broken up into three spaces. There is a door to the potty, a shower door that leads to a huge shower and soaking tub, and a space with the sink and medicine cabinet that connects the two. So there I was staring at the buttons next to the toilet-- too many button and all in Japanese. So I just started pushing them and watched what would happen. First button, nothing. Second button, a light came on but nothing else. Third button, a soft errrrr erupted from the back of the seat. Uh oh I thought. Before I knew it a small nozzle swung down from underneath the rear of the seat and squirted out a strong stream of water. No way! I just found the bidet. It caught me off guard and because I was standing in front of the toilet when it went off I was hit with the stream of water right in the thigh! I didn't know how to turn it off so I just put my hand over it until the thing stopped. So much for getting warm. At least I had a good laugh. I guess I too will just have to sit it out and wait to thaw. At least I have a home.

The city's abuzz with the sounds of Christmas

More specifically, it was Jingle Bells over and over and over again. In the train stations, on the escalators, outside of small shops and inside department stores. Throughout our adventures in Akihabara and Shibuya Mark and my ears were harangued by familiar tunes of cheer but with indistinguishable lyrics. "No way, is that 12 Days of Christmas playing?" Mark stopped dead in his tracks just to make sure he wasn't hearing things. It was quite comical, trying to pair up the words we know to the words we were hearing. The crowds were dizzying-comparable to New York City with the hustle and bustle but without the move it or lose it aggression. So no matter what corner of the planet you live (granted I've never been in a Muslim country during Christmas) the holidays are the holidays are the holidays.

Here's a fun fact. According to the CIA World Fact Book, only .7% of the Japanese people are actually Christian (about 900,000 people give or take a few) so you'd think that festivities would be a little more subdued or at least a little more diverse with 84% claiming to be Shinto or Buddhist. To a degree, it's unfortunate. I guess if gift buying/giving is done in a way that shows appreciation and value for the human spirit it's not so bad. It's the buying for the sake of buying because it's that time of year again that drives me crazy. So the culture of consumerism hasn't suffocated just the United States. Japan's cities' billboards and newspaper ads show what is hip in the in crowd and given the young and trendy outfits we saw (yes rainbow bright standing next to the Mark City pic is a common style) it looks like many people try to be in that crowd. But with the Japanese economy in a recession and the commercialization of the holidays, I guess retailers are capitalizing on whatever pushes the products. And right now it happens to be jingle bells.

Apparently our first stop of the day is crazy with electronics whether it's the holidays or not. Even the exit sign from the train pointed to 'Electric Town'. Akihabara, bring it on. Block after block, high rise after high rise this area was a big kid's dream. This section of Tokyo is Best Buy, Lowes, and Home Depot on steroids. Every alleyway had a theme and every store was floor after floor of things to make your electric bill soar/sore. And if you didn't want to purchase a new state of the art computer, vacuum, rice cooker or camera, you could just wander around until you found the individual parts to put one together yourself.

We finished our day in Shibuya, the NYC could be if there were more horns, smog and people yelling, 'Yo, foggettaboutit!'. Mark had some ipod issues so we hit up the Apple store and came out with a brand new one. Ah, thank goodness the world is flat.

Sushi and a Cell Phone

MTV Cribs in Japan

Here is a glimpse of the house and yard. Just the right size.

Dinner in Yokosuka

a recap of our day

Dynamic Duo Reunite

Japan just got exponentially better, Mark is here! We went to Yokohama the day after the COWPENS pulled into port. We didn't waste anytime in finding cool sights and picture opportunities. I had a blast just watching Mark's reactions to all the new things. More to come later after I take a nap.

Kamakura- the best adventure yet

As part of orientation it is required to get acquainted with the train system, so today I ventured out and did some more sightseeing. This time around I actually had some buddies to hang with- much better than doing things on my own. So off we went- myself, Adam, Dan and Travis to be awed by one of the old capitals of Japan, Kamakura.

With the sea on one side and densely wooded hills on the other, Kamakura was originally used as base by the Minamoto clan back in the 1180s. Now check this out, the Minamoto clan and the Taira clan were great warrior families with a lot of beef. When the Minamoto clan defeated the Taira clan in 1192 their leader, Yoritomo, was appointed shogun and ruled from Kamakura. But when he kicked it his wife's family could only defend the area until 1333 before it was taken over by Emperor Go-Daigo and the capital moved back to Kyoto.

Nonetheless, there is a great deal of history left in this community. One of the most impressive sights is the Daibutsu, other known as the Great Buddha. Its construction was said to have been inspired by Yoritomo's visit to Nara (where the biggest Buddha stands..well, sits).

The Shinto shrine that we visited is the main one in Kamakura. There were so many things going on at once. Kids in their school uniforms chasing pigeons, elderly paying their respects in the shrine (bow bow, clap, clap, bow), and couples getting married.

We then headed to another temple, but this one was a little scarey. It was the Enno-ji temple, which is distinguished primarily by its collection of statues depicting the judges of hell. Check out the video. The big one in the middle is noted for it's fierce gaze and is the ruler of the hell's 10 kings.

Our eyes, ears, and noses had some great treats throughout the day, so we couldn't let our tastebuds be left out. We stopped in this extremely busy street at an icecream shop and had some sweet potato and vanilla icecream. It really was good. I also tried this jello-y thing that i thought was going to be sweet but it was NASTY! It's all in a days adventure.

127 Million Packed into Cali

This week I've been keeping busy in an official orientation to Japan. The military requires this four day class for everyone that is staying in Japan. The first day was so dry--mostly admin stuff regarding the process/procedures/policies of the base. Today was so much better. It was all about the Japanese people, culture, cuisine, sports, religion, holidays, money and language. You name it, we talked about it. Here are some fun facts I thought I'd share to give you a better idea of the country profile. Japan is approximately the size of California but holds a population 1/3 the United States at 127+ million people. Out of the country's total land, a relatively small percentage is able to be urbanized, only 19% is used for industry and residential purposes (67% is mountainous forest and 11% is used for farming). This means that 2/3rd the population is crammed into 1/3 of the country! No wonder I couldn't find any green space when I took the train up to Tokyo. There are 422 thousand people in Yokosuka alone, which is only 32 square miles itself. This means there are 10,830 people per square mile. Tokyo is even more crowded with 12.37 million in 844 square miles. That's 14.6 thousand people per square mile! People aren't the only things crowded together. We learned that there are 1 of those crazy vending machines for every 20 people in Japan- i'm telling you they're everywhere (515 alone on base). AND, get this! During rush hours there actually 'train pushers' (I can't wait to get a pic). Platform workers wearing white gloves help individuals squeeze onto their train by stuffing/pushing body parts! The gentleman giving the seminar today touched on something that I've experienced myself when coming back from a crazy adventure. When you try to convey the experience with those who haven't experienced the same thing, you just can't do it justice. So do us a favor come on over and see Japan for yourself.

pics of imperial palace and department store

Walking around Tokyo

I cannot wait for the Cowpens to pull into port. Although I'm enjoying the new adventure, it will be so much better with Mark. Yesterday I took advantage of the break in rainy weather and out in town and up again to Tokyo to discover neighborhood in the city. The first pictures here are of markets outside of base in Yokosuka. I can't wait to buy the local delicacies and practice cooking for those who visit. Who knows, with a little soy souce and wasabi, the items I discovered in the fish market could be great. I will have to look elsewhere for shoes though. These puppies were LL, the largest size the store carried. After getting to Tokyo I was hungry for lunch so went in to a small store and pointed to something on the menu. It ended up being some fried crab, a bowl of rice, some greens, and tofu soup or something. Everything but the soup was great. After lunch I headed for some more touristy things. The Imperial Palace was hard to get a glimpse of with the high rock wall around it, but you can get a sense of the residency. The 8 story department store I hit up was comprable to Saks or Macy's in NYC. Taking pictures of these high roller stores is as close as I'm willing to get.