ESCAPE!!!

So I finally made it off base today and out into REAL Japan. There are those who would say that I'm already in Japan, but come on, seriously, when everything is in English and Japanese and everyone speaks English almost as well as I do and gooder (LOL) than some of the other military folks around here, I just don't think it counts.

Today I decided was the day I was going to find my way off base and see what it's really like on the other side of the fence. So I slipped on my tennie trudgers (I don't run) and headed off across base to find the Main gate, a task not so easily accomplished as one might hope. This base is really quite beautiful (except on the fleet side where it's very industrial looking) in that there are large mounds of earth covered with lush trees and thick undergrowth. The sides are steep and unfortunatly due to erosion, many of them have concrete on the slopes, but are still beautiful on top and on the less steep sides. The difficulty with these mounds is that they make it impossible to just triangulate the direction needed to get somewhere and go there as you may need to detour quite a bit to go around or through (tunnels) these hills. Also there are so many town homes on base with back yard fences interconnected that you may be taking a 'short cut' through a neighborhood, only to find yourself hedged in by little black fences, and barking dogs. If I was smart, I would probably just stick to the roads, but that would possibly be easier, or perhaps not, since they don't always lead to where you would expect them to go...

After a fair bit of wandering I found myself at last nearing the main gate. You can always tell you are getting close, when you see the big reader board sign and the signs that remind you not to drink and drive. Here, rather than a little sign stating that .08 is the limit, there is a completely smashed up pickup truck sitting on the side of the road with a big vinyl sign attached to it that says that 'it's not worth it'. As neared the gate, my excitement rose, I was going to see Japan!!!

A quick stop and wander through the USO to find a restroom with a real toilet and toilet paper, and I was good to go! Poof, I was through those gates and in real life Japan! I took a deep breath and what do you know? It smelled just like it did on the other side of the gate. LOL! I had to snicker at myself just a little for somehow expecting it to smell different. Once I crossed the street however, the smells of food in restarants began to make their way to me and then I had my satisfation. I picked a direction and headed off in search of new and exciting things to see.

As I headed up 'blue street' (refered to as such because some of the rocks in the pavement are blue and the tiles that make the curb are blue), I expected to be baraged with new sites and sounds and was actually a little dissapointed to find that this street wasn't much different than so many streets in Seattle, if you were to just change all the signs to read in Japanese. There is also a little marketway that cuts off of blue street and then joins up with it again that seems much like Pike Place Market. Perhaps I'm spoiled having lived so close to the market for over 20 years, but by now the novelty has worn off, so this little market didn't really strike my fancy, though I did take a wonder through it just to see.

I was quite tempted to leave blue street and head down a small side street or two, but alas, I am becoming a big chicken and with darkness approaching, I didn't want to find myself lost in a place where I don't know how to say anything except 'hello', 'milk', 'excuse me', 'thank you' and 'Ladies toilet'. Ten - fifteen years ago, I would have said, well I won't tell you what I would have said, cause this is a family show, but anyway, I would have headed off down some side street armed with nothing more than about $10 (wouldn't have had the forsight to get Yen) and my 5 words without a thought to how I would find my way home.

My adventurous spirit was furthed dampened by my bottle of Dr Pepper that as I walked, bounced along with me in my purse and then when opened sprayed all over my hands and arms, creating a gross sticky situation. The event was apparently one of surprise and interest to many around me, as probably 8 people stopped what they were doing to watch me dance around with my overflowing soda. I'm not sure which was more surprising though, the fact that my soda was spraying everywhere while I held onto it, or the fact that I was even going to be drinking a soda in public away from the vending machine. *sidebar- Many vending machines here dispence both hot and cold drinks in cans, though I learned that I will need to bring along my oven mit if I intend to hold one of the hot drinks.

So, while it was great to get off base for a little while today, I will have to make sure that next time I go earlier in the day and perhaps with a compass so I can find my way home when I'm done getting lost. And I'll know that the Japanese man in camoflauge, sitting near the door with a bag check sign just before the gate is actually checking your bag to let you into a bar, he's not a customs guy... LOL!!!!!!!!