Pics from my Fabric Shopping Adventure.

Sorry if I disappoint any of you hoping to see the fabrics. Cameras are forbidden in almost every store in Japan as far as I can tell. There is nearly always (and was in this case) a picture of a camera with a line through it posted on the door. After 1 1/2 hours getting there, there was no way I was going to risk getting thrown out.

Okay, so this first one is actually from on base. I just had to find a way to squeeze in a pic of the tiniest backhoe I have ever seen.

This is how laundry is dried here. As well as Futons (not at all like the ones in the states), carpets and bedding are frequently aired this way to prevent bed bugs and such.

Can you pronounce this sign??

7 Eleven or more accuratly 7 & i Holdings is HUGE here. I don't only mean huge in that they are everywhere. I mean huge in that some of them are 3 stories tall, such as the one pictured here. This is not a headquarters or anything like that. Nope, it's a store.

I didn't go into this one, though I did go into one that was 3 stories tall, which included, a clothing department, a grocery store, a floral dept, a food court complete with McDonalds, KFC, and a number of other fast food restaurants, and I never made it to the 3rd floor, so I can't say what may have been found up there.

Elevator parking garage. I don't know exactly how these work, I mean what if your car is on the top, but the people below you aren't leaving yet? I think they may have attendants that pull the cars out, but I'm not sure. They also have some of these in Yokosuka City that are enclosed in a building that's just bigger than a car, but about 4 stories tall.

Don't mess with this Biker! He's wearing a Yellowcorn Jacket!

Truly I jest. I'm not really sure the story behind 'Yellowcorn', only that it's waterproof motorcycle wear (all I could find on the net).

It does however seem to be worn only by those actually on Motorcycles (not mopeds) and mostly on those with loud motorcycles, frequently with pictures of sculls and flames decorating the bike.

Self Explanitory I presume.
I presume this means that the road is closed to regular traffic as a means to allow Emergency vehicles access to the city. However, when I first read it, I thought, 'what good is an emergency road that's closed in and emergency?!'

And now just some scenic views from along the way.

When Temperatures rise

Recently the temperatures have begun to rise and on a few days it's been truly Summery (at least by my old standards, I guess we'll see what I think after being here through a summer).

The wonderful thing about Fusuma and Shoji doors is that even though they are fragile, they are super light and REMOVABLE!!!

So when the sun started really shining and the air got warm, I pulled many of them out and stacked them on the sun porch. What an amazing and airy space I have now.

My garden in Spring

Spring Festival Pics

I must correct the number of visitors to the base for the Spring Festival.
The "Official" count was 50,500 visitors to the base. Add that to the people who live there and those who live off base but were there to man the food booths and you have somewhere near 70,000 people on a base that is 579 acres (0.90 square mile) in size and about 55,000 - 60,000 of those folks were within about 1/3 of the base. That was the grand total fo the whole day (10am - 4pm) though, so I doubt that there was ever the full 60,000 folks in 0.30 square mile at any one given time. It sure was crowded though!














Local entertainment

A quick shot of a portion of the crowd.

Folks eating and drinking under a canopy of Cherry Blossoms

The afore mentioned Canopy.

Hawks. Many many hawks. I saw more hawks in one day than I think I've seen in my whole life up to this point, added together.

More Hawks. I know, this could easily be the same hawks, and I'm just pulling your leg, but it's not. There were, I would say, at least 100 hawks swarming the area as the crowd died down, scooping up any tidbit of food left behind.

Here's one now, zipping off with a Chicken wing.

And finally a Cherry Blossom sunset...

Sorry about the text layout... I'm having a tough time figuring out how to make it stay where I put it. It always moves when I publish it...

an interesting link (toilets)

An awesome friend sent me this link today and I wanted to share it.

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Squat-Toilet

Ricky road racer!!

I got a speeding ticket today.

This morning I went with DH to work so that I could have the car to get to my dentist appointment (which by the way turned out to be a total waste of time). When we arrived at his command, he hopped out and I hopped into the drivers seat. We said our goodbyes and I headed off across base to get some breakfast for DD while we waited for the hour to pass before I could drop her off at the daycare and head to my appt. No sence heading home, since we live 1/2 hour from base...

I rounded the corner and headed up the hill near the Human Resources office, and saw up ahead that the base 'police' were sitting in wait of speeders. Quickly I looked down and surmised that I was indeed speeding, as I pretty much always am up this hill. I took my foot off the gas and slowed and then came to a stop at the stop sign. As I made my turn, they followed me and the flashing lights ensued.

"Excuse me ma'am, please hand over all your vehicle documentation" I heard from just behind my view on the drivers side. I handed out my paperwork, my SOFA License and my dependant ID, and then waited. And waited. And waited. In my rearview mirror, I could see that the 2 men in the Police van were having an enjoyable and animated conversation. Finally, they re-approached my car, one on either side and I was issued my ticket for going 41 kph in a 20kph.

Now, that may seem like kinda alot over the speed limit, and I guess it sort of is, but 12.5 mph on a main street just feels so painful... the 25.6 that I was going seemed so much more tolerable and certainly not dangerous. But who am I to argue with the Military Police?! I should just be glad I hadn't been on the street where the speed limit is 15 kph (9.3 mph)!

I accepted my ticket, looked it over and drove off reflecting back to what I'd been told on how these things work here.

I was not issued a fine, there are no fines for traffic violations on base except perhaps for alcohol related violations. Points will be assessed against my driving record as if I were going 41 mph in a 20 mph zone (which I think is poo, since I was only going 13 mph too fast, not 21). I can contest it, but the judge isn't likely to care (plus I was speeding, so I guess I deserve the ticket). If I get many more tickets on base, my license will be revoked for the duration of my stay here, as will my stateside license in such situation as I were to return to the states for a visit.

So, I guess it's no more Ricky Road Racer for me. Just Suzie Speed limit from now on. At least on base anyway...
Out in town, it may be more dangerous to follow the rules of the road than to break them.

Thrifty Thursday (eggs)

I fully stole this idea (by another name) from another blog I follow, which I have not linked here (Blogger friend, I believe you understand why I didn't, and hope you don't mind that I am pilfering your fantastic idea).

The idea behind Thrifty Thursday/otherly named is that in current times of economic hardship, it becomes more important for all of us to find ways to cut back on our spending. Many people already have things they do regularly that can be of help and/or interest to others. The idea of sharing those things to help other people is very compelling to me, so here I am hi-jacking the idea.

For my first Thrifty Thursday post I'm going to quickly discuss eggs. I haven't got alot of time for a blog just now and this subject just came up in my house today as I stood staring at quail eggs in my fridge that had been in there for who knows how possibly long, 1 week, 2, could it be 3?

Eggs don't necessarily go 'bad' once they pass the 'sell by' date. In fact, eggs can be left out on the counter for days and days and still be good. The trouble with eggs is that they are in a nice protective opaque shell that keeps you from readily seeing if they are still any good and no one wants to break open an stinky rotten egg in their house, thus, many eggs find their way to the dump becuase of uncertainty. Sure, eggs aren't a huge expence, but in todays economy, every penny counts!

So, here's my trick to avoid tossing out perfectly good eggs.

Fill a bowl, or pan with cold water about 3 - 4 inches deep, then place the suspect eggs into the water.
If they sink, they are still fit for consumption (it is very common for one end to sort of rise up, but as long as the other end is still resting on the bottom of the container, you should be good).
If they bob to the top, they should be tossed.

Now you can comfortably cross out your 'sell by' date on your egg carton and keep those eggs as long as they are good, rather than as long as the egg sellers want to go before you buy more...

Hope this doesn't freak anyone out whose eaten at my house, but I have kept eggs for as long as 2 months past the sell by date (perhaps could have kept them longer had I not used them).

Of course, don't take my word for it, give it a few test tries before just tossing your sinking eggs into your food.

Happy Thursday!

An apology

Sorry there haven't been any pictures lately. I've been taking them, and even have some from way back when I went to the castle, I just haven't been getting them on here. For whatever reason I have a terrible time getting the format right and the text ends up all over the place and I have to re size every picture before I can post it etc etc... I know, I'm a whiner. Sorry. It really just boils down to not having the time for it all sometimes. I really will try to get some pictures posted soon.

Fabric Shopping...

I finally found my fabric store! Okay, well, a fabric store. I'm far from owning it, though they did look like I might be buying it when I bought 14 yards of Mosquito netting today.

Just about everything it seemed was against me getting to the fabric store today... To start, when I tried to google the directions, I could get a basic map, but for some reason just couldn't seem to zoom in to get any idea what to look for in the way of landmarks, so I stared at and tried to memorize the Kanji of the intersection where I would need to turn (yeah, I probably could have printed it out). We were almost ready to go and it was snack time, then after much mess and mother evading by my daughter, we were almost ready again, only now it was lunch time. More mess, more evasion. Finally standing at the door putting shoes on and 'ewww, what's that smell?' Diaper change, more evasion, 'oh, I should pack a snack for this afternoon', and 2 hours after the first attempt to leave we were finally on our way... Out the door. Then there came the attempts to run off down the street (I should have realized this was just the beginning of things to come) and the sub-sequent screaming and fighting against being put into the car seat.

Finally we were on the road and headed down Rt 27 toward Rt 16. Within moments, DD was sound asleep. Probably due to the fact that she'd been up since 0530 when we got up to take dad to work so we could have the car for this particular adventure. Relieved, I relaxed and enjoyed the drive North out of this city and into Yokohama.

As I took in the new views and marveled at the surprising amount of English to be found on signs in a country where 90% don't speak English, I suddenly discovered that the lane I'd chosen was turning left and I was being forced off my intended route. Unwilling to risk life and limb in a desperate attempt to get over a lane, I accepted my fate and optimistically hoped that up ahead this road would cross one of the other roads I had intended to meet up with later. After about 10 - 15 minutes of driving, I found myself crossing under the tollway and knew that I would not indeed be finding my route, so began to search for a place to turn around.

Back on my route again, I began to scan the signs for my memorized Kanji. This can be a tough endeavour, as the signs may be on either the left side of the road or the right, and I missed my sign by being distracted by a huge blue sign, on my side of the road, about something else. Almost instantly, I had the feeling that I had missed my turn, but certain that I had not yet seen my sign, continued on ahead. After another 10 or so minutes, and my Rt veering off to the side in a way I didn't see in my google map, I became certain that I had missed my turn. At the next light I took a left (I really should know better by now). After which I was forced to take another left and head up a steep hill into a pretty neighborhood, where I took another left and finally found a place to turn around.

I headed down the hill and got back onto the street I'd left and went back the way I came, DD was now awake and starting to whine. I looked everywhere I could imagine this time and finally found my sign. Wheew! 'Don't worry baby girl, we'll be there soon'. The light turned green and I followed the car ahead of me into the intersection where we waited for an opening to turn across traffic and onto the road we wanted. The car ahead took the turn. I waited for the next opportunity. I heard a siren. I turned my head this way and that, and suddenly saw the Police Moped on the side of me. The Police man said something loudly over his headset megaphone and scowled at me, while he zipped past and made the turn. I followed him around the corner (Hey, there was an opening) and watched as he pulled over the car that had been ahead of me. I am pretty sure we made an illegal turn, as there was no turn lane and it was a very busy road. I learned my lesson today about following others... I'm guessing that the police man let me go because he realized that I was just being a dumb follower, and I'm guessing that the person he did pull over probably got their ticket along with a scolding for leading me astray.

After a few more turns (with turn lanes this time) and about an hour and a half from my departure, I found myself at the point that my map had indicated I would find Yuzawaya (the craft/fabric store). I began to look for any signs that said Yuzawaya, and saw nothing, but figured I should find a place to park and go from there. After another 10 minutes of circling around one way streets and what may have been a bike path (not really, but I almost had to fold in my mirrors to get through), I found a parking lot with open spots for 100 yen per 25 minutes. Not what I had hoped for, but by now, DD and I were just ready to get out of the car and get to the store.

Out of the car we hopped and began the 6 block walk to where we hoped to find our store. As we approached the front of the 4 story building, I tried to read the signs, while trying to keep DD from throwing herself out of my arms and onto the pavement (she really wanted to walk, but wouldn't hold my hand, so she was being carried). I saw nothing still that said Yuzawaya and headed toward the next building. Again, I knew I had passed where I was supposed to go and turned around to take a closer look at the signs. Lo and behold, there on one of the signs was a drawing of a ram with a ball of yarn, knitting. Oh, thank God! I hurried to the building and looked at the elevator map and discerned that I should go to either floor 3 or 4. We stepped onto the elevator and headed up. When it stopped, we stepped out into a wonderful crofter's dream. 2 full floors of paper, fabric, beads, a tailor (for men's suits and curtains), sewing machines and the list goes on...

I had much trouble keeping DD near at hand and trying to juggle bolts of fabric at the same time. There were no shopping carts, just hand baskets for your cut fabric or small items. At one point I almost left there empty handed because DD was trying my patience so badly and kept throwing herself on the floor (something I have still never seen a Japanese child do, they all seem so very well behaved, I think I need to ask for some parenting tips).

When I finally had all my goodies collected together and took them to the cutting table, I realized that I didn't really know how I was going to tell the lady how much I wanted of each fabric, so the charades and my limited knowledge of numbers ensued and all in all we worked it out and I headed to the cash register, where I was convinced to purchase a membership card for 500 yen in order to get 10% off all my purchases until I don't know when. It seems that almost every business has a membership card. I guess when there a millions of people and millions of stores, you need to be able to do something to try to ensure that people will keep coming to your store...

Anyway, much poorer and totally frazzled we headed back to the car, paid our 400 yen for parking and got stuck in traffic heading home, so what should have taken 53 minutes (google says), took us almost 2 hours. Next time, oh yes, there will be a next time, I am taking the train!!

Spring Festival

Sunday the base hosted the 16th annual spring festival. What a sight to behold!

Between the hours of 0900 and 1600 (9am-4pm) the entire south side of the base swarmed with thousands upon thousands of people (local Japanese Nationals), and dozens of huge hawks flying overhead looking for any opportunity to swoop down and catch a snack off the ground.



There were food booths, live music, a 1/4 mile line to buy American Pizza, line dancers, a play about the Samuri, and much much more.



What a strange feeling to be the native in the place that's full of tourists after three months now of being the tourist, and to have my daughter be one of the many tourist attractions. You see, she is pretty much the opposite in appearance to what the Japanese are used to seeing. As we walked along, me pushing an empty stroller and she, beside me, pushing her little dolly stroller with her dark skinned dolly in it, an older Japanese man motioned that he would like to take her photograph, as soon as I nodded and said 'hai', cameras came out of everywhere. It was like the most polite paparazzi ever, lol. Throughout the day she posed and smiled with her dolly for her adoring fans and even posed with a few people so they could have a picture of themselves with her. She ate up the attention and I learned a new Japanese word. Kawai (I probably spelled it wrong) means cute or beautiful, thanks to the translation of a passerby who stopped to tell me what so many women and men were repeating over and over. Many just adored and couldn't get over the fact that she is so very fair of skin and hair, yet doted on her little dark dolly and lovingly rubbed it's hair whenever people would point at it. This was the subject of many photographs.



I somewhat fear that this popularity and the relative safety of Japan may lead to difficulties when we get back to the states and she's not such a novelty and the people are not as likely to be as polite or (I hate to say it) honest. It is so safe here that I often see children as young as 4 or 5 out riding bikes by themselves or in groups of 2 or 3. Children are frequently out of mother's sight in department stores or grocery stores and it's no big deal, no one is going to sneak off with them to do bad things to them. That would be dishonorable (not to mention that certain crimes here are much more severely punished than in the states, something I think we should seriously consider). It's nice here too in that it's usually pretty obvious who she belongs to out of a crowd, since we are typically the only gaijin (foreigners) in a given area (except at the festival), and it would be pretty obvious to anyone around if someone else took her. I still insist on keeping her by my side, much to her chagrin since she sees so many other children her size, though years older, away from their mothers.

N. Korea

This will just be a short post as I have much going on lately and just don't have the time for posting.

I felt that this subject was important, since I've had many people asking me about it lately.

I know there is much concern in regards to N. Korea and their recent missile launch. To be completely honest, I don't really know much about it, and it really doesn't seem to be a big deal or concern to many folks around here.

What I do know is that day before yesterday, the base still opened the gates up to over 40,000 Japanese Nationals for the 16th annual Spring Festival (prior to the missile launch, though we knew they were talking about launching a 'rocket'). As of this morning (post launch), base security doesn't seem to be heightened any more than regular and it seems to be business as usual everywhere.

From what I hear, N. Korea has been doing these sorts of things for years and years and it's just not worth the stress to worry about it day by day. So, I don't know if that puts any one's minds at ease or if it stresses you out more. Basically the feeling I get is that the recent activity is not considered to be an imminent threat, so we might as well go about our business as usual.

Thank you all for your concern and love. I'll do my best to keep you posted on any new news from this end...