Getting Settled in JapanLand

Well we did it.  We arrived at Yokota Air Force Base via a lovely North American airlines Boeing 767. We enjoyed our own two seats, one with a window and a lovely view of nothing (it was cloudy the whole flight) and one with an aisle, giving us and our ears access to the 20 or so children under the age of 3 who must have been competing for loudest baby award.  But, Claire with her Ambien and me with my lack of recent sleep seemed to find a way to enjoy ourselves for the 10.5 hour flight.

This was at 6:30ish in the morning. Being Atsugi bound and a family, we were able to board on the early side and get situated.  All the half asleep passengers boarding afterwards were scoffing as I struggled to get the perfect shot, and this is what you get.  Claire was asleep only minutes later.

Finally, as we make our descent into Yokota, we left the clouds behind and got a view of the sprawling metropolis of Tokyo.  We saw some high rise buildings then it was what looked like house after house after house.  If there were city boundaries, they were indiscernible from the air.

Customs was quick, and, once we got our bags, we met our sponsor, Andy.  Thankfully, he brought us Japanese snacks and drinks refueling us for the hour car ride to NAF Atsugi.  We'll have to do a whole piece on their snacks and drinks because it's unlike anything I'd seen before.  Most of their snacks are something rolled in rice.  Everywhere you look its rice, rice, rice, but more on that later.

That evening we checked into our room and into the squadron.  While there, we got a glimpse of this:

This was the scene of the sun setting behind the mountains in the distance.  Mount Fuji is there, but it might be hard to see in this picture.  It might be easier in this one:

Fuji is the snowcapped mountain in the distance lit from the sun rising behind my back.  I hear the view goes away in the summer when the sky turns to a thick haze, so Claire and I are stocking up on stunning views while we can.

That first night our sponsor and his wife treated us to dinner at the local "sushi-go-round."  We liked this type of place because the food literally goes by the table on a conveyor belt and if it looks good, you grab it.  Ironically, Japanese sushi is more sashimi style (raw fish presented over white rice) as opposed to sushi rolls.  Then a waitress comes when you buzz her and counts the plates and prints your bill.  It's great because you can get an authentic meal without the anxiety of not really knowing what it is you ordered.  It was also reassuring to see it packed with 97% Japanese people.  It certainly was a local favorite.

The next night, however, we were on our own.  The intrepid duo we are, we set out on foot alone beyond the main gate of the base.  After a nice stroll, we settled on a restaurant that said "Restaurant" above the Japanese characters that could really have said anything.  Though there was no food conveyor belt, we were somewhat relieved to discover we had happened upon a 'picture menu' place:

This way we could at least just point to what we wanted, which we did.  To our faces, so far, the Japanese have been very pleasant and patient with us.  Hopefully this continues, because I have no doubt their patience will be tried to their utmost.  Fortunately, this meal turned out good.  We even found our stateside sushi restaurant staple, edamame, to start us off.  Paying was interesting.  When our receipt was presented it looked something like this:

If it didn't show the total in numbers, I would have just held out my wallet and said take as much as you need.  The one on the right is the one from the market we stopped by afterwards.  A quick preview to a market post; their produce is from another world.  Apples and peaches the size of your head, and all sorts of instrumental Christmas music playing on the loudspeaker to include a rendition of Feliz Navidad.  Yet, as we begin our house hunting, we are hoping to find something within walking distance of restaurants and markets that we can call our own.  

Speaking of house hunting:

Beautiful place right?! It's not ours.  It could be. But it won't, and here's why:

This is the stove.  Those cabinets are beneath it because there is no oven.  There is a small fish broiler.  To put 'small' into perspective think of your average toaster oven's cooking capacity.  The inside of this is maybe 1/3 that size.  Claire made a good point noting you couldn't cook more than 1 cookie at a time in there and pound cakes are out of the question.  But it did have some interesting features that are somewhat common in Japanese houses that I thought I'd share with you.

The first is this tatami room.  Its a small room with tatami mats on the floor and usually some very delicate, sliding doors.  I will hopefully have more information as to what a tatami mat is made out of as well as the sliding doors, but until then, this picture and wikipedia will have to do:

 Also notable features to a Japanese home are its bathrooms.  I know... an odd topic indeed.  If you're lucky you get a toilet with an electrically heated seat.  Also, there are no sinks on the walls in the bathrooms.  Instead there is a small sink on top of the tank of the toilet that automatically runs when you flush.  It's genius! Secondly, the bath/shower room is quite literally a room you go into, close the door and shower.  It looks like a luxurious use of space.  You really have to see it to understand it, so hopefully this picture helps.  I just can't wait to experience it for myself.

 Like I said, this isn't our place.  This is just the first place we looked.  The realtor, who didn't speak English, picked us up from the main gate and took us here and brought us back.  He opened all the storm shutters for us as well.  I wish I had a picture of the card he gave us.  It nothing but characters.  It's going to be interesting adjusting to this culture.

Speaking of culture (my last segue for the evening), our patient sponsor agreed to take our picture in front of Japaneseey things for our Christmas card.  Near their home are a few small temples and shrines, one of which was chosen for our card.  I'll leave you this evening with a cluster of photos from that shoot:

Oyasuminasai!