It was a relatively relaxing evening planned with just dinner. I met up with Trevor, Kevin, and Karen to go have dinner at a secret place. Karen took us to a small restaurant that is nearby the main gate of the naval base that she was not supposed to take us to. The place was so small that Karen's friend was worried about letting too many people know about it and having it get too crowded. It was a small place with enough recessed seats for 10 people and one cook/waiter/cashier.
We took off our shoes at the door and then had to step into our seats at a bar type table. The menu consisted of 8 wood boards with kanji letters up on the wall. The cook specialized in katsu which is the breaded meat that is fried. I ordered curry chicken. The cook takes out the chicken and every elses meats and then starts preparing all of them at the same time in front of us. It reminded me of In-and-Out Burger with the preparation line that you can watch them prepare your food for you. Denise thought my comparison was silly. Anyways, the food took a little while to come out, but it was so good going down. I can't wait to take Denise there soon after she gets here.
(Saturday, January 24)
We headed to Enoshima Island which is northwest of Yokosuka. It is located just across the water and is connected to the land by a car bridge and pedestrian bridge. The way used to open up during low tide when people could walk across to the island. We took two separate trains to Enoshima with the second train going right next to the water with lots of beaches and surfers. That is right, there were a ton of surfers out there. It was quite crowded and reminded me of the good surf spots at Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. The waves were San Diego sized in spots.
Enoshima is a mythical island that has been part of the Japanese culture for a long time. Dragons are a big theme with the island, so there are dragons everywhere. There are a couple big shrines, flowers, performers, shopping, observation tower, and caves on the backside. The weather was nice while we were there, but the sunny skies hid the cold air and super wind that tried to knock us off the observation tower. Once I put on my third layer, I was good to go.
We experienced some Shinto rituals with this knot circle that we had to go through three times; twice counter-clockwise and once clockwise. Then there was the water bins all over where you fill a ladle with water and use it to wash one hand, drink out of that hand, then wash the other hand. There was also a spring that you can wash your coins with holes in them (5 and 50 yen) to bring you great riches. You can also throw your coins into a metal bin with bars. It reminded me of a fair game after my coin bounced out after a great shot.
We got to the top of the island and went up the observation tower. From the observation tower you can see the entire island and the surrounding area. It was quite a few, but the wind was howling. You could see Miami Beach. Not the Miami Beach you are thinking of, but the Japanese version. I could not see the resemblance. There was also a garden near the observation tower with daffodils of different colors. It reminded me of Denise and I taking our engagement pictures.
After cresting the island we headed back down to the other side where there was a cave to explore. The views from this side of the island were amazing with the sun hiding behind the clouds and the rock formations. It was quite peaceful just looking out over the water. The cave was formed by years of the waves eating away at the side of the island building the cave. The cave was cool, but not as rustic as I would like. There was electric lights lining the sides and grating above to protect any rocks from falling on you. There was one part that was fun where they give you a candle on a ladle and you walk along a darker part of the cave. There were some relics along the sides of the wall.
Afterwards we headed back towards Yokosuka, but we took a suspended monorail northeast from Enoshima to Ofuna. It was a lot of fun especially with the corners where the car moved up and towards the outside of the corner. It was like a cheap roller coaster ride cruising above the local streets. From Ofuna we took the train south back to Yokosuka. We headed to Patrick's rental house for a little get together. We cooked up some burgers and hot dogs to have a good old American barbecue. Once the sun went down it got super cold, but we did have the barbecue indoors.
(Sunday, January 25)
Two weeks until Denise will be arriving from Seattle. I can not wait until she gets here. These next couple of weeks are going to be tough waiting for her since I miss her so much and I am excited that she is coming soon.
We headed to Yokohama in the morning. Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan and is a short 30 minute train ride north of Yokosuka. We planned on visiting the Kirin Brewery and checking out Chinatown. Kirin is the number one beer in Japan and can be related to Budweiser in the states. I think the beer is very tasty and it is about the only beer I have been drinking in Japan. The brewery was located in the suburbs, so it took another 30 minutes to get there from the Yokohama train station.
We went on the brewery tour that lasted about one hour. Everything was in Japanese, but they did give us an English guide to help us through the tour. The guide was very basic, but gave you a good idea on what the different parts of the tour entailed. It was a guided tour that did not allow much stopping to check things out. They did have screens that had animations or video of the brewery operations. Being a Sunday, the brewery was not in operation so no conveyor belts were moving and no beer bottles were being filled up. At the end of the tour we had two drink coupons to use on three different types of Kirin beer.
After we were done with the brewery we jumped back on the train to head back towards Yokohama station. From the main station we took the local subway line to get within walking distance of Chinatown. Yes, Japan has a Chinatown and Yokohama has the largest Chinatown in Japan. We wanted to go to Chinatown today because it was Chinese New Year's Eve. I was thinking that we have huge New Year's Eve celebrations in the states, but not in Chinatown. It was jam packed with people, but there was nothing special happening inside. Today, I found out that the celebration starts today and lasts for two weeks. I might go back once Denise gets here or just forget about it. The Chinatown in San Francisco was much cooler.
We left early and headed back to Yokosuka. I was okay with that since I wanted to get back in time for Lost. Lost is on the Armed Forces Network on Sunday nights here in Japan. I am happy enough to actually be able to watch my favorite TV show. I tried to watch it online at abc.com, but I could not view it since I live outside the USA. I think they block it because the commercials only apply to an American audience and they are probably worried about pirating. I watched 3 hours of Lost to finish off the weekend.
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