Lost in Translation - Part 1

(Friday, January 2 and Saturday, January 3)

I am writing this on my third day in Japan. I left Seattle on Friday, January 2 and arrived in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, January 3. Tokyo is 17 hours ahead of Seattle, but I like to think of it as Seattle is 7 hours ahead of Tokyo but a day behind. Upon arriving in Tokyo after the 10-1/2 hour flight, I boarded a PSNS chartered bus to travel to my final desination of Yokosuka. It was supposed to be a 1-1/2 hour bus ride, but there were accidents so it took us closer to 2 hours. There were a few shipyard workers that opted to take the train from the airport to Yokosuka, but then you have to drag your luggage around and it takes longer. Almost all of the signs in the airport and on the roads have both Japanese kanji symbols and roman characters (English).

I arrived at the Hotel New Yokosuka at around 8 pm local time or 3 am Seattle time. I checked in and found out that I was staying in the Tower Apartments which are right around the corner from the hotel. The apartments just opened last July, so they are very nice. The room is quite large by Japanese standards and includes a Queen size bed, flat screen TV, desk, kitchenette with 2 burner stovetop, microwave, small refrigerator, combo washer/dryer, and a good sized bathroom with a crazy cool toilet. The toilet has a seat heater, odor remover, and a couple spray options with different warm water pressure settings. The apartment is about 2 blocks from the main gate of the Naval Base.

I spent most of the first evening just unpacking and trying to stay awake. I called my lovely wife Denise at 4 in the morning and she was still awake waiting for my call. I love her so much and I will be missing her greatly until she arrives in early February. On my way between the hotel and the apartment I got propositioned by some local Japanese ladies for a "massage". I politely told them no, but it shows that I am in the Navy part of town.

(Sunday, January 4)

The next morning required getting up early to go to work for orientation, some training, and tours. The hotel offers a free breakfast in the morning which includes different fish, eggs, rice, veggies, french toast, fries, orange juice, cereal, fruit, and other goodies. I ate my breakfast using just chop sticks even though regular flatware is available. I could not eat the french toast with chop sticks, so I just had to pick it up with my fingers.

The Naval Base is good sized, so there was a lot of walking involved in checking out everything. It is similar to any regular base with the Navy Exchange (NEX), Commisary, Theater, Bowling Alley, Food Courts, Recreation Centers, etc. We stopped at one of the Navy Exchanges to check out the local souviners you can buy for a lot cheaper than in town. They have a lot of the regular American food joints with McDonalds, Starbucks, A&W, Subway, Popeyes, etc. We got a slice of pizza on base since we were hungry.

After leaving base we walked along Blue Street in Yokosuka which is a shopping district with electronic stores, department stores, clothing stores, and other shopping places. I need to spend more time exploring this area. We walked up Blue Street to the Yokosuka Chuo Train Station where we caught a train to Yokohama. There are three different trains that left this station. The black trains stopped at every train stop, the red trains stopped at 1/2 of the train stops and the green trains stopped at 1/3 of the train stops. We bought PASSMO cards that we could swipe to get in and out of the train station. It costs about 350 yen to get to Yokohama from Yokosuka.

For those that don't know, 350 Japanese yen can be approximately equated to $3.50. Right now, the exhange rate is not that good, but the conversion is still pretty close. Japanese society is a very cash driven society where credit cards are not used. Credit cards and American dollars are accepted on base, but Japanese yen is not.

It took us about 25 minutes to get to Yokohama after stopping at two other stops. Yokohama is a large metropolis south of Tokyo. It reminds of the Seattle-Tacoma Puget Sound corrider, but on a much larger scale. You could also relate it to the Los Angeles area, but again on a larger scale. We stopped at the Yokohama Train Station which had a half dozen other trains that stopped there. There were a lot of people at the train station even though it was a Sunday. Just outside of the train station was a mall that we checked out.

The mall was called the Diamond Mall and it was large. It was a huge sprawling mall that was setup in a grid pattern so you go down the main hallway and then there are branches left and right that connect to other hallways that go up and down. If I was not following someone around I would have been lost and they even got lost a few times. There was every type of store you could think of including shoe stores, grocery stores, and lots of restaurants that don't have any roman characters on their menus, so you just rely on the pictures or see if they understand some English.

We stayed in Yokohama for just about an hour before we got back on the train and headed back to Yokosuka. While waiting at the train station in Yokosuka we noticed some younger boys wearing what looked like a blue army outfit with a hat. I found out the outfits are actually school uniforms. Upon our arrival in Yokosuka we went back down Blue Street to go eat at a place called the Green Leaf.

Who knows what the real name of the Green Leaf is, but that is what our guide called it since the restaurant sign had a green neon leaf sign. The restaurant had menu options shown in the window to pick from. Most of us went outside to show the restaurant worker which one we wanted since we could not read the kanji symbols. I had to request a meal without seafood or shifudo in Japanese. I got a noodle dish with veggies (mainly different mushrooms) and some chicken. It was tasty and I did not have a reaction, so there must not have been any seafood in it. The meal costs me 830 yen including the green tea I got.

After eating and socializing we all went back to our rooms. I was exhausted and it was only 5 pm. I ended up falling asleep while watching TV and ended up going to sleep at 7:30 pm. I woke up a ton during the night starting at 12:30 am and about every 30 - 45 minutes after that.

(Monday, January 5)

I had set my alarm for 5 am in the morning, so I could keep up with the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens football playoff game. I watched a play by play of the game on cbssports.com. They ended up losing the game by the time I went to breakfast at 6 am. The game started at 3 am Japan time. I did not find a place on base that I could watch the game at.

I worked a full day today, but I starting dragging after lunch and I still have not recovered. After work I went to the commisary and bought groceries and some sleeping pills so I can try and get a good night's rest tonight. I bought some local Japanese food items at the commisary including some Lemonade Tea in a can, Japansese tea, and some green cheetos looking snacks. The Lemonade Tea was good for a green tea mixture. I drank it with my non-Japanese meal of Subway tonight on base. I hope to be a little more adventurous tomorrow night, but I am just too tired right now.

The other worry I have is my allergy to seafood which is difficult with the local Japanese food choices that include a lot of seafood. I made a little notecard that states that I am allergic to seafood in English and Japanese (kanji symbols and katakana letters) and it includes a picture of a fish being crossed out. I forgot to bring it with me yesterday, but I will carry it with me from now on. I am starting to drag majorly, so I am going to cut this short. I hope to add better pictures with the next post.