Arrival & Yokohama

Tomo, Momo, and me

Upon arrival in the Toyko airport, it was fairly clear that I was no longer in a dominantly English speaking country. The multitude of cartoons and English subtitled signs makes things easier to understand, however there are still a lot of things that don't have subtitles (for example, the people who are speaking to me in Japanese).

It really helped that the first night I had help from two new friends. Momo and Tomo were just wonderful. I can't thank them enough for helping me find my first meal in Japan and helping me find my way on the trains. Even with them, we got lost on the train system, but luckily we were quickly and easily back on track because... well, they spoke the language.

Once in Fussa, it was a matter of waiting for my friends and then being signed onto the Air Force base. After a tiny debacle with gates at the base being closed late, I made it; it's so good to be with friends and very funny to be in a little US bubble in Japan.

The next day Zeb, Gail, and I took the long and entertaining train ride to Yokohama. In each region the train stations play different songs, depending on the regions history, to signify that the doors of the train are closing. My favorite so far is one that reminds me of a ride at Disneyland. Coming in as a close second is one that reminds me of the first 30 seconds of the KCi & JoJo song "All My Life". It's pretty funny! :)

In Yokohama we had lunch in Chinatown, where we met a Chinese gentleman that spoke perfect English after having lived in North Carolina for 18 years. Go figure. It was a very nice lunch, even if I have a grudge against the Chinese at the moment because of events that have occurred in Australia with a few Chinese men. (That's a whole different story though; not to be told here.)

We then walked through a park which had a statue of the Goddess of Water and replicas of the California Mission Bells. According to the signage these had been given to Yokohama to celebrate the sister city of San Diego. I found it amusing that the bells were in Yokohama, but then it was only amusing because it had caught me by surprise. I suppose it's reasonable for those two cities to be sister cities. Why not?

The most fascinating part of the day was the Silk Museum. I never knew so much about silk. I really have a new appreciation for the fabric and silk prints. Did you know that it takes 900 silk worm cocoons to make one kimono, and something like 150 cocoons to make a silk tie?! The detail and patience that goes into making traditional Japanese paper prints for silk prints is just incredible. I do believe it may be a lost art. The video we had seen on it at the museum had been made in the late 70's, and even at that time there were not many people that made traditional paper prints. Just wild though really. I couldn't find a video of it, or information on it on the internet, but believe me... it was wild.

The final stop on our Yokohama trip included taking a trip on one of the world's largest ferriswheels. The views from the top were great, and at the bottom I took pictures of all of us by a Piccatu and Hello Kitty little kid's ride.

On the way back we hit rush hour and felt like we were packed into the train with half of Tokyo! It was good to get back to the base and have a wonderful dinner at a little noodle shop. Loved every bit of it.

I'm off to go explore more! Pictures to come!