This morning I check out of the Kanto Lodge, turn my base pass in, and go to Shinjuku. I am hoping it will not be a struggle. I have a ride to the Fussa train station, and the hotel is close to the train station in Shinjuku. But the sidewalks are very bumpy, and I have never been to the first hotel I am staying at. I mailed more-way more-than I intended to yesterday. I am glad we got US Post office privileges in the eleventh hour. The pack and ship store proprietor in the BX assured me he could pack wine and sake for mailing, so I trusted him. He and his wife pack things, and they are both Japannese nationals, so I trust them. We will see how it arrives, though. Maybe a soggy box stinking of stale liquor.

I am looking forward to "relaxing" in Shinjuku. No work, no coworkers, no base, no beige painted buildings with the same surfacing materials, no military, no MP's, not camouflage, no bugles. I am not really looking forward to turning my cell phone on at home. There is something nice about being unreachable. You don't worry about too many people trying to call, you don't worry about why no one calls. There are no calls. I will be back in town on Monday morning. I am starting to get anxious to return home. I miss everyone.

We got things done. We finished our inspection yesterday, even had shabu shabu with our POC for lunch. We sill focus on packing the samples up and shipping them off today. Hopefully I will also have time to figure out what I am going to ship out. Luckily we can use the US Post Office on base. I will be staying at two hotels in two nights-I don't know what I was thinking, but I really wanted the late checkout at the Prince hotel, so I will be there Sunday night. I started to assess the things I have acquired and the things I will throw away. It's not looking good. The little items bought really add up-and I am not done yet...

The temperatures dropped again last night. This morning it is crisp and sunny. Probably in the low 60's? You really need to pack everything from a tank top and shorts, to a sweater and raincoat when you are here at this time. Last night we went to eat gyoza. My work partner has been wanting to eat that, she apparently loves gyoza. So we met Randy in Tachikawa and he took us, minus DL, he had another stomachache. There were maybe 6 different types of gyoza. Cheese, garlic, house special, mini. Those are the ones we tried anyways. They give you ponzu, ume paste, curry salt, mixed salt, and of course shoyu and vinegar and chili oil in which to dip. There was a 300yen happy hour-but they make their drinks weak. I have been drinking sawaa-or sours. Shochu and whatever flavor it is you get. I got some sort of citrus-sachiga? sachigu? I don't remember. My coworkers were telling me there was better shabu shabu in Shinjuku, which I may check out this weekend. It was good yesterday. It makes me miss pho even more. The fresh veggies, the simple meat. I think we are going to try to hit that cheap sushi place tonight-as s ort of goodbye thing. I am excited-cheap ikura!

I am disappointed this morning. The hotel I was going to stay at is booked. I have a couple of alternatives, but I will need to have a Japanese speaker make my reservations. We also thought we would be done with our inspections yesterday, but at 1210pm, they asked us to do two more ridiculous things. One was a complete re-inspection of the Commissary, there was one, the report is complete, the store manager was ready to shoot us on site if we tried to come back to inspect. Did our POC try to talk to the manager for us? No. We talked them down from a complete waste of time and effort re-inspection, but they also added a whole new building. A big one with lots of offices, and built in 1946. The older the building, the longer it usually takes because of the potential for layers of building materials. So we had to start that yesterday afternoon. Not only that, but a threat was put out that if we did not do the building, future contracts would be out of the question. We fulfilled the contract 41 buildings, plus 9 extra buildings they tacked on during the course of our stay. But there are some dirty players involved on their side. Ah well, so another day of inspection, and cramming paperwork tonight and tomorrow.

Yesterday I was thrilled to see suzumebachi-the Giant Japanese Hornet. I had heard about this nasty devil, seen an entire NatGeo special on their lethal characteristics, I didn't think I would get to see one, and I was almost frozen scared as I am with most flying insects, particularly flying-stinging-strategy using guys. But I was fascinated. They are as scary as they sound. Giant, like hummingbirds, striped abdomens, moving with purpose, as if they know you're there, and you are lucky they aren't coming for you as you stare. My partner was freaked out. I made her pass me the work camera to snapa picture-at one point I ran into the boiler building we were inspecting, sure it was after me. But I peeked back from behind a blazing hot steam pipe, and saw it back at the tree we were observing it at. I ventured back and snapped a few pictures, then we got out of there. I had forgotten the japanese name for it, so my partner showed one of the Japanese workers the photo-to which he replied: "Ahh! Suzumebachi! DAYNJAH!" Oddly enough that was very thrilling for me, like catching a glimpse of a celebrity. Oh boy. I think I need to re-organize my priorities...

Well-it is final-we finish work on Friday. My coworkers are so anxious to go home, they have decided not to go to Kyoto, and so instead of spending a small fortune going alone, I have opted to spend a couple of nights in Shinjuku at a decent hotel-Tokyo Prince- from Saturday. I think I will be flying out of here on Monday night, depending on availability. I am myself getting a little anxious to go home-mainly to indulge in pho and the ocean-but I do miss everyone as well.

So I “promised” a recount of Sunday’s activities. My two coworkers and I had planned to go to Disneyland, or DisneySea, as it were. While not my first choice in activity, like I said-I was a little tired of venturing on my own. I have actually heard from a few sources that Tokyo Disneyland is worth seeing, although being that the advice came from grown men who went on their own, I am not sure how reliable the information was. But the choice was made to go to DisneySea, as there is none in the states. It is an approximate 2 hour commute to the place, with one transfer at Tokyo station. But they had agreed to stop off at Shinjuku station so I could try the Beard Papa there (you have to get it from the homeland, right?!). But alas, at 10am-it was closed! Oh well, maybe on our way back. So back on he train, change at Tokyo station for a subway line. And we went seemingly into the bowels of the earth to get to the train platform-conveniently enough, there was a big painted red trail that led to it, and that goodness because Tokyo station was a maze. A crowded maze. I will have to go back there before I leave.

Finally, we arrive at the Maihama stop, aka Disneyland. On the train there were already a few others obviously going to the same place. A mother with her toddler in a stroller-the toddler dressed in a red and white polka-dotted dress, the stroller adorned with a Lilo and Stitch bucket with a strap, various Minnie mouse books and charms, and a bottom mesh compartment with even more Disney-themed paraphernalia. The mother herself had a purse with mini dolls of Minnie and Mickey hanging from the zipper. It looked like they were going for the umpteenth time. At one stop before Maihama, the mother busily tucked a Minnie Mouse doll into the arms of the child. Of course, the doll was wearing the same outfit…And this was only a glimpse of the kinds of people in the park itself. When we got in, we found that DisneySea is a various culture-themed park built around a roughly ring-shaped lagoon. There was American Port, Mediterranean, South American, you get the picture. What struck me was the people actually in the park. There were many more adults than there were children. Adults in mouse ears, tiger ears, Stitch ears. Adult men in ears and hats. And that bucket with the strap I saw hanging uselessly and empty on the stroller of Minnie Mouse toddler? Obviously a souvenir popcorn bucket. For 1400yen, you get your flavored popcorn in that bucket-refills for 500yen. Most people sported a bucket around their necks or on their shoulders. I saw chocolate, sea salt, curry, black pepper, and caramel popcorn carts throughout the park. We rode a ride or two. The waits were about 20 minutes in line for rides, much better than we thought it would be. But they have a “Fastpass” option, where you obtain a ticket with an assigned time to return to the ride and get in an express lane, we did it once, but after that the wait times were really only about 10-15 minutes. We ate lunch at the Amazon area, which had Mexican food. They had these soft tacos, which were filled with meat sauce that tasted more Italian. But the soft tortilla shells were pretty good. Turns out they make them there fresh. On our way out, we saw a window in which a lady was feeding dough into a flattener, which spit out tortillas, and sent them through an oven. I was surprised by that. I opted out of the roller coaster that did a 360degree loop, and people watched instead. A lady on the bench next to me started to take the plastic off of three plush dolls she had bought. One Stitch doll in his Elvis gear, one Stitch doll in hula gear, and one Duffy the Bear in some sort of pleather garment. She proceeded to arrange them on the bench while her husband looked on almost admiringly. When they were sitting just right, with Duffy’s arm around Elvis Stitch’s shoulders, and hula Stitch looking sassily forward, she snapped 5 photos of them. Before the last photo, she made Duffy put his arm around hula Stitch’s shoulder instead, leaving Elvis Stitch looking sultry and facing slightly downward. It was quite a spectacle, that did not seem to be a spectacle in this surreal land.

One thing I had heard about Tokyo Disney was the characters-like Cinderella with an Asian face and blonde wig. This was not true at DisneySea. Alladin, Jasmine, Indiana Jones and Cruella DeVille were all played by haoles. At first I though that they might have hired “little people” to wear the full costume characters- then I remembered where I was, and realized that my height was average. Are the characters that short at Disneyland in California? I don’t recall. We pretty much hit everything in the park, including a ride that I never would have agreed to had I known it was a straight drop. It was in an “elevator” in a haunted house, and had we understood Japanese, we may have known the story, as it was, we got into the elevator which lifted us up to a floor of ‘ghosts’, then darkness in which we dropped slowly for a little while, then a window to the actual outside is opened up, showing us how high we were in the tower, the park dwarfed below us. At that point I freaked out. I screamed and tried to push myself out of my seat, a half-hearted attempt to escape the ride at the last minute. Then the window shut, and we dropped. My stomach hit the roof of my mouth and various expletives erupted from my mouth-thank goodness there were only Japanese people on the ride-then we stopped, and I knew we hadn’t fallen all the way. I knew another drop was coming. Sure enough I felt the thing lift a little, then a window opened again. This time I shut my eyes and put a look of terror on my face, not voluntarily. We dropped again, and I think I discovered a new curse. A trio of bad words perhaps never used together, but flowing so effortlessly and clearly from my hoarse throat. The ride finally ended with me none the worse for wear, except for a couple of wobbly knees, proving once again that I do not do well with the anticipation of anything. We saw a mini show at the American port-all in Japanese, but understandable, and watchable in that broad Disney way. It was 6pm when we finally headed out with our obligatory few souvenirs. Amazingly enough, they were game to stop back at Shinjuku to try Beard Papas. Thankfully they were open, even had a few people in line. I got a twisty donut looking puff pastry shell for my filling. I ate it while they got their train tickets. I’m not a sweets person, but it was satisfying. What was good about the shape I got, was that the ratio of filling to pastry was perfect. Usually there is too much filling for the pastry. Luckily we were able to get seats on the train back to Fussa. The day left me exhausted. The walk back to the base seems so long at the end of a long day-a mile becomes four. Sorry this was so lengthy, but rest assured, this blog will end soon.

It looks like my first Japan experience is winding down. We have finished our 43 buildings ahead of schedule, including a few extras. We will spend tomorrow and maybe Wednesday morning making sure we get all the loose ends and then wrap the paperwork up. On the one hand I am sad to not get the full extra week here, on the other, my coworkers are getting antsy and starting to complain incessantly about how they wish they were home, and it would not be a fun last week anyhow. Unfortunately I do not feel that I can tell them that their attitudes will not make the time go faster, nor can I tell them that they can spend the same amount of time being happy instead of miserable and be better off. I thank mom and dad for that bit of wisdom and attitude position. It is by far the healthiest way to see things. And of course, the crown jewel of advice pertaining to work, courtesy of mom and dad: If things are that bad, you have the power to change them, so change them, or don’t complain. But no, I do not know them well enough to dispense such rich tidbits, nor do I think they would respond well to such parental commentary. Not to mention that both have husbands back home, which would make advice from a single girl that much more dismissive. C’est la vie. I will have to see if my company will allow me extra time here or not. I know a few days are ok-but a “few days” have not been defined.

This past weekend I opted to spend some time with my coworkers. I was tired of exploring by myself, trying in vain to get pictures with me in them, but succeeding in getting only my magnified forehead, or magnified and distorted face with maybe a shard of my surroundings. I lost a screw to my tripod, but even with the tripod it is so crowded and bustling, it is almost impossible to set a shot up. Well on Saturday after we worked on paperwork in the morning, we went to Kichijooji, a supposed “quiet” and “laid back” area. An “escape from the bustle of the city”. One step out of the train station said otherwise, A narrow street, crowded with flags and stores, buses honking as they navigate down the street, tons of people, bicyclists, families….It was chaos-but of course the organized chaos of Japan. They ought to trademark that. We grabbed a bite to eat at a ramen shop, and tried to head for the park- the jewel of the area. On the way we poked our heads into a few fusball shops for one of my coworkers, a few hat shops for me, and we finally found the park. As with seemingly every park in Tokyo and surrounding areas, it was packed. Every bench was taken, the bicycle parking area had at least 500 bicycles-none locked, and the amount of people walking around was like Ala Moana Shopping Center on a Saturday. There was a pond with carp, turtles and ducks, an ancient and undated shrine, and boat rentals. While nice in a non-concrete way-it was by no means an escape from the bustle of the city. We stopped in Tachikawa after that to check out a few shops, but my coworkers are of the low stamina type, and soon feet were being complained about, lateness (1900!) was fretted over. Back to the base. I picked up a piece of saba and a musubi trio from the Japanese WalMart for my dinner. I am going to meet Randy for dinner and give him all the supplies I carried for the Japan office, so I will-unfortunately for you poor blog follower-recount Sunday’s activities tomorrow

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOTHERS!

It looks like we might finish the job early. I am a little disappointed, but grateful at the same time. This week my partner keeps mentioning how she wants to be home already. It gets tiresome, but I can understand the sentiment, as everyone here has a spouse at home. My only worry was not being able to go to Kyoto. But it seems maybe we will work next week and that is it, perhaps go to Kyoto then come home. I can only hope, but not too much. I am tired of the base, a little tired of trying to explain myself when I can't speak Japanese back to other Japanese persons, other than that, I have no real reason to want to return home so soon. We may go to Disney Sea this Sunday, not my first choice, but I am tired of exploring by myself, and would like the company of other people, no matter how little I may get along with them or not.

I woke up late yesterday morning-so this post was supposed to be for yesterday. I think the power went out last night, as one of the alarm clocks was blinking, it's a good thing I brought my cock from home which remembers the time, and ordered a wake up call...
It is small wonder that none of us are sick here. The temperatures are all over the place. The first week it was around the 70’s, then it dropped to the low 50’s and rainy, then it got to the 80’s, and now it must be in the 60’s. It rains and chills, the sun comes out and it’s like a mini heat wave. It is rainy now, and cold. I hope it clears up tomorrow, as the rain usually washes the haze out of the atmosphere, perhaps Mt Fuji will be visible.

I am getting several questions about re-connecting with my roots, my homeland, the “motherland”-or is it “fatherland”? I have to say I do not feel particularly connected to the people I have met or encountered so far. I feel like I need to keep on looking-to the country, the seaside, the less populated areas. I do not know if this has to do with my own personality, or if it more instinctual. Are my feelings that the city folk are not my “folks” coming from somewhere in my blood? Can I feel that my ancestors were not well-to-do aristocrats or even “important”? Is it possible that the likely fact my ancestors were all peasants runs through my veins and has affected my current person? I don’t know, but the only things I feel connected to is the fact that their snacks and foods are more focused on the savory side, their polite veneer, and disdain for obnoxiousness in public. I am enjoying Japan, as it does turn out not to feel too foreign or strange. I never feel that lost or alone. I am surprised at that. Considering the sheer size and human density of Tokyo, I thought I would need constant escort and guidance. I thought I would f eel lost and dwarfed. While it does get claustrophobic at times, I feel safe and comfortable. I can blend in for the most part, a true anonymous face. I get occasional second glances as I do not dress like them, nor do I exhibit the small mannerisms that characterize the Japanese woman. Sometimes I suspect it is when I smile and my teeth are straight. I see there is still no national interest in dentistry here.

In any case-I am still searching for the people that can tug at my figurative roots, if at all possible. I came close today to one of the maids here at the lodge. A tiny bird of a Japanese woman who tried to speak to me in Japanese, but then used very limited English to talk to me. Under her work clothes she wore a tall sock, under the tall sock she had on stockings, and under the stockings she had a Satohap patch on her calf. She said it was because she was old and sore. She asked if I had an umbrella for the rain, and where I was from. Idle questions asked by many of the people, but there was something in her eyes that seemed familiar and comfortable. Maybe I could just sense genuineness, maybe I connect with the “common” person better. Whatever it was, I know we will be friendly from now on.

This a bad picture of fugu at the Tsukiji market. They are very strict about not taking pictures in certain places, particularly retail places, so I was nervous about moving the plastic to get a better picture. And sometimes you never know where you can and can't take pictures. I am trying to figure out what "butterfish" is in Japanese-anyone know?

Ueno Zoo-Tanuki. Sumida-gawa River and jet-skiers.














Some pictures. Tsukiji Central Market. The crowd at Ueno Zoo. Cosmo gas station. Tsukiji fish market-after the auction. My sushi meal-minus the chu-toro-I almost forgot to take a picture . Sorry, I don't know how to make it look nice and organized...

I am somewhat refreshed after an almost regular weekend. I missed the memo on not working on Saturday, so I got up early and arrived for the 730am meeting which no one showed up for. Nothing doing, I decided to go to Tsukiji. But I missed the auction, as it ends around 930am or so. There were guys loading trucks with their styrofoam boxes, still a few vendors open in the fish market. I didn't really know where I could and couldn't go, so I tried to stay close to families with babies, as I figured they'd be safe wherever they went in there. It is amazing, you get off the train at Tsukiji station, and you can smell the fish. The market is right behind the station. I was determined to at least eat sushi, and see the market. I worried at first that because the auction was over there would be no one around, but I turned a corner and there were hundreds of people-tourists, visitors, hawkers, everyone. There are small sushi stalls in a small area right next to the hangar docks where the styrofoam was being loaded into trucks. 3 alleys, about 25 or so stalls. Each advertised some sort of specialty set or food. There were two-whose menus I could not see/read-which had lines of at least 100 people each, snaking in a semi-organized way out into the street. I got into a shorter line, and still waited over an hour to get in to eat. There were only about 12 seats. The fish was super fresh. What I am assuming was flounder was even a tad crunchy-thats fresh. I even ate some kind of raw clam that had green oozing out, but I could not ask for a replacement, because I only practiced how to ask for things"without shrimp", and they made big noise when I asked for it without shrimp, and I had to strain to figure out he was asking me what I wanted as a replacement, and I was not sure what kind of clam it was, so i kept my mouth shut. It was good, though. The ikura I was disappointed in. I have had better. Afterwards I perused the Central Wholesale market, which was like a giant Chinatown. It was nice-there was a stand that sold scallops in shell, and they roasted it for you, another had fresh sea urchins-you scoop the uni out yourself, fresh oysters, and everyone had fish, crab, lobsters. There were vendors with only dried foods, some with only knives-beautiful expensive knives, kitchenware...It was also exahausting, but I wanted to see the river, so I wound my way to the Sumida-gawa river. That was nice. People walking their dogs, the sound of the water...I am definitely not a big city person, that has been solidified.
Sunday I got ditched. My coworkers said they were probably going to go to Ueno, they would give me a call. I waited in the morning, then called them, feeling the day wasting. No answer, so I left them a message that I went ahead to Ueno. Ah well, another day solo sightseeing. It was a madhouse. I got off the station at Ueno, and like the fish at Tsukiji station, as soon as the doors open you smell nothing but sugary treats. I stopped to put some money on my train card, and when I turned back around to go out of the turnstiles, there appeared-almost silently-a crowd of about 300 people all pushing their way through the turnstiles. This was to be the majority of my day. There were thousands of people in the area. Thousands at the zoo. For 600yen, I could not resist going to the Ueno Park Zoo. They normally have giant pandas, but not yesterday. But there were still thousands of people in there. I have never been shoved by so many grandparents carrying grandkids. While the Japanese are super polite-they apologize profusely if they bump you in the train while standing-when it comes to moving on and off the trains, getting through turnstiles, or trying to see the Japanese Field Mouse in his cage at the zoo, all bets are off, grandmothers and teenagers alike will shove you, especially if you aren't shoving the people before you. There are so many people here, I can see why they do it. If not you get left in the lurch. You don't get to see the Japanese Field Mouse cleaning himself, you get pushed right along to the dwarf mongoose, whose cage is so big, you can't miss them, and whose faces are apparently not so "kawaii", they get almost scoffed at. Well, I gave up really trying to see the exhibits, and marvelled at the people instead. I only wanted to see the raccoon dog, "tanuki". I did, and was disappointed it only slept and looked like a small raccoon. As usual I felt my pangs of guilt at caging the animals, particularly because their enclosures were so small for the most part. There was a gorilla that was bent forward with a burlap sack covering his head, as the children banged on the glass in unison screaming at the top of their lungs. I would have given the gorilla a pistol, had I one in my posession-he looked that bad. Meeting time. Pictures later.