I am relaxing, drinking free beer, and snacking on kakimochi and peanuts, black pepper cookies, orange cookies, and candy. I just had a shower with 4 showers sprays hitting me. I love JAL. Steve introduced me to the "regular lounge". This is great. If I had known I could have come here last time, I would have arrived at the airport for my flight 8 hours early. The regular lounge has all free snacks and food. Free drinks from juice to hard alcohol, you serve yourself. Make your own drink. There are TVs, newspapers, showers, massages, massage chairs,and WiFi. This makes travelling that much better. The showers were clean, you have towels, they have amentities, you have 30 minutes in a private little oasis. There are free storage lockers for your carry-ons. The beer is not any old draft beer, it's Asahi Super Dry, the glasses are kept in refrigeration, the beer comes out of a dispenser that tips your glass and pours a near perfect glass of beer. I wonder if there is a JAL lounge in Hawaii...Steve and Jessie are in the First Class lounge, but I don't think I am missing anything. The shower is especially great since you get so filthy travelling to the airport. Ahhh. Home soon, which will be nice, but you can't deny this pleasure...

Thsi morning we tried to catch an early train to Camp Zama, but there was a delay. We spent the next 2 and a half hours on crowded trains. Because of the delays, every train was crowded beyond belief. I was contorted, my arm was smashed, and I was elbowed numerous times in the face and chest. On one train, there were children being nearly crushed. They were crying out. Asking for translation later, we found out they were crying that they could not breathe. It was the most crowded train I have ever been on, and I realized that trying to stay on the edge near the seats is the wrong move. Your body has more give, so they push you over. At one point, my hands were up on the train wall, I was straddling some old man's knees and stepping on his feet. I was using all my strength to stay upright, as my body was being pushed to the left. It was more stressful than rush hour traffic. This was more personal. We found out later that the delay was caused by another train suicide. I also found out that if you commit suicide in front of the train, your family is financially responsible for time lost and damages caused. Talk about a selfish way to go.

Tonight it is storming in Shinjuku. Rain, thunder, lightning. The clear plastic umbrellas are out in force. I rallied for shabu shabu for dinner, but we were unable to find the place the hotel recommended. A restaurant hawker tried to help us find it, but when we still could not, we went to the restaurant he was hawking. They had one type of shabu shabu. Lettuce shabu shabu. It came with what looked like an entire head of lettuce, some enoki mushrooms, pork, leeks and tofu. The liquid was an actual broth. It was interesting to say the least. It turned out fairly well. The lettuce tastes like spinach when cooked in the broth, and the broth was tasty. We also ordered some meat sticks and garlic steak. The meat sticks were too rich for my blood. It was supposed to be some sort of chicken part, but it tasted like pork fat. I had one niblet from one, and was satisfied. We topped it with some king crab pieces. Grilled. It was surprisingly good. they serve it with a vinegar based dipping sauce. The grilled crab made the shell easy to crack, and it was fresh. All in all, quite a satisfying meal. I don't know if I will ever run into lettuce shabu shabu again. When we left the place, it was pouring. The same hawker was there at the exit, and he let me use his umbrella to cross the street to the hotel. Randy took it back, as he and Steve were obligated to meet with a client to drink. Poor guys. We are all so tired, and that client wanted to drink. Luckily I have to leave Shinjuku at 530 am to finish the Camp Zama inspection, so sleeping early is requisite.

I am looking forward to falling asleep to the sound of thunder and the intermittent flashes of lightning. Somehow, the inclement weather makes Tokyo seem that much more real. It is comforting. At least the rain is keeping the weather cool. Honolulu in the nineties??!?! Can I detour home to Alaska?

Return to Shinjuku

I am back in the Tokyo area. After consecutive six days of 10-11 hour days in mostly abandoned buildings, we finished one day ahead of schedule and none the worse for wear. We had a near calamity when on the very last room of the very last building, a tank over flow pipe was bumped and water spewed out. After a few panicky moments, and a small flood on the concrete floor, the water was stopped, and the engineering squadron assured us it should be fine. It was an interesting project. We surveyed a lot of old abandoned industrial buildings, from Boy Scout facilities and a pet hotel, to 144 ft sq sheds and bunkers, we saw a fair amount of Misawa Air Base. My favorite was the old bunker. A tiny house above ground, leading down steep steps to a concrete bunker underground. The majority of the buildings had no electricity, so we worked with headlamps and lanterns, teeth chattering against the cold.

As we left Misawa, I shivered on the train platform, saying out loud that I was savoring the cold, as Tokyo was reading in the mid seventies and Honolulu at 92, and the upper 80's. I am not sure how accurate my weather app is on the iphone, but I swear, it said Honolulu was 92 Fahrenheit at 1030am Monday, Japan, so 330pm Sunday, Hawaii. In any case, I shivered, sniffled, and enjoyed my last few moments of 55 Fahrenheit. It is warmer in Tokyo, though thankfully, cloudy. We start a new inspection tomorrow at Camp Zama. It is a clinic, and seems large. We have two days, so we should be able to get it done. I have never seen Camp Zama yet, so that will be nice. I also can meet our Army Corps contact, with whom I have corresponded, but never met.

I have also found that these tiny pre-fab bathrooms in the hotels work great as saunas when the hot water is turned on. I have been taking daily shvitzes-it is so refreshing either in the morning or at the end of the day.

Sushi Tyme

On Thursday night I had the best sushi. Finally convinced my coworkers to eat out. I wanted sushi, something not too expensive. We ended up at another cheap looking rotary sushi place. The signs outside said something about 105yen. This one was almost completely computerized. The waitlist was through a touchscreen system. The sushi still goes around on the belt for the most part, but if you want to order something, there are touch screens at every table. Hit a few buttons, and a few minutes later, your order comes by on second level track-like a mini train. You take your order off the train, press a button, and it disappears. It reminded me of Mr.Rogers' train to the creepy puppet land.

But this was no ordinary sushi. This sushi happened to have the freshest fish I have tasted outside of my own catch. The negitoro was buttery, the raw scallops were so sweet. The ikura was perfect. The hamachi....everything was absolutely excellent. Lots of aku, clam miso soup. Every single thing I ate was taste perfect. The real jaw-dropper was the price. Yes-as apparently the flags advertised- 105yen for each plate. The clam miso ran 157 yen, desserts about 210 yen, the beer 510yen, but every fish, shellfish, snail, you name it, was 105yen per plate. Forget ambiance, forget ceramic dishes, what is important is good ingredients, and this place-hands down-had the best I have ever had in my life. It is called Kappa, and I take this over the sushi I had 50 yards from Tsukiji fish market. I ate to bursting, regretting the beer I ordered, as it took up precious stomach space. The next night I also saw a tray of scallops still in the shell at the market-seven scallops for 100yen. This is a seafood paradise.

I regret I haven't many pictures. But if anyone thinks I am soo lucky, here are a couple of pictures of where I typically am spending the majority of my time. Large abandoned, boarded up buildings, note the glass on the floor, the spider eggs in all the corners. Nice, huh? Today when I opened one door, 4 large spiders ran to hide.

Misawa

Japan has accepted me back for a second time within a month. I never thought I would be able to leave for international travel at a moments notice, but I guess we always surprise ourselves. I should not even unpack when I go home. I am happy to be in Misawa. The climate is cool, similar to San Francisco. Maybe even the Pacific Northwest. The base here is huge compared to Yokota. Huge and prettier. Everyone kept saying that this was country, that there was nothing here. That is very wrong. It is a city outside the base, perhaps country compared to Tokyo, but most definitely a city. It is quiet, but there is no lack of buildings and amenities. On base there are hills and trees and a lake with a mini beach. I dare say some parts are even beautiful. When we were driving with our POJ, a squirrel ran across the road! A squirrel! I saw no squirrels in Tokyo.

After two nights in Sagamiono, which is where our Japan office is, we took the Shinkansen here. Our new Japanese hire, Kawasaki-san, drove his van up with all tools needed and our baggage, which was supremely helpful. The Shinkansen was awesome. It is like flying on land. My eyes were wide open the whole time. The day was partly cloudy, so visibility was decent. Even though there is little else besides rice paddies, I took it all in. We passed through some fairly large cities, which should not surprise me, but it did. It is hard to think of any city area in Japan outside of Tokyo, but it is, after all, a country with many centers. I think I was smiling the whole time involuntarily, something I realized when he hit a hilly area and we passed through several tunnels. As soon as we hit the tunnel, my view turned black, and I could feel my face relax. Every single time. I had to laugh. There is one word for Japan, though. Prefabrication. Almost every single house looked cut from one of several prefab designs. The same exterior in varying colors, the same layout, the exterior tinted acrylic garages, the same balconies, the same windows. Of course, this is based on the Tokyo area, and clusters close to the train tracks. Perhaps it gets more "real" further away from mass transit. Every hotel I have stayed at-save for the Kanto Lodge on base-has a bathroom that is one tiny unit. All plastic, with a drain on the floor, as if you could close the door and the whole things washes down like a dishwasher. I make a lot of noise in there, constantly banging my elbows on the plastic walls as i try to wash my back. I feel like a clumsy giant in there.

My Japanese ears are getting a lot of workout this time, as Kawasaki-san speaks only Japanese. Like me, he has a few token words in the 2nd language, but we are getting along OK. We are working a lot, so there is really no free time-that is so unfortunate. I would gladly spend 5 weeks here rather than Yokota/Tokyo. Hokkaido is so close, the seafood is so much better, the climate is more agreeable, the country is so close, the ocean is so close.... This place is a little more my speed.