We have been in "Area Orientation" - such a military term - and "Intercultural relations" class...basically 4 days of everything we need to know about what there is to take advantage on base (tons tons tons!) and then an intro to Japanese history, culture, money, food, transportation, language and driving. Holy moly...there was so much to digest!!! 

First of all, this base literally has everything you need - the important stuff, you know, like Starbucks and Baskin Robbins, 4 swimming pools and 3 gyms (with one open 24hours), tennis courts, Cinnabon, Taco Bell, a furniture store, Navy exchange and commisary. You could really never leave and be just fine...

But that would be TOTALLY boring because Japan is a FEAST for the eyes. In some sense, the urban jungle is a little bit much on the senses...everything smells good, is brightly colored, is usually flashing with some sort of electronic lights, etc. But they really do have everything...it's hard to believe there are things you can't find there. Now, that's not to say they are inexpensive, because, as an example, a shirt at Banana Republic (pronounced, in Japanese, Banana Republic) is about 18,000 yen -- roughly $180. Even for BR, this is a little pricey. Hence, most americans shop online. 

A redeeming quality (there are many) is that they have a FANTASTIC, way more organized, way cooler 100 YEN store (um, our dollar store)...I LOVE the 100yen store -- and I haven't even bought anything there yet!!! 

So back to our moving to Japan lessons...here's more of what we've learned.

1) Eat the food -- Best, if you have big eaters in your family like I do, to find "lunch buffets". All you can eat. Seriously, I may not go broke if I can feed Justin this way.  We've had Yakiniku (basically Korean BBQ) last Sunday. We had an hour to eat as much as we liked for $12...let me just say that when the 4 of us were all done, Justin was watching the clock to find out how to maximize the 6 minutes of eating he had left. Then, on thursday, we had curry (there is indian, chinese, and japanese curry here...large influences from both China and Korea in terms of food).  Justin was able to eat to his heart's content for 1000 yen ($10). Love that. 

You can find whatever you want to eat...provded you can point to the plastic version of it in the window -- and i've heard that the italian food is not bad (although we haven't tried it yet).

2) Watch Japanese TV -- this is hilarious. First of all, it is so COLORFUL! Their equivalent of the "Today" show has a bright yellow backdrop and everyone talks with so much animation. Honestly, we haven't a clue what they are sayings but they look like they are having fun! Occasionally, there is an english translation by some random british guy - who speaks at approximately 1/3 the pace of the Japanese commentators...of course, every japanese word is about 3 times as long as ours, so I guess that works. 

We have been watching the Olympics real time (in Japanese, of course), but we understand things like "GOOOOOLLLLLDDDDDD medal" and "Michael Phelps"...and they LOVE LOVE LOVE Kitajima (breast stroke gold medalist). God Bless the Japanese for having good enough swimmers to make the finals -- so we can watch the events! And by the way, they are REALLY good at Judo and have basically swept the women's medals. 

3) Eat the ice cream. Do i really have to explain why? They have gelato, frozen yogurt, baskin robbins, mochi, etc. So many choices...so few days. 

4) Go to 7-11....bet you didn't know that the Japanese actually own 7-11 (in the States, too)...when I get teh chance, I'm going to take pictures of their 7-11s...they are AWESOME. They have EVERYTHING and WAY better food choices than the ones in the states.

5)  Get on the train. They are serious. This is the best system in the world...and they have finally developed a little train card that not only holds up to $200, but you don't even have to take it out of your wallet for the card reader to find it when you cross through the ticketing areas...AND you can use it to purchase snacks, meals in the malls, etc...on one little card. I'm telling you -- while in some ways, they are still stuck in the 80s, when they finally catch up, they surpass us by a MILE! 

6). Go Shopping!! Okay, so i really haven't bought a lot (surprised, aren't you) -- but then we are still living in the Navy Lodge. We went to Yokohama and that city is AWESOME. i can't even tell you the amazing sights --- all in 4 connected 7-lfloor shopping malls!!! (that is the picture above, in case you were wondering)

7) Try out the language. Sure, ohayu gozaimas (ohio -gozImas) doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but it does mean good morning...we got some laughs when we tried to order our ice cream, and so we bowed and then messed up the "I'm sorry...but we tried. It's pretty funny all around. Needless to say "Foku" -- fork, "supoon" - spoon, "hamubaga" - hamburger...etc ...makes speaking Japanese easier. They took our english words and made them sound Japanese, so we can almost communicate! 

Okay okay...so we haven't been to My Fuji yet, or seen the Great Buddha -- but we just got here!!! 

We also don't have a house yet or a car...again, more info to be shared later. I will write again on Monday (my time) when we should have car and a house...I'll take pictures, I promise.

Enough for now -- too many things to talk about. We're both doing well -- still a little hard to not be "settled" but then that does take time. 

HUGS!