Joy to the World

Merry Christmas!!!

I've included a few pictures we've taken during the holidays this year. I have to admit I was surprised by the amount of Christmas decorations, trees, lights, etc... displayed by Japanese families and businesses. Apparently it's becoming more and more popular here as a commercial holiday - decorations and gift giving aren't uncommon, but believing in the real reason for Christmas is pretty rare. We are lucky to have found a church outside the Navy base - the video is from the Christmas service - like so many things here, it's familiar, but with a Japanese twist! It was wonderful to worship God at a Christmas service like no other I've ever experienced and I truly have a new perspective to the song Joy to the World!

Our Christmas tree!

USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73)

My Japanese sensei (teacher) - Nobuko and I

Street decorations in Odawara

Krispy Kreme specialty donuts (I just think the sign is funny)

Queen's Mall

Jingle Bells!!

Fun in Hakone

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!! I realize it's a little late since it's already December, but Shane made it home a few days before Thanksgiving and I haven't had a chance to post. Since Shane was gone for the holidays last year we were extremely thankful for just being together on Thanksgiving! We definitely missed being with family but made the best of it by spending it with friends! It's interesting to celebrate Thanksgiving here since it's a 100% American holiday. It's strange because outside it was just another day, but inside our house it still felt like Thanksgiving. I can't fully explain it, but I guess it was just one of those days that I felt very American, and very thankful to look at the US from an outside perspective and still be incredibly proud. So, in addition to my family and friends, the yummy turkey, green bean casserole and pecan pie - I am also thankful for being an American!

Shane was off Thanksgiving weekend (yay!), so we decided to spend the weekend in Hakone. It's a cute little town near Mt. Fuji (about 2 hours from Yokosuka by train) tucked in the mountains with tons of trees and beautiful views. It was the perfect time to visit as the trees were changing colors for fall. We had a fantastic time and some much needed relaxation for Shane after a long deployment!

Beautiful Lake Ashi - on a clear day you can see Mt. Fuji just behind us over the mountains. See the red torii gate in the water? The torii led to the shrine pictured above, and we really enjoyed walking through the forest between the two on a perfect autumn day.

Meals can be pretty interesting in new places here - we went to several restaurants before we found an English menu! Actually, the restaurant from the left pic only had a Japanese menu, but they had a window display and we brought our waitress outside and pointed! The food was excellent - I think we could live on Japanese curry!! Oishii des! (delicious!) Oh and the bulldog sauce in the picture tastes just like A1! On the right was our huge meal from a chinese restaurant that we stumbled upon and absolutely LOVED! Shrimp in chili sauce, fried rice, egg drop soup, pork dumplings and beer! We were extremely relieved to find it because the area we were staying in basically shuts down in the evening and we were beginning to doubt if we would get any dinner!

One of my least favorite (but funniest) parts of the trip...Owakudani is an area we reached by cable car that has hiking, steam vents, and sulfurous fumes. Let me repeat sulfurous fumes that are by far the grossest, overpowering smell that I have ever encountered! (The sulfur fumes in Hawaii didn't even come close to this horrid smell!) Apparently the big draw to this particular spot is the black eggs - they put normal eggs in the naturally boiling sulfur water and it turns them black. The sign on left says "Danger: 80 degrees celsius of temperature of the pond" which is 176 farenheit! They say that eating a black egg will add 7 years to your life. The little boy above might gain those years, but we will not get that benefit! The fumes reminded me waaayyy too much of a ROTTEN egg which prevented me from eating ANYTHING much less an EGG!!

Hakone is known for amazing onsens (Japanese natural hot springs). The minerals in the water are suppose to be very relaxing and have healing qualities - but the rules are a bit different than a spa in the states. Men and women are separate, you must shower first (and not just a bird bath - soap, shampoo, the works), oh and then of course clothes and tattoos are STRICTLY prohibited! I was not thrilled about the nudity and Shane has tattoos so we were beginning to think we would have to skip this Japanese experience. When we got to the hotel and asked about his tattoo they said it was okay! We dressed in our yukata (robes) and slippers (that were probably half the size of Shane's foot) and off we went! Our hotel had both indoor and outdoor onsen for men and women with beautiful garden views and luckily there weren't many people! It was a lot like a mineral bath and very refreshing sitting in the warm water with the crisp air outside!

See the resemblance? Goofing off at the Hakone Open Air Museum.

We decided to go with a very Japanese lunch...hot dogos! :)

Mmmmm coffee!!

One last story (that's completely unrelated to these pictures): we were on our way home on the train and saw a guy sleeping. We've realized sleeping on the train is pretty normal, but the unusual thing about this guy is that he was standing!!! Okay he was leaning I guess, but trains are not the most stable and it's pretty necessary to hold on to something otherwise you can go flying. Not only was he not holding on, he was in a head bobbing, shoulder slumping sleep...to the point that he hit his head on a bar...repeatedly! I really wish I could have recorded it, but we were laughing wayyy too hard to get away with recording it without being noticed. The best part is the guy woke up right on time, rubbed his head, and got off at his stop! Have I mentioned that I LOVE Japan?!