First few Days in Japan

This is my Aunt Susan and Uncle Tom. They live up in NORCAL and drove down to San Diego to visit us before we left to Japan. It has been a long time since I have seen them. We had an enjoyable time going to the parks and visiting. 

Our room had a spectacular view that LC and E were soaking in before being forced to wear jackets. Temps in San Diego were in the mid-70's before we left. 

Not too shabby!

We finished up AOB/ICR last Friday. After graduation we trekked to the Drivers License place to take our test. Because we have valid US licenses, they assume we are "responsible" drivers. So we just have to sit through a (boring) 2 hour class and pass an exam. I demonstrated my driving superiority over Shannon by scoring much higher than her. I only missed two and she missed at least 5. We will pick up our licenses on Wednesday and be legal to drive. Now we just need to buy a car.
We looked at three houses yesterday and decided to go with the last one we looked at. It really was a nice home. The owner actually grew up in the house as a kid. He went to school in the USA for his architecture degree and came back and completely remodeled the house. It is completely westernized. It has doors that I dont have to duck under, it has wood floors, washer/dryer, large fridge, a stove and an oven and tons of storage space and closets. In fact the girls' rooms are going to be humungous. The girls also have access the a balcony that looks out into the neighborhood. It has a yard which is rare. It is located in the town of Zama. Actually, Camp Zama, a US Army base, is a five minute drive away. So we will be close to the commissary and exchange. It is a block or two from a Japanese grocery store and about a 10 minute walk to the train station. All and all, we found a steal. We dont know when we will be able to move in. Our stuff is still transiting the Pacific and we still have to sign all the contracts and paperwork. The owner was very very cool and even gave us the keys right then after he invited us to his office for green tea. It is roughly 5 miles  from the Navy base where I'll work but will probably take 20-30 min. The traffic here is so terrible. We will post photos later of the house. We are very excited.
Our class went on a field trip to a train station to learn how to navigate and obtain our train passes. After we went one stop with her she told us all to go somewhere and be back the next morning. Shannon and I decided to go near Kamakura and visit the town of Hase. It is known for the giant buddha statute. We found it pretty easy to navigate the trains. We went to a shinto temple and then visited Buddha, grabbed some street food before heading back. Overall it was a good trip.
This week I have to check into the Squadron and get settled there as well as working on paperwork to move off base. Oh and we also need a car because we would have no way to get to the house. ha.

As promised, here are some photos we have taken since being here. Enjoy.

Shannon with the Giant Buddha. I think it is is around 43 feet tall. 

While reading up on Hase, the experts said to try the sweet potato ice cream and the sweet potato hashbrown. Both were delicious. 

This was the Hase temple. This was actually the first place we visited. The Cherry blossoms were starting to bloom, there were koi fish in the ponds and a lot of temples. Yep, we are in Japan. 

The town of Hase. As you can see they drive on the other side of the road which was mind blowing when we first saw it.  Soon we will be able to brave it and drive amongst the Japanese. Good thing they have no idea what road rage is.

This was some rice cake cracker that was dipped in soy sauce. We saw a lot of teenage kids buying them so we followed suit. 

That same temple in Hase. Pretty neat. 

This is looking out south from atop the temple area. It is right on the water and has nice beaches and a lot of people were surfing. You can find of make out the bay near Kamakura. 

Every holy place has a Torri gate that is the entrance. This was some cave that had statues of people. I had to duck for most of the journey through the cave. 

Close quarters in the Navy Lodge. Are these two monkeys even related?

Our lovely abode for the next few weeks (hopefully less).

The 7-11's here actually have good Japanese food you can buy. We went into one of them on base and just grabbed random items. Everything was fantastic. Rice balls and some ramen. yum

Just got off the train and headed to the Buddha.

Cherry blossoms. Should really start coming out in a few weeks. 

I think this was the first morning we were here. We were up at 2am so as soon as there was enough light, LC and Shannon went outside to play in the snow. They built a snowman and a snow dog. 

E and Ryan enjoying the warmth of the room.

Parking lot of the Navy Lodge. The building across the street is the Chapel.