Kamakura Shopper's Plaza 

Sushi and Ham & Corn Pizza 

Learning to Drive Again

Driving in Japan takes some getting used to. I realized that once I drive off base, I would get totally lost. The Japanese don't use street signs. Every once in a while, I get the opportunity to drive the government vehicle. Something like that van in the picture below. The Navy has plenty of them and they come dirt cheap. The lack of good shocks, insulation, horsepower and safety is pretty much the reason they're so inexpensive. Anyways, driving on the left side of the road still feels strange to me. I always switch on the windshield wiper when I try to signal. The signal is on the right side. The shifter is on the left side. Like in the states, the gas pedal is still on the right and brake on the left. Speed is in kilometers and the gas gauge is in liters. Navigation systems come standard... well, not on the government vehicles. It is hard to get any speed with an Inline-5 engine on a minivan. Over here, 6 cylinder engines are high performance. Even with all the tiny little engines and fuel efficiency, there's still smog. I believe that all the smog come from all the little motorcycles and mopeds. There's millions of them. Well, learning to drive here is still a challenge. I'd rather ride my bike still. It only takes me 6 minutes to ride home via bicycle... 30 minutes via motorized vehicle.


Mini Vans are actually Mini 

Fishing at Miura Beach

Miura Beach Fishing 

The Yokosuka Volunteer Group went out last Saturday, (March 26, 2005) to help out with the local community. The Naval Hospital was invited to go clean up Miura Beach. After the two-hour cleanup, there was a little surprise.... Everyone gathered together for a snap-shot and shortly after, the Japanese hosts announced that we were going fishing. Two boats sailed out and dropped in these two huge nets. The crowd had to form 2 lines. Each line had to pull a separate rope attached to the net. Pulling the net in was a huge undertaking. There were little kids and grandmothers all helping out to pull this net in. It was very exciting! When the net reached the beach, there were lots of fish, crabs and seaweed. I refused to grab the live crabs with my bare hands so I grabbed four fish. They were very slippery and were alive and squirming. Soco and her friend, refusing to get dirty, stood on the side and took these neat pictures that you see here.


Fisherman 


Miura Beach Fish Pull 


Fish in Net 


Exion with Fish in Hand 

Exion & Soco in Kamakura

Exion & Soco in Kamakura 

Specially Prepared Sweets

Specially Prepared Sweets 

Hey guys, I've decided to start uploading larger, chrisp pictures. I think the previous pictures just don't cut it when it comes down to detail. Now, you can click on the pictures and receive a larger picture! Feel free to use them as your wallpaper if you like.

In this picture, the Japanese prepare the most beautiful sweets! Soco purchased the strawberry sandwich thing on the bottom of the picture. It was roughly 3 dollars for it. It was tasty. They use only the freshest strawberries. Not sweet at all, but it looked delicious. American sweets are much more sweet. Each one gets packaged in it's own happy-meal sized fancy box. I think the Japanese over do it... they package everything as if it was a gift.

New Furniture in Our Apartment

New Dinner Table 


Flat Screen TV 

Here is our new dining room table and 20 inch flat screen tv. We also bought a full size mattress (Coral Sea) and dresser drawers. Pictures will come soon!

The Story of Tiffany Myers (Long)

Tiffany (Long)Myers and Socorro at Kamakura 

The history of Long is really long! I promise to make it short! Tiffany and Soco first meet at Hospital Corps school back in 01. Somehow they got stationed together in Naval Hospital Lemoore California. During their two year tour, Tiff and Soco became friends at the Wellness Center. Tiff Long got engaged to Kevin Myers and got orders to the "Shitty Kitty" a.k.a. USS Kitty Hawk out of Yokosuka, Japan. Before Tiff left Lemoore, a lot of bad luck started developing. We rode out to the Golden Coral in Fresno. When we got there, it was shutdown. It ran out of business... We then ate at the Speghetti Factory. On the way back, she hit a dog and it took out the driver's side headlights. She refused to repair it before her 3 year excursion in Japan. Well, Soco got lab school and they got separated for a year. Somehow, being stationed here in Yokosuka, we run into Tiffany everyonce in a while. It's kinda funny. She tells us funny stories of life on the Kitty Hawk. Tiff promised that if she hated the Kitty Hawk bad enough, she would marry Kevin. Well, she got married. Her life on the ship was pretty bad. She tells stories about how nasty girls are on the ship. When the stomach virus broke out on the ship, people would vomit all over the place without cleaning up after themselves... even in the shower. People steal each other's underwear and personal electronic items. Tiff actually had to buy the "Britney Spears in the Zone" CD three times because it kept getting stolen. Well, anyways, last weekend, we decided to take a trip out to Kamakura and snap some pictures.


Look at this sweater! -Soco  

Wedding in Kamakura 

Weddings in Kamakura are really cool to see. The woman being married wears the white kimono.

Girls in Kimonos 

Samurai Sword, Armor and Ramen

Samurai Armor and Sword

The Navy Lodge does a pretty good job of reminding you that you are in Japan with little window display of Japanese Samurai Armor and sword.

Last night, me and Soco went to the Ramen House, a 5 minute walk from our apartment. It was a nice little cozy place. In there, there were a couple of Japanese business men who got off late from work. They were slurping on some ramen and watching Japanese television. Soco noticed how fast they ate. While we were in there, Japanese men would come in, slurp up all their ramen, pay and leave. We must've been taking forever. It was really delicious (gochisoo sama deshita). I had Kimchi Ramen bowl and Soco had a porky seaweed ramen bowl. As an appetizer we had Goyza, also known as Chinese dumpling.

We both walked back home as full as can be and turned on our newly bought 20 inch flat screen LCD television. I hooked it up into the wall and I had all these Japanese television shows! I was intrigued by this one show which had two Korean guys in the ghetto streets of California. They worked as gas station attendants trying to make a buck. Amazingly, everyone spoke fluent Japanese! Even the Mexicans! These two Mexican guys drove up in their lowrider, filled up on gas and tried to drive away. The Korean guy ran and dived into the convertable and tried to pull the guy out of the car. The two big Mexicans got out of their car and got their ass whopped by the Judo master. I laughed when the Mexicans came back with all their tattooed Mexican friends. Of course, they all got their asses handed to them. All because of 6 bucks in gas money.

Seaside Club

Last night, me and Soco rode our bikes to the Seaside Club. It is a restaurant open to all hands. I picked out the All-American Buffet and Soco had the Japanese Fried Tempura. The buffet was all-you-can-eat! Pretty yummy. I had BBQ ribs and mashed potatoes and corn bread while Soco's meal consisted of Miso soup, a bowl of steamed rice and a huge serving of fried fish tempura and vegetables. I thought it was a very good meal. The atmosphere was pretty nice. The entire back wall was a window with a spectacular view of the Tokyo Bay. Outside the restaurant, the sounds of coins falling from slot machines echo in the background.

Close Calls

I think the worst drivers in Japan are Americans. Right outside of base, they always try to "run the red light" and have total disregard for pedestrians and bicyclists. Bad driving is a little contageous so some of the Japanese follow suit because someone else has gotten away with it. I almost got hit by a van today. I wasn't too sure who it was, but it was a very close call. The van didn't even see me. I just have to be more careful.



Looks Sideways 

Shibuya and Starbucks Mugs

Shibuya a Shopper's Mecca 

When I went to Harajuku, me and Soco accidentally ended up in Shibuya. It was really cool! There were so many people and so much eye candy. You can view a Real Player video here from my favorite Japanese Blogger site, "Sushicam.com"SHIBUYA Sushicam Video 5.6MB or the Windows Media Player version SHIBUYA Sushicam Video 28.8MB
This place closely resembles downtown Chicago except that it was more crowded. There were many, many stores. You don't even need a car. You see everyone walking in the streets. There's no room for cars. Me and Soco went to Starbucks and I bought her a Tokyo Starbucks Collectable Mug. She made it her goal to collect all the Starbucks mugs all around Japan. She currently has one from San Diego. And the Starbucks on base says, "Yokohama, Japan" on it. I'll get it for her later after a few more paychecks.

Lately, me and Soco went and got food in the Daiei Mall. I showed her that you can get pre-made sushi real cheap in the grocery store. I figured that it would be cheaper than eating out. She looked at me like I was just being a cheap bastard. When we went, the selection of sushi, tofu, and udon noodles blew her away. The pre-made sushi were specially prepared with care and were delicious! We got some fried shrimp vegetables, two udon noodle bowl kits, and milk tea and orange juice all for 15 dollars or 1,500 yen. It is definitely worth coming back.

Japanese Hand Driers

Japanese Electric Hand Drier 

These Japanese hand driers are da'shit! When I go back to the US, I'll miss these things. Dry hands in like 3.5 seconds. You just wave your hands over the sensor and the the air drier blasts your hands with full force and all the water is sucked into the drain. Really cool.

Humidity in the Winter-time

Humidity in the Winter-time 

Over here in Yokosuka, we are right next to a huge body of water called the Tokyo Bay. Because of this, we get all kinds of humidity here. Even in the winter... No matter how much I try to dry off my window and window sills, moisture always find a way in. The moisture is actually starting to destroy my wooden window sills. I know that it isn't my fault, but I'm going to have to pay for them when I move out.

Arcade Bingo 

Harajuku Shrine 

In the middle of a towering city of Harajuku, there is peace and serenity at this little shrine.

Harajuku the Beverly Hills of Tokyo

Harajuku 


Harajuka Girls getting on Elevator 

Me and Soco decided to go visit Harajuku, the Beverly Hills of Tokyo. The city is widely popularized by Gwen Stafani in her latest CD, "Love.Angel.Music.Baby". She sings about Harajuku Girls and their "wicked style", "rich girls" and the "hoods of Japan". If you haven't ever heard of any of her songs, then you obviously don't listen to POP or watch music videos on MTV or VH1. Soco was a little bit afraid to go visit at first because rich girls in California are snotty little bitches and they look at you in disgust if not dressed fashionably. Well... not here! The rich girls here look like normal girls wearing the craziest and latest fashions. They like it when people take pictures of them. I saw a girl who was wearing clothes which closely compares to the popular video game, "Final Fantasy". It was interesting. Soco finally experienced Japanese high tech bathrooms. She wanted to scream when she experienced the toilet seat that keeps itself warm and hygenicly clean and also the air hand driers that can dry off your hands in 3.5 seconds. Aside from the cool fashion malls and ramen hangouts, we somehow ended up in Shibuya and spent more time there.


Giant Billboards and TV Screens Harajuku 


The GAP at Harajuku 


Inside Clothing Mall in Harajuku