Hase Station

Hase Station in Kamakura 


The Enoden Line is unique among most train lines in Japan. It is only a few stops from beginning to end. I believe that the line is so busy because of the Giant Buddha at Hase Station, other than that, it would be pretty lonely. When leaving Kamakura, the tracks loom behind old homes and the surrounding nature seems to give an uncomfortable squeeze as it appears to be over growing the tracks.

Giant Buddha in Kamakura

Giant Buddha in Kamakura 


Yesterday, once again, we embarked on another big adventure to go see the giant Buddha in Kamakura. It is a short train ride from Kamakura station to Hase Station. On the way there, there was a really great Chinese restaurant. The eggrolls were so good, they didn't need dipping sauce. I had ordered sweet and sour pork and Soco had some vegetables. I wasn't expecting much going into the trip to the Great Buddha, but once we saw it, it was kinda breath-taking. The size of it was so big and the scenery surrounding it was serene. After Buddha, we stopped by and got some cherry ice cream.

Cherry Ice Cream 


That's Soco and her friend from lab school, Monica and her baby.

Why an American sized couch won't fit!

Hallway at my Apartment 


An American sized couch is impossible to bring in through my hallway. It measures a skinny, 27 inches in width. Most of the couches sold here in Japan are either, brought in piece-by-piece, or child sized. I wonder what fat people do? They would just have to lose some weight and if not, they're just utterly hopeless.

Favorite Drinks

My favorite drinks 


Aquarius is a sports energy drink. It is kinda like Gatorade, just not as colorful but more refreshing. The middle bottle is milk tea. That is the best stuff! And next to that is a Diet Coke can. Something as small as that is $1.20 out of the vending machine. Notice that it has a twist off cap. http://cokestyle.net

Mall Parking 



Soco's new Haircut 

So where do you park? 

More Images of Tokyo Disney Sea

Little Venice 


Lost River Delta 


I can't believe that I've been in Japan for 6 months already! Time has been flying by. I keep promising myself that I will get a camcorder to record my experience here and I haven't began shopping for one yet. I've been pretty busy and I got to watch StarWars III! It was so awesome, George Lucas somehow fit everything together like a puzzle and it all makes perfect sense. Well, yesterday, I had some great chinese food. Sweet and sour pork, with steamed rice, tofu, egg drop soup, and eggrolls. Kinda like how they make it in the states. The eggrolls had bamboo shoots and zuccini in it. Unusual, but good. Soco and I also bought a $5 Hello Kitty paper bag. And in it was waffle bread shaped like Hello Kitty and Pikachu from Pokemon. Those suckers were addicting and went pretty fast.

Soco has finally experienced a haircut from a Japanese person. The only bad thing was the wait. We waited about 45 minutes, but after that, the lady only took 20-30 minutes to style it and she did a pretty darn good job. I know that in the states, much time is wasted on idle chit-chat and perfecting their mistakes. This time consuming process can up to an hour or more. This lady did it fast and perfect.

I like Japanese people. At work, there's this guy we call, "Yokomitsu-san". He is an expert in all things metal. I had once told him that a drain was clogged underneath a sterilizer in the hospital, and he went way above and beyond his call of duty. He fabricated and installed the drain with stainless steel. Yesterday, I had asked for his help. He stopped everything he was doing and helped me replace the pitiful American style metal plumbing (with compression fittings) and fabricated an identical component with Japanese flare connections (which is more reliable and lasts forever). A lot of Japanese people are like that. They're real reliable and they take a lot of pride in everything they do.

Tokyo Disney SEA

Kanji, hiragana and katakana reads, "Where Adventure and Imagination Set Sail" 


AquaSphere at Tokyo's Disney Sea 


The day started out pretty good, leaving at 7:30 a.m. and arriving there about 9:00 when the park opened. At the entrance to the park, stands a giant globe with water flowing down the oceans. And once we walked under the overpass, the park is overshadowed by a huge erupting volcano! This park was quite an experience. There are seven different theme park areas and they are all visually interesting and exciting. The rides are okay, but not as good as compared to Disneyland in California. They have the Indiana Jones: Temple of the Crystal Skull" which is almost identical to the one in Disneyland (except for the crystal skull and having a giant fireball being blown into your face). Although, everything is spoken in Japanese, most of the shows are, amazingly, easy to understand. At the Port of Discovery, there is a visually stunning attraction called "The StormRider". It simulates you being flown into the center of a hurricane and trying to diffuse a storm with a small tactical nuke. Instead the nuke gets blown off course by the tough hurricane winds and plunges deep inside of your airplane ready to go off!!! Really crazy! The food here is okay, but it mostly caters to the Japanese. For foreigners, it is extremely expensive and a small sandwich will cost seven to eight dollars. An all-you-can-eat buffet will cost over 32 dollars a person. I noticed that the novelty gifts are much smaller than that in the US. There are no giant sized plush dolls, instead they sell mostly stationary items (pens, envelopes, postcards), t-shirts, cellphone keychains, and canned treats (cookies and candy). I really have to admit that this park is probably the most gorgeous theme park I've ever been to, but some of the attractions are much over-rated. The "BraviSEAmo!", as Soco would say, "Is Gay". It is a musical of fountains of water and fire mating in a spectacle of fantasy and illusion. However, the Japanese are easily impressed by this ballet of fire and water. My favorite ride is the "Journey to the Center of the Earth" in which at the end, shots you out of the volcano at supersonic speeds. And the best show is the "Mermaid Logoon Theater" which uses lots of real actors and robots to enact a musical play in the Little Mermaid theme. The language used was Japanse, but the music was in English. The experience of of this beautiful park can't be replicated through still photo which makes this park a place must see before you die. The park is still expanding and is worth a revisit in a few years. The small number of attractions and using FASTPASS tickets ended up giving us plenty of time to lounge around and enjoy the sightseeing. I really liked it a lot and I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Seaside Walkway 


Whirlpool ride at The Mermaid Lagoon 


Funny Fish 


Arabian Coast 


Curry Sampler Place 


Port of Discovery 


Port Discovery 


Mediterranean Harbor 


Fish Fountain at Magellan's Fortress 

Baby Chair / Initial D

I knew about drifting before it became popular in the states... (1999) The extreme sport is now exploding (2005). It's about freak'in time.
Where Drifting came from.

Here is a picture. Nobody would believe if I didn't take a picture of it.

Race Car Baby Chairs 

Japanese Homes 

A Taco Truck!

I'm glad to get off of work at regular time today. I've been working insane hours lately. Mostly, because of JCAHO. A group of people who inspect hospitals. They grade the hospital on how well the staff follows rules and understand them. At the end of the inspection, the hospital is given a grade. Well, our boss wants to do outstanding... an impossible task I must say... But yeah, we do whatever we can.

Pastor Taco Truck! 



The katakana written on the flag says, "TA-KO-SU" ... if said fast, it would sound like, "Tacos". I was told that "Tako" means "octopus". Well anyways, the man standing next to it is half Japanese and half Mexican. His mother is Mexican. Interesting combination... and he speaks fluent Spanish. In this country, taco trucks are super-duper rare... well, it's probably the only one. Anyways, Soco bought me a couple of tacos and it was so good. The guy marinated his meat with a pineapple. He prepares it just like the the Mexicans in California and Tijuana. For those of you not from California, I'm sorry. A taco isn't what you get at Taco Bell. I don't know what the heck those are, but it's definitely not Mexican food. Real Mexican's don't use ground beef. It is frowned upon. Well, enough with the lesson. The guy sells his tacos for 250 yen a piece. (about $2.40) They're kinda small, but really tasty!

TGI Fridays, Yokosuka

TGI Fridays, Yokosuka 


Last night, Soco and I went to TGI Fridays with a group of friends. They reserved the third floor for the going away celebration. The food was good! I wanted to experiment and try out some stuff unique to Japan so I had a teriyaki burger, fries and sesame honey chicken. The portion size was as large as American sizes, but the price... OUCH! Soco had 2 giant glasses of Long Island Ice Tea and a Tequila shot. It is about $12 a glass and I ended up having to use my check card to pay the tab (I wanted to save my cash-on-hand). Afterwards, we stumbled over to a bar with a Ferrari sitting in front of it and played pool. The Japanese bar had a waiter in which he wore a nice white shirt and tie. I ordered a $7 Corona beer, potato sticks, and Soco had some other hard drink that I don't know the name of. Me and Wang tricked Soco into thinking that the bar was about to close and that everyone had left already after she had passed out. She was like, "Oh my gawd!" and she threw on her sweater and grabbed her purse. And she went to the next room filled with people. It was pretty funny. After that, she kept on trying to wrestle me. We had a fun night.