Verny Park

Verny Park is a small park just a few minutes away from where we live right now. It is named after Léonce Verny, a Frenchman who helped build the shipyard in Yokosuka. The park is planted with hundreds of roses--but only a few were blooming, not surprising since it's winter here!

Looking towards the shipyard, a couple American ships (left) and Japanese submarine (right)

Original gates to the shipyard, circa 1865 or so

New Year's in Nihon

Mameshiba eats mochi

New Year's in Japan is the most important holiday of the year. The house is cleaned from top to bottom, special foods are eaten, and houses are decorated with symbolic decor to welcome in the New Year. Millions of people flock to shrines on New Year's Eve and the days following for their first shrine (or temple) visit of the year, called Hatsumōde. 

New Year's Decorations

We visited nearby Kamakura, which has over 70 shrines and temples, including one of the most significant Shinto shrines, Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū. The center city is closed to motorized traffic for three days after New Year's. We decided not to wait in line to get in to the shrine since the line was ridiculously long but it was fun to experience the festive atmosphere!

In Which We Eat Strange Fruits

We tried a few unusual Asian fruits the other day at the grocery store--dragonfruit and kumquats. At about 500 yen ($6.50) each they were not cheap but we couldn't resist. I had to research how to eat them since I had no idea. Dragonfruit you slice open and scoop out or you can slice open, scoop the whole piece out and cut it up. The texture is like a melon and we were surprised to find that the flavor was extremely mild. The water chestnut of fruits!

Kumquats I was a little more familiar with...you eat it whole and spit the seeds out. The peel is sweet and the fruit sour. They taste like oranges, being a citrus fruit. Apparently you also can roll them around in your hands to get the juices flowing and make them taste better. Who knew?

Igor was not a fan of the dragonfruit

Bag'o Kumquats

Christmas in Japan

Would a Japanese Xmas tree be complete without a Hello Kitty ornament? :)

 

Merry Christmas from Japan! Merii Kurisumasu! Here's our Christmas tree in our tatami room (it's normally used as bedroom so probably not kosher to do this--shhh). There are very few places in Japan to get a live tree; most people have fake ones, if anything at all. Here in Japan Christmas Eve is a popular night to go out to romantic dinner at a fancy restaurant. Either that or people get fried chicken at KFC and have Christmas cake (kurisumasu keki). Igor got me a Christmas cake of my own--it was divine. Whipped cream, sponge cake, and strawberries oh my!

Here are a few pictures of the festivities around town!

 

 

My mama-san bike

Biking is one of the best ways to get around in Japan. The coastal areas (including Yokosuka) are pretty flat so it's very easy biking. The mama-san bikes (cruiser bikes that moms ride around in with kids and groceries) we got only have 6 speeds and a lot of them are only single speed. 

I'm getting used to a lot of things about biking in Japan. Usually you ride on the left..but sometimes people just ride all over the place. On base it's even less clear. Legally you have to wear a helmet on base, but off base I don't think I've ever seen a Japanese person wearing one.

I'm also still getting used to my new bike! It's very low so you just step off it but since I'm used to riding a mountain bike, I swung my leg over a few times and banged myself on the rear rack. I'm also getting used to riding with a basket on the handlebars...too much weight and it's been a challenge to steer! Overall, I really enjoy my bike...and I'm really glad that Igor and I aren't too much taller or we wouldn't have been able to find bikes at all...good luck if you're over 6 feet tall!

Mikan Picking

Yum

Cheesu!

Calendar that tells you the least busy days to pick

On Saturday the weather was looking pretty good so we headed to nearby Tsukuihama Kankonoen Farm to pick mikans (satsumas, a variety of mandarin orange).  From Yokosuka, we took the Keikyu line to Tsukuihama station (15 min. or so), where there was a shuttle bus waiting to take us up the hill to the mikan fields. For 650 yen each (about $8.50), we got to eat as many mikans as we wanted (4 was enough for me!) and fill our green basket. Everyone was picnicking around the mikan trees and throwing their peels on the ground, so we did the same. Then we had to pay per kilo--we got about two kilos (4+ lbs) for 700 yen. So it wasn't cheap, but it was a lot of fun and a very unique experience! Hopefully we'll come back to pick strawberries and maybe dig potatoes there sometime!

From Tsukuihama station to the mikan fields

We're Here!

View from our balcony

We're here! We made it to Yokosuka Wednesday, November 22 after a 10+ hour flight and a 2 hour bus ride to the base. Saya, the woman renting us our apartment, met us and took us there via taxi. We had way too much luggage for the average Japanese cab but luckily they were able to close the trunk with a bungee cord and we didn't have far to go.

Our apartment is in a building of about 175 units. We have a ton of space compared to our condo in Seattle. I think it's about 850-900 sq ft if I had to guess. Pleasant surprise for me! We have two bedrooms, a kitchen, living/dining room, bathroom, W.C., and a tatami room. The tatami room is supposed to be a bedroom (we think), but we are excited to use it as an art room/office.

Now, who wants to visit? :)

Outside of our building

We're right next to Daiei Mall!

Our building is the one in the middle

Front door with shoe closet

Bedroom

Second bedroom

Bathroom/laundry room

Shower/bathroom

W.C. (note "sink" on top of toilet)

Kitchen (no oven or dishwasher!)

Tatami room

Recognize this guy? :)

Living room looking towards kitchen