Tokyo Drift

After working through the weekend, ME, KC and I finally had our two days off! Destination? TOKYO! The three of us traveled together on what came to be known as the “Dream Tour 2011,” as we all worked together to make for a very fun, enlightening, and drama-free trip.

The Travelers

KC (“The supplier”): Always had everything we needed, from tissues to those little water-free toothbrushes when we were too exhausted to get off out memory-foam mattress in the hostel to make it to the bathroom.

ME (“The translator”): Her excitement to learn Japanese is contagious, and she frequently practices basic phrases and creates funny devices to remember them. We had to use a couple during our trip, and I know more will come in handy during future travels.

SW (“The reader”): One of my dad’s coworkers lent me a bilingual atlas of Tokyo, which proved to extremely useful in navigating the mumbo-jumbo of the Tokyo public transportation system. Subways, trains, you name it: we didn’t get lost once. I know I definitely looked like a tourist pulling it out every 5 seconds, but it was worth it.

The Timeline

Wednesday Night: After work finished at 6, some aquatics staff ventured out on Blue Street (the happenin’ area of Yokosuka) for some food and fun. We quickly (re)realized that Americans are LOUD, especially in comparison to the Japanese. In a typical American restaurant there’s loud music and everyone has to yell at the top of their lungs just so the person they’re sitting next to can hear what the heck they’re saying. Not so in Japan. At one point ME asked our group of ten to be quiet, and we were (quite literally) the only ones making any sort of noise in the crowded restaurant. The only reason we spoke so loudly was so we could be heard over our own noise. And despite our best intentions to keep the noise level down, we reverted right back to our natural instincts.

The rest of the aquatics staff returned to base to be back before their work day curfew, but the night belonged to the three of us. We ventured into a previously-visited bar in which we were the only three patrons the entire night. Awkward? Hardly. We got to know the bartenders well, exchanged Japanese and English phrases, and had a ton of fun. “You all from California?” “Yes.” *Bartender cues up “California Girls” by Katy Perry on the sound system.*

Exhausted, we stopped by our home base (7/11) for some (you guessed it) Coolish, and then collapsed in bed, ready for the adventures of the next two days.

Thursday: When traveling in Tokyo, you don’t just take a train and end up in the city. The city is so huge it’s divided up into culturally distinct sections, and you could spend a whole summer exploring without seeing everything. Here are the highlights:

Public transportation

All I can say is, Japan’s got it down. We bought a PASMO card, which allows you to hop from train line to train line (there are so many!) to the subways without having to buy separate tickets. When you run out of yen on the card, you just had more! And everything is FAST. Not necessarily in terms of speed, but in terms of train frequency. I think the longest we waited for a train was three minutes. Also, EVERYONE uses the public transportation, all the time. It doesn’t matter what time of day it is, it is ALWAYS busy.

  

Harajuku

Yes, like Gwen Stafani sings about. Since we weren’t there during the weekend, it wasn’t quite as poppin’, but still lots of bright, colorful clothing, interesting shopping (“no pictures, please!”), and good food. We ate at an Indian restaurant called Akasha, with THE BIGGEST naan and most delicious curry I have ever seen/consumed (see below.) After eating, we wandered and looked at shops and people for a while. A couple musings about fashion: 1) Everyone is always dressed nicely in Japan. I don’t think  they even sell sweatpants here. About 95% of the time, men are in white button downs and slacks, and women are in cute dresses (shoulders always covered), or fashionable shorts, stockings and flowy blouses. 2) I wonder if the Harajuku girls are accepted by the rest of Japanese culture, or if they are considered a weird sub-culture. Was that cute old little Japanese woman on the train a former Harajuku girl (making it an generational transition thing), or did she stick up her nose at them?

Tokyo Tower

We then made our way to Tokyo Tower, where we rode 150 meters up in a space age elevator to get a 360 degree view of the Tokyo area. There was a glass window on the floor so you could look down onto the view below, where old Japanese women held hands and shuffled across the surface, clearly afraid they would fall if they took one wrong step. Afterwards, we wandered around a bit and encountered a street rock concert. A study in contrast: Japanese men in business suits, fist pumping and chanting while a Japanese rocker chic sang and pointed at us Americans. We conducted an unsuccessful search for green tea ice cream (“green tea ice cream dokodeska?”), and then, exhausted, we took a train to find our ultimate destination…

Panoramas from KC. Friday pictures from KC and ME, after my camera battery died. Thanks!

Hooters

Yes, we went. Yes, we ate there. Yes, we bought shirts.

Friday

Asakusa

I had never heard of this area of Tokyo before, and it pleasantly surprised me with its cute little shops, chatty old men, and Sensō-ji, a famous Buddhist temple. But most importantly, SO MANY DESSERTS. I had a little sponge cake filled with green tea ice cream and a sweet bean paste, a fried sweet potato cake, and little fried pastry scraps. I had to remind myself that I had the whole summer to try food, otherwise I would have sampled everything in the vicinity, especially the giant mochi for 120 yen. (Rough exchange rate from yen to US $: Take off the last two zeros of a number and add 20% of that to the new number. ie 1000 yen = $12.)

The temple itself was intriguing, although we didn’t know much about it. We got our fortunes told at a little tourist-y area and watched people drink water and wash their hands from ladles in a fountain. I wanted to try, but didn’t want to intrude or do something wrong/offensive. It was still cool to observe people from all over the world compacted in one little area.

A ricksaw man appraoched us and asked where we were from. Once he learned we were from California, he yelled “SCHWARZENAGGER!” and proceeded to pose like a body builder.

Yokohama

Didn’t have much time to explore this fairly busy area of Japan, but had a cute little encounter. An old man apporached us and asked in a quiet little voice, “USA?” “Yes, we’re from California.” “Well, you are very beautiful girls.” It’s so funny to see the different reactions of people who find out where we’re from. Although I feel like the people of Japan do not dislike America, I still feel like we get more positive responses if we say “California” instead.

Overall, it was a great trip. For all that food, lodging, and train travel, I spent $150 total! (Pretty good deal! And it sounds so much better than 13,000 yen.) I had fun, entertaining, drama-free traveling buddies, and got to sight-see and people watch quite a bit. Next week’s adventures have yet to be planned, but I think they’ll involve some sort of activity, versus the wandering and observing we did this weekend. Both are good to do, I think, and it was a great way to get introduced to Tokyo.

Thanks for reading this marathon of a post! It was a great eye-opening weekend, so I felt like I had to write a lot. :)

No Themes, Just Thoughts

• I found out the other day that I’m working with a member of Japan’s 2004 Olympic triathlon team. Cool, right? Yeah, her sister was also 4^th in the 400 IM during the same Olympics.
• During a break, we were looking at a map of the US. One of the Japanese staff pointed at Kansas and asked us how to pronounce it (“can-sas”). He then pointed to Arkansas and asked the same question (“are-can-saw”). “Why are they different?” English is weird.
• I saw my first Tokyo drag race (we won’t mention that it was in Yokosuka, right off base, and not in Tokyo). I felt like a gangster.
• Speaking of gangsters, we found out that in Japan tattoos are considered to be a sign of gang membership. Any tattoo. They have hot springs just for people with tattoos. Crazy.
• When I asked one of my Japanese coworkers where we should go in Tokyo, he told us “Hooters.”
• Masa (a Japanese lifeguard) was teaching me Japanese phrases today. He wanted to learn Spanish from me: “You speak Spanish?” “Yes.” “Hasta la vista, baby.”
• Our breaks in the lifeguard room are filled with repetitions of basic Japanese phrases and handy devices to remember them. I wonder what the Japanese word for “gringo” is.
• I’m also fairly sure some of the Japanese staff are messing with us.
• I learned how to count to 10 in Japanese! And the pattern for saying numbers up to 99. This is from a reputable source.
• While completing a team building exercise involving animal noises, we realized that animals make different noises in different countries.
• From the 45 to the top of the hour, we have a pool break for patrons 15 and under. When I reopened the pool after one of these breaks, a little boy ran up and hugged me.  If only  all other joys in life were achieved this simply.
• Today at the gym, a girl asked me if I knew where the head was. I did. (Head is navy speak for “bathroom.”)

Firsts

Any trip to a foregin country will have its fair share of firsts. Here are mine for the week:

1. First trip off base

After the first days of orientation, filled with lifeguarding inservices, lesson planning and wondering if my outfit is acceptable for the grocery store (yes, this is a concern), we were finally allowed to go off base! “Why doesn’t America have that?” quickly became the question of the day, as we noticed the raised lines on the sidewalk for blind individuals, and a conveniently placed bike ramp along a flight of stairs. The aquatics staff went to two 100 yen stores, which were filled with the cute little trinkets and interesting little snacks that I’ve come to expect from Japan. We then toured “the Haunch,” (aka the West Wing of Yokosuka), which is the forbidden stretch of bars frequented by Navy personnel. Before heading back to base, we visited a 7/11 where I experienced my…

Bike ramp along flight of stairs

2. ...First consumption of BOMB Japanese ice cream

The 7/11 has a variety of awesome Japanese desserts, the best of them all being Coolish, a homemade-tasting ice cream in a pouch. You have never had ice cream until you’ve had Coolish. I have had one everyday for the past three days, and plan on continuing this trend for quite some time. I’m either going to have to ship tons of this stuff home, or comb all the Asian markets in the US until I find it.

  

3. First Japanese sushi!

For our first off-base dinner, we visited a sushi restaurant in a little mall right by base. It had a conveyor belt with colored plates of food, with each color indicating a different price. You picked up what you wanted, stacked the plates when you finished, and a waitress came and tallied your total at the end. FUN FACT: The Japanese do not accept tips. If you leave one, they will chase you until they’ve returned your money to you. (Luckily we were informed of this before, so there was no social faux pas on our part.) As for the sushi itself, it was great (even the hidden wasabi in the salmon sushi!) I intend to have much more before my time in Japan is through.

4. First time using a Japanse bathroom

This was not a full-on traditional Japanese bathroom, where you squat over a bathtub-looking object (see picture on left below), but rather a western-style toilet, Japanese style. This meant the walls of the bathroom stall went all the way to the floor, water came up to squirt your butt when you were done, and (best!) there were sound effect buttons to mask the sound of you going to the bathroom. You could adjust the height of the squirt and the volume of the sound effects—customized to create your own personalized bathroom experience!

5. First time making a fool of myself in front of Japanese women (see above)

While using this futuristic-esque bathroom, my friend and I were geeking out (quite loudly, I might add) by taking pictures, giggling when the water hit us, and marveling over the mere existence of the sound effects button. When we exited the stalls, we found a line of bemused Japanese women waiting to use the restroom, looking half annoyed, and half as though they were trying to hold in laughter. Typical Americans.

6. Not really a “first,” but more of an observation: I know that I will continue to experience the friendliness of the Japanese people for as long as I am here. The people that I’ve met thus far have been unfailingly nice, from the girls on a school basketball team who posed excitedly for endless photos with us, to the group of men in a restaurant  who stared at us for a few minutes before approaching us excitedly to shake our hands and say, “nice to meet you!” Japan is such a welcoming country, and I can’t wait to explore areas outside of Yokosuka.

I’m one of a few Yokosuka aquatics staff who has to work this weekend (everyone has to at some point), so I’ll have time off later in the week. In the meantime, I’ll be lifeguarding in the pool with the best view ever (see below.) Awesome!

    

Clockwise from top left: Baby pool, big pool, water slide

Random FUN FACT for the day: There is 1 vending machine in Japan for every 12 people.

Of Habits and Humidity (And a little bit of culture)

Thus far, there are two things that have taken some getting used to in Japan.

1. In Japan, cars are driven on the left side of the road (who knew?) While I’m not going to be driving here anytime soon, I still have to cross the street. And when I’m running, I’m not really thinking about which way to look. I never realized how instinctual it is for Americans to look left when they’re crossing the street, but that is going to be THE hardest habit to undo. Hopefully I won’t have to learn the hard way. :)

1.5 Another note on crossing the street: you HAVE to use the crosswalks. I think it’s a military thing, but it’s a big issue if you don’t use them. I hear you can get tickets. And I thought bike cops in Davis were bad.

2. It is HOT here. And not like the “oh, I’m from SoCal and its 70 degrees” hot. Like, full-on humidity, cloud cover, and SWEAT. I went running the other day and within a couple minutes I was absolutely drenched. It’ll take a couple more runs to get used to the overwhelming humidity, and I definitely felt like walking (and did) during my run. But I tried to limit the amount of walking I did after remembering I was on a navy base and I couldn’t look like a pansy while working out. Oh, the shame.

We had a lot of on-base training yesterday, with the most interesting being the cultural info we received. EXAMPLE: Traditionally, single women wear long kimono sleeves and married women wear short kimono sleeves so they can cook and clean with ease. There’s a panic button on train ticket machines, and when you push it, a Japanese person will pop out of a nearby window to help you. I love Japan and I haven’t even been off base yet (although we all want to so bad!) Aquatics gets to go to the 100 yen store today (the Japanese version of the dollar store), so that should be an adventure.

In the aquatics program, we get to lifeguard with the full time staff that is already here, including high school students and Japanese citizens. We got to meet some of them yesterday, and they are the nicest people. I can’t wait to start working with them! And the kids, of course. Sign #1 of a good job: you’re excited to start work.

One of my directors had a slack line out yesterday, so I learned a bit about how to do that. I managed to get on the thing and put one foot in front of the other. So I’ll pretty much be a pro by the end of the summer.

Hope everyone’s doing well at home! Thinking about you always. :)

That was then, this is now

I made it to Yokosuka! No lost luggage, no delayed flights (for my group, anyway), no major hassles. Roughly fifteen of us met at SFO in the wee hours of the morning, with visions of a two hour flight, a five hour layover, and an eleven hour flight dancing in our heads. Throughout the day I realized how long it had been since I’d flown on an airplane, because so much has changed since the last major trip I took (2008?) It seemed like the airline provided lot more choice for me to keep myself occupied during the flight (which, I believe, is the longest I’ve ever sat still for one period of time. My ankles were swollen by the end of the flight, because so much blood had pooled there. Yum.)

For me, the differences in flight experiences were so drastic I decided to create a little installment called “That was then, this is now,” comparing the last time I flew to my journey yesterday. You people who fly all the time may not be impressed, but I thought it was pretty cool.

That was then                                                         This is now

The flight safety info session was presented by average-looking flight attendants on video screens dispersed randomly throughout the airplane, where everyone had to crane their necks to see anything.	We each had our own individual screens, on which we viewed supermodel-looking flight attendants who waved their finger in a “no-no” fashion while they told us there was no smoking allowed on the airplane.
I sat next to my family members throughout my trip, who made relatively normal commentary about the flight.	I sat next to a dude who told me (with a little grin on his face) that the finger-waving, supermodel flight attendant was his favorite part of the safety video. (Who has a favorite part of the safety video??)
Everyone had to watch the same movie on those awkwardly placed video screens.	On our own little screens, we got to pick what movies we wanted to watch. And not just random movies you’ve never heard of. I’m talking Harry Potter 7, Tangled (watched it for you, Rach!), The Tourist, Black Swan, etc. Luh-git!
The pilot informed us of our altitude, our ETA, and the current time at our destination.	Our little screens not only had movies, music, and games, but they also allowed us to follow the plane at any time, explore a world map, and see where in the world it was night and day.
Clark Kent went into a telephone booth to become Superman.	I went into an airplane bathroom to change into my incredibly good-looking camp uniform. (See picture below.)

After arriving in Yokosuka, we went through immigration and customs (those dudes are tough! “Where are you going? Are you military? Do you have orders?” Just let me through intimidating man! I’m innocent! [And sweating profusely because you scare me!]) And then we waited 2.5 hours for a plane with a group from Iowa to arrive. We got to explore the airport mall, take lots of pictures, and look very much like tourists. (You know how you see packs of Japanese tourists in SF, all in matching outfits and stopping every two feet to take pictures? Yeah, that was us. Irony.) We observed Japanese children and commented on how we wanted to take them home with us (it wasn’t just me, JL, I swear!) They run around everywhere! Playing tag, jumping in place, running in and out of the bathroom. They literally do not stop moving. No wonder everyone is Japan is so thin.

Once everyone arrived, we had a two hour bus ride to the base (I didn’t know the Japanese drove on the left side of the road!), where we received our orders (I have them now, immigration man!) and got all our passports checked by a navy dude. Yes, that was his official title. After receiving our room assignments, we all conked out. I’d been awake for 27 hours. Now off to shower, buy food with my special Commissary privileges, and get a tour of the base.

Missing everyone at home, hope you’re all doing well!

UPDATE: Just went to the Commissary with a group, and we all had to show our orders to get in. There was also a sign telling us that gym clothes were not allowed in the store. Welcome to military life.

Plastic displays of food outside restaurants

Japanese Vending Machine! (Why don't we have flowers in ours??)

My First Yen!

  

    EDIT: Part of the internet here is in Japanese, and I accidentally deleted the original posting of this! (I was trying to edit that parenthesis Rach!) :)

The Adventure Begins

What do you do after four years of studying the history, culture and politics of Latin America, obtaining a B.A. in International Relations, and becoming nearly fluent in Spanish? 

Go to Japan, of course.

Back in November, my roommate JK forwarded me an email about a program that placed college students at summer camps on US military bases abroad. Working with kids? Opportunities for international travel on the weekends? Sign me up, please! Eight months later, after interviews, singing an insane amount of camp songs (you know you secretly like them, you non-camp people!), and learning lots about military culture, I'm off to the Yokosuka Naval Base in southeast Japan. Three months of lifeguarding, teaching swim lessons to children of US Navy personnel, and seeing all I can see of Japanese culture--it's going to be quite the experience (and I'm sure all my Spanish will come in handy!)

This blog is my attempt at recording my adventures for the next three months, and hopefully whatever comes my way after that time. Credit to MC for encouraging me to write a blog, and creating the ever-so-clever title. So, if you're at all interested, feel free to read my stories as I drift about in the post-college "real world."