The 2012 Yokota Air Force Ball

Last September, when we arrived to Yokota AB, we had just missed the Air Force Ball on base. However, it had me wondering if I would need to attend now that Doug was working on a base. So I made the mistake of asking and got the answer I had been dreading, "yes." Not just yes, but an unequivocal yes.

For the next 10 months I ignored it, thinking maybe Doug had misunderstood the question or would change his mind. Then when it got closer, I was hoping they'd sell out of tickets. No Dice. Doug, anticipating any excuse I might think of, volunteered to be the squadron's POC (Point of Contact) to purchase the tickets. This meant he was one of the first people to buy them.

Fast forward to August 2012.  I had procrastinated buying a gown in hopes that by some divine intervention I wouldn't have to go.  Yup, no luck.  So I ordered a gown from some company in China.  HaHaHaHa.  Big Mistake.  I am a newbie with formal gown purchases, so I figured any old cheap company would do.  The stock photos of the dresses looked nice, so I placed my order.  A month later and a week before the Hell... I mean the Bell... I mean the Ball... and my gown was MIA.  Or maybe AWOL.  I don't know if it wanted to ditch the event too.  Luckily for me, or maybe it was fear that I would be wearing a potato sack with sequins, I had ordered a cheap dress from Macy's, got some accessories from Seiyu (Japanese Walmart), wore my wedding pearls and I was ready.  The only thinking Doug had to do with his attire was to make sure his ribbons/medals were up to date.  Hmph.

So, despite all my complaining we made it to the Ball.  Abby was sleeping over our neighbor's house and could care less what time we got home (Thanks, Meredith!)  I guess we looked okay.  

By the way, I am NOT wearing a load of rings on my right hand like my dad thought.  It was a badass clutch.  A knock off Alexander McQueen, because I'm too cheap to spend $2000 on even the coolest purse.  That's right, mess with me, and I might blind you with my knuckle duster!  

So, I was a doofus for bellyaching about attending.  It was actually pretty fun and interesting.  I enjoyed seeing friends dressed to the nines.  Here's me hobnobbing with the BigWig wives.  Hahaha... just kidding, but not really.  From the left is Brenda Marshall (wife of FSS Deputy Commander, Major Ken Marshall),  Kat Brown (wife of MSG Commander, Colonel Ed Brown), and Dena Vineyard (wife of FSS Commander, Lt. Col. Grant Vineyard).  By the way, I would just like to point out that Dena is NOT taller than me.  She was lucky enough to be wearing 3 or 4 inch heels.  On a serious note, these ladies are awesome!  We have some awesome spouses in the squadron/group/wing/etc...

The food was pretty good too.  It was a heavy appetizer menu with a carving station and sushi platters.  Me being such a classy lady, I was chowing down on Corona's and jalapeno poppers.  Winner!  Now speaking of Corona's.  Would you people stop buying me another Corona when I've barely drank half of my previous ones.  No names will be mentioned.  You know who you are.  The photo below is the "booze buck" you could get to buy liquor at the event.

Don't worry, I didn't get sloshed, but I am a light weight and started getting sleepy.  By 10:00, a lot of people had gone home, using the excuse of relieving their babysitter.  Lucky Ducks!  But not us, Abby was at a sleep over (thanks, Meredith.)  

The last hour was spent watching the younguns' dancing and drinking and still having loads of energy. You just wait my pretties, one day you will be old and want to be home by 9:00 pm.  Here's a few of them from Doug's squadron.  Captain Kwon (2nd from the left)  is the "Sustainment Services Flight Commander", her husband was prior Active Duty but now is a civilian working in CE (Civil Engineering).  To the right is Lieutenant Benjamin (from Finance) and his date.  You can tell from his "shaka" sign he's from Hawaii.  

Here is Lieutenant Surita, the Officer in Charge of Readiness and Plans for FSS.  His wife, Mary, works in the FSS Marketing Office.

Chief Sonya Mayo, FSS Superintendent, along with "Douggles".

Like I said, a bunch of great people work for FSS.  So finally, the ball ended at 11:00 pm.  Yup, Doug and I stayed to the bitter end.  I was beat.  We gathered ourselves and took the booze bus home to our side of the base.  It was a an interesting night, made enjoyable by being able to share it with some great people.  Until next year.  Yeah, you heard me, I've already been ordered to attend next year.  Anyone know a good place to order a cheap gown?

Annular Eclipse in Tokyo 2012

Today Tokyo was in the path of totality for an annular eclipse. For those that don't know the difference between an annular and a total solar eclipse, the annular has the moon only partially covering it, the solar has 100% coverage and you can see the corona.

Before heading off to school, Abby and I went downstairs to a friend's apartment since their unit faced east. The girls were excited to see the moon actually moving in front of the sun. It was a great lesson in astronomy for them. To view the eclipse, I purchased special eclipse viewing glasses.  Abby enjoyed looking at the sun with her fancy glasses, plus she looked cool!

At 7:34 AM the moon moved completely in front of the sun. Because it was an annular eclipse and not a total solar eclipse, we did not lose daylight. Here's a shot taken by one of the base photographers.

The eclipse was a great way to start our morning.  After it was done, the girls walked to school to share their experience with their classmates.  Thanks to Mr. Sun for the spectacular show and thanks Tokyo for being in the right place at the right time.

Tama Zoo

"A"'s Kindergarten class went on an excursion today to the Tama Zoo, about an hour's drive away from Base.  "A" rode with her class in the school bus and I caught a ride with some of the other moms from the class.

We got there right at opening, along with a few other Japanese schools, but it wasn't too crowded.  Our first stop was to the Butterfly house.

The Butterfly house is a beautiful enclosed building that houses hundreds of butterflies.  

You walk around the insectarium and enjoy the beautiful gardens while butterflies fly all around you and will even have a rest on top of you.

The Butterfly house was only the first stop of our day at the Tama Zoo.  Alas, it was the last stop for my camera.  I forgot to charge my phone's battery and was unable to take any more photos.  Here is the last shot I got outside the Insectarium.

Oh well, I'm not discouraged.  It just means that we need to head back to Tama Zoo one day.  Knowing what a pretty Zoo it is, I don't doubt we will be returning there soon.  Until our next Adventure.

Okonomiyaki

Our foodie mommy group decided on okonomiyaki today.  If you don't know what okonomiyaki is, it is a savory Japanese pancake.  You can choose the different fillings you want in your pancake.  There are beef, seafood, chicken, etc. types of okonomiyaki.  The restaurant we went to was about a 15 minute car ride from base.

See that creature standing by the entrance and it's cartoon depiction down below?  That is a tanuki, or Japanese Raccoon Dog.  The tanuki is a welcoming icon frequently found outside of Japanese bars and eateries, basically telling you to "come in, don't be stingy, enjoy".

We were a fairly large group for the restaurant but they set us up in our own section.  Like many restaurants in Japan you must leave your street shoes in little lockers and walk bare feet to your table or if you are prepared, as I am, use your little tabi slippers.  Many tables are low to the ground, so you sit on pillows.  My knees are getting too old for that.

This okonomiyaki restaurant was in the "cook your own" tradition.  You ordered the type of fillings you wanted and they it brought it to you in a bowl.  You can see every ingredient: the beef, onions, ginger, cabbage, cripies, and egg. 

You mix everything in your bowl together and then pour some oil on the hot grill found in the middle of your table.  Once the table is hot enough, dump the entire contents of your bowl on the grill and try to keep it in a round pancake shape.  Once the bottom has a nice, brown crust (about 8-10 minutes) flip it over and cook it for another 10-15 minutes.  You can then brush some of the okonomiyaki sauce on top, it tastes like American bbq sauce.

Finally, add the toppings you like.  Today, I just added the typical squirt of japanese mayo.  You can also add bonito flakes and a type of furikake sprinkle.  I kept mine simple today.

And that's it.  SO OISHII!

Good Food, Good Friends, Good Times.  

There's an app for that

So its after midnight and now I'm playing around with the Google Blogger app. *sigh* It also wants to set Japanese as my default language. I may try to have Naoko look at it tomorrow.

So this is the first post using the Blogger app on my phone. If it works out okay it may keep me consistently writing.

inFESTed

This Saturday was Yokota AB's first annual inFESTed festival.  Seeing that it was a FSS event, Doug needed to be there.  Since it was at the Sakura Shell which is right outside our apartment Tower, "A" and I joined him.

The festival was a small base festival but it had a nice selection of activities for families and most of them were free!  The kids got to enjoy hair and face painting... ugh, that's gonna leave a film in the tub.

There was umbrella painting and performances by musicians and bike acts and balancing acts, too.

There was also American and Japanese food vendors.  The Japanese food vendors charged for their snacks but it was so worth it.  Doug bought us some nikumaki-onigiri which is a rice ball wrapped in thin slices of marinated pork then grilled with or without cheese.

We also got to get a family portrait done for free and "A" was happy with her lot of  balloon gifts.

The FSS leadership was also out in full force.  It is nice to be part of a squadron that is so dedicated to their work.

In all, it was a nice day and the family scored some awesome swag.  Thanks FSS!

The Tokyo Cultural Tour

This Saturday found us partaking in a newly added ITT trip, The Tokyo Cultural Tour.  We were very excited to sign up for the tour since it brought us to a few of Tokyo's iconic places such as Asakusa Kannon, The Meiji Shrine and the Tsukiji Fish Market.  However, the weather was not to be kind to us.  The day was very cold and wet  which put a damper on our tour.  

Our first stop was the Meiji Shrine.  Once again, I will quote from the tour pamphlet:

"Meiji Jingu is a Shinto shrine.  Shinto is called Japan's ancient original religion, and it is deeply rooted in the way of Japanese life.  Shinto has no founder, no holy book, and not even the concept of religious conversion, but Shinto values harmony with nature and virtues such as "Magokoro", a sincere heart...

The shrine is dedicated to the divine souls of Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken.  However, their actual tombs are in Kyoto.  After the Emperor and Empress died, people wished to commemorate their virtues and to venerate them forever.  So they donated 100,000 trees from all over Japan and from overseas, and they worked voluntarily to create the forest around the shrine.  Thus, thanks to the sincere heart of the people, this shrine was established on November, 1, 1920."

We started walking to the main shrine area through the very large Torii or Shrine Gates.

Even though the rain put a damper on our day, the walk through the forest leading up to the shrine was  beautiful and peaceful.  It was very quiet considering the shrine is right in the middle of Tokyo.

Walking up to the shrine you will also come upon a display of sake barrels or nihonshu which were donated to the shrine.  It is very interesting to see the different art work found on each barrel.

The left photo is the entrance into the main shrine complex.  Because the day was so wet and cold, the complex was fairly empty (right photo).

Like most Japanese shrines and temples, the Meiji Shrine offers wooden prayer blocks that visitors can purchase and leave at the temple.  The close up of the wooden blocks shows the beautiful artwork found on them.

From the main complex we then took a very wet walk to the Treasure Museum, thank goodness we were prepared for the rain (left).  However, it didn't look like anyone else was willing to take the 10 minute walk in the constant drizzle (right).

We finally made it to the Homotsuden (Treasure Museum) which displays the treasures once belonging to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken.

There is also a picture gallery of past emperors, I think.  I don't remember because I am a bad tourist.  But here is a photo of what was in there.  Forgive me, I was wet and cold.

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After the Meiji Shrine, we headed to the Tsukiji Fish Market to grab something to eat for lunch and to look around.  The Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, or Tuskiji Fish Market as it is more commonly known, is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world.  Here is a brief introduction to Tsukiji:

"In 1657, Edo (Old Tokyo) was devastated by the Great Fire of Meireki, and the Tokugawa shogunate decided to fill in the coastal area of Edo.  Using advanced civil engineering, the land was reclaimed from the Tokyo Bay and named Tsuki-ji which literally means 'constructed land.'  The place used to be quiet with only shrines and homes for Samurai.  Then in 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake destroyed much of central Tokyo, including the Nihombashi Fish Market.  The fish market was then relocated to the Tsukiji District and began its operations in 1935.  As Japan enjoyed a major economical growth in the 1980s, people all over the world became interested in Japanese cuisine.  The Tuskiji Outer Market has been attracting visitors from all around the globe."

Tsukiji Market is separated into two main areas:  the Inner Market (Jonai Shijo) and the Outer Market (Jogai Shijo).  The Outer Market is Japan's "Food Town" and you can experience all different types of Japanese cuisine here.  It also holds many different wholesale and retail shops selling everything from Japanese chef knives to Japanese cooking ingredients.

Our bus parked across the street from the Outer Market, so we were able to walk around and view the different stalls and stores.  Even with the rain, there was still a good number of people out shopping.  

"A" enjoyed seeing the different foods being sold.

The Outer Market was about a block's length of restaurants and stores. It took us about 5-10 minutes to walk through it to get to the Inner Market of Tsukiji.  Here is the entrance to the Inner Market.  When walking around the Inner Market you must be aware of your surroundings.  It is very busy and there are dozens of forklifts zipping around and the workers are busy packing up.  

The Inner Market of Tsukiji is the wholesale market for food professionals and contains over 1500 stalls that sell over 450 different types of sea produce.  It is also where the food auction takes place.  Millions of dollars worth of tuna are auctioned here daily. (Update: on January 5, 2013 a bluefin tuna was sold for $1.76 million at Tsukiji.)

Growing up with uncles that were fisherman, I truly loved the fish market.  It brought back memories of them bringing home yellowfin tuna, mahimahi, and marlin.  I wished we could have purchased some of the seafood here but a)We were on a tour and I had no way of keeping it fresh & cold; and b) Even at it's wholesale price, this quality seafood can still get pricey.  

If you are not a fan of seafood I suggest you try some from here.  You cannot get seafood any fresher than what is found in Tsukiji.  Fresh seafood doesn't smell fishy, but salty like the ocean.  Once it becomes fishy smelling it is old.  At Tsukiji, you can find fresh mollusks and clams, crabs, and squid and octopi. 

The vendors also have some serious knife skills.  Look at the way they deboned this tuna!  There is no waste at all.

Not only do they possess serious knife skills, they possess serious knives!  Don't believe me?  Well, I stumbled upon a forklift that had, literally, an arsenal of knives just laying out in the open.  Japanese people are so honest and trusting.  I needed to get a closer look at the awesome display and, of course, to take a picture.

Well, I didn't realize that the vendor who owned the knives was watching and he was kind enough to invite us to watch him as he sharpened his knives.  Knives?!?!?!  That's a darn sword!  What the heck was he planning on cutting?  I'm glad they are so friendly, because that "knife" was very big and VERY sharp!

After the knife show, we browsed around a little more, took a customary photo inside the Inner Market and said goodbye to all that glorious seafood.  Ahhh Tsujiki, until we meet again.

We then headed back out to the Outer Market and the multitude of eateries.  One of the great things about Japan is that you don't need a fancy 5 star restaurant to get good food.  There are tons of little (I'm talking the size of a walk-in closet) restaurants around Tsukiji catering to both visitors but more especially, the workers.  

"A" was so cold that she asked if we could get hot ramen.  Me being the kind mother, I decided against going for sushi/sashimi in the world's greatest sushi/sashimi area.  *sob*  Instead, we looked around to see where the locals were heading.  There seemed to be a line by this little ramen shop that consisted of two gentlemen, a pot and a large wok.  Didn't matter, they made a great bowl of tonkotsu (pork) ramen.  We even lucked out and found two seats at the counter,  the establishment only boasted 3 seats by the way.  The delicious and hot ramen hit the spot and re-energized us to continue on with our tour.

 

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After Tsukiji we headed a few blocks down to Hama-rikyū Onshi Teien or the Hama-rikyu Gardens.  The Hama-rikyu Gardens can be found right along side the Sumida River.  It's 64 acre garden was originally built in 1654 as a retreat for the shogun's family.  However, in 1945 it was opened to the public.

It would have been nice to take our time to walk around the gardens, however, the rain had us rushing to our next destination.  Hopefully, we can return to stroll around the gardens, visit the tea house and see the duck hunting sites.

Walking through the Hama Detached Palace Gardens finally brought us to the Waterbus landing.  From there, we boarded onto a waterbus to enjoy a quick ride up the Sumida River.  We decided to sit in the lower area where you can have drinks and snacks. 

With the constant rainfall, it was nice to sit and relax and enjoy the sites of downtown Tokyo while staying warm & dry, if even for a small moment.  The Waterbus took us up the river towards Asakusa and we got off across the river from the Asahi Beer Headquarters (the building with the golden sperm on top).  The golden sperm or golden turd was originally meant to be upright and represent a golden flame.  For reasons unknown to me it was left on its side.  I think it is more memorable this way.  To the left of the gold building you will see a gray tower.  That is the Tokyo Sky Tree which is set to open in Summer 2012.  It is the tallest free-standing broad-casting tower in the world, standing at 634 meters.

After getting off the waterbus, we walked a few blocks to the Senso-ji Temple or as it is more commonly known, Asakusa Kannon.  Asakusa Kannon is Tokyo's oldest and most sacred temple and is dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon, whose golden statue was fished out of the Sumida River by two fisherman in the year 628 AD.

We entered the Temple through the Kaminarimon Gate or "Thunder Gate".  It was difficult to get a good photo showing the guardian statues on either side since I was trying to avoid all the umbrellas.  The good thing about the rain was that Asakusa was less crowded.  Yes, this is less crowded.

After entering, you then walk down Nakamise-dori which is a long street filled with tiny shops containing souvenirs and snacks.  There are also side streets that branch out from Nakamise-dori that offer different restaurants and shops to visitors.

After walking down Nakamise-dori you come upon the Hozo-mon Gate, Treasure House Gate, which leads you towards the main Hall.

Here is the backside of the Hozo-mon Gate.

It is here at the main hall that the gold statue of Kannon is housed.  Worshipers come to pay their respects by throwing coins and lighting candles.

To the left of the Main Hall is a beautiful, five story pagoda dedicated to Kannon Bosatsu.

And to the right of the Main Hall is Asakusa Jinja, a shrine dedicated to the men who found the Kannon statue.

With all the rain and cold, it was easy to forget that it was the middle of April and essentially spring.  However, the cherry blossom trees were kind enough to remind us of the season.

We ended our tour at Asakusa and boarded our bus to return back to base.  It was a wet and busy day, but still enjoyable.  It was great to see so many of Tokyo's famous attractions.  I hope to return to them at another time, and pray that it is warmer and dryer.  Until our next adventure.