Kamakura

We took our first ITT trip today to seaside town of Kamakura, to the southwest of central Tokyo. We left Yokota AB in Fussa before 8:00 am on the tour bus.  It's nice not having to drive ourselves to the destination.  We can relax, bring some snacks and take a nap if needed.  The trip from Fussa to Kamakura can take anywhere from 2.5 hours to 3.5 hours.

It's a little rainy out but at least it's warm.  We stopped off at a small rest stop close to Yokohama to take a bathroom break and get some snacks.  Poor "A" got car sick.  Thank goodness I brought a change of clothes for her and some Wet Wipes.  Doug, whom she was sitting next too, was not so lucky.  Poor kid, she gets carsick quite often.  It'll make for interesting road trips here.  I'll just make sure to always have wipes, plastic bags, crackers and a change of clothes like I would do stateside.

We finally get to Kamakura and like any beachside town there are little tourist shops and surf shops.  However, one little eatery caught my eye...

Nothing like a Kua Aina Burger shop to make me homesick.   I wonder if they are as good as the one in Haleiwa, HI?  I want a nice juicy avocado burger.  Oh well, onwards.

Our first stop was to Hasedera, The Hase Kannon Temple, a Buddhist temple in Kamakura.  Here is "A" & I at the entrance to the temple grounds.  I have no idea what the lantern above our heads says or what it symbolizes.  I'll have to find out before we leave Japan.

There are a lot of steep steps to get to different areas but the grounds are beautiful and the entire area is so peaceful.

Climbing up these stairs brings you to different meditation gardens and a spectacular view of the town.

The grounds have beautiful ponds and greenery.  Ah, to have a garden like this at your home...

Here is a photo of the actual temple which houses a large wooden sculpture of the bodhisattva, Kannon.  You aren't allowed to take a photo of the sculpture in the building.  The pamphlet our guide gave us explained the origins of the temple like this:

"The traditional story of the origins of the Hase Kannon Temple states that in 721, the pious monk Tokudo discovered a camphor tree, from which he carved two images of Kannon.  the Kannon sculpted from the lower half of the camphor tree was enshrined in Hase-dera in the province of Yamato (present day Nara prefecture).  The image made from the upper half was cast into the sea with prayers that it would reach in the land to which it had a karmic connection and save sentient beings.  It washed on shore sixteen years later, on the evening of the eighteenth day of the sixth month of 736, at Nagai, in the Miura Peninsula, glowing brightly, it was said, upon the waters.  This wooden image of Kannon was later transferred to its present site in Kamakura, where it was enshrined as the central image in a new temple, which Tokudo was invited to establish."

This may be a lesser temple but still beautiful.

Visitors also pay for prayer blocks to be written on and hung outside the temple and cave.

On the grounds there is an underground cave called the benten kutsu.  In the cave there are low ceilings and narrow tunnels that lead to different nooks where you find statues of a goddess.  According to Wikipedia, the sculptures are of the goddess,

 "Benzaiten, the sea goddess and the only female of the Seven Lucky Gods in Japanese mythology."  

The Benzaiten (a goddess of feminine beauty and wealth) at Hasedera is a small, eight-armed figure enshrined in the Bensaiten Hall beside the pond.   Here are "A" and Doug at the entrance to the cave under a Torii Gate.

Upon entering you come upon a large cavern whose walls are "inscribed with images of Benzaiten and sixteen children, representing minor gods serving Benzaiten."

From the large cavern you take a system of very narrow tunnels.  This may not be the best place if you suffer from claustrophobia. 

The tunnels take you to different caverns that also have stone statues of goddesses.

Another cavern has hundreds of little sculptures of the goddess.  

Once back outside, you come upon more gardens and sculptures.  Now I don't know if these depict Buddha or a bodhisattva,  it's been awhile since I took Eastern Religious Studies & Eastern Philosophy in college.

Happy "A" & Happy Buddha

These guys are so cute, how can you not want to take their picture?  I would love them in my own Zen garden.  Oh yeah, I live currently live in an apartment.  :(

On a sadder not, you will come upon the Jizou-dou.  The little statues of Jizou on both sides of the Jizou-dou have been placed there to pray for children who were stillborn, miscarried or aborted.  

So..... That was the first leg of our trip to Kamakura.  If you want to read more about Hasedera, here is a link to Wikipedia.

By the way here is the road the bus driver took to get to the temple.

The second stop in our trip was to see the Great Buddha of Kamakura or as it's know the Daibutsu.

It was a short 30 minute drive from the Hasedara Temple to Kotoku-in, the temple where the Great Buddha is.

Here is "A" at the entrance posing next to the Foo Dog or I think its real name is Komainu.

The Kamakura Daibutsu or The Great Buddha is located in the precincts of the Kotokuji Temple.  The bronze figure was said to have been cast in 1252 by Goroemon Ono or Hasatomo Tanju and is a national treasure.  It was originally enclosed in a large hall that was initially damaged by a storm in 1369 and then completely washed away by tidal waves in 1495.  From then on, the sculpture has remained in the open.  

The Daibutsu.  So peaceful, so majestic.  The position of the hands on the lap with palms up and thumbs touching represent the Buddhist sign for steadfast faith.    The expression of the Daibutsu "depicts the perfect repose and passionless calm which is the root idea of Buddhist doctrine."

How big is the Buddha?  From the top of the pedestal to the top of the Buddha, it is measured at 38 feet.  The length of the face itself, from chin to top of the "hair" is 7 feet, 8 inches.

The statue is hollow inside and for about 5 yen you can climb into the Great Buddha.  Of course, we had to do it.  Here is "A" posing on the inside, from the shape of the interior it looks like we are in his chest cavity.

Finally, we walked around and "A" wanted to wash her hands at one of the temple's water wells.  There is an entire ceremony on the proper way to wash our hands and mouth.  I'm sure we messed up.

Our last stop was to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu (The Minamoto Shrine).  We were allowed to walk around the surrounding town and have lunch.  Doug, "A" and I decided to get something to eat before visiting the shrine.  Poor "A" still had an upset stomach.  Didn't help that I got her a grape sherbert at the Daibutsu which then came up while walking around.  Poor kid.  I went to find a bakery so she could have some bread to absorb all that churning tummy acid.  Seemed to help, so we had lunch at a tempura shop.  The locals are very kind and gracious.  They accept our lack of the Japanese language and we make due with the point and smile method of ordering.  After we walked around the town a little to take in the local culture and shops. It's one of my favorite things to do.

"A" likes posing by the "lucky cat" statues.

After lunch we headed back to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu and walked around to the different areas.  The Minamoto Shrine is dedicated to the emperor, Ojin.  Similar to the temple there are many different walking paths that bring you to wooded areas.  It's very peaceful even if it's in the middle of a town.

The steps leading down and up to the shrine.  At the shrine you can throw yen into a receptacle and pray to the Shinto gods.

From the temple you can walk back into town.  It's nice that you can come here away from the bustle of the streets and relax walking around the grounds or around the koi ponds.

And that was the end of our trip.  By the way, we all need to do a shout out to the AMAZING bus drivers.  The streets in Japan are very narrow and very crowded.  These drivers can maneuver a large bus with ease.  It's a gift.  Don't believe us.  Here's the bus driver's mad parking skills at our last of the day, the Minamoto Shrine.  Yes, he backed into that space.

And here is "A" and myself trying to maneuver our way back to our bus.

We had a great time on our first site seeing trip around Japan.  A few little mishaps but it was so much fun.  We can't wait to explore more of Japan. By the way, if you want to learn more about the places we've visited I've linked the names to basic information about them.  Why?  Because I'm nice like that.  

Sorry, this is a long blog but hey, it was a long day.

Old friends and new friends

Life here in Japan is slowly settling into a normal routine.  We are out of TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility) and into our apartment.  The great thing about being in the apartment is it's right next door to "A"'s elementary school (5 minute walk),  next door to the indoor pool The Natatorium (5 minute walk),  across the street from the gas station/shoppette (6 minute walk), across the street from the tennis courts and movie theatre (8 minute walk), and the Medical Group/hospital is maybe a 10 minute walk away.  YEAH!!!! After needing to drive everywhere in D.C. this will be a great change.

Also, my friend Yuki and her son, Kai, are in town.  Yuki lives at Bolling AFB, in DC where her husband works at Andrews AFB.  We were neighbors for 4 years but she is originally from the Fussa area where Yokota AB is.  So she and Kai are here to visit family and she has introduced me to her friends from the area.  So I will be trying to play tennis with them once a month.  I'll sponsor them to come on base and we can play tennis and then have lunch.  I can practice speaking Japanese and they can practice speaking English.  Aside from Yuki, Yumiko is the best of all of us.  She speaks English fairly well.

Yuki showed us how to get to the closest mall and 100 yen store, which I've heard so much about from people who have lived in Japan before.  It'll be fun and interesting walking around those places.

"A" also has a classmate, Bella that lives right down stairs from us.  So we walk to school together and the girls can have play dates.

Life's good.

Fall Fussa Festival

We are at the two and a half week mark in Japan and we are heading out to our first "event".  Sunday had us attending the annual Fussa Festival right outside the base.  I believe (and I'm probably wrong) it celebrates the friendship between Yokota AB and the outlying community of Fussa-shi.

We parked close to the Fussa gate and walked along Route 16 where the festivities were being held.  There was a parade along Route 16 which included an antique car club.  I wish my uncles could have seen the cars coming down.

Different parts of Yokota AB were represented in the parade also.

Between the store fronts, there was a little children's play area with little tchotchke & food vendors...

Along with the celebrity tortoise.  I believe they said he's 100 years old so I'm sure he's an old pro at these types of events.

At another area, there was music and food vendors from both on base and off.

I, of the daring palate, decided on takoyaki aka octopus balls.  This is one of those things that it is better to say its Japanese name.  The name "octopus balls"seems to freak people out.  It's actually a very popular street food here in Japan and very delicious.  Takoyaki is a SMALL piece of cooked octopus dipped in a batter and cooked in a special takoyaki pan.  It's kind of like a round donut pan and the batter texture is similar to Okinawan donuts, if you've had that, but the takoyaki is savory.  Doug and "A" had some grilled chicken on a stick.  I'll get them to eat takoyaki one day.

We then walked along Route 16 to people and culture watch.  Doug has a small obsession with the drink machines which can be found along every street.  Not necessarily by a building, just randomly placed along the sidewalk.  Here's "A" by, what else, a Coca-Cola vending machine in honor of her Papa, Kit "Coca-Cola Boss Man of the Pacific" McClure! Most vending machines offer cold & hot beverages.  Now that's customer service.  

As for me, I am amazed at the amounts of bicycles here.  I am even more amazed when I see these tiny women riding around with their two children on their bikes, one in the front & one in the back.  Here is a typical bicycle.  Of course, with the amounts of bikes on the road it makes me extra nervous driving around on the roads.

Over all it was a great day.  We ventured outside the gate, got to experience the surrounding community, ate some Japanese food, and spent a great together as a family.  IN JAPAN!

The Hickeys have landed

So we made it. We are officially living in Japan. It has been a crazy month and a half. Doug got back from Afghanistan on August 20.   "A" and I got some balloons and our well-used Welcome Home Daddy sign out to decorate the house.

Pretty nice.  Too bad a major storm hit while we drove Doug home from the airport so he never got to really appreciate it.  *sigh*  Anyways, it was off to BWI to collect Daddy.  The USO does a fabulous job of decorating the arrival area and always has volunteers to cheer when the military members come off the plane.

"A" and I are so happy he is home, but poor Doug was so exhausted.  He'd been traveling for over 24 hours.

Unfortunately, there is no rest for the weary. The movers/packers were here by August 24 and our final inspection and handing over the keys was on August 31. After four years in DC, we said goodbye to our home. "A" was only 1 1/2 years old when we moved to DC, now she leaves as a 5 soon to be 6 year old.  We made some great friends there and some great memories.  Goodbye Bolling...

 Then it was on to Great Wolf Lodge,PA for a mini family vacation. We had so much fun and it was a great chance for Doug to decompress after being "go-go-go". Then it was drive up to Connecticut to visit Doug's parents for two weeks. It will be tough saying goodbye. We have lived on the East Coast for 11 years, and now we are moving as far away as globally possible.  Doug and I also had to sell both our vehicles.  I sold my RAV4 which was my first new car and was purchased the year we got married.

Doug sold his truck.  HIS TRUCK!  I never thought he would.  He's had that truck longer than he's had me.  It's lived in as many places as I have... HI, CT, SC, DC.  Poor Doug, I was sad for him.

We finally arrived in Japan on September 22, after delayed flights, missed flights, and cancelled flights.  We stayed in Seattle for over 24 hours in a hotel since there was a typhoon hitting Japan at our original time of arrival. Bad Omen? Seriously hope not. Even though the layover was a production of moving 6 huge pieces of luggage from the airport to the hotel with minimum help, I think it was better with the delay. We got to sleep in and relax instead of doing a straight 24+ hour trip. I shudder thinking about having to do that again one day. We had a great welcome from the Yokota FSS group when we arrived at the base terminal. It'll be interesting having Doug be part of a squadron again.

 The first few days were a blur, but basically we got shown around and started getting things done as soon as possible. We looked at housing, at getting our licenses, getting cars and getting "A" in school. "A" started school on August 28.

"A" is a Panda!  As you can see she was very excited to start school and meet new friends.  I thank God she is such an easy going kid that enjoys school.  It can't be easy being the new kid but she did awesome. One of her classmates will be living one floor down from our apartment. That will be nice. However...

Apartment living. That will be the biggest change. It's small and we have A LOT OF STUFF coming. I get nauseated just thinking about the amount of stuff we have coming and trying to figure out where will put it. Eeeeeek.  Well, we will just have to make due.

So, that's been our month and a half adventure so far.  Whew.  It'll be interesting to see what happens while in Japan!