So, a friend of mine started a blog and I thought it was a really good way for people that you might not be able to see often or talk to often to keep tabs on you and see what is going on so I thought I would give this a try.
I have never been outside of the country before and ever since I was in Junior High I have wanted to go to Japan. This was one of the things that I put on my list that I would have to do before I die. As the years went by and as luck would have it. My best friend since kindergarten joined the Navy and decided to serve a tour in Japan. It could not have worked better. Not only to have a free place to stay on my trip but to take that trip with my best freind for so long. (even though the Navy has ruined him and is now even harder to get along with all the time!haha)
My friend was currently serving in Atsugi not far from Tokyo. It was a 12 hour flight from Moline, Ill. I had one stop at the Seattle airport. Only got to see the view from the airport but it made me to really want to go there soemday to check out the city.
I arrived in Tokyo at about 10pm. My freind picked me up at the airport and drove me back to Atsugi. The first thing that suprised me was the motorcycles flying between cars on the large highways and that it was legal for them to drive that way. You have to be allot braver than I am to drive like that. Throut my trip it was not an isolated incident. Motorcycles was obviously free to do just about anything they wanted to do. We got back to my freinds place. 3 bedroom, 2 level, 1 1/2 bath condo that the Navy paid for. It was really sweet. I went to bed pretty early since I did not sleep on the flight.
The next day (a friday) was public day at the Atsugi airbase. I was able to see the office where my friend worked and some of the planes of the airwing that he works for. It was really interesting. Then that night the band "Everclear" was there to do a free concert for the airbase. It was an outside show and was really good.
The next day (Saturday) we went into Tokyo. We got a hotel at Roppongii. It was a nice train ride into town. It was almost ruined when I followed my friend across the street in the rain and was hit by scooter. It did not knock me down or hurt me (much) but the guy on the scooter crashed. After a few minuts of panic since neither one of us spoke Japanese the driver got up and apologized to me (even though it was clearly my fault) and drove off. We had asked other people at the airbase thier opinoin on where we should go and they all recommended a bar called Gas Panic 99. I decided it would be nice to dress up to go out so I had on my Kakis and a nice shirt. We got to the bar around 9:30 and it was completly empty exept for two other people. We really thought maybe we heard the people at the airbase wrong since it was so dead. My freind stayed for about an hour then decided to go visit some people he knew. I decided to stay at the bar and just hang out. ( when am I ever going to get the chance to bar hop on the other side of the world again?) the bar stayed empty until around midnight. Then BAM...it was like a wave of people just entered the bar and soon it was shoulder to shoulder people. One of the funny things about the night was the people at the airbase did not tell us it was a hip hop bar.So here I am a 6'5" american all dressed up surrounded by Japanese dressed in thug hip hop clothes. It was really fun. I did not leave the bar until 7:30am and got lost trying to find my way back to the hotel. Luckily I had a map from the hotel for the taxi driver to use (even though it took him a while to figure it out).
(Sunday)Once back at the hotel I got about 2 hours sleep then met up with my friend. We had some lunch and walked around the Tokyo Tower area for most of the day before getting back to Atsugi and crashing before going out for supper that night.
(Monday) Slept in and just hung around the apartment and went to the airbase for lunch. That night we went to a Mexican resturant not far from Atsugi I cannot remember the name but it is pretty famous for the locals and it was really good food.
(Tuesday)We went to Yokohama and walked around the pier area.It was really nice senery. Neither one of us knew exactly what all was there so we just checked out the sites then went to a really good jazz bar and had supper at the Sizzler
(Wednesday) We rented a van and some mountain bikes from the airbase and drove 6 hours to the other coast of Japan to visit an old friend from the Hapkido club who had moved back to Japan and was currently teaching at an University in Mie. Once in town Tetsuya (my hapkido friend) took us to a local Shinto shrine that we were able to take a tour of. It was really nice to see some of the shrines and catch up with my friends. That night Tetusya and his wife took us to a house that was turned into a resturant and ran by the family that lived there. The food and Sake was amazing. Tetsuya ordered such a spread that I cannot not even start to describe all the dishes that we had. We spent the night at the local university hotel.
(Thursday) we got up and had breakfast with Tetsuya and his wife. Then we drove to Ski Jam in Fukoui. It was a ski resort that is open in the summer for mountain bike riding. We spent the day riding trails then was able to use the resorts health spa for a Japanese style bath. It was a little different but very enjoyable. We drove back to Atsugi that night and got back around midnight. On the trip there and back I totally fell in love with the Japanese rest stops. Compared to what we have here in Iowa they were amazing with the shops, resturants, and vending machines. The only thing I did not like was the Squid on a stick vendors ( I was not brave enough to try one)
(Friday) we went into Yokuska naval base. I bought some souveniers for my family then we met up with a freind I had made in Shibuya. After a confusing time trying to find eachother at the train station at Shibuya my friend Chie and her friend took us to a resturant where you rent a table for an hour and a half and it is all you can eat. There were fryers in the table and you could fry all different types of meat and vegetables. We had some really good plum sake with our meal. Afterwards we went to Gas panic in Shibuya and had some more drinks and danced a little until it was time for the last train to leave to go back to Atsugi. One lesson I learned by the next morning was that many drinks Sake and then more than a few Jake Daniels on the rocks do not mix well.
(Saturday) I packed up and my freind drove me to the airport to come home. Tired and hung over it was a pretty relaxing flight back even though I still did not sleep for most of the flight back.
When I had planned my trip there, I was unsure of what was in the area and how easy it would be to get around. I am hoping to go back again this fall before my friends time in Japan is over. I hope to see a little more of Tokyo and Mount Fujji