We decided to try a dog boarding facility so we can expand our weekend exploring. We chose Pet Holiday, https://petholiday.co in Yokosuka, about 20 minutes from our house. We took them on Saturday morning, well full disclosure; Glen took them as I was feeling anxious about it and didn’t want to cry and upset them. Rod, the owner, recommends a quick drop and go. It was not unlike dropping your children off at daycare for the first time! I realize how ridiculous it sounds, but zero f#$%s given, they have never been to a boarding facility and I worried about them! Fortunately all went great, as witnessed by the picture.

They even played with other dogs! Its been a long time since they have been around other dogs so we were very pleased about how it went and will for sure be taking them there again. It is so much easier to enjoy exploring when you know your babies are being well taken care of.

On Saturday after taking them to the kennel, we went into Yokosuka for the Yokosuka Chuo Blue Street Summer Kick Off Festival. It is a two day festival, with Saturday being food booths and games and Sunday has an added Mikoshi Parade. A mikoshi is a divine palanquin (portable Shinto shrine). Shinto followers believe that it serves as the vehicle to transport a deity in Japan while moving between main shrine and temporary shrine during a festival or when moving to a new shrine. Often, the mikoshi resembles a miniature building, with pillars, walls, a roof, a veranda and a railing. Typical shapes are rectangles, hexagons, and octagons. The body, which stands on two or four poles (for carrying), is usually lavishly decorated, and the roof might hold a carving of a phoenix. During a matsuri (Japanese festival) involving a mikoshi, people bear the mikoshi on their shoulders by means of two, four (or sometimes, rarely, six) poles. They bring the mikoshi from the shrine, carry it around the neighborhoods that worship at the shrine, and in many cases leave it in a designated area, resting on blocks called uma (horse), for a time before returning it to the shrine. Some shrines have the custom of dipping the mikoshi in the water of a nearby lake, river or ocean (this practice is called o-hamaori). At some festivals, the people who bear the mikoshi wave it wildly from side to side to “amuse” the deity (kami) inside.

Here are some pictures from our trek through the festival on Saturday. We were gone to Tokyo in Sunday so did not see the mikoshi parade, but plan to at least once while we live here.

There were many little booths you’d see at any fair in the USA as well, for kids to win little prizes. People were out in force, fun people watching opportunity as well.

• 

A

Since apparently I would rather cook my own food whether home or out, we decided to try a new Yakiniku place on Saturday.   We didn’t want to go far, so chose a place close to the train.  We took the train into Yokosuka-Chuo station and it was a 10 minute walk to this wonderful restaurant.  It can be found by typing in “Anan, Yokosuka-chuo” into Yelp.  Many Japanese restaurants are very small, with few tables.  Not this place!  It looks small from the outside, but Ince you go inside, it goes far back.  Also the walking aisles are wide and the seating comfortable, again unlike many other Japanese eateries.  The ordering system is top notch!  There is a tablet on the table.  You can change the language to English.  You then choose from each category the items you want.  All then are brought to your table and you begin the cooking process.  You are given metal tongs and chopsticks for the cooking/eating process. Cooking your own meal while out aside, it’s a fun experience! And at the end, you click on the “pay” option and your total is displayed. You then go to the desk up front and pay. They even take credit cards!

Some yakiniku history compliments of Wikipedia:  

Yakiniku; meaning “grilled meat“, is a Japanese term that, in its broadest sense, refers to grilled meat cuisine. “Yakiniku” originally referred to western “barbecue” food, the term being popularized by Japanese writer Kanagaki Robun in his Seiyo Ryoritsu (i.e. “western food handbook”) in 1872 during the Meiji period, the term later became associated with Korean-derived cuisine.  Due to the Korean War, Korean restaurants in Japan were divided into North Korean and South Korean; the reference to a “yakiniku restaurant” arose as a politically correct term for restaurants of either origin.

Today, “yakiniku” commonly refers to a Japanese style of cooking bite-size meat (usually beef) and vegetables on gridirons or griddles over a flame of wood charcoals or a gas/electric grill. In many parts of the world, yakiniku is also commonly referred to as “Japanese barbecue”. The origin of contemporary yakiniku has become a subject of debate, though it is conventionally considered to have been inspired by similar Korean cuisine. The present style of yakiniku restaurants are derived from Korean restaurants in Osaka and Tokyo, which opened around 1945.  In a yakiniku restaurant, diners order prepared raw ingredients (individually or as a set) which are brought to the table. The ingredients are cooked by the diners on a grill on top of or built into the table, several pieces at a time. The ingredients are then dipped in sauces known as tare before being eaten.

Yakiniku Day – In 1993, the All Japan Yakiniku Association proclaimed 29 August as official “Yakiniku Day”. I know we will be sure to partake on this special day!

Enjoy the pictures of our experience!!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Decided to have some good old burgers and fries while out an about today. Ended up at J.S. Burgers. Did not disappoint. They offer a variety of gourmet burgers, desserts and several beers. They focus on a particular hamburger using home-made whole grain buns and voluminous coarse-grained beef patties. The fries were shoestring, which are my favorite! Our waitress provided an English menu, and spoke very good English. Glen tried a Japanese beer that he liked. The bill even came with an adorable drawing! Great experience!

On the advice of a co-worker of Glens, we went to A Happy Pancake in Kamakura. There are several in Japan, this one is a short train ride from home! To say we were pleased would be an under statement. This is a whole different level of pancake than we’ve seen in the US. Fucking amazing barely cuts it, it’s almost indescribable.

To ensure complete customer satisfaction, A Happy Pancake uses top quality ingredients, such as fine Manuka honey from New Zealand, cream from Hokkaido in northern Japan and organic eggs from Nara (near Kyoto and Osaka). The pancakes are free of any additives. However, making the fluffy pancakes does take time. Customers may have to wait at least 20 minutes because each pancake is made individually to order. I ordered the Strawberry & Cheese Fondue and Glen ordered the Berry one. We got lucky and it was only about 15 minute before our little plates from heaven arrived. The “cheese fondue” was a lemony sauce that can only be described as deliciousness!

And as you sit there in the restaurant, you are able to watch how the chefs in the open kitchen go about making the airy batter for the pancakes. The pancakes themselves range in price from 980 to 1,480 yen, which is not at all expensive. To accommodate all customers A Happy Pancake offers a menu in English, much to our delight! We also did not have to wait, which may be different in a bigger area like Tokyo.

I cannot WAIT to go back, many times while we are here. And to any of my friends and family that come to visit, you be eaten pancakes!!

A sound truck weaves through traffic, blaring campaign messages and lobbying for votes as the candidate, often wearing white gloves, waves to passers-by.

This is electioneering, Japan style, where door-to-door soliciting is banned outright, as are rallies between 8pm and 8am. There are also caps on the number of fliers (70,000 per candidate) that can be distributed during the election campaign, and even the number of party volunteers (up to 15) allowed at each rally.

Campaigning in Japan remains a traditional affair – online canvassing was allowed only from 2013 – and very much unlike the grand events elsewhere, such as large stadiums or open fields.

In Japan, stump speeches typically occur at high-traffic sites outside shopping malls or train stations and are over within 45 minutes – by law.

Candidates, usually backed by a party leader, will speak atop of a party truck to passers-by. Along with the campaign posters pasted up in each ward, these are by far the most visible ways for candidates to reach voters. Campaigning laws in Japan help to ensure political neutrality, regardless of financial standing. Large-scale, orchestrated events like door-to-door campaigning and television commercials require a lot of money, and this would give an unfair advantage to parties that attract the biggest donations. Door-to-door canvassing has been banned for nearly 100 years, to prevent pork barrel politics, and as a deterrence against corruption.

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/election-fever-hits-japan

Needless to say, the sound truck going through the ‘hoof=d a few times a day is extremely annoying. However, Lucee has finally gotten used to it and doesn’t bark at it every time! I think that the good old USA could learn a few things about campaigning from the Japanese, keeping it fair and giving each candidate an equal chance to say their piece and garner votes. Fortunately, elections will be over very soon!

Some of you may already know the awesome nightmare that is Space A travel. Space A (Space Available) travel is something that is available to the military (as a whole). The fights are not commercial, but rather military flights with a mission. That means there are certain restrictions to travel, including;

• Only service members, retirees and their families are eligible. Only with certain qualifications are reservists, National Guardsmen and family members without an accompanying active-duty sponsor permitted.
• Flights are typically free of charge, but you should contact your closest Air Mobility Command, or AMC, passenger terminal or the terminal at the location you intend to depart from for specific information.
• Most terminals have a Facebook page where they post flight information, including their 72-hour flight schedule.

There are several categories of travelers. I, being an unaccompanied dependent am a category 4. Glen being a DOD employee at the level he is, lands in category 2! Category 1 is active duty members, and the others are retirees, unaccompanied active duty family members, etc. Being in cat 4 puts me lower on the list as you may have deduced.

For more official information please visit: https://www.militaryonesource.mil/recreation-travel-shopping/travel/travel-planning/plan-your-trip-with-space-a-travel

So now that the official information is out there and the location of more information is attached, I’ll tell you MY experience!

First I went to a Space A/EML Flights Brief on base in Yokosuka. They are given once a quarter. They provide a lot of great information like the forms you need to complete, etc. I left there armed with tons of information. I completed the forms, got the letter from Glen’s command etc. I joined the facebook pages for the Yakota AMC (Air Mobility Support) terminal. I found that the flight I wanted to Seattle flies 2 days a week. We decided to try on Saturday, March 2nd. You have to sign up via email by sending your information (they will tell you what you need to include) to the terminal. You then show up on the date you want to fly, with all your luggags, and hope for the best! You can follow on their facebook pags and see how many seats are tentatively available, but that is in no way indicative of how many will be available on the date of travel. So, I recommend showing up each time you want to travel. When I left Japan, the tentative seats was 5 but there ended up being somewhere around 18 available. Once you have been cleared for a seat, you check in with your luggage and pay the fee. My flight from Japan was $35.00. This is why it is worth the hassle if you don’t have specific time frames to adhere to.

There are always things that are subject to change, like the time you fly, the date, etc. My flight out was delayed a couple hours. But again, the price makes it easier to be patient. Since I don’t have a job, it was easy for me. Once I decided I was ready to come back home though, I did find that we got so spoiled with me getting on the flight out on my first try!

I enjoyed a month back at the home state, but decided to try to get home starting on April 4th. There were 5T (5 tentative) seats. Ended up being 15 available. I was #16 in line. I left and spent another great weekend with friends and family. Tried again on the 9th and 11th, with higher category people knocking me out of the running. One one of the dates there were zero seats showing tentative, but still several people got a seat. They always have folks that do not check in that had ticketed seats. I realized in this time that many military families were on spring break and trying to get home so my hopes were dashed a bit. However, once again, don’t believe what the facebook pages says for available seats because it changed on every single try I made. On my 4th try on the 16th, there showed 5T seats available and there ended up being 44! Only 27 were used. So the flight was a bit more comfortable as I was in a 3 seat row with the middle seat empty! Contrary to general idea, these flights are a regular commercial airplane with movies, food etc. I was told in the briefing that you can end up on a military aircraft but it is to as common as people may think.

On the facebook page(s) you can look at the past flights and see how many seats were available, and how many were used. It seems that at certain times of the year (SPRING BREAK) there are many people flying Space A. But at other times there are many seats available. It is basically a crap shoot at peak travel! lol. It’s good to look at the past travel and see what times in a month/year that there are more seats available. If you have the luxury, this does allow you to plan better for a better chance at a seat.

In closing I would recommend that people take the informational brief, have American cash on you, be willing to wait, and always show up for roll call on the days you want to travel, regardless of what is shown as tentative seats available. It is an extremely inexpensive was to travel so you have to go in keeping that in mind. It’s not their job to make sure you get home, that’s on you. I was almost ready to buy a ticket when I qualified for a seat. I’m glad I didn’t, as the flight home cost me $18.00! I am very thankful that this program is extended to us twice a year as DOD civilians stationed overseas.

The pictures below are directly from the Yakota Passenger Terminal facebook page:

I’ve been gone from the blog as I had an opportunity to fly home for a visit! If you have ever flown Space A travel, you know it’s an amazing opportunity to travel for a small amount of money. I’m so happy that our military members, active and retired, have this available to them. The part that makes it a tad anxiety driven is the fact you do not know if you have a seat until the day of travel, at an ungodly hour of the morning! You must mark yourself “present” for travel by 0515 and the “roll call” for who gets a seat is 0530. They give out the available seats based on categories; with active duty and families first and so on. Me being an unaccompanied dependent put me in a cat 4 status, there are 6 different ones. This is a generality, the times change as necessary of course. They cannot tell you what time the plane will leave, as its a military flight, so you can’t even tell someone what time you’ll arrive at your destination either! lol! Despite these issues, it was a wonderful way to travel, and I am very thankful they make it available a couple times a year for overseas employees and their spouses. Since this is the off season, I got a seat!

I’ve been here in Washington a month almost, and am scheduled to try for a seat this week to go back to Japan. Im very ready to be back with Glen and the pups, miss them terribly. Ive had such a good time here though, seen and broken bread with so may people I love. It’s been really good for my heart to be back for a bit.

I’ve eaten so much Mexican food while here!! It’s made me very happy! There isn’t the same type available near me in Japan so it’s been a wonderful chance! Spent time in Cle Elum, such a beautiful area, Spokane, Sequim, Belfair and Allyn. Seen so many people I love. Thank you to all that took me in, made time to see me and bought me food! lol

I’ll be back to sight seeing and posting our Japan experiences in a couple weeks, don’t stop reading!! It’s cherry and plum blooming season, so look forward to those pics!

UPDATE: I ended up staying until Tuesday April 16th due to Space A travel (see separate blog). Had a wonderful time. Some pi cures below of some highlights!:

I have had too long a sabbatical from a blog I started 2 months ago! Part of the reason is that it was just day to day living for a while. We hadn’t ventured out. But, day to day living in another country is newsworthy right? This blog post will be random, things we’ve done, seen, etc in no particular order!

• 

• 

• 

We went to see our friends Sam & Ikeko at their bar. Always a good time. They are the sweetest people, always reserve us a spot at the bar. And they are usually packed so it’s a great convenience an so thoughtful. The music is so much fun, even when they sing in Japanese. Funny though, they often sing in English but don’t really speak it. Always a great time and we will keep going back!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Dinner at the Garlic House. Very small place, only about 6 tables. Has about 10 menu items, and when they are out of one for the night, its done. No more garlic pizza tonight! We missed the pizza but had noodles that were very good. I want to go back earlier for the pizza.

• 

• 

• 

• 

We went for a drive, and the road we took ended up turning into a basic golf cart path in the middle of a HUGE garden! We were lucky we had a road to follow, the google maps road didn’t show the change in “type” of road… It was interesting to say the least! The amount of garden area in this country is astounding. If there is an empty space, they will grow something there. And the care they put into them in incredible. There is not a weed to be seen, the rows are straight and perfect. Its really a site to see.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

A couple different meals we had. I was jonesing for Mexican food so we decided to try a place someone recommended called YAS Taco House. The tacos were great. I ordered what I thought would be Spanish rice, they called it taco rice. Well I should have trusted the name; it was white rice with taco meat, lettuce and cheese on top! Not awful but not the taste I was looking for.

The other was a favorite yakatori place we’ve been to before, one of Glens favorite foods is yakatori so it’s a go to. I enjoy the checker breast ones but that is all. Too many veiny and gristly variables in the others… The fried cheese balls are like popcorn, could eat a whole bag of them! I was looking to have a baked potato but they didn’t have so the closest they had she gave me, and when it came out we realized it was French fries! it was funny, and they tasted good is I call it a win.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Chinatown sights! We went on a federal holiday so Chinatown wasn’t so crowded! Very fun wander & eat area.

We decided to go to Yokohama on Saturday afternoon. There was the Japanese Brewers Festival at Ōsanbashi Pier “. It is the main international passenger pier at the Port of Yokohama. Ōsanbashi is the oldest pier in Yokohama, originally constructed between 1889 and 1896. The fest was packed full!

Glen managed to find several new brews to try and like! I tried a grape cider (tasted like wine) and a cranberry ale which was actually pretty good. And promotes good bladder health so…😀

So, they do brew festivals a little different here, much to everyone’s delight!

As we were leaving the festival to go fins some much needed food, we met Kamen Rider!

Wikipedia: The Kamen Rider, (translated as Masked Rider Series) is a metaseriesof manga, and tokusatsu television programs and films, created by manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori. The Kamen Rider media generally features a motorcycle-riding superhero with an insect motif who fights supervillains. The franchise began in 1971 with the Kamen Rider television series.

There was another character there with him.

Yokohama is beautiful at night!

We ended up eating at Garlic House, one of Glen’s very favorite places here. It’s a one man show and you bus your own tables. We wanted the garlic pizza but they were out of it so ended up having garlic noodles and rice, gyoza and baked garlic. It was delicious!

We then headed to Sams Bar, our very favorite in Japan! Sam was the first bar Glen went into when he first came to Japan, that welcomed him inside. And they continue to treat us so wonderfully every tine we are here.

Sam even sang for us, which is always such a pleasure to listen to!

I also found a few new manhole covers to share with y’all!

——————————————————–On Friday I took the train into Yokosuka to meet Glen for lunch and wander around town. In my wandering I came across this gathering:

I watched for a bit as people lined up. The people in the colored jackets were putting cabbages into plastic bags. After they talked among themselves for a few minutes they began to hand out the cabbages with a flyer. A sweet little older lady must have noticed my perplexed look and came to me to tell me they were gifts “free”. So nice of her. I took the flyer home to translate it. It was a new farmers market that gave them out for free as a marketing tool. We’ll be having cabbage rolls this weekend!