First Official Duty

This is at a Shinto shrine where I was asked to participate in a traditional Shinto Safety Ceremony. I was honored and grateful for the chance. Of course later at the luncheon I was asked to stand up and give a speak to about 85 people who could barely understand what I was saying. It was all a very gratifying experience.

~Josh

More pictures

A couple pictures from the top of the Landmark Tower. Breath taking.

New post!!!! (At long last)

I just wanted to update everyone onthe goings on in the Perry room-hold. Yes we are currently still in the Navy Lodge here at Naval Base Yokosuka. But the light at the end of the tunnel is swiftly approaching. We are going to move into our new house on Friday the 21st of July. I know this about a month after we arrived here, but with work being as demanding as it has been, it's been hard to schedule a time to make this happen.

However; we have not just been sitting in our rooms waiting for life to happen to us. The first weekend we were here we went Hiratsuka to the Star Festival. Talk about a lot of people. One of my co-workers keeps a great blog site about his adventures in Japan, and he takes incredible pictures of the experiences too. You can check that out at:
http://rippleaj.spaces.msn.com

Last week we went to the mandatory Area Orientation Brief/Inter Cultural Relations workshop, and part of that is going out in town and riding the train somewhere and then talking about it the next days. Kristin and I decided to go up to Yokohama, which isn't all that far, but it involved getting a transfer ticket to ride multiple lines. Not a big deal really, but for Kristin and I it was a new thing. But easy once it was all said and done. During our outing we ran into another couple who were going to the same place, and believe it or not they were newer than us. We helped them out (We at least knew how to buy a train ticket.) and we ended spending the rest of the day together. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately I didn't bring the camera. But I was able to take some pictures with the cell phone.

And that is the picture of the Landmark tower that we went to the top of. It was 1,000 yen, but well worth it.

That's it for right now. I'll post a couple for cell phone pictures right now as well. (From our trip to Yokohama.)

~Josh

Pictures

Well, I wish I could post some picturs for everyone to see, but unfortunately the free internet connection that I am riding on is just to slow. It's wireless, but the actual connection to the outside world is not facilitating a fast enough connection to upload some fairly big pictures.

So anyway last night after I got off of work, Kristin, Ronan, a friend from work and his girlfriend, and myself all went to the town of Haritsuka to see a festivial that they put on there every year. It's called the Festival of the Lovers..... or Stars, depending on how you want to interpret it. There were tons pf people, food, drink, and did I mention people?

Hundreds of colorful, ornate lanterns were hung from elaborate bamboo rods and ropes. It was something to see. They were hawking a huge variety of food and drink from the street side. We ate well,a nd I even found a fresh (small) pint of Guiness. It was even pretty cheap, just 450 yen. ($4.30) I am sitting the bar at the Yokosuka Naval Base O Club drinking small glasses of Guiness right now, and it costs $6.00 a glass here.
The tales of things being UNBELIVABLE expensive out in the community are thus far vastly exaggerated. We going be moving into a house that cost about $2100/month, but it rivials anythign in California in that price range. Up in the mountains, 4 bedroom, 1200 square feet. once again, once I have a good internet connection, I'll post pictures. Well It's Ronan's birthday today, so I am going head back out to the pool and enjoy the sun, and my expensive beer.

~Josh