Blogs from Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan, Asia

I woke early in the house on the edge of Kamakura. Like most places we have stayed, we were sleeping on separate thin mattresses on Tatami mats. After showering we met our hostess in the kitchen who was cooking us our breakfast. It turns out that she is a professional chef and had had her own restaurant to in Tokyo, having also published two vegetarian Japanese cook books. The family friends that were staying there were a young couple with a toddler. The woman had previously worked with our hostess and the man is an architect, mostly working in Vietnam. The man spoke fairly good English and the woman could communicate too so we had good conversation for the most. I asked about the religious cabinet in the corner of the room that was full of ... read more

Hello all! It’s been a while since I wrote, but that’s because I haven’t had too much eventful going on! Two weekends ago we had our big group picture at Kamakura. We went to Kamakura, which is where the “Big Buddha” is at. All of the Camp people who are in Japan met there and we took a picture in front of it and had a poster that some people made. We had a couple hours to do whatever we wanted so we walked around some shops and ate at a Hawaiian café! It was actually pretty good, I had French toast with bananas and chocolate. We were right by the beach and there were a ton of Hawaiian restaurants and shops. We met up with all the Camp people a little later and did beach ... read more

After my harrowing landing experience, and the days of jet lag and exhaustion that followed, things became much more enjoyable. I'm enjoying living in Tokyo, and I'm essentially settled at this point. Sadly, I feel that, while my reading comprehension has substantially improved since my last visit, my speaking has languished. I'm working to rectify this, and simply living in Japan has helped quite a bit. But I am still slow whenever I want to say something that isn't simple. Last weekend, I and another intern in the area met to visit Yokosuka. I also visited Yokosuka two years ago. When I mention this to people, the inevitable question is, "Why Yokosuka?" The answer is somewhat absurd. Imagine that one of your most inspirational, favorite movies had taken place in a town. You loved the movie ... read more

On a perfectly sunny day this past week I decided to endeavor a short day hike to Jimmu Temple on the Miura Peninsula, near Zushi. I followed directions from hike #2 in "Day Walks Near Tokyo" by Gary Walters. After departing the Jimmuji train I soon came to the trailhead where an elderly Japanese man was diligently caring for a sizeable bonsai garden complete with gurgling koi pond. He directed me onto the correct path and I proceeded along the greenest trail I had hiked in Japan yet. The main reason for this was the small stream rolling alongside the trail. Ferns and moss abound along the boulders and old stone steps carved by Buddhist monks were still an aide in gaining ground. It was also the quietest hike yet, where you could enjoy the smell ... read more

Thursday (7/22/10) was the same as normal when it came to guarding and lessons. The BOQ pool again was cooler than it was before and we got ice again. We did not however get ice when we guarded at the pool later that day. After work we had to hurry because a bunch of us were going to get our hair cut out in JAPAN!! We asked a Japanese guard that we worked with if she would go with us to better communicate with the people that were going to cut our hair and of course she said yes. So as soon as we were done with work we went back and changed and then went back to the pool to pick up our Japanese friend. Then we went to the BOQ pool to pick up ... read more