Japan

Andrea's been bugging me for a long time to post something, and I guess my Japanese comment didn't count, so here's a re-count of my trip to Japan this past week.
Monday Morning I left for the airport and I'm a freak when it comes to getting to the airport early. I arrived at 10:00 AM for a 12:20 PM flight and made it to the "red carpet club" by 10:30- plenty of time to work and eat before departure. (I used to wonder what the heck was in the red carpet club, now I know it's a hangout (with free snacks & drinks) for snobs like me!) I boarded at 12:20 on my favorite airline (ANA). Why are they my favorite? They have fully automated seats that lay flat and an integrated back massager. They have 20+ on demand movies, video games, and they serve steak and sushi. Here's a picture of some of the food we were served:





























After 14 hours of flight, we arrived at Tokyo, Japan where a Navy officer was standing outside customs holding up a sign with our name on it. He drove us from the airport to Yokosuka. Unfortunately, he pumped the gas NON-STOP the entire drive. Fortunately all of us have pretty tough stomach's- I don't think Andrea would have made it...

At Yokosuka, I stayed at an on-base hotel. But after our meetings ended, I ventured off-base into the town of Yokosuka with a co-worker. We split up and I went to dinner at a local restaurant. I had a big spicy bowl of rice, chicken, and a bunch of various sea-food that I didn't recognize and probably wouldn't have eaten if I'd known- it was very good. Next I ventured into the town to see the sites.

Japan is an amazing place. Nobody locks anything up and nothing gets stolen. All the bikes and mopeds are just sitting there. The people are very kind and the service is wonderful- at McDonalds they bring your food to you and check on you during your meal. I haven't had any desire to order the shrimp-burger, yet, though.
On my way back to the hotel I wandered over to the hotel where my team will be staying in a few months to check it out. On they way I was approached by a couple of local women who offered me a massage (pronounce mah-saw-gee). I smiled at their pronunciation and broke the bad news to them that I wasn't interested. I then headed back to my hotel and crashed.






On Wednesday, we departed Yokosuka (Tokyo) and flew to Hiroshima (yes, that Hiroshima). We then took a bus to a local town called Kure (in the Hiroshima Prefecture), that is famous as the home town for the largest battleship ever built, the Yamato. While I didn't get to see the Yamato museum, we did get to venture over to see one of the ship's we're working on, the Hibiki. An officer gave us a tour of the entire ship.




























Here's a picture of my co-workers, our Japanese site-support, as well as the officer from the ship. All I can say is this has been a very cool program to work on...

After concluding our meetings, one of the Japanese officers tooks us out to dinner at a local restaurant where where we enjoyed the local cuisine (and my co-workers enjoyed the local drinks). I then returned to my hotel. In my nightstand drawer I found a the Bible, the Tripitaka, and the Book of Mormon with a map to the local church and 6 abbreviated missionary lessons. The next morning I woke up early and headed out to take some pictures of the local town- see the slideshow below. After that, I started my 25.5 hour journey back to Manassas, VA. I took the subway (JR), transfered to the bullet train (shinkansen) and then transfered to the JR again before reaching the Kansai, Osaka Airport (KIX). We nearly took the wrong train on the last leg. When a train, in Japan, departs three minutes before your scheduled time it's probably not your train-it means the correct train will be there in 30 seconds and will depart at the scheduled time, because they are always on time. Fortunately a worker saw us get on and ran over to get us off- stupid Americans. The airport at Kansai is quite cool looking- it's an artificial island in the middle of the bay. Unfortunatley there are no restaurants there- I ate two microwaved pancakes during my 3 hour stay. From there I flew to San Francisco and then on to Washington-Dulles. I look forward to seeing Andrea and the kids when they get home from Philadelphia tonight. (It just doesn't feel like home when the only sound at the house is my typing on the keyboard.)