Archived entries for

Strawberry Farm

The naval base has all kinds of activities planned for the families that come out here. It’s incredibly nice because I imagine there are quite a few people “stuck” in Japan that aren’t as adventurous as j and I. I married so well. Remember when we were growing up and I was the spontaneous one and jon was the methodical one? What happened to those versions of ourselves?

Where’s this going. We usually check out the list of things that MWR is doing and say “yeah, that sounds good! let’s plan our own trip for that!” – which is awesome because we learn about festivals and castles and sights and stuff that we might not otherwise hear of, but we don’t have to spend hours on a bus and herd around like american cattle.

strawberry farm

This trip, however, was really far away. It was a 4 hour bus ride into a prefecture that just wasn’t very easy to get to, and they went a few places that we were excited about. So that’s a long way of qualifying why I’m in this bus, writing postcards to grandma, on our way to eat stuff our faces with strawberries.

strawberry farm

Unlike U-pick places in the States, you don’t take the fruit with you here. You have 30 minutes to shove your face with as many berries as you can. Careful not to give yourself a stomachache! Those suckers are sweet!

strawberry farm

Though how can you resist the elusive 6-legged, white strawberry?!

strawberry farm

Just kidding.

You have thirty minutes. Go.

strawberry farm

So most people left after about 15. Jon… jon couldn’t understand it. He stayed longer than anyone else, peeking and picking through the
bushes that our group was allotted. There’s so many berries left!

strawberry farm

Personally, I had to tap out because I have no self-control. I literally mashed every decent looking berry in my face as fast as I could. After about 15 minutes I recognized the turning point – if I kept going, I was going to be complaining for the rest of the bus ride.

strawberry farm

As with everything in life, jon’s style’s more refined than mine. He perused. He selected. He did not come out with a sticky face and red-stained hands.

Japanese History Museum

We happened to be in Chiba prefecture for other reasons, and the group we were with decided to swing by the Natural History Museum and Institute. It’s a museum megaplex, with six galleries covering everything from 3000BC to modern times (post WWII).

japanese history museum

The Japanese are really good at making things into megaplexes. On our way there, we stopped at a “truck stop” for lunch. Boy, was I not excited about that. Here’s the thing – when you travel and spend time in other countries, you just can not bring your own bias with you. They don’t work out. The “truck stop”? A man-made island in the middle of Tokyo Bay. It’s a 6-story rest stop with restaurants, shops, and a big deck on the top.

truck stop

We got a wiener wrapped in bacon, on a stick. Oh, I love street food. And bacon. And bacon wrapped street food. Jon is either concentrating really hard on growing his beard, or he’s staring me down and wondering why I’m taking so many photos.

truck stop

Another thing I love? Things for little kids. That little guys gets to sit on the turtle? eff that. Take my picture on the turtle!

truck stop

**

The museum was way more interesting than I expected. Here are some highlights:

One of the galleries talked about how their writing forms began (kanji, katakana, hiragana, romanjii) and how they evolved over the years. There were some placards in English, so I don’t know the whole story about any of this, but it seems that hiragana started out as the women’s language and katakana was the men’s. Kanji derives straight from Chinese and romanji obviously comes from the West.

japanese history museum

Later, they walk through the printing presses and some early graphic design / typography. I love it!

japanese history museum

Another gallery was focused on spirituality; shinto, buddism, and life in between.

japanese history museum

“What’s in your head sir?” “oh, well, let me show you!”

japanese history museum

Jon thought I was a creepazoid for wanting my picture next to the paleolithic skeleton. I’m SO TALLLLLLL.

japanese history museum

Would it really even be a museum without a Godzilla (I mean, Gojira) replica? No. I didn’t think so.

japanese history museum

Stay tuned for something sweet: it’s off to the strawberry farm!



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