teamEggers

Kaiten

Kaiten, the conveyor belt sushi.

To get to the holy grail of kaiten, you must first walk about 2 miles down a road that you only *think* is correct. The best direction that you were given is “keep walking.  trust yourself. if you think you’ve gone too far, just keep walking.”

And then maybe you stop for directions.  You practice, over and over again, mumbling “do you speak english” and then “do you know … where… pc depot”?  (PC depot was a landmark you’ve heard about).  And maybe an adorable japanese girl, as brazen with her broken english as you are, steps up to help you.   “you go light, then walk walk walk, then suuuuushi, THEN PC DEPOT!!!” (She could not have known we were looking for sushi.  We could not have known that sushi was a landmark of its own.)

And then you get there.  And the waitress puts you in the farthest back table so you don’t embarass yourself in front of the respectable japanese families. And you chow down on the freshest conveyorbelt sushi you’ve ever had, ordering things from the touch screen menu just to see what you get.  Being an adventurous eater has its perks. Every plate was 100 Yen (~$1).

You have no idea how to order a beer, water, or that really tasty looking ice cream. And then you see…. bacon?

And all the while, you’re having the best time because it’s not only an adventure, but it’s an adventure with literally the only person in the world that you would want to be with at the moment.

Universal Truths

Today’s adventure is taking the bus to the yokosuka art museum.  After a lengthy conversation in Japanese, the women at the desk decided that I should take bus #24.  So I grab a pastry from the french bakery (where my “nani ga osusume desu ka?” pleas for a recommendation are met with a blank stare). Anyhow, I spotted a 24 (though not where i was expecting to catch it) and jumped on. Hopefully this is the right bus.

There are a lot of old people here. A lot. I would say that 7/8 of the bus was over 65.

So I hop out and head over to the art museum. Turns out, it’s beautiful outside of the city in yokosuka.

Across the street from the art museum there’s a beach! with little boats! And … more old people! I thought I’d take a stroll around.

Today may be about universal beauty and universal truths. (that, and the universal way that when my internet stops working I’m forced to go outside and commune with the world.) I found a boardwalk near the coean. It’s so peaceful. There will always be people contemplating the neverending rush of waves, just as pigeons will always swarm around if they sense something tasty in your hand.

The art museum is very nice – long, sterile feeling and yet very comforting. Another universal feeling – art museums always behave the same, regardless if Ito or Monet is adorning the walls.

Yakitori

After dinner last night, jon took us to the yakitori stand that he found last november.  It was so great!

You choose sticks of meat (conveniently labeled in both english and kanji) and then pay the proprietress at the end.

Look – Real live japanese lanterns!

In jon’s other hand he’s holding a sweet potato. We kept walking past this fruit stand and couldn’t decide what smelled so good (it is the middle of winter, after all). So jon suggested that we get whatever was below the blanket on the hotplate. 200 Yen (~$2) later, we had a sweet potato!

Eating

I have a lot to learn.

Yokosuka is wonderful and terrifying all at once and I am completely unprepared.

I stumbled into a cafe this morning, despite my resolve not to drink coffee while I was here.   While signs for “coffee” are everywhere (usually paired with hamburgers, oddly enough), there are, infact, no tea shops to be found.  The first time I walked past it, I laughed at the Cafe Continue – what kind of name is that.  The next time I walked past it, I peeked in the window and it looked really cozy.  So I resolved to come back with a book and see what it was like.

Inside, Mori-san greeted me warmly and explained the different options. Luckily there was an expat sitting next to me that translated. We went with the “haasu blend-u” (house blend), and I later found out that Mori roasts all the beans himself. He brought out a handful of green coffee beans from the back and pointed to the coffee roasters behind him. Very cool! The coffee was great – much softer and more flavourful than the ol’ starbucks. The man next to me paid and left, and I noticed that his coffee was 1,400 yen (That’s around $15!!). Luckily mine was only 5. Luckily. hah.

After that I moved on to find a place for lunch. This is a scary, scary place. I feel so incredibly infantile, reading from picture menus and pointing to the nearest person around. I have to remember that this is my first day, I’m alone, and things will get easier.

What I pointed to ended up being the largest bowl of noodles I’ve ever seen. Quite possibly the size of my head. I wish I knew how to ask for a take-out box because I could have eaten this for the next few days.

First Exploring Trip – yokosuka

I’m not feeling very well, which in all likeliness is just adjusting to the new water and … quite possibly a disagreement with hotel breakfast. I think I’ll lie relatively low today and hope I’m feeling better by the time jon gets back from work.

This morning from 8-9ish i took a walk around yokosuka.  Some thoughts…  for the “small town” this place is huge.  Every ally way is just a narrower street filled with more shops and restaurants. I was told that there were a lot of vending machines… but it’s absurd.  Sometimes there are 4 in one parking lot.  I would say the car to vending machine ratio is 1:1.

Anyways, here are some photos from this morning!

it’s… kind of like 7-11.

the yokosuka neighborhoods. I saw a lot of older japanese people sweeping their steps. they would bow and say “ohio gozaimas!” (good morning)

flowers planted outside of some houses. a lot of cabbage and jade plants – makes me think the weather patterns are similar to the northwest.

This place was called “le chateau du pain.” the pain hotel? maybe they’re not sure what that meant. Maybe they were going for “bread hotel”.

I think this was a little temple in the middle of the city. neat.

VERY literal.

Read what this can says: