Our First Earthquake

Being from Southern California, earthquakes are nothing new but they are few and far between. But now that we live in Japan where earthquakes happen a lot more frequently, including the most recent one in 2011 that caused the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, you can understand why Bern and I were freaked out on the morning of May 5th last week. Around 5:20am, Bern first woke up thinking it was me accidentally hitting her in my sleep (which is something she's used to...sorry hun!!) but when she realized what it was she then yelled out "earthquake" which totally woke me up because I'm a very heavy sleeper..... Side track for a bit, when I was about 11 years old or so, my family took a trip to Canada with our close family friends the Wongs. I believe we were in Victoria, British Columbia and my buddy Conway and I were sleeping one night when supposedly there was a fire alarm and the hotel guests had to evacuate the building. Luckily it was a false alarm, but we slept through the whole ordeal. To this day I don't know what's more disturbing....that we didn't hear the fire bell go off or that no one bothered to even wake us up??? Geesh! haha Anyhow, back to the story.

Bern and I rushed to the door frame where the quake lasted for about a good 2 minutes. It wasn't a violent shake, it more of a rolling sensation. When it had ended, we of course checked online and discovered it was a 6.2 earthquake centered south of Tokyo. Thank God it wasn't anything serious and no tsunami warnings were reported. Bern and I purchased two emergency kits from the American Red Cross before coming to Japan. I highly suggest that all of our family and friends have something similar and just store it away in the closet. Be prepared because you never know when you're going to need it foreals! Take care everyone!                      

Cup of Noodles Museum & Cosmo World Ferris Wheel

Last weekend, Bern and I went back to Yokohama to check out the Cup of Noodles Museum. You would think that the building would be in the actual shape of a cup of noodles... but it wasn't. C'mon?! haha

 

Instant Ramen was created by Momofuku Ando in 1958. He thought of the idea after 

World War II when there was a food shortage in Japan. Ando went on to invent Cup of Noodles in 1971 when he took a trip to the U.S. and noticed that Americans were putting the instant noodles into a cup. The first exhibit of the museum shows the evolution of his creation and how it sparked a culinary phenomenon.  

 

 

We then watched a short movie on the history of Instant Ramen before heading up to the third floor to make our very own Cup of Noodles from start to finish. First, we had to buy an empty cup for only 300 Yen ($3) then go to a table full of markers where we designed the outside of the package.

 

 

Bern's design was more avant-garde while mine was just of the Japanese rising sun (I'm definitely not the artistic one out of the group!) Afterwards, we went to the first station which is where you have to turn a wheel in order to place the cup over the uncooked noodles.

Once the noodles were in there, we stepped over to the second station where we got to customize both the soup base and toppings.

The third & forth stations deal with the actual packaging of the cup of noodles.

Bern and I needed a quick pick me up afterwards so we headed to their noodle food-court where people could buy small portions of noodle dishes from around the world. We tried noodles from Korea, Vietnam, & Kazakhstan (Very Nice!!!!) in addition to the original chicken flavor instant ramen.    

 

 

Our sponsor, Lizzie, suggested we see Yokohama at night with all the lights so we did some shopping at the local mall, ate dinner, and then headed over to Cosmo World to ride the big ferris wheel. As the viewing pod got higher and higher in the sky, the wind started to really pick up which really freaked us out a bit (me more so than Bern). But despite all that, we did get some nice views of the city of Yokohama and Tokyo in the distance. What a great way to spend a Saturday!     

 

Tokyo Tower

 

Last weekend, we wanted to finally check out Tokyo which is about an hour and a half train ride from Yokosuka. Tokyo is divided into a number of different districts that you might be familiar with such as Roppongi, Ginza, Shibuya, Shinjuku, & Harajuku...each with it's own unique characteristics. For instance, Roppongi is known for the nightlife/clubbing scene whereas Ginza is more of a shopping area. Where to start??
Well since we are here for 3 years, we wanted to pace ourselves and really take the time to explore each distinct area. Bern and I decided to first visit the famous Tokyo Tower in the heart of Tokyo. Similar to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Tokyo Tower stands over 1,000 feet high. There is a main observatory about half way up that only costs about $8 USD, but we decided to go all the way to the top which costs an additional $6. No better starting point for visitors to Tokyo than this! Can't wait to actually explore this concrete jungle.

        

 

 

 

 

Our New Home, Part 2

Here's a follow up to our new home, with all of our household goods in place.

This is our front door...got the hiragana decals at a local Japanese hardware store to spell out MATSUNAGA

 

 

 

Our living room/tatami/dining room. I removed the door panels that once separated the two rooms to create one big space. Bern bought the Tansu shelf which definitely adds some Japanese flare to the room. Still have to represent the 619 here in Japan though!   

 

Kitchen...



 

 

Master Bedroom...



Office/Second Bedroom...

 

Come and visit us anytime here in Yokosuka!

 

 



 

Our new ride

We just purchased a 2001 Toyota Altezza...otherwise known as a Lexus IS300 back in the states.

It has about 57,000 kilometers on it which is about 35,400 miles; clean title, the interior was in great shape, & only a few minor scratches. So here's how it all happened....I registered my bicycle on base (yes, crazy to think you have to register your bike but rules are rules) and then decided to ride to the used car lot here to see what was for sale because the inventory changes quite frequently with military members leaving all the time. I ran into a gentleman who was trying to sell his car and told him what I was looking for. He mentioned that he had a friend named Matt Stephens who buys cars at the Yokohama auction for a living and gave me his number. There are auctions every Tuesday and Friday so I called Matt and he wanted to meet with me right away so I could check out the inventory. The cars were graded in a system where the exterior was given a number 1-5 (5 being like new) and the interior given a letter grade A-D (A being the best). The Altezza was given a 4A. There was also information regarding the condition of the tires and if the car still had JCI (Japanese car insurance) remaining. I picked out a few cars I wanted him to bid on, wrote up a contract, and had to hand him over the cash. To be honest, I was a little hesitant at first because I never met this guy before in my life and here I am handing him over a lot of cash. But thankfully, got a call from him the following day and he told me we won the car. There is still a good amount of administrative tape I still have to go through (base inspection, road tax, weight tax, getting "Y" plates which signifies I'm a foreigner) but overall, pretty excited that we get to drive around town in this beauty.... Just have to get used to the fact that I'm on the right hand side of the car driving on the left hand side of the road!                

The Great Buddha & Hasedera Temple

Bern and I went recently went back to Kamakura to visit both the Great Buddha & Hasedera Temple. The Great Buddha was made way back in the 13th century. It's managed to survive hundreds of years of heavy rain storms, typhoons, & even a tidal wave since it's so close to the shore. We went during a perfect time too because the cherry blossoms were in full bloom so they looked really beautiful against the backdrop of this incredible statue.

 

We then headed to Hasedera Temple which was only about a 5 minute walk from the Great Buddha. Even though there a lot of visitors, the place still felt very peaceful & serene. This temple sits along the mountainside overlooking Kamakura so there were amazing views of the beach to go along with the all the lush greenery. We were unable to take pictures inside the temple but there was an interesting section outside of the temple where little mini statues laid; dedicated to all unborn children who passed away. Visitors had a chance to buy some incense and pray. Afterwards, Bern and I walked up a few hundred stairs to get to the top of the temple area. Our legs were really killing us but it was all worth it in the end.

 

 

 

 

Since we finally got internet service at our place I'll be posting more often now so hopefully you're still keeping up. Can't believe we've already been here for over a month now. Still adjusting to our new lives here in Japan but missing everyone back in the states. Hope everyone is doing well!      

     

 

 

 

 

 

      

Our New Home, Part 1

Goodbye Navy Lodge! Bern and I have been searching for our new home and finally decided on a great apartment in Yokosuka. It's so close to everything...we are only about a 10 minute walk to base and surrounded by many shops & restaurants. Our new place is also located between two of the major train lines which is super convenient. It's a two bedroom, one bathroom apartment with a balcony. The kitchen has no oven which is the norm here in Japan. Instead, they have a fish grill which is right below the stovetop. The bathroom has a western style toilet....the funny thing is that after you flush, the new water filling up the bowl first comes through a nozzle atop of the toilet in order for you to wash your hands. Our washer & dryer are also located in the bathroom as well...
Here are some pics:

Here's the view from our balcony:

And the view from our front door which faces the bay front of the military base:

So the best part of our new apartment (atleast in my opinion) is the Tatami Room. It's a traditional Japanese room with straw mats on the floors and shoji screens for the windows. We are not quite sure what exactly we are going to do with the space yet, maybe an office or another spare bedroom. But jokingly, I told Bern that I was going to make it into my personal dojo...well maybe semi-joking! haha

Right now, the Navy has given us loaner furniture & appliances to use while we wait for all of our household goods arrive. Once we get fully settled in, I'll make sure to post Part 2 of our new home. But as you can see, we have plenty of room for family & friends to stay so please visit if you can! We would love to have you here!