The Selection Process

Living overseas in a country that doesn't truly celebrate Christmas, sometimes you have to wait for the shipment of Christmas trees to arrive on the military base .... and you never know what you are going to get! This year the trees arrived the week after Thanksgiving and looked pretty good. So after arriving back from the Bon Jovi concert, I forced Neal to pick up the kids with me and pick out our tree. Quinn and I love Christmas, the music, the decorations... just all of it. Scarlett is joining in too now. Neal is slowly coming over from the dark side.

Flashbacks to the 80's

Last night my friend Tiffany and I headed to the Tokyo Dome along with what seemed like 3 million Japanese people to flashback to the 1980's and listen to BON JOVI. First let me say that Jon Bon Jovi has still got IT. Now for my general impressions of the night: Jon's teeth were very white on the jumbo-tron screens, the keyboardist was the only one who hasn't given up on the hair, and somebody needs to tell Richie Sambora that silver lame jackets went out of fashion long ago.

We had so much fun it's hard to express. We sang and danced to songs that we had long ago forgotten about until last night. They of course sang the big hits, Living on a Prayer, Bad Name, Dead or Alive, Lay Your Hands on Me but nothing tops "Runaway" for me. I felt like I was in 7th grade again.

We were among the few people their who could sing all the words, not just the choruses. But the funniest part was that all the Japanese people would do certain arm movements in unison at certain parts of certain songs. Tiffany and I felt like we had missed out on the secret training that must have occurred outside before the show started at 7:00pm. One really big bummer was the restriction of no lighters allowed in the Dome. Prior to the concert starting, a young Japanese man ran up and down the aisles with a sign (check out the pictures). And Tiffany's Iphone glow stick just didn't cut it. Some things, technology can never replace. It just isn't the same when you can't burn the tip of your thumb holding the lighter while in the moment.

Thanksgiving in Hakone

On Thanksgiving morning, our jam packed van joined the packed van of the Cooper family and we headed down to Hakone. The weather was clear and beautiful. The whole ride and day we had amazing views of Mountain Fuji ( Quinn's name for MT. Fuji). It truly is an awesome sight to see. Not being able to see it will be one of the major things I miss when I finally leave Japan.

We arrived early at the Ashinoko Camping Village and couldn't check into our cabin. Lucky for us the cabins are a 10-15 minute walk through a nice wooded area to the cable car ride and pirate ship station. (I only wish I knew this the first time I stayed at this camping village with Tracey and the boys and we drove everywhere). We took the cable car up Mt. Kami and got off at Owakudani to eat the black eggs. They cook the white eggs in the sulphur springs and it turns the shells black. The Japanese believe each egg you eat adds 7 years to your life. The black shell had no effect on the taste. They were oshii! A bag of 5 eggs cost Y500 and our families ate 2 bags.

The next day we rode the Pirate sightseeing ships to Moto-Hakone and took pictures at the Hakone Shrine with the Tori Gate in the water. We explored around town and decided to take a bus to "The Stone Buddhas". The description of them on the map sounded quite interesting. We jammed into a local bus and waited to hear our stop announced. The time came for us to get off and all the Japanese were looking at us kinda funny. We got dropped off along a major roadway at a rest stop. But it was a nice rest stop with nice bathrooms and a small museum with replicas of the Buddhas. The real stone Buddha was carved on the side of the mountain across the street from the rest stop. We had to go through an underground tunnel to get there. But the worst part was to catch the bus back to the town we had to stand on the major road with no protection to stop the bus. Mike bravely volunteered to stand and stop the bus and then the rest of us ran to get on. Thanks Mike for risking your life. This was definitely an adventure that we could have probably done without but you win some and you lose some. Especially as a foreigner in a foreign land. One of our wins that day was the surprising discovery of a small sausage shop by the lake and we ate oshii brats. (Some photos courtesy of Michael Cooper).

Thanksgiving in Hakone from the Kiddos' Perspective

On our second and last day in Hakone, the Martyniaks and Coopers headed to the Hakone Open Air Museum. We had brisk weather but just right to keep us moving through the grounds of sculptures. For those unfamiliar with the Open Air Museum concept, essentially everything is outside. You walk along paths and look at large sculptures displayed on hillsides or in gardens, etc. But being in Japan, which is one of the most kid-friendly/family friendly places on Earth, they also offer unbelievable climbing structures for the kiddos to play on and climb. There was one structure made out of overlapping giant hammocks with worm holes for the kids to climb into and start their climb to the top (It was inside a giant lincoln log building). Another was a maze of plastic tunnels that the kids could climb in and slide down. Finally as we headed to the exit, they had a large Miffy the Bunny exhibit. I can't praise this museum enough.

The day ended with a bang, literally! We had a flat tire on the way home. The van had been vibrating badly the whole trip but 15 minutes on the expressway home, it blew. We don't know how they do it but the Japanese emergency car/crew arrived 5 minutes after we had pulled over. They set up cones and flashing lights and offered help. Neal changed the tire in no time and we were back on the road. The one good thing was that we were allowed to ride down the shoulder and avoided a lot of traffic. I was so mad that I forgot to take a picture of Neal and the crew to add to this blog.

Oktoberfest 2010

Last Saturday we went to Oktoberfest on Yokota AB. Every year we eat free food, jump in the jumpy castles and play games for cheap prizes for the kids. Quinn, Scarlett, and I joined our friends Tiffany, Emily and Charlie Cooper and walked over to the Sakura Shell for the festivities. The highlights included cookie decorating, pumpkin painting, fishing, and Q's favorite: getting blue coloring sprayed in his hair. He didn't want to wash his hair for days. I'll have to remember that for a bargaining chip in the future. My favorite part was a few steins of Lager for a bargain price ... just wish I could have had a few more but had to pick Neal up that night. That's Ok because I'll make up for it at the Bon Jovi concert in December.