Adventures in Tokyo!

Last Saturday we decided to head up to Tokyo and explore some parts of the city that we hadn't seen yet! Our first stop was the Imperial Palace - home of Japan's Emperor and his family. The Palace is right in the middle of the city and it's surrounded by a large stone wall and a moat that are several hundred years old. It was a nice cool autumn day and the leaves were just starting to change colors...so that was fun to enjoy! The actual Palace itself is only open two days a year, so we didn't get to go inside, but we still enjoyed walking around the gardens and the grounds for several hours.

Our next stop was a part of the city known as Odaiba. This part of the city is built on "reclaimed" land (i.e. landfill!!) and you get to it by crossing over Tokyo Bay via the Rainbow Bridge. Odaiba has a bit of an "American" feel to it which is topped off with a good-sized Statue of Liberty replica that stands along the shore. There are lots of shops and restaurants there and we found a delicious Hawaiian burger place for lunch - yum! We were both starved because we had been traveling and walking for most of the day and it was almost 3 o'clock....so a hamburger with avacado and grilled pineapple sounded just right! (even to a girl who is usually afraid of big hunks of meat!) We randomly ran into some of our friends as we were finishing up our meal - which was a fun surprise. After that we walked along the water to watch the sunset and then headed back to our little abode in Yokosuka.

More Pictures....

This picture is a little dark, but self-timer and a sunset can only be so good. You can try to imagine us being cute and happy!



Watch out for man-eating octopi?!?! One of the sillier caution signs we've seen!



Shuri Castle Grounds - Since it was originaly built, the castle was destroyed 4 times - The current castle was completed again in 1992 and sits atop the city of Naha.



The Arthurs surprised us with these beautiful flowers for our anniversary when I returned home! Wow!

Okinawa!

We were very blessed to be able to spend the weekend together in Okinawa and even celebrate our second wedding anniversary!! Okinawa is about a 2 hour and 40 minute flight from Tokyo - so that gives you a sense for how far Japan stretches. It also explains why Okinawa has a Hawaii-like climate and why the northern-most islands in Japan enjoy snow that competes with the Rockies! (We're about in the middle - approximately the same latitude as Washington D.C. - so we get all four seasons and have similar weather to home.)
Anyway, Okinawa was beautiful! Palm trees, white sand beaches, turquise water, etc... We rented a car and tried to hit all the island hot spots while still taking time to relax and enjoy being together. We visited the beaches and ventured to the northern most tip of the island at Cape Hedo. We also got to go to Shuri Castle (the remains from a Dynasty long ago) and Kokosai Street - which is filled with many shops and crafters from around the region.
We did treat ourselves to one very American luxury while we were there - we ate dinner at Macaroni Grill (on base) on our anniversary! I write that with a little chuckle because we usually try very hard to take in all the local flavors - but sometimes a little "taste" of home is just what you need! (it was yummy and VERY relaxing to have everything be familiar!!)

Space A?????

Last week I was headed to Hong Kong to see Josh for a few days...but because of a severe typhoon warning we ended up meeting in Okinawa instead! Instead of taking the base shuttle up to the Narita Airport (as planned), I ended up taking a train (for 3 hours) to the nearby Air Force base and flying "space available" to Okinawa. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the military variety of "space a" travel...let me tell you, it is a very nerve-racking experience. You arrive as early as you possibly can to the airport (ours opens at 4am) and proceed to wait for the "space a" call. All the people who are waiting are ranked by their active duty and/or spousal status. Since I was a spouse not traveling on "orders" I was pretty low on the list....but amazingly, when I arrived at the airstrip I was told that this particular flight had almost 100 seats available. :)
The "space a" call comes several hours before the flight. At this time they call off the names of the people who are able to get tickets. On some flights, this still does not ensure that the flight will actually go to the destination that you are planning for. Fortunately, I was flying on a "commercial" type flight that has the same schedule every week - so once I got my ticket I knew I was going to see Josh in Okinawa!!!! On the way back however, they decided to change my flight to go to South Korea at the last minute, so I had to go to the civilian airport and catch a regular commercial flight instead. All this to say, though it's exciting (and FREE!!!) "space a" travel in very unpredictable!!