Yokota Territory

Mona continued expanding to new territories this past week. She drove to Yokota Base - which is about 2 hours from Yokosuka. I went with her but she really didn't need much help from me. One of the big highlights of the trip was finding a Mexican food restaurant that was like being back in Dallas. The place was called Bonzai Burrito - it was very similar to Freebirds, a favorite of Zach's back in Frisco.

Mom, here is small building that shows how common it is here for people to hang their clothes out to dry. It is really amazing when you see the large apartment buildings with hundreds of balconies filled with drying clothes.

   Here we are entering Yokota. It is amazing how different the bases are from one another. Yokosuka is a navy base, Zama is an army base and Yokota is an air force base. Although each base has similar features, there are very noticeable differences in the feel each base has.

Here is the obligatory Mount Fuji shot. What is amazing is that Mount Fuji is visible from each base - even though the bases are geographically in very different places.

 Location, location, location. The building to the left in this photo is one of the towers that house families on each of the bases. The people fortunate to live on the west side of this tower have one of the most amazing scenic views in Japan - an unobstructed view of Mount Fuji.

The sign warns you that there is anti-vehicle defense system in place if you don't stop when there is a red light. I really don't know what that would entail but I am sure it would be serious. What is amazing is that this road actually crosses the end of the runway. So, when there is a plane landing or taking off, the red light is turned on to prevent vehicles from entering the runway area - it is very surreal experience watching a plane land in area where you are about to drive through.

Lastly, this building is always a welcoming sign for us when we are traveling back to Yokosuka. Since we can't read kanji and there are numerous toll roads to get lost on, we know we are headed in the right direction when we see the Coca-Cola sign.