You Have No Idea

Macie girl came up with the title for this blog. Mona asked me how it went getting the paperwork done for the car that was due by March 21 and I kept telling her that 'you have no idea'. I told her I would wait to tell the story of my day when I put it on the blog. And Macie said "let me guess, your title is going to be You Have No Idea". Pretty funny, Macie girl.
In Texas, the paperwork for cars include things like inspection stickers, registration and insurance. In Japan, it is a little more complicated. After getting the van inspected and going to the VRO (vehicle registration office) on the base yesterday, today I had to make the trip to Yokohama to get the Japanese paperwork done.

Here is the complex in Yokohama. The picture does not do the place justice. There are several buildings and a huge parking lot. I ended up going to 4 different buildings - not because I went to the wrong place but there are several steps in getting the paperwork done. I started off in this small office with two workers. She sent me next door to pay a registration fee. Then I came back and paid her a toll tax fee. She showed me my next three places to go and the window number that I needed to go to at each place.

All the buildings looked like something from the 1970s - you could tell that it was probably built in the 70s and not much had been updated since then. As a matter of fact, at my last stop, I had to put my paperwork in a cardboard box held together by duct tape. It felt like I was on the set of Barney Miller.

Here is the stack of papers that I had to take to 4 different buildings. At the small office that I started at, the lady showed me a map of the complex and told me the places I needed to go:
                       1) Go next door and pay the weight tax
                       2) Come back here to pay the toll tax
                       3) Go to building 3, window 7
                       4) Then to building 0, window 6
                       5) Finally, go to building 4, window 14

Here is a look at all the
different papers.

At some windows, they
would just put stamps on
one of the papers.

At building 0, this was window 6. There must have been over
a hundred cars, vans and even semi-trucks.

After reading this, I was a little nervous
about the next step. 

The next step -
an almost fully automated inspection station.
 You drive your car onto the platform and robotic
machines spin the wheels and perform a variety
of tests while you sit in the car.

The reward at the end of the line. Stickers to take back to the base so I can go back to the VRO to get the base decal and road tax sticker - if you get caught with these out of date, you have your license suspended for a year.


By the way, I had heard that most people on base hire Japanese to take their car to get all the paperwork done. After today, it doesn't sound as ridiculous to me as it once did.

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.

Jogashima Park

Yesterday, we took a trip to Jogashima Park - which is about 30 minutes from Yokosuka. It is a park on the tip of the peninsula where Yokosuka is located. It was a fun to get out and do some leisurely sightseeing - and not feel like we were tourists in a hurry. Macie really enjoyed the trip - she took 900 pictures. If she isn't in the picture, she was the one taking the picture. Even the one where her, Andrea and Zach are sitting with the sun setting, she told me where she wanted me to take the picture. :)

Interesting things on the way to Zama

Since Mona was doing the driving to Camp Zama, I was able to spend a lot of time looking at the sights on the way. There is so much that catches the eye here in Japan. As the temperatures begin to warm up, one of the things that we are looking forward to is doing more sightseeing. There is so much to see, you could spend months just walking around the Yokosuka area.

The Tanuki crossing sign.

This a view of Mount Fuji from Yokohama. This
shows Mount Fuji from about 50 miles away. 

This is a do-it-yourself toll machine.
We had never seen one before so we
weren't sure where to put the ticket
and money. We chose the wrong one -
an attendant came out to help us. :)

Mona is always fascinated by how the school
children wear the same hats. Each class has
their own hat style - easier for the teacher to
find her class among all the students.

The more we travel, the more we see these plots
of land. I  think it is an area where people can
have private gardens.

Mona wanted me to write exactly what I said
when I was taking this picture. "My mom
said that not a lot of people drive cars in
Japan. I am going to call bull shark on that."
Just joking mom - lots of people do ride the
trains and buses. You also see a lot of people
walking or riding bicycles.

Mona Drives to Zama

Mona made her first trip driving off base. We went to Camp Zama - which is about 35 miles from Yokosuka. It takes about an hour to drive because of tollbooths, traffic and the narrow residential streets. Mona was pretty stressed about her first big driving experience but gradually relaxed the longer we were on the road.

On our way - notice how tightly Mona
 is griping the steering wheel.

On the tollway.

Luckily, we have our Google Maps.

We made it to Camp Zama.

This is when Mona started to stress. Roads so
tight that she had to stop to let cars go by.

Mona breathed a sigh of relief when we turned
to enter Yokosuka Base. We made it back.

The raccoon dog of Japan

Today, after dropping Mona and Andrea off at the Fleet Rec Center for a fitness class, I was driving back home. As I turned the corner, a small animal emerged from the trees on my left. As I came to a stop, the animal crossed the street directly in front of me, climbed a small hill and disappeared into the tress on my right. A man walking had also stopped when the animal appeared. When the animal was no longer in view, he turned to look at me as if to confirm that I had seen the same thing. The reason? The animal was unlike anything I have ever seen - about the size of a small dog, the animal had no hair and walked in a very unusual way - kind of like a Shetland pony. After doing a little research, I think what we saw was a Tanuki - which is also known as a Japanese Raccoon Dog. Very interesting animal - people used to think it was similar to a badger or raccoon. But DNA tests show that it is part of the canine family. The reason for no hair is that they can become susceptible to mange.

This is a sign posted not too far from Yokosuka.
It is a sign letting drivers know that the Tanuki
live in the area. 

Watching the Super Bowl from Japan

I usually don't make a big deal of watching the Super Bowl. But, since this is our first Super Bowl since moving to Japan, we decided to watch some of it. The girls are now excited because they just saw a commercial about the halftime show - Coldplay and Bruno Mars.