Suwa Shrine Festival

Yesterday, we went to the Suwa Shrine festival in Yokosuka. The festival was situated on Blue Street (at least that is what the Americans call it). Blue Street is the main tourist area of downtown Yokosuka. The festival had temporary food and merchandise stands that lined the entire length of Blue Street to the Yokosuka Chuo train station.  The big event for the night was the carrying of a float by several teams followed by a wagon that had people playing drums, flutes and even something that looked like a sitar.

Squid - very popular item in Japan.

Dumplings - can be prepared it a variety of flavors (notice the purple things - more squids).

Shooting gallery - just like at a county fair back home.

Andrea was determined to try the dumplings. 

This stand made bubble tea - something Andrea became obsessed with back in Texas.

Up close picture of another squid stand.

This picture didn't turn out very well but the bags are filled with 
things that have the same look, feel and texture of pork rinds.
Because they looked so good, Mona wanted so much to like these chips.
Unfortunately, they tasted very fishy - probably had squid in them.

This looked really good, boiled/steamed potatoes - notice all the fixings you can put on them.

Macie like the bananas dipped in chocolate and covered with sprinkles.

This lady was quite the showman. She couldn't speak English but got the kids to play rock,
paper or scissors. She was selling slices of pineapples on a stick for 300 yen each. If you
won the game, she would give you two sticks of pineapples. Very cute.

Again the picture isn't very good - but it shows how crowed the sidewalks were.
But we never really felt pushed or crowded by anyone

The next couple of pictures show variations on items you see a lot in Japan. 

I told Mona that these were the Japanese version of Indian Tacos that we eat in Oklahoma.

Hopefully, this video will play on your devices. It shows the teams carrying the float down the street.

Cape Kannon

Last weekend, we took a short trip to see a lighthouse on Cape Kannonzaki - usually shortened to just Cape Kannon. One of the interesting things about the trip was that it was just a little further down the road we travel on a lot to go to Homes or Livin (these are two Japanese stores that are similar to Walmart). Strange that it literally only about 15 minutes from the base and yet this was our first time to see the area. There was boardwalk/seawall, a easily accessible beach with a tourist area and then, just up the hill from the beach, was Cape Kannon. We spent a lot of time walking around the area and ended up not making it to the lighthouse.

These are pictures of the point area of Cape Kannon. 

This is picture taken from the nature walk area of the natural history museum.

This is a caterpillar that we came upon. At first it was hard to
tell if it was a caterpillar or piece of a rope.

Macie and Zach were a little leary of going near the caterpillar -
especially when I said that the spines might be poisonous.

Macie is sitting in the footprint cast of Godzilla. Cape Kannon is the area
where Godzilla first stepped onto land in Japan.

This is a picture of a very different looking squirrel here in Japan. At first glance, the

squirrel looks to have a shade of green. The girls said it was more gray-like.

Mona enjoyed taking pictures of the kids - especially learning to use the two
different types of lenses.

Retreat at Yokosuka Naval Base

Twice a day, if you are in a car or walking outside, you are required to stop when the music for colors or retreat is played. In the morning, the colors is the national anthems of both the United States and Japan. It always is played at 8:00 a.m. Retreat is the music that is played in the evening to signal the end of the military day. The time for Retreat changes depending on the time of the setting sun. Mona took the picture and video from our balcony.

Ikego Campground

After running yesterday, I decided to spend some time checking out the Ikego campground area. It is a very pretty and easily accessible area that reminds me a lot of being in the mountains back home. It is very quiet and peaceful. Unfortunately, it isn't very big - maybe a couple of miles from the entry gate. However, you do feel you are far away from the city and it feels pretty primitive just beyond the trails.

I enjoy running at this track - it is very scenic. The hills have
several different types of trees and the locals have a garden
(the white fenced-in area). 

This is the view as you begin to enter the campground area.

Some of the campgrounds are very unique. They are very large
and isolated - surrounded on three sides by the steep hills.

Fireflies are a big deal in Japan - there are several
firefly festivals throughout Japan.

This is the scene from the porch swing at one of the cabins.
It is very calming and peaceful listening to the birds and the wind.

This is a side view of one of the cabins. The cabins are very
basic - kind of like the KOA cabins. No bathrooms inside the
cabins - but there are plenty of bathrooms throughout the campground. I should have checked to see if they had showers.

The little valley opens up to a meadow as you leave
the campground area.

Japanese Bluebonnets

While we were at the Kurihama Flower Park, we saw a field of flowers that reminded us of the bluebonnets back home in Texas. These flowers even bloom at the same time of year as the bluebonnets.

From a distance, they look very similar to a field of bluebonnets.

Up close, they are very different looking than the bluebonnets.

Mona loves to take pictures of her girls. It is amazing
to see the change and the similarities over time.

Zachary, Macie, Mona and Andrea.

Couldn't write about Kurihama Flower Park without including
a couple of pictures of Godzilla.

McCampbell Field Trip

Macie's 8th grade team at school went on field trip to visit their namesake - the U.S.S. McCampbell.
It is a destroyer based here in Yokosuka. I volunteered to go as a chaperon. It was really interesting tour - the people were extremely nice and patient with so many people in such small quarters.

This is the gangplank we used to board the McCampbell.

I find it interesting that all the ships, any time they are docked,

put up a banner.

This is our group going through a walkway - 
extremely tight. When passing, stay right.

This is the mess area for the ship. The
machines to the right are fountains with
all types of soda, juice, milk, coffee and tea.

The cooks made cookies. The kids loved them.

Another view of the mess area. The guide told us
that the cooks will even prepare things at midnight
for the night watch.

This shows how tight and steep
the stairs are on the ship

This is the berth area - where the sleep
and hang out when not on watch. The beds
were small - I would have to keep my knees
bent if I had to sleep on these beds.

Believe it or not, these are torpedoes.

Very cool - a gun that can be battery operated
and can fire 4500 rounds a minute.

These contain missiles.

Macie girl about to go down the stairs on
our tour of the outside of the ship. The stairs
are just as steep as the ones on the inside.

I don't think this picture captures just how
high this mast really is.

The GM (gunnery mate) shows us the gear
they wear when they man the guns.

Mona and Macie got a big kick out of
this picture.

5 inch guns that can hit targets up to 14 miles away. Our guide
said that when these guns fire, the entire ships shakes.

Macie and her friends had a good time. She even wished
that we could have taken more time.

Godzilla: Kurihama Flower Garden - Part 2

The main part of Kurihama Flower Garden park is a meadow that gradually rises and ends at the base of small mountain ridge. There is a series of wooden stairs that take you most of the way to the top of the ridge. After a little more walking, you reach the top and find a play area that includes a giant replica of Godzilla. Why Godzilla? In the original movie, this is the part of Japan where he emerged from the ocean and set foot on Japan for the first time.

Besides the Godzilla statue, there is a huge
wooden playground with ropes and slides.

The large slides have rollers which makes the
ride pretty rough. There is a store that sells
a padded seat but it was closed. So, Zach used
a ski jump crouch and made it all the way down.

Andrea is posing using the peace sign that
is very popular among Japanese when
having their pictures taken.

Scene from the other side of the ridge as the
park extends down toward the ocean.