OK, so I have been quite remiss in my publishing of these pictures. Thanks to everyone who asked for them. Here is the rest of our trip to Tokyo in July.
Anna enjoying a pastry snack…
Downtown at night…
This is the prefecture we stayed in.
Roppongi really comes alive at night. It’s the epicenter for westerners at night.
We visited several parks while in Tokyo. There are a couple unusual things we noticed.
1. People do not eat lunch in the park. We tried once and found we were the only ones, even though there were hundreds of other people there at lunch time. Most people were just there to be outside. When we walked away though, there were numerous cars parked along the edge of the park. People chose to sit in their cars (with the A/C running) and eat their lunch.
2. There is a very small (visible) homeless population in Tokyo or the surrounding prefectures. However, in this park, we found a group of blue tarps and tents. They looked semi-permanent. From what we understand, this is a tolerated compromise to a small problem in a country where space is at a premium. Here’s what they look like:
More pictures of the park and museums:
Here are a few shots of a shrine. There are many shrines of varying intricacy. Fascinating to look through, even if you have no idea what the writing says….
Another highlight of our time in Tokyo was the shopping experience, and experience it is. This is a typical street side market. Notice the train line overhead. The public transportation is the best we’ve ever seen. Fast, affordable, ubiquitous and best of all….always on time. 🙂
I’ll finish this installment of the trip here. There will be a third chapter soon though….. 🙂
–Jim
Japan Trip Part 1
It has now been a week since we returned from a week in Japan. We spent most of our time in Tokyo, with a few trips to the surrounding area. If we had more time, we’d love to go back and explore Kyoto for a couple days at least.
Ok, enough with the intro, here is our trip as captured in photographs…
First, we stayed in the Roppongi district, so the first order of business was a walk about to get a feel for the city and more importantly, see what was around.
Here is a picture of a cemetery (along with a number of prayer sticks) in the middle of the city. We liked the contrast here.
This is me, walking the streets…
A bike that Anna liked…
Fireworks were invented in China and since Japan has the benefit of proximity, we decided that the display being advertised was worth a trip to the adjacent city of Yokohama. It turns out that most people in Tokyo decided to join us there….well, at least it seemed that way. The train system was completely flooded with people. However, the Japanese government it their usual efficiency were able to get everyone into a very small space with relatively little problem. In fact, it was amazing to watch 50,000+ people move into a few small block, occupy less than 6 square feet each and not complain at all! We Americans could learn a few lessons from them! Anyway, the firework display was worth the effort. The following pictures don’t do them justice, but there were over 8,000 individual fireworks that lasted over an hour. If only we had brought our Crazy Creek chairs (backpacking chairs for the ground), we would have been all set. Unfortunately, the asphalt of the street intersection where we were sitting got a little uncomfortable after the first 45 min or so…. 🙂
Here’s an unfortunately blurry shot of our fellow firework watchers.
Anna ready to be amazed by the fireworks.
The highlight of the firework display were the “shaped” fireworks. There was even a “Hello Kitty” firework!
Here they are:
Suffice it to say, that we were quite impressed. This was all just to celebrate a Japanese national holiday known as Marine Day. It was free to watch and worth every penny.
Beach Parties
Right before our trip to Japan, we went to 2 beach parties. The first we hosted from some friends here. The second was for the junior officers on base, down at the Naval Base.
Here are the pictures from our beach party:
Here are our new neighbors, Mark and Samantha:
After we had BBQ’d and sat around for a while, we walked down the beach 200 yards to the beach bar next door. Every Friday night the offer a free fire show. It’s a mix of Polynesian and Micronesian dancing. Some of the dancers are quite young, but all are talented. 🙂
The guys have a stick with flames on both ends. The girls dance typical hula part of the time and (as you can see here) with flaming balls attached to a wire. When they spin, it’s a sight to behold.
Anna and Samantha after the show:
Another friend, Q, and I:
The next morning (also the day we left for Japan), we went to the second party. The beach is down south at the Navy Base. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate, but it was still a fun time with friends.
Cassie and Keith:
After this, we came home, cleaned up and went off to the airport for the next big adventure….
–Jim
Bivouac — Jungle Bell
As Civil Engineers in the USAF, we are tasked with deploying to austere locations, fighting our way in, building the base and defending it. Fortunately, our primary emphasis is on building the base and not the other parts. However, to gain proficiency at the whole process, we took a few days in June to go on what’s called a bivouac. This was training time dedicated to practicing these warfighting skills.
We used blanks, and an abandoned section of the base to train at. Our opposing force was tasked with making the scenario realistic and difficult. So, we assembled at the main base, packed our gear, moved out in a convoy, established a safe perimeter built up the bivouac location, and defended it for about 3 days. No one was actually harmed in the exercise….
Here are the pictures taken by the base photographer that show the process:
Entering the training location (where we may encounter the opposing force):
Here is the opposing force…
Building up the site:
Opposition force:
Training included battlefield triage:
The opposition force plotting their next attack:
Our counter-attack:
Formation at the end of the day:
Things started to go our way when we began to capture the opposition force:
No battle is without a price:
The exercise ended with the surrender of the last opposition force.
Once finished we packed up all the gear, cleaned it and returned to the main base to return to our families. It was only a few days, but combined with the earlier training at Silver Flag, we’ve help make sure our Airmen are ready to deploy in September in support of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom.
–Jim
Happy 4th of July!
Well, last night our 4th of July was capped with a fireworks display that Anna and I agreed was the best to date. The main reason for that was we shared a papasan chair and watched the fireworks through our bedroom window. 🙂 Those of you who have done the same can attest to the HUGE benefit of not fighting crowds/traffic/insects/etc to watch. Also, earlier in the night a number of people from our condo got together for a BBQ, and bonfire on the beach. We have really enjoyed the camaraderie from living in close proximity to so many other like minded people. Perhaps it’s indicative of American society today, but in our previous houses and apartments we barely knew our neighbors (even living on base), but here….we’ve found there’s a large group that fairly regularly socializes. So, this has been a refreshing change. For those of you who don’t know your neighbors, why not invite them over for dinner….we did and now we have some good friends. 🙂
Jim
Spirit of ’76 Run
Today Anna and I ran 6.7 miles (yes, I know that’s the reverse of ’76, but nonetheless that’s how far the run was) to celebrate our nation’s birthday. Lots of hills, through the jungle, and terminating at the Agana Swimming Pool (where we started).
This is my first post to this website, so I am still learning how to keep it interesting. The earlier posts are back dated. 🙂
If you have any suggestions, please feel free to drop us a line by clicking ‘comments’ below….
Thanks!
Jim
Here’s us down by the beach; no reason to include it here, just thought you might like to see it…
Training Ride
In further preparation for triathlons/bike races/etc, I hopped on my new white “Bird of Prey” and met up with about 40 other people for a training ride today.
We left out of the Agana Shopping Center (the typical meeting place about a mile and a half from our house) and rode 16 miles south and 650 feet up to Cetti Bay overlook, waited for everyone to catch up, then back down the hill. There’s nothing like crouching low on your bike and speeding down the road in excess of 45 miles and hour. Quite exhilarating, and so long as you keep it steady, don’t hit any major pot holes, quite a pure form of transportation.
This was a training ride so there was a lot of talking and not too intense of a pace. However, since these are very competitive and strong athletes, I was challenged to keep up with the pack on more than one occasion. 🙂
After Cetti Bay, we went back down to sea level, then up another hill to the Naval Magazine. No, they don’t have good articles there, but rather a place to store weapons and ammunition. 🙂
Finally, we ended our 40 mile ride with another 650 foot climb up Nimitz Hill. We took the back way, so the road wasn’t too steep, but I still struggled to hold 9 miles an hour!
It’s a very humbling experience to train with those who are better/stronger/faster than you. I know it’s helping me! Ok, well, I hope it’s helping at least. We’ll see in future races…
Jim
Cliff Diving — Pagat
Most people see the rugged cliffs of Northern Guam and appreciate the beauty of it. Today, we found another way to appreciate it; jump off the 66’ledge into the crystal blue water. It was a new experience for both Anna and I. We’d jumped off high rocks into rivers, but nothing quite like this.
After we fully enjoyed the cliffs (including more than a couple jumps), we headed inland to the Pagat Caves. This area was the former home of a Chamorro Village up until the 18th century. The cave provided shelter and fresh water for the locals living there. For us, it afforded an unique experience of a fresh water swimming hole in a cave. Inside the water was cool and refreshing. The shore was ringed with candles from previous hikers. We lit them and chatted with our friends who had brought us to the cave. Our group included: Jude and Donna Baker, Rob and Carrie Fry, and Kevin Mares, plus Anna and I.
Here’s a view from the entrance of the cave. The main room is off to the left (out of the picture).
This was quite an enjoyable hike…we look forward to coming back again soon.
Jim
Double Reef
Our hike today was to a remote beach named Double Reef. This is on one of the many Navy properties. It’s secluded, pristine and as you can see, rather beautiful.
Our hike included a few Air Force friends of ours: Kevin Mares, Romeo Miranda and Paul Hughey. Our goal for the day was find a good hike with water at the end to cool off in. Double Reef certainly accomplished that. We made it down to the reef with relative ease. In fact, it was our first hike on Guam that we made it to the destination without a significant detour. 🙂
One interesting visitor we encountered was a 3′ monitor lizard. He posed in the sun for us to snap his picture.
The beach was partly covered with trees, so that diminished the beach, but helped shade us from the sun. We explored caves:
Land bridges:
Small creatures:
and snorkeled.
Romeo found the hike a bit more challenging, as the soles to his hiking boots disintegrated on the trip down. He survived (albeit uncomfortably) using my Chacos for the rest of the hike.
It was a good day, but we hope we didn’t scare off Paul and Romeo from hiking with us again…
Jim
Promotion!
Here are a few pictures of my promotion ceremony…
I chose a remote site on Andersen Air Force Base (where I am currently stationed) for the ceremony. For those you aren’t familiar with the process, I asked my squadron commander (Lt Col Marv Smith) to officiate and swear me in with the Oath of Office. He did and it became official…I became a Captain in the USAF.
Here is Lt Col Smith administering the Oath:
Anna pinning on the new rank insignia:
Jim and Anna:
Me giving a few comments… 🙂
That’s it for now. Perhaps in 5 or 6 more years, I will have another ceremony if I make Major. 😉
Jim