Fishing in Japan

I was able to go fishing with my father-in-law recently while he and my mother-in-law visited Emily and I and it was some of the most fun I've had since we got to Japan. We actually went out fishing twice, once with the MWR rec shop on base and once with a professional guide we found in Nagasaki.

The MWR trip was fun, we went up towards Hirado and met with a Japanese fisherman who ferryed us out to a small island where we stayed for about five hours and fished. I caught five ugly cow fish and a decent sunburn. My father caught some sort of barracuda-tuna type fish as well, which was pretty cool looking.

The second trip we went on was made able to happen when we saw a fishing shop on the way home from the Nagasaki Bio Park (Zoo). We stopped in and through some Japanglish, charades, and my awesome translator friend, we booked a trip for a few days later. We arrived at the shop to a warm welcome of coffee and hard-boiled duck eggs. We visited somewhat and headed for the marina.

First we went a bit to the northwest, towards Sasebo harbor, and fished several spots along the way, but having no luck with getting any fish, we decided to go after some squid.

On the way back through the Sakai Channel, which has the strongest current in Japan, we got to see some awesome turbulence. This picture is of tidewaters rushing around a small island which holds a lighthouse. There were dozens if not hundreds of whirlpools, some were small, but some were very capable of swallowing a person. You can wear your lifejacket if you want, but its best to just stay in the boat, because no amount of personal floatation is gonna save you.

We fished for squid the rest of the trip, with my father catching five decent ones. I hooked a couple but wasnt able to land them. I did catch a pufferfish though, ugly thing. We then headed back to the shop where we had Japanese tea and sat around the fire for a while. Hiro-san, our guide, invited Emily and my mother-in-law to come out and go to see some fireworks in his boat, which we accepted and it was amazing.

Sakita-san

So, everyone is asking about the infamous JapDreamy that Emily keeps talking about. Well, his name is Sakita-san, (san doesnt mean Mr., its just a suffix for someone's surname, it can mean Mr., Mrs., etc.)or Doctor Sakita (I believe that is how its spelled, have only heard it spoken and seen it written in kanji). He is very cool, very nice, very young. He has an excellent rapport with Em and talks to her very comfortably, so much so I think it intimidates him when I'm around, so I just keep to myself and nod when he says stuff. He speaks good English, but like many Japanese, they are shy, and nervous to speak to us in our language, afraid they don't speak it like we do. They know they learn book English, and we don't speak anything like book English, so they are always excited to pick our brains for words they don't know. Its fun to talk to them. Em and I try to use Japanese and they try to use English and we all laugh. Anyway, a picture of Sakita-San and Jackson is below.

Current update is that everything is well and Emily is up and around today, fully off pain meds. Only two days of painkillers is impressive even for her. She says she feels way better than she did after her surgery last summer, but this was more difficult. I think the payoff for this one makes it a better deal all around. It looks like we'll be getting out of the hospital on Friday or Saturday, according to Sakita-san.

The Japanese word of the day is Otokonoko/Otokonohito which roughly means boy/man, respectivly. I've been using my Japanese software, so I'll try to include a new useful word from now on.

My Son...

My Son... does many funny and cute things throughout the day. I thought I might try to capture some of them and share. He is quite expressive, in many ways. He may not always get his point across, but he sure lets you know he has one.

So, here are some examples of what I've seen my son do. He...


Yawns. Its really quite cute.


Has a hairy back. Kind of like Grandpa Mark. Is it sad that my son has more body hair than I do, because he does.


Sleeps really well, when he wants to. And when he is asleep, he is ASLEEP.


Takes naps with Daddy. Daddy can't wait to do this at home, and not in an uncomfortable hospital bed.


Gets angry. I call this his "consternated face".


Waves his arms while he sleeps, usually because he startles himself. Not enough to wake up, just enough to jump and throw his arms in the air. Really funny. Check out the cool baby Jedi robe. Unfortunately, they are hospital property, and I couldn't get it into Emily's purse before the army of nurses saw we'd changed him and snatched it up.


He also makes funny faces while he sleeps, sometimes right after scaring himself.


He does many more things, they just haven't been captured on camera yet. He squirms a lot, when he's not asleep.

I have to keep a good grip on him, he tried to escape once, no kidding, and can actually push himself away from me with his arms, a little.

He doesn't like hats, because a surefire way to get him to calm down is to take his off.

He doesn't like to sleep alone, because if he's in his bassinet, he'll holler and fuss, but if he lays down with Mom or Dad, he's just fine.

He can kick, well, sort of, he straightens his legs out and kind of does a bicycle thing if he's really angry.

He doesn't seem like he's only two days old, probably because we treated him like a baby when he was still in the womb. The day goes by fast just hanging out with him and Emily. It has made things easier though, because he knows our voices well and responds to them.

There will of course be more to follow, this is just what I did today.

Baby Soon!!!

It has been decided between Emily and I and our nice Doctor, that her labor is not progressing as it should. Therefore, Jackson Ryan Pauley will be born via Cesarean Section surgery at approximately 1530 Japan time (About 1130 PM Washington time) on September the 26th. Strangely, this is the ninth anniversary of Emily and I first meeting, which is a funny story, ask me and I'll tell you some time. I am cleaning up at home and am about to head back to the hospital to participate as much as they will let me. More info to follow.

Our Apartment

We've moved into our new apartment, and it is awesome.

It is on the second floor of a very new building, built in 2005, but it has no stairs, as is a requirement to Emily and I, after having lived in the Jackson Park house. The apartment is all one level, three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a great kitchen and a good sized living room. Aside from all that, is the view. We live right on the Sasebo river, and its almost like having a backyard, but not having to maintain it.

I've set up the front bedroom as my office, and the back room will be Jackson's room. The main bedroom is where we put our queen bed and it is also where the coolest toilet in the world is attached. The master bath off our bedroom has an enormous shower, like one you'd see on MTV Cribs, and an awesome toilet. It has heated seats, and a dual-angle bidet built in.

Our washroom has a nice large sink and another bathroom attached to it. It has a regular toilet though, but a nice clawfoot style bathtub/shower. I have yet to soak in it, maybe tomorrow.

We also experimented with the train, which is very cool, and inexpensive. Only 240 yen from our apartment to the station which is a 10 minute walk from the base. This compared with a 2100 yen taxi ride to the base. My next challenge is to get a long-term train pass so we don't have to carry change with us each time. The schedule is nice, and no joke, you can set your watch to the stops.

That will be all for now. I'm glad to finally have my normal computer back and online. The internet provided by the landlord is excellent.

Signing off now, had a nice four day weekend, time to return to the normal schedule of mustering and PT.

Class Field Trip

We went on the promised field trip today with our Indoc class. It was very fun, and I was extremely happy to get a chance at eating some octopus balls.

Now, I know what your thinking, and no, they arent Japan's version of the rocky mountain oyster. They are ball shaped only. The best description of Tako Yaki I can think of is a chunk of octopus, some cheese, and pancake batter, cooked into a sphere about two inches in diameter. It is then seasoned, covered with either japanese barbeque sauce or japanese mustard, and then sprinkled with green onions or bonita flakes, which are thin shavings of meat from the bonita fish. You eat them while they are steaming hot, and they are quite good. Tough task with chopsticks, as they can be slippery, but they flex when you squeeze them, so they arent impossible to handle. Those of you who are rabid Anthony Bourdain fans saw him eat these on the Osaka Episode. An excellent episode to watch if you are curious about japan.

We got to see Kashimai Pier, which is where the ferry to Kujuku-shima is. Kujuku-shima means "99 Islands". There are actuallyl 208 islands, but the fishermen got tired of counting at 99 and stuck with that name, somewhere around 600 years ago. The islands are extremely beautiful and can be seen at http://www.sasebo99.com which is also the main Sasebo tourism website with links to many other attractions in this area.

We then went to Huis Ten Bosch, which is promounced all together, and sounds something like "hostenbosh" when said properly. It is a replica Dutch village near the large housing area south of Sasebo. There are links from the above website to check it out. For those of you back home in Washington, its much like Leavenworth, although its a large park like attraction, with admission. No rides though. Hundreds of years ago, when Japan was closed off to world trade, the only contact they had was with the Dutch, who left many cultural impressions on this area.

We also saw the Sasebo Train station, which is how I'll be getting to work hopefully, as there is a rail line near our apartment in Nonaka-Cho. Cho means neighborhood.

By the way, we set the appointment to sign the lease and move into our new apartment today, and we are very excited. Our first day there will be a week from today.

I managed to coordinate our move-in date with our shipment so our stuff will get delivered very quickly and we'll spend the first night sleeping on a real bed, our bed. Very excited.

Gotta get off here though, need to study for my driving test, I get my Japanese Driver's Licence tomorrow, so there will be one more Baka Gaijin on the road. (That means "stupid foreigner".)

Cultural Relations

We finished the classroom portion of our Inter-Cultural relations course here. It is part of the mandatory Indoctrination class that everyone, sailors, dependants, and civilian workers, must attend when arriving in Japan.

Tomorrow we go on our field trip and see the surrounding area. We are excited to see things in the area, such as tourist attractions, shopping malls, train stations, and similar things. Its only a small snippet of the things that are available to us, most of which we have found already in our off-base travels, but its something to do and we arent trapped in a classroom all day.

We went to dinner tonight with an officer and her family who met me and another sailor who is checking into the Essex. We got a good tour of the area from her husband, who is a veteran also, and went to dinner at a japanese barbeque restaurant. It was awesome. They bring you a big tray of raw meat, beef, pork, and I'm not talking just sirloin bits either. I had heart, stomach, innards (unknown inside parts?), squid, cabbage, eggplant, and other various things. The really cool part is, you cook each item yourself, a task no American restaurant would allow due to liability. There is a big gas grill built into the table and you lay your meats and veggies on it and cook and eat and cook and eat. The pieces are small so they cook fast, you place them on your rice bowl and then chow down.

We will take lots of pictures tomorrow, and maybe I'll figure out how to post some on here, hehe.

The Housing Search

We had our housing brief today, at which time we were informed of our rent ceiling, our utilities allowance, COLA, and all the other information we need to live either on or off base.

At first we were fairly dead set on living on base. On base housing gives you two locations, one of which is right near the base, but is only 20% of the total base housing. One is about 30 minutes away, and is the other 80%. Guess which one is offered first every time. I had no desire to live 30 minutes away, so I started thinking about off base options.

Without getting into the grimy details, there are a few options off base, regular rent setup, or a setup that is much like base housing, but yet off base in the community. We looked at an awesome apartment that is about 15 minutes from the base through the city, and it was amazing. The rent is 165,000 yen, which is about $1,650 a month, but we get $1,600 a month in housing allowance so I'm more than willing to kick in 50 bucks for how great it is.

Its in the Nonaka area and has a grocery store, a bus stop, and a major highway all within a block. A great covered parking space, a nice balcony, and a beautiful view of the Sasebo River. We are very excited.

The Ginza Experience

Well, if I wasn't sure I was in a foreign country, I know it now. We have been spoiled on base because the majority of the Japanese folks we see speak English pretty well and getting what you need is fairly easy.

As I said in the quick post this morning, we were planning on taking a taxi to the Ginza. We did this in the early afternoon and discovered the Ginza is similar to a giant, and I mean GIANT strip mall, but much nicer.

The Ginza, or as its known officially, the Sasebo Yonka-cho Shopping Mall(Yonka-cho means "Four Cities", as it has four distinct sections) is almost a full kilometer in length. There is so much to see, we must have walked it three or four full times, giving us near three miles of walking today.

There are so many shops, as they range from the size of a small room, to a large McDonald's. They coincidentally had a McDonald's, and a Starbucks.

I did find a computer store, but surprisingly, there was only one, and I look forward to getting back to look at it when I have more time. Also, I plan to methodically go into each and every store to look at everything.

There are also 100-yen stores, which are equivalent to a Dollar Store, but the stuff is way better quality than Dollar Store stuff. Its closer to Wal-Mart quality I would say.

There are several watch and jewelery shops also. I am in the market for a watch, but I'm not up to spending 33,000 yen ($3300.00) on a Tag Heuer that will only get scratched up on the ship. Most of the shops had fairly high quality (and high priced) stuff in them, and I would go shopping there again.

The customer service trend of Japan was continued with the vendors, they were all friendly and helpful. Its not that I expect this to change, but I'm still getting used to everyone being this way. With the service being so good here, and tipping considered as rude, when we get back to the states, nobody is getting a tip, because I've never gotten this level of service in America, and I'm expected to tip, no way. They are proud of their jobs here, and don't need any extra to make themselves feel good. We need to get the American service industry into this, because when tips are expected, but the service doesn't reflect it, whats the point?

Anyway, our trip today was fun, the Ginza is cool, and I can't wait to get back. Tomorrow we go to our housing brief and get put on the list for a home, and I'm really hoping we get a house near Main Base, which would be walking distance to the Ginza and the base itself. We'll see how that goes. Also, starting Tuesday, we have our Indoctrination class, which teaches us about Japan and the base, we'll go on tours, and get started on our Japanese Driver's Licenses.

That will be all for today, we are beat, will post more later.

Attachment

Well, I felt my first real loyalty to this place and its people today.

I was having breakfast, and I observed some civilians, I imagine they were contractors or GS's, in the restaurant, and in my opinion, they were incredibly rude to the Japanese waiter. They didn't do anything purposeful, they were just uninformed and ignorant.

They came into the Harbor View Club with a large group and informed a waiter they had a group of nine coming. He of course immediately proceeded to go set up an area for them so they could sit together, as they are awesome, as I've mentioned before. The group however, disregarded his efforts completely and just sat at two tables near my wife and I.

I had a hard time not standing up and approaching the civilian I observed to be in charge and informing him of their error. As I have not been here long, I am not about to make waves of this size quite yet, but if I saw something like this six months to a year from now, stand by.

I can definitely am feeling attached here, and I like it, but don't worry mom, I still plan to come home after this tour.

First Day

Well, we walked around a bit this morning and realized that we really like it here. Again, I have to mention the awesome customer service. I had been told about it, but you never really know something until you've seen it first hand, and its something.

The weather here is nice, good walking around weather, warm, but not too hot, and not much wind. I plan to venture further away tomorrow morning, maybe walk to the NEX, not sure.

I did find the bowling alley, which makes a mean burger, and we had lunch there. Short walk from the Lodge.

Right now we are relaxing and watching Seinfeld DVD's (Thanks mom-in-law, really).

Will update tomorrow after we handle housing, medical, pay update, indoc, etc. Might take a nap.

In Japan

Well, we made it.

First, there's a nine and a half hour plane ride, which isn't too bad until you realize you've been on a plane for about six hours, and it hits you, and all the suffering and swelling kicks in, making up for the time you didn't notice.

The first sign we weren't in Kansas anymore (although, I don't think I've ever really been in Kansas), was the obvious lack of English, anywhere. I realize its arrogant to just expect to see English everywhere, but its something you get used to seeing, and you miss it. The Japanese are great about pictures though, and there is some English to guide you along the way.

Then, figuring out how to go through customs, which required us to pick up all of our bags, go through, then re-check all of our bags, during which time no one looked in them, although they were scanned, and we had nothing to declare (which I wasn't able to say, as I was told by the movies everyone says when they go through customs).

I exchanged some money for yen, which gave me two paper bills and several small plastic-like coins. I used them to buy some water. We thought about getting food but nothing looked good enough to experiment with. We found the correct bus and even got off on the right spot. We then found the correct gate, figured out when to board, and got on the correct flight.

Its very hard to mess up, they are sooooooo awesome with customer service here, like no one has ever imagined. I'm afraid I lightly offended the nice man on the bus when I started unloading my bags from the bus (this is before we re-checked them in) and didn't let him get them all. You can literally ask anyone for help. Imagine asking someone working at a T-mobile booth how to get to the Verizon booth and them not only helping you, but smiling, joking, and then walking you all the way there. Thats how cool it is.

And then we flew from Tokyo to Fukuoka and that was only an hour and a half, which is nothing now. The Navy bus was waiting and we drove for two more hours to the base which is where I am now, about to go to sleep.

My time off with my folks

I've spent the last few days with my parents, as I am on transfer leave and will report to Japan and my ship in about a week. I've had a good time with my parents, and we've just done whatever, nothing special, no extravagant events, just hanging out, doing whatever they would have been doing had I not been here. Going to garage sales, driving out to the beach to have dinner, watching television. I think it makes them feel good to just have me around as much as possible, but I hope the moment when I do leave its not too hard on them.

I spent some time with my brother today also, as he came garage sale hunting with us. Not much to look at, garage sales were poor today, but I only look for specific stuff, be that new computer stuff, guns and ammo, tools, knives, and any police/military memorabilia. I love old military patches and uniforms, they fascinate me.

If its not obvious, I've changed the direction of this blog, there will still be gun-related posts, but not as often, and it will be a more general daily life blog.

I surprised my wife today, I bought myself a wedding ring. Those of you who are close to us will of course know that I lost the titanium ring she bought me when we were married, as it was sized to my size ten finger I had when I was still near 280. As I shortly therafter lost nearly 100 pounds to join the Navy, my finger shrank, but I continued to wear the ring, until one day while kayaking with my family off Neah Bay I discovered I had lost the ring in the ocean. This was very tough on my wife and she has not felt right with me not having a ring. "Gotta keep the hoe's off you" she says, and I agree, we don't want any hoe's coming up and trying to steal me away, hehe. Anyway, I'll wrap this first new general post up with that, and hopefully this new direction will lead to something good.