Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (a little late)!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! I had fun here in Tokyo. November was really busy. We had the Marine Ball at the beginning of the month. A week later, there was a high-level visit, during which I saw ANA's R2D2 plane!

To give credit where credit is due, one of my colleagues took that picture. Isn't it great!  

The work visit was immediately followed by the fun wedding of two of my friends and then a Thanksgiving dinner with TONS of food. Seriously. I think there were four turkeys. So. Much. Food. And lots of great people too. 

And then it was December!

In December, I went to Nagoya to visit a port, a feed miller and a whiskey distillery. On the way down there, I saw Mt. Fuji from the shinkansen.

Back in Tokyo, I went to an excellent sushi dinner where I saw real wasabi - an unusually large real wasabi - for the first time. Wasabi is so difficult to grow and rare enough that often what is called "wasabi" is actually green colored horseradish. But he grated this up right in front of us. It had a much more complex flavor than what you usually get with horseradish. ("Complex." Like that? It sounds very foodie.) We had a private sushi chef who was really interesting to talk to. According to him, to become a sushi chef, you spend several years just running errands and making bentos (carry-out lunches) for the chefs. In year four, you're allowed to stir the rice. But not to touch it! I think you get to touch the rice in year five...

Also in December was a fire drill at the housing compound. The fire department came with their big trucks and their earthquake simulator. It can be fun. They even pulled a couple people off the roof of one of the buildings.









And of course, the big event of December... I went to see the new Star Wars movie!

So much joy. I'm so happy with this movie. I'd love to go see it again. We saw it in 3D Dolby Atmos, or something like that. It was great. There was 4D too, but I think that could get annoying. One of the great things about Japan - or at least this theater, which is the only one I've been to - when you order popcorn and drink, it's given to you on a tray with a drop down thing that fits into the cup holder on your chair. So you don't have to juggle anything! It's brilliant.

And then it was Christmas!

That was my Christmas tree. I may have been a slacker the last few years when it comes to baking and everything, but at least I had my Christmas tree!

There was the annual German Christmas market at Roppongi Hills, where you could buy Christmas decorations and then have some hot spiced wine and a ton of german sausage.

And there were holiday light displays all over Tokyo.

At Roppongi Hills

In front of Midtown.  The leaves were really late this year!

The illumination at Midtown

Behind Roppongi Hills, with Tokyo Tower in the background

Christmas Eve was a fun dinner with a group of friends. Christmas day, a group of us went to the Christmas brunch at New Sanno (the military's hotel here), where I also saw this great Star Wars gingerbread house.

And then that night was hanging with friends, eating lots of food - including the traditional Japanese Christmas meal of KFC chicken and champagne! - and watching the first Star Wars movie (episode IV). All told, a wonderful Christmas time with lots of good friends and good food!

And now it's January (for another day or two). I went hiking one day at Mt. Takao (where I went my first year in Japan) - and enjoyed another view of Mt. Fuji and a nice, warm udon lunch at the tiny restaurant at the top - and then some of us went to the Trick Art Museum that is across the street from the train station. That was a fun day.

I wish you all a wonderful 2016 and a happy Year of the Monkey!

October in Tokyo, and other life stuff

I hope everybody had a wonderful and safe Halloween! I enjoyed handing out candy during the Embassy housing compound's annual trick-or-treat time. I'm rather glad that it is limited to two hours, as it puts some boundaries around the hoards of rampaging princesses and super heroes, but it's also totally fun. I hand out a ton of candy every year. After the trick-or-treating, I went to a friend's party, and then later a bunch of us went up to Roppongi to see all the people dressed up in costumes. I've been wanting to see Roppongi at Halloween for the last several years, but it didn't work out for various reasons.  Since this is my last year in Japan, I was determined to see it this time! And it was as crazy as imagined. I only lasted an hour, and then it started getting really crowded, and I had already seen a lot, so I went home. (I know. I'll sign up for Hermits United later.) I saw a lot of great costumes! There were, of course, a plethora of sexy costumes (mostly worn by girls) - including a number of sexy SWAT team girls - and a TON of zombies. Everything was zombified. Even superheroes were zombies. There were also a lot of Star Wars costumes, which was fun to see.

A few weeks ago, one of my friends from Virginia came to visit me! We had a lot of fun. We went down to Kamakura and walked all over Tokyo. We also managed to go to a Series 1 game of the Climax Series (part of the Japan Baseball playoffs), where we saw the Yomiuri Giants beat their HUGE rivals, the Hanshin Tigers. It was a great game, with a lot of really enthusiastic fans. And then after the game, we went to the Robot Restaurant. The Robot Restaurant is in Shinjuku, and it's basically one of those things I've been wanting to see because of the "only in Japan" factor. It had just as much, if not more, over-the-top glitzy crazy nutsieness as I expected! It's pretty much indescribable. First, you go to a waiting room that is decorated like this:

And then you go to the show room, and they start with taiko drumming, with a twist.

Which is followed by this:

So, yeah. That happened, and it was pretty hilarious. And now I can check that off the Japan bucket list!

I don't think I've mentioned how huge gel nails are in Japan. Pretty much all of the women have them - not infrequently with jewels and other ornaments. I typically don't do manicures, since I don't enjoy them enough to justify spending all of the money on something that will inevitably start chipping in a day or two. But last spring I decided to give it a try. Gel is expensive, but it also LASTS.  As in, I don't have to get it removed for a month, and for that month, my nails look good and are pretty much indestructible - something that is particularly useful when you are traveling. So I did it, and now I'm totally addicted. My excuse for getting it done so much is that I leave Japan next summer, and I'm not likely to find such good gel nail people outside of Japan - people that I can take a picture to, and they're happy to do it, no matter how complicated. So this is how my nails have looked since then:

As you can tell, I've been having fun!

A few weeks ago, I had my first massage experience in Japan. A couple of us went out and just found a random place that looked good nearby. I think we found a Chinese massage place. I had a one hour body oil massage and a half hour foot (shiatsu) massage. The body massage was great. It was also the first time I've ever had somebody walk on me. I was very glad she knew what she was doing. The foot massage was good but hurt like heck. I could have said something, but I know the fact it hurt probably meant it was releasing toxins or whatever, and I figured I could tough it out. But wow. All the same, it was a lot of fun. I need to go try another place though, so I can see if there are differences.

Last but not least, earlier this week I learned that I will be moving to Santo Domingo next summer, where I will head our office responsible for the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica. I'm looking forward to that adventure. But it's a ways off yet, and I'm determined to enjoy Japan during this last year, as I know there will be a lot that I miss from here. Carpe diem!

Time flies, but I'm having fun!

I can not believe that it's October already. And not just any October, but my last October in Japan. There's so much that I need to do. And even more that I want to do. The "I've got plenty of time" list has become the "exactly when am I going to do all these things?" list. And it seems that every week I discover new things that I add to the list. It's a good thing that I get home leave next summer, because I'm going to need it to rest up from the busy year I've got planned.

I know it's been a long time since I wrote anything, so I'm going to give a really fast update. I also have a goal of doing a post on my trip to Kyoto and Nara at some point - a post that has largely been delayed by forgetfulness, laziness, and the sheer number of pictures that I was trying to narrow down to a manageable few. Maybe I'll get it done in time for the one-year anniversary of that trip.

The one thing I don't think I've talked about from last spring was the flowers. So yes, there were a lot of beautiful flowers! I didn't do a serious hanami (cherry blossom viewing) in 2015, but I did get out to see some cherry trees. This was actually just a few blocks from the Embassy:

You may remember that in 2014 I went to the Kameido Tenjin Shrine, which is said to have the best wisteria in Tokyo, but sadly, I missed the wisteria by probably about a week. This year, I checked to see when they would be blooming, and I finely got to see it.

It was very pretty. But I will say that the Ashikaga Flower Park, an hour or so north of Tokyo, is still the most beautiful - and bountiful - wisteria I've ever seen.

In May, I went to Beijing, which everybody's already heard about. In June, I made a quick work trip to Hokkaido. We drove across the island, saw a lot of interesting and beautiful places - including lavender fields, although it was probably about two weeks before the flowers came out - and even got a glimpse of the Prime Minister's plane being escorted by fighter jets. I don't know if the Prime Minister was returning from a trip or it was just a drill, but it was still cool.

The view from one of my hotel rooms in Hokkaido

July began with the Embassy Independence Day reception, where I was once again in charge of photography. And then I went back to the U.S. for a quick family visit.  

August was spent running around getting things done before a dear friend came to visit me. We had a great time walking our feet off around Tokyo and eating tons of yummy food. We also did a day trip to Nikko and an overnight trip to Yamanashi to stay at a ryokan, eat washoku (traditional Japanese food) and use the onsen, with swings through the Five Lakes region going to and from. What needs to be said is that the day we headed out to Yamanashi, a typhoon was going by. So while I specifically took a detour by the Five Lakes region for the very specific purpose of enabling my friend to see Mt. Fuji (proof of its visibility seen in the blog post that I've linked to above), it was absolutely impossible to see Mt. Fuji, because the clouds were so low. The clouds were SO low, that you wouldn't even know a mountain was there. And we were right at the base of it! So that was frustrating. I spent a lot of time saying, "It's RIGHT. THERE." But we still had a great time!

At Chureito Pagoda

In front of Fujiyoshida Sengen Shrine

Our ryokan (with onsen) in Yamanashi

So then we come to September. I spent the first week running a series of three outreach seminars. The next week, I was supposed to visit Yabu, a small town in Hyogo prefecture, but that trip got canceled by another typhoon. But later in the week, we had our office workshop near Kobe. That was a very productive trip. I stayed over Friday night in Kobe, and then on Saturday, I went down to see Himeji Castle, which has been on my "must see before I leave Japan or I'll regret it" list.

Himeji Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of Japan's twelve original castles, and is considered to be the most beautiful feudal castle in Japan. And to add to the joy, they just completed a major renovation and re-opened the inside of the castle to tourists. As you may imagine, I took hundreds of pictures, but here are just a few that I managed to narrow it down to.

In the picture below (and some others further down), you can see the sachiboko - the fish that are supposed to protect the castle from fire and ward off disaster.

At the base of the castle, you can see the rocks surrounding Okiku's Well. There's a ghost story associated with it that has been turned into a famous kabuki play.

After visiting the castle and then getting a quick lunch, I went to Kokoen Garden, which is right next to the castle. It's a very nice Japanese garden, with nine different Edo-style walled gardens inside.

Later in September was Silver Week - September 21-23 were Japanese holidays, giving us a five-day weekend. I didn't go anywhere, but I did get a number of things done at home that had been hanging over my head for some time. Silver Week was followed by another seminar that we helped to put on, several lunches and dinners, and other work stuff. And now it's October!

I hope everybody has a wonderful fall!