I am staying in Yokosuka, Japan, on the Southwest side of Tokyo Bay. It is about 30 miles South of Tokyo, and about 10 miles South of Yokohama. It is most definitely a foreign country. As they tell us in training, Japan is about the size of California, and has half the population of the United States. However, only 20% of the land area is populated. That means a bunch of people in a little space. The picture below is taken near my hotel, looking down the main street in Yokosuka.
On Veteran's Day, I didn't have to work so I got to do some touring. I went with some co-workers to Kamakura, a tourist city known for its Buddhist Temples and Shinto Shrines (and happens to be the place that Obama is visiting today). The pictures below show some of what I saw. The first place was a Buddhist temple complex built in the 1600s.
The next stop was a Shinto Shrine:
We finished the day going to the Great Buddha. It is the largest bronze buddha in Japan, and was constructed in about 1250. Pretty impressive.
Friday night the group I work with went up to Yokohama for dinner. The streets are just as one would picture Japan to be - everything is brightly lit, and there are people everywhere. We ended up eating "family style" Korean BBQ, where they would bring meat dishes to us uncooked, and we would cook them on grills built in to the table. It was good food.
Saturday I went on a hiking tour to Mount Nokogiri, on the East side of Tokyo Bay. It is a steep mountain that has been made into a Buddhist temple. The hiking consisted of walking down 650 stairs after a cable car ride to the top. Besides the observatory on top of the mountain, there are about 1500 small carved buddhas along the trails that wind down to the largest stone buddha in Japan. Chicky has kept me company while I have not had Crystal and the kids.
The little stone Buddhas:
The big stone buddha:
So in a nutshell, that has been the trip. The rest of my time has been spent in an office on the barge and frequent trips to the carrier. I miss the family, and look forward to returning to them soon, but have been able to do some interesting things while I have been here.Now, Crystal, I return control of your blog to you...
4 comments:
Thanks for posting Ryan! I'm glad you've had some fun and that you're coming home soon.
Cassia would have loved the stairs. I have never seen so many Buddha's in my life. When Dad and I were in Tokyo we spent most of our time getting lost in the Subway. Some of our friends went to Mt. Nokogiri. I do remember a Shinto Shrine and a Buddhist temple. We did experience some of the night life. The temple was the best part, or maybe it was the plastic food. I love the china I purchased there. Looking forward to Friday!
Wow! That is so exciting...but so scary! That is coming from a wimpy country girl though who would have no idea how to get a long in such a largely populated foreign country like that though...I think mostly that Crystal is the brave one though; being at home with the kids by herself. I would get lonely :)Sounds like things are going well, and thanks for such a fun post! (Oh, and today rob emailed me from work wondering how he could get a hold of our one friends who used to live in Logan that helped him with his math/engineering problems because he had another one he needed help with. I guess it's a good thing I suggested Steven Grover instead since Seattle/Japan is so far away. hahahaha)
Wow those are some amazing pictures. That is awesome that you get to go to Japan for work stuff. I don't know if we would ever travel that far away. Those buddhas are huge. Very cool!
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