Come and Gone

Well I just got back from dropping Erik off at the carrier so he can get underway for his Fall deployment. He was back here in Japan for the last 5 days and it was great to be together - we basically just hung around the house so Erik had a chance to relax and spread out, eat non-boat food, and watch football (we wake up at 9am on a Tuesday morning to catch Monday night football in the States - and yes, we still make chili and eat chips despite the technicality that its breakfast time). We definitely got out, though, to do the regular circuit of karaoke, imbibing with friends, and visiting our favorite restaurants like the noodle shop across the street and the Indian place up the road.

Side bar: To clarify, Erik works out of the Atsugi (pronounced At-soo-gi) Naval Air Station. This is where all the hangars and runways are for the air wing. So we live near Atsugi base. But the carrier itself is actually located about an hour south in Yokosuka (pronounced Yoh-koh-ska), which is a huuuuge base and - most importantly - by the water. There are lots of ships down at Yokosuka, so the community is much larger down there. They have a lot more shopping and restaurants on base, so its always a bit of a novelty to pick up/ drop off Erik down there. Our standard is to eat at the Chili's the night before he goes back to "the boat."

Anyhoo, we did go into Tokyo (about an hour train ride) over the weekend to visit the music district and also the electronics district - which may as well be any district within Tokyo as far as I can tell. The music stores were well stocked, and I found humor in the flying V guitars, with 80's metal pumping in the background, and older staff with their salt and pepper mullets. The electronics district was just super busy and was store after store of things like network cable, PC parts, etc. To humor me between the sight and sound overload of those districts, Erik acquiesced to visiting a park I wanted to check out. It was so beautiful and peaceful to escape the crowds and concrete for an hour. Because as much as you'd think Japan is an aesthetically genius place to live, it really isn't, save for the temples, shrines, and old gardens you find once in a while.

So it was a quick 5 days and we are looking forward to this much shorter Fall deployment ahead. In the meantime, I am back to searching for neat things to do, hanging with a great group of friends here, and just plain enjoying the relaxed lifestyle.