Last week this little house in Oppama was full of people, conversations, time spent out on the deck, and good home-cooked food. Dad, Bryce, and sometimes Sara were always here, and I never really had any time to myself. I didn’t mind that a bit. Now Dad’s back home and Bryce is on a missions trip to the Ukraine (please pray for the team’s safe return). I’ve had the place to myself all week and it’s been WAY to quiet. Anyone who knows me knows that me and being alone don’t go together. Maybe for a day, TOPS.

That feeling is compounded by the fact that the ship will be heading out again very shortly. The greatest amount of time spent in this house is already over, and I just moved in last October. It’s weird living in a house, knowing that you’ll still have it eight months from now, but knowing that out of that time you’ll probably spend less than a month actually home. It feels very temporary. One of my dreams since coming to Japan was to have a house here. Out of 4 years here I’ll have had a home for only 6 months. I wander through my spartanly furnished rooms and wonder what it would be like if I had more time to accumulate things, you know, really fill the place up. I wonder if I might get to know the neighbors better. I wonder if I could tell people what it’s like to live in a Japanese house in every season. I wonder if I’d have house parties and be a place where friends would pop in unexpected. When I look up at the Japanese light fixtures they don’t really feel like mine. They’re mine for a short time, but not long enough to call them mine.

A perfect example of this feeling can be summed by looking at the wall by my computer.  I put up a bunch of pictures that best caught memories or feelings.  I used some cheap tape to put them up and all winter they hung tight.  Now it’s getting more humid and they’re slowing falling off one by one.  I put them up, add more tape, but they keep falling.  Now the wall is blank except for one portrait I took of Sara.  For some reason it’s not going anywhere.  All the memories can fall away, but Sara’s a part of my life that wouldn’t go away, no matter how humid it got.  But the rest have gently fallen to the ground, making my room seem more like a temporary place.
I guess everyone goes through a feeling of impermanence. I don’t feel like I’m ready to lay roots down anywhere just yet, but I expected so much more from having a place. The greatest thing this house has done is allow my friend to have a quiet place to get away from ship life, and give my dad a quiet place to rest when I wore him out seeing Japan.

I often let too much time pass after doing something, and then I can’t remember it well enough to accurately post about it. This time I’m going to try and run down dad’s visit in my eyes, as well as add some thoughts about the experience. I’m not going to write about everything, just what I deem the highlights.
First off, I can sit here and write about how much I love this country all day, but you can’t really know Japan until you come. I can post hundreds of pictures (6,000 + by my count) and you still wouldn’t really have an idea, so for my dad to come and see what I’ve been talking about for 3 1/2 years was a big deal.

I overwhelmed him a bit the first day. Three hours of trains isn’t anything anyone should have to do, especially after not sleeping for 24+ hours. It was a more authentic experience than jumping on a military bus for 3 hours though.

Our trip to Nikko was amazing. It was one of our two big trips, two places I’d also never been before. Nikko is a small town in the Tochigi mountains, 2 hours north of Tokyo. Its claim to fame is Toshogu, one of Japan’s most decorated shrine and mausoleum complexes. It’s also the final resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. It was a little cloudy when we first arrived, which added to mystic atmosphere. As we climbed the stairs towards the different shrines, more staircases unveiled new and more elaborate areas. The gateway just before the summit of the Toshogu shrine was the most elaborate I’ve ever seen. Several detailed dragon heads, highlighted with gold stood guard against evil spirits. Getting closer to the shrine was the real prize. The detail and craftsmanship was amazing. I took at least 100 photos just there. I’m sure Dad’s first memory of the Toshogu shrine would be, “Why do I have to carry this heavy backpack up flight after flight of steep mountain stairs?”

I reserved us a couple beds at a local hostel, but that didn’t work out. After climbing 15 miles, uphill both ways, dad didn’t like the idea of sharing a bunk bed with a couple of Aussies. We called a cab to take us back down the hill we’d just climbed for a more spacious, mysteriously quiet, hotel. Dad had two firsts here: His first dip in an Onsen (Japanese communal bath - VERY soothing on achy muscles) and his first encounter with a beer vending machine.

The next day we took a bus ride to Kegon Falls - a huge waterfall up one of the nearby mountains. Halfway up dad sees a gondola ride and we both spontaneously decide to get off the bus. We then have to argue the price with the bus driver because the bus passes I’d gotten us didn’t work on that particular stop. At the top of the mountain we got a few photos of the distant waterfall off before some clouds settled in. More memorable for me was the couple we met on the way up - a British guy, his Thai wife and their 3 hyperactive kids. Apparently they were traveling the world and hadn’t planned on any cold weather. It was snowing when we got to the top gondola station. The wife frantically tried to keep her kids from falling over the sides while the guy just leisurely took pictures without a care in the world. It was like starring into my own possibly future, lol.

part two later. I’m too tired now…

He made it safely back to the states Friday afternoon, and is trying to get over his jet lag this weekend. The total pics on the Flickr page is over 500 now, so go check them out while you’re waiting for more in-depth posts about his visit from both of us.

D.O.D. back again. I won’t ramble on like last time because I know after the first couple of paragraphs, it becomes “blah-blah-blah” this and “blah-blah-blah” that.

Suffice it to say that being on the other side of the world and being able to actually live “among” the locals in Randy’s neighborhood and see typical Japanese folks on the street & on the trains is a truly awesome experience.

Just a simple trip into to Tokyo by train (a daily commute for many of these folks) is exhausting for this D.O.D. who typically walks all the way from our house to my car, then from the car into the office to transition from home to work.

I’ve asked Randy to take pictures of typical houses and neighborhood streets in addition to the shrines and skycrapers because observing the culture up close (vs just as a tourist) has been the most amazing part of being here. It’s very easy to see why Randy loves this place.

Well now I’m going to try to add captions to some of our flickr pics so they’ll make a little more sense because they’ll tell the story much better than I ever could.

Signing off for now. Back in the states Friday night.

Rob (aka “Dear Ol Dad”)

Hope you all in enjoyed the last post by my dad.  I’ve uploaded a bunch of new pictures to my Flickr site, and dad I are heading out for our second big trip to Kyoto.

Pardon the ameturishiness of this post but this is this “D.O.D.’s” 1st attempt so bear with me…

My first trans-Pacific (or even International) flight was “text book”, but that’s kinda what I’d hoped for. Still, 16 hours on the same plane gets really l-o–n—g pretty quick. And if anyone wants to know the ending to any of the in-flight movies I saw, even after 3 times straight thru (each), the secret’s safe with me. Apparently, Randy’s “long flight” system ( 2 tylenol PM and 2 beers) doesn’t work for everyone.

Arriving at Tokyo Narita (at 3pm on Sunday) which was still 5am Sunday by my Oklahoma clock, was equally smooth and Randy was right there to meet me so it was awesome to catch up on 16 months worth of hugs (+ all those from everyone else who’d entrusted me to carry their hugs to Japan with me…)

Long story short, the bus back to the Yokosuka Naval Base was overbooked so even though Randy had left his car there, he assured me that taking the train to his house would be MUCH faster than waiting for the next military bus so after some sushi & beer @ the airport (actually VERY good, at least from an Oklahoma perspective), we were off!

What Randy hadn’t explained clearly was that it takes FIVE different trains to get from the airport to the stop in the Yokohama suburb (Oppama) where he lives, and that there were stairs between almost every train. I’m sure I’d have packed lighter and NOT been dragging a 50lb, rolling suit case behind me if I’d understood this in advance!

Needless to say, due to his expert navigation of the Greater Tokyo mass transit system, we made it to Oppama and, after a short walk (which seemed all up-hill by this time) to his house where his girl friend, Sara and his roommate, Bryce were waiting. Sara had whipped up a wonderful dinner for us and it was great to be able to take a load off of my tired “dogs” and  get acquainted. That night I didn’t need ANY Tylenol PM or alcohol to sleep like a baby.

Monday, we took the train down to Yokosuka where the Navy base, U.S.S. Kittyhawk and most importantly Randy’s car, the famed “Blue Tiger” (an early ’90’s super compact Nissan) were waiting for us. From the balcony of Starbuck’s it was already easy to see why he loves this place so much. It’s breathtakingly beautiful! From just a few blocks away from the base, you can climb (they LOVE their hills over here) up the narrow, winding streets to a beautiful part overlooking the entrance to Tokyo Bay and “Monkey Island” (kind of a Catalina kind of place) right across from. Then we picked up the car and some essentials at the Navy Exchange (that’s “NEX” for us civilians) and took an even more scenic drive further down the coast to a quaint, little fishing community. Looked like I would envision Route 1 north of San Francisco but with weird writing and everybody driving on the wrong side!.

Tuesday we took a series of local trains toward Tokyo where we could catch a “Limited Express” train to a town 95 miles NW called Nikko. You’ll see if you look at Randy’s flickr pictures (don’t be shy, just push the button over on the right side of the post) that this place was amazing! Looked like an Alpine village in the mountains.

Without belaboring the point, we spent just about all of our first day in Nikko, either walking to or up the stairs of several 7th century temples. Man! This D.O.D. has never climbed so many stairs in his life! Too bad we didn’t think to leave our backpacks in a locker in the train station (or take the tour bus that was included with our travel package…). Thankfully, our  hotel had it’s own “onsen”, (hot baths) so we were able to soak away some of the aches & pains from our long day of walking, climbing (and in my case, complaining about waking & climbing…). More details about Nikko later but suffice it to say that the trip up the mountain (no, we did take a bus this time) to the waterfalls was awesome. And it was snowing on us while we were up on the mountain.

Back to Tokyo & (Oppama) after a short stop in Kawasaki to “California Pizza” (I recommend the garlic shrimp) pizza and a few Miller “Special’s” .

Today (Thursday) Japan’s version of SeaWorld and dinner with Sara. Friday & beyond, Randy’s got it all on his calendar so look forward to another installment after Saturday’s trip to Tokyo’s shopping district, Shibuya, a tour of the Kittyhawk and a trip next week to Kyoto (SW of here) to see some more shrines.

It’s easy to see why Randy’ loves this place. The landscape if breathtaking, the people are warm & friendly.

Roger, Wilco, Over & Out for now! Stay tuned!

Rob

Back when I started video in ‘03 there wasn’t a way to quickly and easily share what I did with others. Since then I’m sure everyone is aware of a little site called YouTube. I resurrected some of my old AFN tapes and added some more recent works (Read-a-thon and Alex Trebek visits Kitty Hawk) and put them up on my own YouTube site so anyone with a decent internet connection can have a peak. I’m going to try and remember to keep updating it as much as possible. I’ll also put a link in the sidebar so you can find it again.

Observation: Last week I noticed that slim to none of what I did was for myself, and rather I was just doing things that others asked me to do. I’m sure I’ve done this a lot, it was just the first time I looked backed on an entire span of time and thought, “Where was the me time?” Anyone else not getting their “me” time?