No nukes is good nukes

Have you seen tee shirt that says "I'm with the bomb squad. If you see me running, try to keep up"?

We've had loads of e-mails and phone calls over the last 10 days. People here and in the states are worried, especially about radiation coming off the Fukushima power plant. My husband is a public health expert. When I see him running, I'll keep up.

Here's a map of Japan (sans Okinawa) that shows all the U.S. facilities and the epicenter of the quake. Yokosuka is south of Tokyo and 176 miles from Fukushima.

Today, we heard the first stories of food contamination. I know the military can easily arrange food shipments from the states, so still, I'm not concerned. However, I am staying prepared for evacuation, as instructed. I am doing laundry daily, we are not buying perishables or any other foods, since our freezer is fully stocked, and our bags are packed.

Word from Fukushima is encouraging, but in the long term, I suppose it's anyone's guess. Our friends are leaving or sending their children stateside. Word has gone out that the school year would continue, but more than one of our friends have already gone because school was closed until further notice.

While I was sweating in the cardio room this morning at 7:20, an attendant came in to announce that the gym would be secured in 10 minutes. I had that much time to shower, dress, pack up my clothes and get out. Speculation around Allan's office was that it may be used for processing the hordes who would be evacuating.

According to Stars 'n' Stripes, 4083 dependents have signed up for travel assistance. That doesn't include people who took commercial flights. Over in the building where I teach English on Monday, it's business as usual. But the base population has diminished.

Tonight we had dinner with friends. It's a department custom to celebrate the completion of a large project with a beer after work. Allan finished the Ship Repair Facility report. He did the survey last June and finished the report Friday. A beer just wouldn't do, so we went to Watami, our favorite restaurant.

Possible mandatory evacuation for Americans

On March 17th, the Dept. of Defense published information that they will assist in voluntary evacuation of military and civilian families from Japan. This would begin within 24 hours.
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People will likely be moved to Korea, where they will be processed and await transportation to the states. Some, like our friend Chris are leaving from Narita on commercial flights, but we will remain here unless the situation takes a sharp turn.

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Efforts to cool the reactors have been ongoing since the plant was damaged by the tsunami. What has not been said is how much progress has been made. After 7 days, perhaps the best case scenerio has not been realized, but has there been any progress? I don't know.

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Today, Friday, March 18th at 7:30 am, Allan attended a department meeting where the possibility of mandatory evacuation was announced. We spent the day gathering information and filling out forms. We aren't expecting it to happen, but if the decision is made, it may happen this weekend, and we will get a call and report to base with the correct documentation and our limit of luggage.

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Around base and in town, restaurants and stores are limiting hours in an effort to reduce power usage. We have been expecting brownouts at home, but so far, it hasn't happened.

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The D.O.D. school year has been called, as of March 17th. Grades accumulated to date will be final. Our friend Karen is taking her son to Ohio to finish his junior and senior year.

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Those who will not be evacuating, namely the Japanese, are handling things well. The radiation threat is monopolizing the news, but the rescue efforts and the rebuilding are still very important.

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Our only chore now is to watch and wait.

Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown

Day six of disaster watch in Japan.

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This earthquake produced 464 aftershocks in the first 4 days.

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The Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant is the big issue. Allan is not overly concerned right now, but I'm not making any promises. We have CNN, so alot of our information is exactly what you can see in the U.S. The difference being that you also have Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, so you might know more than me.

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We have received a message from the U.S. Ambassador. The nuclear situation is being monitored, etc.

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Locally, the trains schedules are limited, which is a great hardship. Allan's friend Takagi-san waited until 10 am or so for the train to leave Yokohama. He was a bit late for work. Gas is an issue. I'm not sure if there is a shortage, or if people are just being cautious, but yesterday Allan and I passed a line of 37 cars waiting at a station. But the Japanese take it in stride.

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Businesses are using reduced lighting, and it's kinda nice, the glare is missing. Grocery stores have empty shelves, so we're happy to have a fully-stocked kitchen.

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Allan's work is not affected, but I've had a few cancellations in English classes. My only male student, Ichiro told me today that his son was in Sendai City during the earthquake. He was able to send a text and received a return text from his son saying that he was fine. He was not on the coast, so was away from the tsunami area. Whew...

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We might limit our movement for a few weekends - gas shortage, reduced train schedules, radiation exposure, all that stuff. But it's not too bad. I finally got my birthday dinner last night at the Officers' Club. It was Mongolian Buffet with a game. Fill a bowl with raw meats and vegetables, then guess the priced at 75 cents per 28 grams (28 GRAMS!!! could they make it more complicated)? If you come within 5 cents of the total, your dinner is free. Guess who had a free birthday dinner! Then, since Tuesday is $1 movie night and we saw 'Green Hornet'. What were those guys thinking?

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BTW: tomorrow is our half-way mark. We've been in Japan for 18 months. Can you believe it? If you're planning to visit, times a runnin' out. We're looking for a new post now, so who knows where we'll land? Keep watching.

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So, how's everything with you?

Whole lotta shakin' going on

At shortly before 3 pm last Friday, yes - March 11th, my birthday, a fault line off the coast of Northern Japan shifted causing an 9.0 magnitude earthquake (jishin). Shortly afterward, as the epicenter was in the Pacific, a tidal wave (tsunami) hit the coast. Three hundred miles away, the quake was felt by Allan and me. He was in his office and I was at the base library on the first floor of a 4 story building.

Quakes are common enough in Japan that I went about my business for a while. Once it reached the 30 second mark, I thought I might go outside and wait it out. I was joined by a crowd of others. During the 7-8 minutes that the tremor lasted, most of us agreed this was the largest tremor we had experienced. Some of those people have been in Japan for more than 20 years.

Back in the library, about 25 minutes after the first tremor, we felt what I hoped was an aftershock (yoshin), and not a separate quake. Outside again, one of the men from the building told us there had been a tsunami, but we did not anticipate the depth of destruction that was taking place while we stood on the sidewalk. The wave was over 20 feet high in some areas and came ashore for 2-3 kilometers.

There was a short third tremor shortly after the second subsided. About 40-60 minutes had passed. By 4 pm, things were being shut down around the base, especially along the perimeter by Tokyo Bay. Allan and I had plans for a birthday dinner, but we could easily postpone that. Since the trains and buses had been shut down for the night, we offered to take a friend home. He lives in Yokohama and depends on the train, as do thousands of others

Since a local elevated highway was closed as well, there was gridlock on local roads and hundreds of people filling the sidewalks. Three hours later, we arrived home, our friend decided to walk rather than have us continue to Yokohama, as it would take around the same time either way.

Luckily, we had electricity when we arrived home and there was no damage.
We have been watching CNNj (j for Japan). But there is no local tv news in English, so we were unable to find out how Yokosuka would be affected. The following day, we cancelled plans to go to Kamakura, which is a cute town close by with shops, restaurants and beautiful cherry blossom trees. Winter is ending, and we were anxious to get out, but that can wait. We didn't know what was happening with the trains.

Knowing that family and friends would be waking up soon, we tried to send an email that night, but were unable to phone or get a message out. I woke up early on Saturday and put together a short message.

Train service has not been fully restored, and shops and restaurants are limiting hours or staying closed. Several of my students cancelled classes, since there is a shortage of gas, and very long lines at the stations. Today, a schedule of blackouts was made public. We are scheduled to be without power twice today for a total of about 5 hours. It is necessary, since five nuclear reactors have been shut down.

A plant in Fukushima had a partial meltdown Saturday and a 2nd today, but emergency measures have been taken since the beginning. One hundred, seventy thousand people were evacuated within a 15 mile radius of the plant. If I were in the area where something like this is happening, I would want the Japanese handling it. They are by nature very cautious, not likely to cut corners where safety is concerned.

Allan and I are well and safe. The Navy has deployed (moved) several of the ships located at Yokosuka to the affected area. Japan will recover. Volunteers from 45 countries are helping with the effort.

Diego Garcia isn't a Spaniard

After traveling to, and hiking around Singapore for 3 days, finally, I could sleep late. Liz had to get up early to catch her flight back to Japan. My flight leaving Singapore was at 2 pm, while hers was 7:30 am.

The flight to Diego Garcia was on a DC8. This is an old plane that is in frequent need of repair.

Diego Garcia is an atoll (coral reef surrounding a lagoon) 7 degrees south of the equator. It's 42 miles long if you follow the strip of land around. It's a British Indian Ocean Territory or B.I.O.T. You'll see those letters on a sign further down.

The island is very tropical with thousands of coconut palms, coconut crabs, donkeys, lots of birds and no snakes or poisonous animals or insects.

There are about 2500 people on the island, 2000 Filipinos, 400 Americans and only about 40 British.

Since I found I was going to Diego Garcia, I was curious why it was named like a Spanish sailor. The island previously had a coconut plantation, managed by Diego Garcia. And the donkeys, which were probably used on the plantation, are protected by the British.

I made a lot of friends and enjoyed lots of Filipino food, including pancet (like pasta) and lumpia (a sort of eggroll with fish).

Here's the highpoint of the island, the pool (above), six feet above sea level. Below, are my host Dave, his friends Ray and Nani, who was the lumpia chef, and me on the left.

We went deep-sea fishing on Saturday and had a blast. It was my first fishing trip in the Indian Ocean. We made a good catch and cooked most of it for dinner.

I caught this wahoo, 3 grouper and a few snapper. Transportation for our catch is a wheelbarrow.>

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We played golf on Sunday and had a picnic afterwards near the ruins of the old plantation house.

I looked around the ruins. It's too bad the island is off-limits to anyone not working for the British or U.S. government. It would be a nice quiet family vacation spot.

I arrived on the island on Monday evening. At lunch on Tuesday, a dive instructor overheard my conversation about wanting to dive. Jason offered some of his gear and I made a dive in the lagoon on Thursday after work (mostly to get my buoyancy adjusted).

I went diving in the Indian Ocean (again a first) after work on Friday. We were in about 10-15 feet of water when we spotted a shark, who you will see in a video at the bottom of this posting.

Here's a coconut crab. They hide in the bottoms of trees and obviously like to climb.

The turtle is in the lagoon, where I did a short dive Thursday. Water's pretty clear, isn't it?

Jason photographed this lobster (very unusual color) and the video of the shark.

I played in a golf tournament on the island with Dave, Ray and Mr. Kim. I played terrible but considering the course, I had fun. The fairways are on limestone (think coral atoll) and one of my shots hit in the middle of the fairway took a 30 foot bounce and flew the green, a tiny carpet covered green.

This sign is in front of the ship's store, so called because it's a navy store. As you can see, the island is pretty far from everywhere. And who knows where St. Cloud, Florida is anyway?

As promised, here's a video taken by Jason, the dive instructor. We were in about 10-15 feet of water and the shark was just checking out the unusual fish (us). The remora attached to the shark is about 2 feet long, making the shark about 8-9 feet. In the video you'll notice a lot of tropical fish, a large snapper towards the middle of the video on the bottom, and near the end of the video, far in the distance some dark objects (these are large grouper).

My flight was delayed because of mechanical issues, so I caught a C17 back to Japan. If you do not know what it's like to fly 13 hours on a cargo plane you don't know what you're missing!! It was loud, uncomfortable, cold and long (really long). And who makes these flight arrangement? I left a 1:00 am!I made it back to Yokota Air Base and Liz met me. A shower, dinner and some sleep was all I needed to get back to my happy old self. Thank you Liz for being there when I needed you. You're the best.

My Singapore Weekend

I love vacations. Who doesn't? But lately it seems like mine always start in the middle of the night. Here's Allan loading luggage into a taxi a few minutes before 6 am.

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Allan and I spent last weekend in Singapore, as he was on his way to Diego Garcia, an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. You could Google it, but Allan will be posting his adventures pretty soon.
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It was a full travel day. Allan bought my ticket and requested, but didn't get, that flight for himself. His ticket was purchased by the DOD. So we met up at the Singapore airport. On the drive to the hotel, we saw this structure.

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When I first saw it, I thought there was an iguana on top. Well, considering... tropical Asian harbor city, pointy front, so iguana.

Well, the architecture in this part of the world is certainly interesting. Did you see my Hong Kong blog?

The next day, I got a view from another angle and voila - it's a ship.

I've been told that this is a hotel and that the 'ship' on top is where the pool is located.

Singapore is tropical, (85 miles north of the equator) and very inter- national. You can see that before you leave the airport. There are four official languages: English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil (an Indian dialect). It's also very clean. You get fined for chewing gum, littering, smoking, and a host of other infractions. AND... the immigration form has this printed statement:

WARNING
DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKERS UNDER SINGAPORE LAW

Since we arrived late in the day, we took a walk to look for food. Word is Singapore is great for 2 things - shopping and eating. I happen to have a very cordial relationship with Asian cuisine, and our first meal was Thai food. I ordered a cellophane noodle salad, which was hot - temperature hot and spicy hot. We had several other plates and didn't leave any evidence as to their contents.

Returning to the hotel, we stopped at the open air stage (above) to listen to Greek music.

We got a late start Saturday, because vacation or not, I am not a morning person. We walked toward Chinatown, started to get our bearings and I got hungry. Allan likes to plan everything, as in: "let's check out this area and then go over there and maybe we'll see a place for lunch". Yeah, like that will work. When I'm hungry, we eat.

After a quick stop for fish 'n' chips, we ended up in the Arabic section, which turned out well. I wished that I had a prom to attend, because I saw incredible beaded fabrics that would have made a great dress. I couldn't resist altogether, so I bought one of the plainest pieces I could find and I intend to make a sundress. There were great shops for rugs, and we found one we wanted. There was some haggling and we left with our purchase folded and packaged.

Allan saw a sign for scents and aromatherapy items, and insisted we stop. The walls of the shop were lined with bottles. You had only to describe the scent you wanted, floral, spicy, musky, earthy, and a bottle was chosen for you to try. Then you custom mix your fragrance. My nose overdosed, so I took unmixed scents, one mildly floral and one spiced.

Our shopping ended earlier that I liked. We walked for hours and had the rug to schlep back to the hotel, as well as the fabric and perfumes. I asked about shipping the rug home, but the guy at the shop convinced me I could carry it, which I did, all the way to Yokosuka.

The airports here supply luggage carts without a fee, so it wasn't a problem until I reached base. Once at base I had to get it to the train station, then home.

After some down time, we went to Raffles Hotel with the purpose of having a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar, where it was created in 1915. You learn all kinds of stuff right here.

The bar was filled with people who didn't mind the price of 25 Singapore dollars (about US$20) for a overly sweet concoction that was created specifically for ladies. No self-respecting 1920s male would have been caught having this feminine drink. It did not appear to be an issue in 2011.

It rained all day Sunday, so we stuck to the indoor malls, rather than the boutique stores. And look who's also famous in Singapore. We also passed Body Shop, Starbuck's, and a few familiar fast food spots. McDonald's is everywhere but what it's doing in Singapore is anyone's guess.

I had to take this photo. You're expecting moyel jokes, even this spelling. No, I leave it to you - say what you will.

There's a Japanese restaurant in Lakeland called Shin-getsu. That could mean big breasts or proctologist for all you know. Nah... it means new moon.

Here's Singapore's version of the 'food court'. Sunday, I chose Japanese for lunch. Allan said it was odd to buy Japanese food in Singapore, since we live in Japan. Not so much. We eat Chinese, Korean and Indian food routinely in Japan, so why not eat Japanese food here?

It was decorated with wallpaper that looked like leather bound classic novels in some British Lord's private library. You can see it along the top of the wall below.

Otherwise, it was Asian fast food. Everything looked good. We stopped here another time for some dim sum which you could buy on small plates, one or two pieces. It was close to the hotel, and we wanted something light.

If you care to, you can dine on stingray.

It's not all raw fish and rice here. We didn't try the stingray, maybe another time, but probably not.

Signs are commonly printed in English and Chinese, depending on the area of town. This sign is more interesting because of it's content rather than it's language. We didn't hear harmonica music. That would have been interesting.

Chinatown is the same everywhere. Red is the color of the torii, the gate leading to a Shinto Shrine, and I think the entrance to every Chinatown on the planet is decorated with a red gate.

When we got to this Chinese pharmacy, the owner was an enthusiastic salesman and very proud of his shop. I was contemplating buying the insomnia cure, but Allan moved on to a fruit stand, and I didn't want to lose him.

These ladies appear on the subway platform and on the cars. I don't really remember what the message was. Maybe it was "Hey, we're ladies, let us have the seat". People will give up a seat to an elderly or handicapped person, but men do not feel obliged to offer their seat to a lady or let her have a seat that is vacated. Whomever is closest (and fastest) get the seat.

We ended our trip heading in different directions. Allan has temporary duty, so I'll have 11 days alone.

Talk about powder!!!

0450 - and yes, it's dark - that's no time to start a vacation! We took a cab from our house at 4:50 in the morning on Friday, January 14th for a 4-day MLK weekend to Niseko, Japan. If you're looking for good powder skiing, this is the place. We spent 8 hrs. on public transportation and hit the slopes at 1:30 pm. It was COLD, about 5 degrees fahrenheit.

Our hotel (above) was ski in / ski out. Better than that, when you ski in (tired and cold) the 'Ski Valet' meets you at the door and takes your skis and poles to storage, then exchange ski boots for apres-ski boots and you're on your way. NTS - (Not too shabby). Starting late the first day, we didn't hit much powder. But there were powder patches just off the groomed trails. I like to veer into it for a short ride, then get back to the groomed.

Though we got a late start, we had enough skiing for the first day. The lifts stay open later in Japan than U.S. resorts, and night skiing was available. To avoid yet more public transportation, we found a buffet in the hotel for dinner.

Since breakfast was part of our package, we enjoyed a leisurely meal and were back on the slopes by 8:30 the second day. We traveled a little and tried a different set of slopes that led to Hirafu, another resort village. Now we had powder, and we skied together the whole time. I did better after getting my ski legs under me the first day. Try using muscles you last used a year ago.

Every day we had our chocolate break and our lunch break to relieve our fatigue and frozen fingers. Let me say again - 5 degrees!

Saturday night we met up with 5 other Yokosukans at a hotel bar/cafe. We had burgers, pizza, tapas and since it was a bar, beer and sake (Allan's fave) and other libations. The room had a great view of an ongoing blizzard. I don't know what else you call heavy snow blowing sideways. I was knee deep in powder Sunday.

Allan hit the onsen (natural hot springs) every night. Hotels in Japan are built around onsens, and this one had both indoor and outdoors onsen areas. Robes and slippers are supplied, so every time you got on the elevator, there was some guy in a robe headed to the onsen. In Japan, onsen attire is... well - nothing, nada, nude, nekked! Me - I took a hot soak in my room.

Allan took a few shots of me coming down the trail. I fell more this year than last, but I blame the powder.

The ski trails are marked green (easy), red (intermediate) and black (OMG!!). Intermediate trails are blue in the states, so if you wear yellow googles (like I do), it's a little tricky to distinguish between green and blue. Am I the only person who thinks so? Surely not. But it makes sense that the Japanese have a better system. Don't get snippy, it just does.

No language problem here. Everything is written in Japanese and English, but it was amusing that announcements were made with an Australian accent. Americans were outnumbered 4 to 1 by Aussies, some vaca- tioning, some working at the resort. We spoke with lots of them on lifts and in restaurants.

Speaking of our friends from Yokosuka... Last year on our ski trip to Zao Onsen, we met Kevin and Ramon, who became Allan's poker buds. I think they're stalking us, because here they are again. Erica, Kevin's wife (above in red) made it this time. They found a little ramen place for lunch. Hot soup with noodles is soooo good when you're a Floridian in sub-freezing temperatures. Just why was I there? I keep asking myself.

Taking a short break at the top of the last run before lunch, I spotted some snowboarding lunatic coming directly at my beloved husband. Eek! I thought he was going to hurt Allan, and I would have to take him down. It turned out to be this snowboarding lunatic, Ramon Perez.

Our last night in Niseko, we did the town, dinner at Abu Cha, where we ate seafood appetizers and 'hot pot', beef & veg, salmon and veg, spicy chicken and veg that were cooked by us, at the table. Why do we cook our own food in restaurants? It's surely a puzzle. But you couldn't argue with the results. Yum!

This photo is lunch at the ramen restaurant.

Ramon and Allan wanted to hit an 'ice bar' after dinner. A sauna bar would have been my choice, but as that was not an option, three of us headed for the ice bar. As advertised, it was an ice structure with a bar made from frozen water, complete with luge (a small crevice used to pour alcohol directly from bottle into the waiting mouth of a willing patron). People stopped by with the kiddies to drink from glasses also made of frozen water.

Allan was in charge of the camera and it was elsewhere, so you'll have to imagine us there.

Allan skied for two hours on Monday morning. He went to the top of the mountain on a tow rope, looking for 'Niseko's best powder'. Snow was dropping hard and the visibility made it difficult and dangerous, so he stopped a bit earlier than planned, but spent the time in the hot springs. Four days goes so fast when it's vacation time, but you know you had fun if you don't want it to end.