Between Random Planets

Please Keep Your Hands Inside the Ride At All Times....

...and for the love of all that is sacred please don't rock this boat when you're 369 feet above the cold, hard ground.

The one boat I'd really like to rock sailed out of Yokosuka yesterday for quite some time with Rich on it -- heading into mysterious places with people who do the busy stuff that they always do on military ships but only if it includes quite a few acronyms.

Before he sailed, however, we spent his last night on the town.  Yokohama can be screamingly fun (quite literally) when you snake the Jixxer through traffic for the express purpose of riding Cosmo World's boardwalk roller coasters and a death-defying ferris wheel. 

Don't let Rich's fear of heights fool you.  The same guy who climbed Mt. Shasta at +14,000 feet did just fine on the ferris wheel.  Still, we  were both "white knuckling" the rail in the itty-bitty car even while the soothing Japanese lady with impeccable English reassured us through the piped-in audio about the sturdy structure, the height, the surrounding scenery, (and the height), the history (and the height). There's a lot of air up there.

We even managed one of Rich's favorite sports when we got to the rollercoasters -- scaring the bejeezus out of anyone else on the ride by yelling (quite convincingly) "we're all gonna die!"   He had all the girls laughing on the second coaster until they started believing him.  Spinnino -- an exercise in keeping down dinner -- was the best ride (really called "Spinning" coaster, but after we misread it the original name seemed to lack charm).

Speaking of eating, before punishing ourselves on coasters we managed to wander our way through Queen's Square and found some great grub at Yokohama Bunmei Kaikan. The afternoon view of Yokohama Bay is spectacular from the restaurant and they have a huge selection of local dishes and other creative cuisines from across the globe.

My friend Kinugasa-san absolutely adores his city of Yokohama.  With our small-world-getting-smaller, you'll definitely see other places that share this fierce city pride -- New York, Vancouver, San Francisco and San Diego among others.  Actually, Yokohama is officially San Diego's "sister city", so maybe that's why I keep seeing little flashes of Del Mar, Horton Plaza, La Jolla Cove, and other pieces of our Southern California home.

I wonder if someday I'll be in Balboa Park with my eyes closed listening to the seagulls and forget that I'm not waiting for the fireworks to start in Yokohama's Yamashita Park. 

Jixxer Journals - Daibutsu Driving, Part 3

Most Westerners are used to a certain type of linear process with their religious beliefs.  In the U.S., one is either Catholic or Presbyterian, customarily not both with a little dash of Judaism or Wiccan thrown in for good measure.  The Japanese locals I've run into seem quite content to mingle different traditional elements and practice rituals from two or three different religions. Shinto (the indigenous religion usually defined as "the way of the Gods") and Buddhism (originating in India in the 6th Century B.C. but making it's way to Japan much later) seem to co-exist quite well along with Confucianism, Taoism and the much smaller percentage who practice Christianity and assorted folk religions.  So even on a trip to the Great Buddha in Kamakura, you'll see rituals from every flavor of religion.

We braved the rain with hundreds of other hearty souls to get a little Buddha  love, but also to engage in a national past-time -- shopping at the souvenir stand for shinto-related omamori.  These trinkets with little sayings inside (don't get nosy and open them)are thought to have powers from Buddha or other deities that keep one safe from traffic accidents, get better grades in school, find true romance or -- in my case -- I chose the "healing up" trinket.  Always nice when you're a healthcare practitioner, but Rich thought it would be a good addition for online gaming.  It's hanging by my computer right now.

This big guy weighs 121 tons, and I was surprised to see water wings on his backside (he did survive the tidal wave of 1498 that swept away the entire temple of the Buddha).  We were excited to find out that we could actually get inside this beautiful work of art!  This seems to make it easier to do repairs, such as the latest big upgrade -- allowing the Buddha's body to move freely on it's base in case one of Japan's ever-present earthquakes shakes it up a bit too much.

For more Kamakura shots and some insanely creepy spider photos (it is Halloween weekend, after all), link to our New Photos page.

Jixxer Journals - Daibutsu Driving, Part 2

There is terminology in online-gaming communities called "gg" ("good game").  This could be referred to in the optimistic literal sense, ("You guys rocked in PvP today, gg!") or in the overtly sarcastic sense ("way to go, noob you just caused a total wipe -- gg").  We often use this term in both respects whenever we're on the two-wheeled Blue Beast driving the streets of Japan.

Getting to Kamakura in the light drizzle was an adventure, made even more real- time-game-style with the ever-present oncoming traffic.  See that solid yellow line there?  It doesn't really mean a thing.  On any given day, more than one over sized delivery truck will hopscotch over into your lane, hijacking it as his own personal territory until you swerve (motorcycles) or honk (cars have fewer options I actually feel sorrier for them).  The guy picking his nose in the delivery truck earned our first sarcastic "gg" of the day, but Rich's effortless reaction earned the top-scoring "gg" of sheer admiration -- and no wipe. Our excursion, however, was never dull and only served to reinforce my belief that life is a digitized game.

Our reward for finding Kamakura (Rich called it the "Japanese Julian" -- rural beauty but lots of shopping) was this little hole-in-the-wall Curry shop.  Picture menus made communication a whole lot easier, and don't let anyone fool you that dining here only consists of miniscule nouveau cuisine portions.  We tried hard to conceal our guilt at not being able to finish our insanely huge portions. 

Curry and rice, curry and noodles and tender deep fried gyoza -- and our proprietor didn't just give  us Amazonian Americans with the backpacks the large portions.  Everyone else in the diner packed away some of the best curry you'll find anywhere.

Tomorrow -- the Great Buddha from the inside out.

Jixxer Journals - Daibutsu Driving

With slushy weather on the way, our hopes of taking the two-wheeled Blue Beast to Mt. Fuji for a drive were temporarily shelved (we'd probably only see the foot of the giant mountain with all the cloud cover).  So we opted for another giant -- The Great Buddha of Kamakura -- which is no itty-bitty slouch as far as tourist spots go.

I'll devote the next three or four posts to our rainy Jixxer Journal adventures of Kamakura, what it's like to wheel between traffic where "anything goes" and the not-so-secret location of the best curry and gyoza I've ever had.

Jixxer Journals

When you live just about every waking moment in extremely tight quarters, elbow-to-elbow with shipmates -- it's nice to get out on the open road every now and then.  So we'll occasionally post our Suzuki GSXR1000 ("Jixxer") Journals whenver we can....those moments when we need to get on the bike and out of the box. 

Hopefully there will be some unique point-of-view photos from the back of the bike (my favorite spot) or some interesting shots of where the two-wheeled Blue Beast has taken us in the Jixxer Journal.  As you can see from this opening shot of our tiqht Yokohama car squeeze, Rich has adopted all the acrobatic prowess of a circus performer.  He does this every day with thousands of other commuters zipping madly about on the bewildering streets of Yokohama (and here is where I thank my lucky stars for his astounding hand-eye coordination and hours of online gaming).

It's also a nice way to remember how unique this place is.  Our quick ride around  Yamashita Park and the outskirts of Yokohama City reminded me that we're already getting used to street signs completely in Kanji, driving on the left side of the street, and deciphering packages in the supermarket that aren't in our native language. We're already so used to seeing only asian faces outside the gates, that Rich did his own double-take when seeing another American face on the street.   So I'll still try to post as much as I can on the little things that make this place so amazingly different before it just becomes too "everyday" to remember.