Sunday Update

Wow, the past 4 days are a blur with moving in, setting up a household (forgot what all is  totally starting over), getting a Japanese driver’s license and buying a car!

Wednesday morning, with the help of friends Kelly, Danny and Okibs-San, we moved in to our apartment!

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Merry Christmas from Japan!

Pictures from Around Fussa

This gallery contains 16 photos.

Can you guess what this picture is?

We went for a walk yesterday through some of the streets of Fussa, the city right outside the gates of the base. Most of the major streets in Fussa have these yellow markings on them. Not only are they colored yellow but they have raised bumps on them. Can you guess what they are?

“Movin’ on up…to the east side…”

We will indeed be moving on up…from temporary housing at Kanto Lodge to our apartment on the east side of the base!  And while we won’t exactly be “in the sky,” we will be on the second floor with a great view of Mt. Fuji!  In addition, our street is lined with cherry trees, which will be blooming in early spring.

The apartment itself has been recently renovated and has an incredible amount of storage space.  The work area of the kitchen is actually bigger than the kitchen was in my house!  The 3 bedroom 2 bath apartment provides plenty of room for guests!  We will be moving in Monday with the base Furnishings Management Office providing furnishings until ours arrives.

The east side of the base was not our first choice of location because most of the services we use and Eric’s office are in different areas.  However, in addition to the view of Mt. Fuji, we are close to the movie theater, natatorium and hospital.  A note of interest: in order to get to our apartment, you have to cross a RUNWAY!  There is a traffic signal to indicate when a C-130 ( or other plane) is about to land or take off.  For obvious reasons, foot and bicycle traffic are not allowed on this section of the road (called the “over-run” road).

I will be so happy to get Kate back with us…what a terrific Christmas present!

Day 2.

In all the days of planning and preparation I never once considered the possibility of experiencing jet lag.   Even our dog Kate had jet lag! It was ugly and I am now a believer.   Next time, I will be more prepared.

My first Yokota friend, Kelly, took me to the base commissary (grocery store) to pick up a few items. The first aisle I encountered was solely Japanese items. Looked at a few things on the shelf but didn’t really have time to look very closely and I moved on. I will definitely return to that aisle on my next trip. In the produce section I saw a bumpy looking green cucumber item which reminded me of some kind of sea urchin. It was called melon bitter and is used in stir fry.  i think I may have to try this. Wondering if any of you have cooked with this before…

i also learned that most of the milk there is “ultra-pasteurized” to provide a longer shelf life.  One  half gallon of milk I saw had a “use by” date of February 6!  I was told that not surprisingly, this milk has a strange taste.  I was able to find some “fresh” Japanese milk that was not ultra pasteurized with a more realistic use by date.

Ended a very long day by having dinner at the Officer’s Club – very nice!

December 19 – Arrival in Japan!

As we made our descent to Yokota Air Base, we saw the snow capped mountains to the west and to the east, Tokyo…and more Tokyo…and more Tokyo.  I think Tokyo is the world’s largest city by population or at least near the top of the list.  A cloudless sky, north winds and a temperature of 43 degrees greeted us as we stepped onto the flight line ( a new military term for me, and I have so much to learn).

A Note from Paula’s Daughter

Hello, everyone. My name is Meg. I’m Paula’s younger daughter. In the coming days and weeks, my mom hopes to begin posting about her experiences in Tokyo, but I wanted to provide a little background information first.

As I type, Paula, Eric, and their dog Kate are flying over the Pacific ocean, heading for Yakota Air Force Base in Japan.

My mom and dad learned that they would be moving to Japan about two months ago.  It has been complete chaos ever since. They had to get diplomatic passports, put their house on the market, sort all of their things to decide what would go and what would stay, get the dog ready to leave, say their goodbyes to the people in Shreveport, and work out a thousand and one other details.

Everyone who has run into them in the past two months has been able to tell the amount of stress– and the feeling of rushing around madly– that my parents have been feeling.

But now, unbelievably, they are gone– off to their new adventure in Japan!

Everyone back at home wishes them nothing but the best of luck. Stay tuned for posts and pictures from my mom.