Yes, I know this post is a few days late. I was feeling really lazy this weekend. Our first New Year in Japan was pretty low key due to covid (though I’m pretty sure we would have just stayed indoors regardless) but we did have a good time hanging out and watching the traditional Japanese New Year show, KÅhaku Uta Gassen. It’s a singing competition with all the biggest Japanese artists of the year. It’s been running almost sixty years and it’s a big deal to be invited on. Our favorite artist was LiSA who was most famous in 2020 for singing the opening theme to Demon Slayer, a hugely popular anime series. The weirdest artist was Greeeen, a four-member group comprised of dentists who have been around for two decades. Their identities are completely secret even after all these years; they don’t want people to know who they are for fear of compromising their dental practice and they have CGI avatars who perform in their stead.
Our hotel is less than five minutes from the naval station gate so we’ve been walking to base frequently to do some shopping. We inevitably wind up at the food court eating junk food and we usually stop at a small park on the way back home. The boys love it, especially Jeffrey, who is getting to the age where he can really get the most out of it.
We’ve also been keeping up with getting some nice takeout for dinner. I heard some good things about one restaurant down the street that apparently has good burgers. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked when I got back to the hotel and looked at it. We could have fed the entire family on the hamburger alone! It was excellent though, a really interesting combination of beef and fish.
We also hadn’t got really good ramen yet, so I walked to a local diner with a vending machine menu. After staring at it for entirely too long, I finally figured out how to use it and successfully placed my order. I have to say, the system was pretty cool and easy to use; I just gave the lady my ticket and drank some water while I waited for my order.
New Year’s Day I went to Mr. Donut for breakfast. The streets were eerily empty that morning, but it was kind of cool. I felt like I had the entire city to myself for a few minutes. We all loved the donuts! They were very light and airy, a nice change of pace from the Duck Donuts we’d been getting back in Virginia.
Lastly, we finally rode the train! We wanted to go to the Kurihama Flower Park and hopped on the train to get there. It was a really nice experience and I think I’ll enjoy commuting via train to work. The train pass card worked wonderfully well and it really is amazing how the trains show up on the dot. The only tricky part was taking the stroller and looking for the elevator that always seemed to be hiding around some corner.
The flower park was nice, though we’re really looking forward to going back in the spring and seeing some actual flowers. It was also quite the hike, straight uphill for about a kilometer. Poor Jeffrey was getting pretty pooped by the end of the trip, though it did afford some good views.
Jeffrey definitely got his second wind when he saw Godzilla though! Supposedly Yokosuka was the location that Godzilla made landfall in the original series, and to celebrate they have a huge Godzilla slide. It was definitely Jeffrey’s favorite part, though the rest of playground was really awesome. It was the biggest park Jeffrey has been to in quite awhile, and he’s really getting good at climbing, just like his old man!
BRB, out to Japan – Taylor