Normally, I don’t wait this long to post about my current
events, but this has been a very different kind of assignment. I am back in Japan, but this time I am light
years away from the metropolitan Tokyo area.
It almost feels like I am on vacation in West Tennessee sometimes, of
course with exceptions. Two exceptions
are that everybody speaks Japanese and all the signs are in Japanese. Lots of nice restaurants and one
particularly spectacular Chinese one where I order my food off a menu for 15 to
30 bucks instead of paying $7.99 to graze a buffet. I heard there is a MacuDonodo in town but I have not seen it yet. The Christmas spirit abounds here in this
Shinto and Buddhist land. There are
loudspeakers in the streets of Misawa-shi that are playing Christmas Carols, everyone
wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Christmas decorations everywhere, and snow
abounds making the whole thing feel a little “It’s A Wonderful Life” – ish. In
fact, I think tonight I will walk around town tonite and shoot a little video just to
prove it. It snowed the week before
Thanksgiving here and both days required brushing about 4 inches of snow off of
cars, so apparently that means it will be a particularly snowy winter. We've had snow a lot and it's snowing right now with about 6 inches of ground cover. The good thing so far is that the snow melts
down during the day even with below freezing temps keeping it manageable for
walking and driving. The bad thing is
that melt-off makes everything a sheet of ice, not good for my colleague Holly
who busted her rump Thursday and ended up in the ER alongside of the string of
people with sprains and assorted falling-on-the-ice injuries. I am not going to make any remarks about that
(and SO many come to mind) so as not to put a falling-down curse on
myself. Gotta avoid the evil eye, you
know. There are some interesting places around here though. Shipwreck Beach (aptly named) has tons of sea
glass and supposedly glass fishing floats which drift ashore and people find
them as genuine treasure, so I have been and will return to hopefully find an
intact glass ball. A trip to Iwate Prefecture to the caves was cool, and a nice
change of pace. I saw a lot of recovery
and damage from the tsunami. Still there are piles
of rubble which sadly includes homes, clothes, appliances and the remnants of
so many lives lost in that disaster. I
am going to volunteer at an orphanage off base whose census has exploded with
children whose parents were killed in March.
I think I can resist bringing home a handful of kids; I have my list of
why it’s impossible ready. I am going train-riding today to Hachinohe which is about 30-45 minutes south of here. Here are a
few photos that I have taken so far,
top down: Cutesy sign forbidding dumping of trash (cutesy, childlike and fun is very typical); rubbish and reconstruction in a tsunami affected area; a nice little park; a shrine on the beach for people to honor or pray for their pets; Shipwreck Beach.
Normally, I don’t wait this long to post about my current
events, but this has been a very different kind of assignment. I am back in Japan, but this time I am light
years away from the metropolitan Tokyo area.
It almost feels like I am on vacation in West Tennessee sometimes, of
course with exceptions. Two exceptions
are that everybody speaks Japanese and all the signs are in Japanese. Lots of nice restaurants and one
particularly spectacular Chinese one where I order my food off a menu for 15 to
30 bucks instead of paying $7.99 to graze a buffet. I heard there is a MacuDonodo in town but I have not seen it yet. The Christmas spirit abounds here in this
Shinto and Buddhist land. There are
loudspeakers in the streets of Misawa-shi that are playing Christmas Carols, everyone
wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Christmas decorations everywhere, and snow
abounds making the whole thing feel a little “It’s A Wonderful Life” – ish. In
fact, I think tonight I will walk around town tonite and shoot a little video just to
prove it. It snowed the week before
Thanksgiving here and both days required brushing about 4 inches of snow off of
cars, so apparently that means it will be a particularly snowy winter. We've had snow a lot and it's snowing right now with about 6 inches of ground cover. The good thing so far is that the snow melts
down during the day even with below freezing temps keeping it manageable for
walking and driving. The bad thing is
that melt-off makes everything a sheet of ice, not good for my colleague Holly
who busted her rump Thursday and ended up in the ER alongside of the string of
people with sprains and assorted falling-on-the-ice injuries. I am not going to make any remarks about that
(and SO many come to mind) so as not to put a falling-down curse on
myself. Gotta avoid the evil eye, you
know. There are some interesting places around here though. Shipwreck Beach (aptly named) has tons of sea
glass and supposedly glass fishing floats which drift ashore and people find
them as genuine treasure, so I have been and will return to hopefully find an
intact glass ball. A trip to Iwate Prefecture to the caves was cool, and a nice
change of pace. I saw a lot of recovery
and damage from the tsunami. Still there are piles
of rubble which sadly includes homes, clothes, appliances and the remnants of
so many lives lost in that disaster. I
am going to volunteer at an orphanage off base whose census has exploded with
children whose parents were killed in March.
I think I can resist bringing home a handful of kids; I have my list of
why it’s impossible ready. I am going train-riding today to Hachinohe which is about 30-45 minutes south of here. Here are a
few photos that I have taken so far,
top down: Cutesy sign forbidding dumping of trash (cutesy, childlike and fun is very typical); rubbish and reconstruction in a tsunami affected area; a nice little park; a shrine on the beach for people to honor or pray for their pets; Shipwreck Beach.
