リンゴ means Apple...according to google

Learning another language has be a tough task for me since I found out we were coming to Japan. I have never been all that talented when it came to learning languages and never really have had listened to Japanese in more than just passing, it was all completely foreign...hahaha (I know, that was lame)...to me. What has been a great help to me was a book Brett purchased for me as a welcoming present called an Illustrated Conversation Book, Japan, In English and Japanese.

The great thing about this book is how it is set up. It will give you a sentence with part of it underlined. The underlined part is a word that can we switched out for other words that the book has given you. This way you can more easily ask something or if its necessary, point to the sentence so a helpful local can answer your question. Here is an example from the book:

Is there a tour of _________ with an English-speaking guide?  (English)
_________英語ガイド付きのツアーはありますか？(Written in Japanese, this is what you can point to)
_____iki no Eigo gaidotsuki tsuaa wa arimasu ka? (this is the phonetic version of the Japanese words)

You can pick from about 10 choices on this page on how to complete your sentence. Very easy!

Most Japanese people here have a little bit of knowledge of the English language from what I have been told. If you are going to a restaurant close to base they are sure to know the basics and will probably surprise you with their command of English. But, as is polite, you should always expect to be the one to know the countries host language and not the other way around. So, here are some key words you will use VERY often while you are here.

(Oh, and vowels are pronounced the same as they would be in Spanish)

English                                                                               Phonetic Japanese
Good Morning                                                                       Ohayoo
Good Afternoon                                                                  Kon-nichiwa
Good Evening                                                                     Konbanwa
Goodbye                                                                             Sayoonara
Thanks                                                                                Doomo
Thank you                                                                           Doomo arigatoo
Can you tell me where I am?                                              Genzaichi o oshiete kidasai
I'm lost                                                                                Michi ni mayoimashita

Something else to be aware of is, in my experience, when you are on a train or somewhere else public, people may not want to sit next to you because they are not comfortable enough with English. At first you may feel like a leaper when your area of seats on the crowded train is empty, but in their way they are trying to not putting themselves in an awkward situation. It seems silly to me because I would love to talk with them in Japanese and get some practice in, but, if this happens to you do not be offended. You don't smell, you are just American.

Translation Error

Obviously English and Japanese languages have some major difference. In Japanese they use three different forms of writing, Kanji character, Hiragana and Katakana and all three make up what is their written language. Good morning in Japanese looks like: おはよう.Other than how things are written, there are a lot of words that simply do not exist in the other language. Hello, for one, is not in the Japanese vernacular. I will not begin to say that I can read even more than a couple of these words but knowing how different these two languages are may help to explain the inevitable translation errors that so commonly occur.

One that I noticed right away was a sign all Americans should easily be able to identify... 7-11

Here it is Seven&i holdings. Not sure how they got that but hey, it happens.

Another is in this product name...Cream Collon anyone? Yes, I know colon is with one L but it is close enough to get a pretty gnarly mental image going.

Here is another one that I am sure tastes better than is sounds.

Below is a drink that is really, really good! But the name got me to stay away from it for about a month. It is pronounced Cow Piss...sounds yummy.

I will keep posting them as I find them.

Creepy Crawlies

Bugs are defiantly bigger out here. Every time we see one we freak the heck out. Everything looks like it has escaped from a nuclear reactor. Here are some of the things we have seen so far.

The Japanese Hornet....YES IT IS REAL. We did not take this picture but I wanted to post this one so you can see the actual size of these beasts. Brett has seen one flying around in person. One hornet can literally wipe out 1000s of honey bees.

 Devouring their prey

 A winged ant. The little tanks are a force to be reckoned with.

Jumbo woodland spiders are EVERYWHERE! Seriously you cannot walk around anywhere and not find a web with the spider and all his spider lady friends somewhere close. I took this picture right outside our building. GROSS!

No more Greenbacks

The Yen is the form of currency out here in the land of the rising sun. It is defiantly different than the dollar and the exchange rates change on it everyday and sometimes a few times a day. Typically though we get about 80yen per US dollar. One yen is the equivalent (more in use than in value) of our penny.

The 5 and 1 yen are rarely used and we usually just throw them in the money bucket on the counter and forget out them. The 10 is used pretty often.

 The 500 (equal to a little over $5.00) is pretty common. The 100 ($1.00) is the most common form of money that you probably will have on you. The fifty is the weird one with the hole in it.

 All money less than a 1000 yen is in coin form and the 1000 yen is the first bill in the series. The money is defiantly larger in size to dollars. When you put them in your American wallet the edges pop out.

 The 5000 yen ($50.00 or so) feels so nice when its in your hand. Definitely my favorite bill and not just because of how much it can buy :)

Another fun fact about money in Japan is that in a lot of stores they don't do sales tax. Usually whatever price you see is what you pay. Like America, Japan isn't a place that does bargaining. So if you come and visit don't expect to haggle that kimono down.

Tipping is a custom that is not used here unless you are on base. As it was explained to me, the Japanese people see tipping as an insult. Basically they take it as, "here take this extra money so that maybe you can do better next time." Also it is seen as showing off how much money you have. Hey, it works for me! Saves me money for sure. It does feel really weird the first few times you don't leave a tip but after a while you don't even have to think about it.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

My first experience with anything really Japanese was on my ten and a half hour flight over here on Singapore airlines. The plane was defiantly a less flashier 1992 version of the plane they show on their website but I have to say I was truly impressed and I got my first taste of the service that is given to others on this side of the world. Before we even got to our cruising altitude they handed out hot towels (something I thought they only did in first class, which I soooo wasn't). Then everyone got a nice blanket, pillow and socks! I was totally loving that. I got all decked out for my journey to the east and before I knew it we had our lunch served to us. Steak anyone? Heck yes! Every one of the crew was extremely polite and not just in this-is-my-job-so-I-have-to-smile-way either. All in all it is one of the better flights I have been on and I would totally recommend them to anyone coming to visit.

Trains are a fact of life out here. Anywhere that you need to go they can get you to, at least within a few blocks of it. They are pretty cheap and really quick. There is no waiting for half an hour til the train comes. For popular stops and hubs there is a train coming and going every couple of minutes. The longest I have waited was 10 minutes. If you catch the train at non rush hour time you will pretty much always find a seat. On rush hour time though this is what it looks like...

Brett said he has seen it like this and they will literally push people in to make everyone fit. I have not braved rush hour yet and I don't know if I want to. One other thing you will notice from the picture is that it is polite to face the person in the seat. Yes it is awkward since your crotch is in their face but they see turning your back to them as extremely disrespectful so its just how it is.

Cars out here are something else. They do have vans and buses but I have never seen a suburban or a tricked out Honda on the street....the only place you might see that is on base and even then it is rare. Most cars are the size of a Mini and are considered a four seater. On base you see a lot of sedans but there are MUCH smaller cars out side the gates. Most vans are the size of a large sedan back at home. Here in Japan they do drive on the left side of the street and have the wheel on the right. Its very weird at first but now that I am used to seeing it I think it will be just as weird to go home and see it the opposite.

Last but not least is the Navy bus that does loops around the base all day. The base here is fairly large and there is no way you would want to walk everywhere you need to get to there. They have a bus that is on a forty minute schedule and has many drop off locations. Funny, kinda, story. I actually fell getting out of the bus last Saturday. The bus is pretty high off the ground and I totally ate it. I will definatly be more careful next time.
If you want to see a video of how it is during rush hour

You wish you could eat this

Soooo now that we finally have a computer of our own again and Internet I can update this blog and put up some pictures.

What has been most requested is pictures of the food so here are the ones we have taken so far...and let me tell you, it all tastes even better than it looks.

Pepper Lunch: Awww mmmmmm. My first meal in Japan was this little beauty. Even though its called lunch you can eat it anytime of day. First of all you order your meal from a vending ticket machine and you give the ticket to the waitress. We ordered the namesake for our meals. You get the best piece of steak served raw on a fajita type caste iron plate that is sizzling its so hot. They also give you finely chopped garlic and corn. The sauces in the background are amazing. All together they add up to one of my favorite meals here. PS the green beans in the back are outstanding. They are just as good as the steak.

Cocos Curry House: Let me tell you, this was the best Indian food I have had so far. I loved it. The nan bread was incredible with the Japanese cheese on top and garlic all over. The brown curry is slightly spicy but fully of amazing flavor that anyone would love.

Speaking of cheese, notice how the cheese is being advertised on the piece of bread as a pizza. :)

This is from one of Brett's sushi trips. Its a sushi go around and as you eat you can take more plates off the conveyor belt. Each plate is color coded with a price.

This little bite has very tiny fish all one the top with a garnish of freshly cut ginger. Brett said its really good.

Forget Top Ramen, this is how the Japanese do Ramen. Yes, this is all Ramen

These are the desserts Brett and his friends got a maid cafe.

Real tempura

 Obviously it was good

 Ramen from a place around the corner from the base. According to Brett this place sucks but I really thought it was tasty.

 These are a popular Japanese snack. This rice ball was filled with smoked salmon.

 Hello Kitty is still very popular here and this delectable was filled with some creamy chocolate pudding.

 This donut looking item was filled with a Japanese style curry.

 Gydon (aka beef bowl) is one of my favorite places to eat. You can easily feed two people for under ten bucks and be full. Notice the egg shells in the corner: It is extremely common to put a raw egg in your meal. Brett was brave enough to try it and said it was really good and added a creaminess to the rice under the meat. Oh and miso soup (this is an amped up version) is served with almost everything.)

 The strangest find here so far. The pancake drink from waffle crisp heaven. Remember how the milk tasted after you ate all the cereal? Well that's what this tastes like without all the grainy cereal bits.

The Japanese know how to make their pastries. Many are based on french culinary staples and they defiantly do these cakes justice.

 We went to a Baskin Robbins out here to see if they had any cool new flavors, and heck ya they did. This one we decided to try out we were not sure what it was. Its name is Popping Showers. We thought the name alone qualified us to try it. Turned out to be pop rock ice cream. Way fun.

 Vending machine and Japan go together like fast food and America. You see the machines everywhere. Here are some of the ones in the laundromat.

Most of the flavors are tea. On the second self and in the blue can is a yogurt drink that taste like plain yogurt and to defiantly get the point across they add bits of yogurt. Not my favorite but to each their own. Oh another cool thing is that here vending machines offer both hot and cold drink out of the same machine. Blue means cold and red means hot.

 Some American favorites in there.

Look who is a coffee spokesman here...

 
 This machine has a lot of good ones. The can on the second row that looks like a ninja turtle is on it is bubble gum flavored soda. The peach colored can on the third row is a heavenly peach drink. It tastes exactly like biting into the best summer peach.

 The bottom row has so onion soup Brett loves.

 Our favorite meal here is Yakiniku. It is the closes thing we have gotten to a buffet. If you want to stuff your face this is the spot. You order from a menu and point to the meat items you would like and then you get to cook them to your preference on your own grill. Here we have squid and bacon.

 Our dinner party for my birthday.

 Now doesn't this sound yummy. Just gets your stomach going...Oh and someone at the commissary decided to have some fun with the price sticker lol.

 Here is an open air fish market that had the best looking fish and guess what, it actually smelled good in there.

 Picacho likes it so you should too.

Brett and I have tried our hand at making Japanese food. Here are some of our attempts. I think they all turned out pretty dang good.