Japanese Parks

Japanese parks are the best! Our last excursion off-base before being grounded was on President's Day when we went to Nishizaki Athletic Park just south of Naha. It has a HUGE roller slide that spans half the park and goes over a moat - landing on an island inside the moat. You can see the beginning of the slide as it juts out of the "mountain." To get to the top of the mountain you can either take the stairs, climb up the side of it with foot & hand holds, or climb up the inside which is filled with fake stalactites and dinosaur eggs - very cool. For those of you that don't know what roller slides are, they are a little like rollercoasters in that they twist and turn and are pretty long. The slide is made up of rollers, kind of like a conveyor belt. When going on long slides, or slides with larger rollers, it's best to take some cardboard to sit on - you go faster and it's not so hard to sit down afterwards.




You can see the rollers in the picture with Rachel. You can also see part of the moat off to the right, along with part of a dock. During the summer there is a Tom Sawyer type raft which you can use to get on and off the island. Then there's Chad - just one of the kids. This park, as well as most of them in Okinawa, has a zip line. Those are very fun - I just couldn't resist! In case you can't tell, I'm zipping across the water - woo hoo.



Many parks here are very unique. Here is a picture of the Treehouse Park. It's for younger children, but still fun - and very different from most parks found in the U.S. The kids also love to go to Araha Beach Park. There is a Pirate Ship which the kids love to play on, as well as a zip line which goes from the pirate ship to the beach. Just out gate 2 of the Kadena base is the Drop-slide Park. That has lots of fun things to climb, slide and jump on, including a drop slide. I will try to get a picture of it next time we go - although who knows how long before we're able to do that again. The kids love it, but I haven't had the nerve to go on it. You climb to the top, hang on to a bar, and just drop about 8 feet before hitting the slide and slipping the rest of the way down.

We've Been Grounded!

We have been in, what the military calls it, a "Period of Reflection" for about a week now. However, most people refer to it as being grounded. We are not allowed to leave the base unless it is for an "essential" reason, ie. religion (which I'm thankful for), education (a lot of people take their children to Japanese pre-schools), employment, medical, and a few other things. We can also go to other military bases, but are not allowed to go anywhere else on the island. If we do have to leave the base, we are to drive straight to our destination and back - no detours. We have been told to use this time to "reflect" upon our privilege of being able to live in Japan, because we are here as guests. I agree with that, and I am very thankful for that opportunity. For the most part, so is everyone else here. However, as is typically the case, it only takes a few bad apples to spoil it for everyone else. In case you haven't heard on the news, a few Marines have really been messing up over here. With several instances of rape (one of a minor), drunken disorderly conduct, theft and drunk driving incidents - all occurring in about a two week period - the Japanese have had enough of us "Ugly Americans." We even had officials come down from Mainland Japan to express their disdain for the actions of the U.S. Military. Although I can totally empathize with them, it's frustrating that the actions of a few can affect so many. So, until further notice, we are restricted. Chad said he hadn't been grounded since Jr. High :0). We were hoping to be done with it yesterday, but I guess there were several instances of enlisted men violating orders and going off base this past weekend, so . . it sounds like we're in for the long haul. Rumor has it we'll be in "lockdown" for three more weeks. Ugghhh!! I hope they are false rumors! Fortunately Chad and I are going to Tokyo for five days. We are leaving this weekend for the Far East Model U.N. conference which is being held at the Yokosuka Naval Base. I am actually leaving two days earlier to be the chaperone for one for the MUN students who also happens to be receiving a scholarship in Tokyo this weekend, so that will be fun. Since we (Chad) are going TDY we're allowed off base to get to the airport - yea!

Tokyo

We had a great time visiting Tokyo over the Christmas break. Here are a few of the highlights. . .

You can see Tokyo in the far, far background. The picture is taken from an overlook while hiking up Mt. Takao, which is a small mountain about 45 miles southwest of Tokyo. We hiked it on New Year's day and had quite the experience. There's a big shrine at the top so there were literally thousands of Japanese hiking with us. Upon seeing MANY older couples climbing, we foolishly thought, "Surely we can easily climb it, instead of waiting 45-60 min. for a cable car or chair lift. We may even beat those in line to top." At the taking of this picture, we were only about 45 minutes into our THREE HOUR hike UP the mountain. And I do mean UP - at least 1/2 , if not more, of the hike was at a 45 degree angle. The hike was scenic, and very beautiful, but FREEZING cold!! Having come from Okinawa, we didn't have the proper clothing to keep us warm. Thank goodness for 100 Yen stores where we could at least buy hats, scarves, and gloves. We rode the chair lift down, and the view of the city lights at night was incredible, but we definitely had to thaw out once we reached the bottom. While waiting to go down the mountain, Tanner and Rachel and I (Sloan) huddled around the hibachi of a woman trying to sell cooked mochi. I'm not sure how happy she was (although several Japanese joined us). Fortunately we couldn't understand what the people around us were saying - I only knew that it brought some warmth to our frigid bodies.

"The Emperor of Japan and Imperial Family. If you look close you can tell he's waving directly at me. We're tight." quote from Chad

Chad and Jessica enjoying BBQ squid. Mmmmm!!

You have to love Japlish!

More Flying Pictures

These are some pictures I took while Reed and I went flying during
Christmas Break. You get a unique perspective of the island.

Isn't this water amazing!! The light blue is about 10-20 feet deep.

Just after landing. Reed finally has color back in his face!

This is Okinawa City. Kadena is just out of the picture to the right. You can see the East China Sea in the upper right and the Pacific Ocean in the upper left.

The wooded area in the middle is Toguchi Beach. It's a secluded park where our branch holds their baptisms.

Planes

One of the things I love about living on the Kadena Air Base (KAB) is being able to drive to the airfield and watch the military planes take-off and land. I went over to the high school to have lunch with Chad today. As I was leaving I could hear the planes taking off, so I drove over to the field to watch. As I got closer to the flightine I could see four C-135’s (transporters) that were in various stages of landing and heading down the runway towards the hangars. After pulling into the parking lot which overseas the runway I saw two F-15’s lined up, waiting to get in position for take-off. I parked and continued watching. To my delight, as those two rolled forward and got into position, two more F-15’s came around the corner and rolled into position as well. Then, bam, they all took off, one right after another. It is always an amazing sight for me to see. The F-15’s are so fast, and so powerful. It takes my breath away (not to mention shatters my eardrums if I happen to be standing outside) to watch them take-off. It’s especially cool to see them at night because the afterburners just glow. Jessica and I were at the Tee House one afternoon (a restaurant the sits on a hill at the end of the runway overlooking the ocean and the runway), and watched some of the planes do touch and go’s the whole time we were there. Very fun!!

The F-15’s have been flying a lot lately because they were grounded, Air Force wide, for about two months. There were some mechanical failures and several F-15’s crashed stateside. Before they could fly again, every plane had to be thoroughly checked. They found problems with some of them (not surprising when you realize most of the F-15’s are at least 50 years old), but most of them were allowed to start flying again about the middle of January. The pilots have been flying like crazy to get all of their flight hours in for the month.

The plane Chad is flying is not quite as fast as the F-15’s, but he did have fun getting to fly all over Okinawa.

Okuma

Okay, this is my first blog post, so it may be a bit wordy, but bear with me.

This past weekend the kids and I spent two days up at Okuma, which is a beautiful military resort on the northern end of the island. Our room was across the parking lot from the beach, and the view was spectacular! Chad was on Tokashiki Island for youth conference, and the kids were out of school on Friday. I hate staying home looking at the same four walls on a long weekend - especially without Chad around - so we decided to go sightseeing. We had a great weekend! On our way up north we took a detour, hoping to find a mikan (tangerine) orchard so we could pick some for lunch. We stopped at a fruit stand to ask if there was anywhere we could pick our own mikans. The guy said, "follow me," so we did - about a mile down the highway and up a long meandering road that took us to the middle of nowhere. There he left us with another man who jumped into his truck and said, "follow me." He then led us to the mikan fields where we could pick to our hearts content. Had we not been in Japan, I would have been a little nervous about following all of these strange men. However I have always felt perfectly safe here! The man gave each of us a bag to fill, so we picked mikans, took pictures and ate mikans till we were full. They didn't look beautiful, like the ones bought in the store, but they sure were sweet and juicy.

From there we drove up Mt. Yadaeke in search of cherry blossoms. That was the weekend for the big cherry blossom festival in Nago (the largest town in that part of the island) and I knew there would be thousands of people trying to catch a glimpse of the blossoms on Saturday and Sunday, so we went on Friday hoping to beat the crowd. We scored!! The road up the mountain was packed with cherry trees. They were all in bloom and just stunning!! In fact there were so many trees, and they were so large, that the branches stuck out into the road. We kept having to drive in the middle of the road (although that's not that unusual in Okinawa) to keep from scratching the van. Upon reaching the top we ate lunch and headed back down, stopping at the cherry blossom bridge that is all pink, with pink blossom emblems on each rail - very Japanese and very cute.

On our way back to the main highway we also stopped at the Pineapple Park. Very touristy, but a "must-see." After touring the park in a Pineapple Car we walked through a cool Shell House - full of amazing shells and sea life found in and around Okinawa. Then for the best part - the Tasting House. We tasted pineapple juice, pineapple cake, pineapple pie, pineapple pound cake, pineapple chocolate, pineapple cheese, pineapple ice cream, pineapple cookies, pineapple candy, pineapple chunks (fresh), pickled pineapple, dried pineapple, and pretty much any other pineapple product you could think of. It was yummy!! After that we headed up to Okuma, got checked in, and headed for the beach. Within 15 minutes Tanner had been stung by a jellyfish, and Reed had badly bruised his toe trying to kick a heavy float that had washed up on the beach. We had a quiet evening watching movies so everyone could recuperate.

Tanner and I started the next day bright and early with a walk along the beach in hopes of finding some cool shells. We found plenty. Later on the five of us went hiking. We found a great look out with an amazing view of the ocean. I took a lot of pictures, trying in vain to capture of beautiful colors of the water. I know I have said it before, and will probably continue to say it, but the color of the water here is just stunning, and indescribable. I could gaze upon the water ALL day long, and never tire of it!! After a full day at Okuma, we headed home - happy, tired and full of sand!

One quick side note. I had downloaded two audio books that we listened to all the way up and back. "Tell Me a Story" and "Tell Me a Story 2" by Amy Friedman. Very fun listening for all ages. We didn't have a terribly long drive (approx 1 1/2 hours each direction), but I would definitely recommend them.