Last few days in Japan

What else happened before we moved away? 

 Oh. I know. I met some sumo wrestlers at a Cinco de Mayo event. Can't make that up, now can ya?

 I went to a goodbye party in Hachioji for our friend Vicky! Vicky got to Yokota two weeks before us, and left two days after us. What fun it was to spend three years with her and her crazy husband, Ricky!

I went to the Daiso, my favorite 100Yen (dollar ) store and loaded up on all kinds of crap I didn't need. Including this giant clown necktie, that I used as a hairbow for Cheyenne. I also spent many nights in PJ's with my BFF and neighbor Melissa. 

This is Melissa's dog, Penny-chan. She and Cheyenne were the very best of friends. If you say Penny's name today, she will whine and cry and start searching for her. It is VERY sad. Don't know how I'll feel when we have children that we have to take away from their friends! Ahhh, military life. 

Am I totally blessed or what? Look at the beautiful friends I have that came out to my very own "Sayonara to the Chelsea" Party. Incredible. Love and miss you all. 

Melissa, (and baby Smythe) and Chelsea.

We went bowling. Me with my sweet friend Emily and her precious little girls! 

We also went and had one last karaoke experience! Even baby Henry made it out! Our first week in Japan, our friends Kristen and Quinn drug us out to karaoke! We weren't sure of what to make of it, but we sure are glad we went that first time. They took us to "Yellow Cat" karaoke, which quickly became our most favorite karaoke joint! I don't know how many times we sang karaoke in 3 years, but I do know it was in the double digits. The first time we sang karaoke with Kristen and Quinn, we went into 'the big room at the end of the hallway. It's the same room we took my parents to sing karaoke in, and the last room we sang karaoke in too. I had many alone dance parties in this room, and watched Chelsea and Rob sing "My humps" when Rob's family was in town. So much good happened in that room. It's only a place filled with happy memories.

Oh! George and I finally made it to the top of the Skytree! This thing is INCREDIBLE! 

 Here's us standing on a glass floor looking down about a million miles. (errr... 450m) So scary! 

A view of Tokyo. It really is a GIANT concrete jungle.

Our last night in Japan. We went to Wingman Wednesday at the O-Club. Here we are with the residents of our building. These guys were the best and most fun neighbors ever! (There's a picture of Matt on the iPhone!) You can never count on everyone being in town at the same time! Miss you 1065! 

And then all of our stuff was packed up. And taken away. And we had to move away. It was awful.

We spent the afternoon of the day we left in the base hotel, surrounded by our favorite people. Thank you to everyone who came out to wish us well and send us off in style. I bawled my eyes out like a little baby saying 'see you later' to those I love the most. I cried all the way to the airport, on most of the flight to Hawaii, but then the white sand beaches did ease the pain a little. I still miss you all everyday.

In case I haven't said it enough... we miss Japan. Our time there was nothing short of incredible. We loved everything about it. It's safe, it's clean, the people were polite, and gracious, and willing to help. Those memories will not soon be forgotten. We went on trains, and boats, sky lifts, we hiked, we rode bikes, we skied, we traveled, we hosted parties, we attended parties, we ate, we drank, we said 'Kanpai!' at least a million times. We did a few pub-crawls. I watched a lot of Bachelor/Bachelorette with my girls. We watched sumo, and ate sushi. We devoured some serious ramen. We saw people leave on their deployments, and return home safely. We bought furniture, and a kimono, and Japanese dishes. We shopped, we saw museums, and parks, and mountains, and rivers and the ocean. We climbed MT. FUJI. We threw Daruma dolls into fire. I made mochi. We drank chu-his, and sang karaoke. We navigated the trains, more times successfully, than unsuccessfully. We danced in Roppongi, skiied in Nagano, and Hokkaido. Went to an ice festival, a samurai festival, a doll festival, a night festival, a summer festival, a fertility festival... (ok, we went to a lot of festivals...) Japan really has it all. And we miss it all. (Except the earthquakes... I don't miss the earthquakes.) 

"Don't be sad because it's over. Smile because it happened." 

Bazaar. New Sanno. Baby Showers.

When you first arrive at Yokota, everyone says to you, "Oh, your time here... it'll just fly by!" You smile and nod because "yeah, sure." You're willing to listen, but you DON'T. Get. It. 

But now? NOW I understand. I really feel like it was only yesterday that I was hanging my head over a toilet in the Seattle airport because I was so terrified to get on the plane and leave the country and family that I so love. But I did it. I got on the plane, I spent three years in Japan, and now that chapter in my adventure book has come to a close. It's weird. 

Remember all of that crazy stuff that I did in March? Well when I wasn't attending fertility festivals or viewing cherry blossoms, I was working on the Officers' Spouses' Club Bizarre. Bazaar.

Here's a daily conversation in the Metros' house:

George: What are you doing?

Me: Working on bazaar stuff.

George: What's so bizarre about it? ::giggle::

Me: ::glare::

A-nnoying. I'm pretty sure in 20 years, he'll still laugh at this joke. 

I was the co-chair vendor liaison, dealing with roughly 50 vendors and companies that sold (mostly) Asian goods to the base population. I dealt with custom forms, trucking information, base security passes, how many tables each guy would get, who wants a bigger space, and on and on and on. And I LOVED it. It's the most stressful but rewarding time of the year. We raise tens of thousands of dollars for the Yokota community. It really is awesome. Some days I think I'll open my own event planning business. Other days, I'm glad I don't have to work that hard. :) The team I worked with though was wonderful, always going above and beyond. Plus, they made the weekend fun. I wish I had more pictures of this event, but here's one small one!

Guess what sweet husband of mine made us dinner reservations at the New Sanno Spring Escoffier Dinner the same night as the bazaar? Yep. George. It added a little stress getting out of the bazaar early on Saturday, and having to be back early on Sunday morning, but it turned out to be a great way to spend some time with some super fun friends before leaving Japan a few weeks from now. Thanks to the awesome bazaar committee for covering for me! Y'all rock! 

Brad, Katie, George, Me, Kristi, Chance, Jessica and Kate. We sure are going to miss dressing up like this when we move to Abilene, Texas! 

In case I hadn't gotten my fill of the New Sanno Hotel (I hadn't). My culture club also did an overnight trip there shortly after the Escoffier Dinner. I've spent a lot of time there over the past three years, attending my college graduation there, took my parents there, numerous Beatles shows, Escoffier dinners, etc. It's always a good time, so we hosted our Japanese friends there! But first, they took us to Odaiba! I had never been! It's on the further side of Tokyo, and is basically a large shopping district, but it was my first time, so I was very excited to check it out! It was a rainy and windy day, and but we made the best of it by walking around their giant mall!

I LOVE the Engrish in Japan. It used to really bother me, so much so, that I considered (George said I couldn't really do it) walking around with a red sharpie and correcting the English grammar on all that was wrong. 

Odaiba holds a depiction of the Statue of Liberty! I've never seen the real one, (even though I have been to NYC) so this was a good way to check it out.

Shigeko-San and myself at our fancy American style hibachi dinner! (News flash::: The Japanese hibachi grills you go to in America... don't even really exist over there... well I think they might, but they are not the standard!) Shigeko-san and I were the co-leaders of the whole YOSC Culture Club the previous year, so we really got to spend a lot of time together. Love her!

After our fancy dinner, some drinks in the lobby, we were off to bed, because we had to be up early to go to the Tsukiji Fish Market! I had been there once before when my parents came to visit (check out that post here) but we didn't make it there early enough for the famous tuna auction! We arrived at the check in point somewhere in the 3am hour! And we had to wait around til almost 5am for anything to happen, but if you don't get there early, you may not get in!

Here's me making a sleepy fishy face and having my coffee.

A tuna inspector!

So my friend KB (at Konversations with Kay, her blog is very entertaining, bt-dubs)and I have no less than 15 articles of clothing that are the same. American sized clothes are few and far between in Tokyo, so we would frequently wear the same things. I think we just have similar tastes in clothes anyways, but here we are being Sperry twinsies. What's a better shoe to wear to a fish market than boat shoes? 

Oh. Rain boots. Rain boots would have been better.

He yelled at me shortly after for taking his picture.

Here I am with my fave Japanese ladies. Mitsuko-san, Shigeko-san and Midori-san. They are just the sweetest.

What else, what else? OH! Baby Showers. Ok, I am NOT kidding. In my three years at Yokota, I attended 21. Yes, TWENTY-ONE baby showers. People don't believe this, and so I finally made a list. And counted, and recounted. It's 21. That's 7 a year. Good grief. I love all of those mama's, and all of those babies! ALL of them!
Speaking of baby showers...

My friend Kate and I hosted a baby shower for our friend Melissa! Melissa lived in my building, and our husbands worked together. I spent the last two years dragging her to spouse events, and she spent the last two years making me watch scary things, like zombies, and batman. Overall, our friendship grew and grew and she truly became one of my most favorite and dearest friends. ever. I love that girl, and miss her so much! One thing we had in common was our love of breakfast. I think she loves it a little more than I do, and so Kate and I gave her a "B is for Breakfast... and Boy" themed shower!

Miss you, friend-o! XOXO

We played some games. Some participants understood the game better than others. 

Love you MER!

Sakura. Easter. Kevin-Desu. Fertility Fest.

Cherry Blossoms! I love cherry blossom season! When we first got to Japan in May 2010, I was surprised to see that the cherry blossoms, or "sakura", in Japanese, were long gone. I was sure they were a spring flower, and didn't understand why they weren't there! After missing them again in 2011 due to the Big Earthquake, I SAVORED them in 2012 and 2013. I wish they were around all year long, but they come and go SO quickly. Even a rain or strong wind could damage these delicate flowers. I LOVE all things cherry blossom, except the Starbucks sakura drink, that wasn't good. But the ice cream, the souvenirs, chocolates, the sakura flavored kit-kats! Yummmy! If you ever go to Japan, please plan your trip around the Sakura, it really is SO very magical! 

For Easter we went to the New Sanno Hotel for their Easter Brunch. I'm ALWAYS up for brunch, and at a fancy hotel on Easter with my BFF's? Yes please! And there were mimosas for Kate and I. You may or may not be able to tell that Lace, Heidi and KB are ALL pregnant, with GIRLS in this picture! And all due August 2013! Lotsa babies coming our way! (In FACT, congrats to Brad and KB Erickson on the birth of their precious angel, Evelyn Rose!) Can't believe she is here and we're missing it! Stupid Pacific Ocean. 

These are George's friends Zack and Kevin. George loves these guys. I believe this was taken at Kevin's birthday party at a Chinese restaurant downtown! 

Ah yes, I remember now! We went to Kevin's birthday dinner the same weekend I attended the Fertility Festival! What is a fertility festival? Whelp, it's exactly what you think it might be. Except... VERY different. It is indeed a festival to celebrate uhh... fertilization of babies. I don't have a clue how to describe this event without just laying it all out there. But that would make you blush. Trust me. It would. So I'll do my best to give you the PG version!

My girlfriends and I took a base sponsored trip on a bus that left around 5am. We drove down to Nagoya, about a 5 hour drive or so. First, we went to visit the rock that resembled uh... a woman. This is a time for the Japanese to come and pray to the fertility gods, so while we made a muck of this event, it was taken seriously by many. We, of course, did our best to be respectful, and paid our respects to the woman. We also got to walk all along a hill that was covered in beautiful plum blossoms. I've already told you how much I love sakura, but now let me tell you how much I HATE, and I mean LOATHE plum blossoms because I am SO very allergic to them, and they stick around a lot longer that sakura does. Like, runny nose, itchy eyes, sinus pressure, dry throat etc... from February-May. And so, you will see me wearing a Japanese mask in many of the pictures from today. They are beautiful and whimsical, though, aren't they?

 Stupid plum blossoms.

 Check out that whimsy factor, am I right?

 Looking over Nagoya.

There's Kate! Of THE Kate Chapman Photography, that we couldn't walk with because she'd stop to take so many pictures! 

  This was a wall of sake, and a farmer selling some plants and veggies. 

Me, Kate, Kallie and Lacey. What a fun group to experience this with! 

The 'female' rock. The orange box is a place to put your offerings. 

After we visited the woman rock, we went on to the main festival, where there was food in funny shapes, lots of foreigners (that's us), sake to cheers to, and a very entertaining and very interactive parade! Instead of a parade of floats, like we have in the states, the Japanese still carry the shrines on their shoulders. Really, somebody should get these peeps a towing hitch. They carried a woman and a man, and well, numerous.. uhh... tree trunks? (Remember, trying to keep this PG.) Ok. I give up.

Open a new tab in your browser window. Did you open it? Ok. Go to google.com Now type in Nagoya Fertility Festival. Click Images. Enjoy the hilarity!

I miss you Japan!

Bean-Throwing. Hiking. Art. Baseball.

In Early February, I attended Setsubun! It's a bean throwing festival, that involves throwing beans, and chasing away evil spirits, to have a renewed sense for the new year. I went down to Meiji shrine with some friends to see the celebrities throw beans. I caught one! Which means I'll have good luck this year. So far, so good! Our next door neighbor Traci, who is of Japanese descent, also wanted to participate in this at our home, so we stood inside our houses with our doors open, and threw beans out. It was pretty anti-climatic, but still really funny.

Then we had the superbowl! I already don't remember which teams were playing, but I know that George was in Hawaii on a 'business trip' (poor guy) and I celebrated by having a Monday morning breakfast and mimosas at the O-Club with our friends! Sure is strange to watch the superbowl in the morning. After that, 6 of my favorite people, 2 cars, 1 baby and 4 dogs all drove to the Hinohara Waterfall for a little rainy Monday hike!

Baby Henry is under Natalie's white jacket! 

In February we lost the life of a dear friend and former neighbor of ours. Art Glaz was one of the sweetest and most fun people you could have ever had the pleasure of knowing. He mowed our grass, high fived us in the parking lot, and offered us drinks whenever possible. What a guy. He had PCS'd back to the states away from Japan not too long ago, and passed away in a skiing accident. We mourned his death and celebrated his life in a very fitting and fun ceremony, held with close friends, food, music, dancing, and several toasts to one of the nicest guys you've ever met. It ended with all of the guys opening their shirts, the way Art would have wanted. It was truly a celebration, and it lasted until the wee hours of the morning.We just feel so blessed that we got to spend time with him while we could. 

 If you ever had the pleasure of watching Art dance, or dancing with Art, you'd know that he LOVED to dip the ladies. Here's mine and The Melissa's attempt at recreating this memory. Haha! 

George and I may or may not have also broke out into our own rendition of Gagnam Style. 

I told you it was a celebration.

  
We went to the World Baseball Classic with our dear friends Matt, Melissa, Zach, Erol, and Traci. From the looks of the pictures, this must have been in March, as the men have mustaches. Gross. The best part was seeing Andruw Jones, former player for the Atlanta Braves, playing for the Netherlands. In Tokyo, Japan. Ca-Razy. 

 Our BFF's, The Smiths.

We "rep'd" our city. Go Seibu Lions!