Japan Trip Report

“Well had a blast in Japan the past 8 days, sucks to be back.. I miss my guy : (



(look how cute he is)

Here's a rundown of the things that me and batman luke did while over there (OH! And I got a diamond ring!)

Japan Trip:
May 29, 2004 – June 6, 2004

Saturday, May 29, 2004: Luke picked me up from airport and we went back to Yukosuka Navy Base and checked into the Navy Lodge hotel. I was real tired from jetlag, so just did a base tour, got my guest pass and met one of his good friends Dave.

Sunday, May 30, 2004: A more extensive base tour, saw the movie Troy, and the USS Cowpens ship tour (his ship). Still jetlagged.

Monday, May 31, 2004: Ate Tempura with Luke and his friend Jared and also met his friends Eric and Brad back at the hotel for some beers. Got another ship tour. Went shopping for and learned how to use chopsticks the right way!

Tuesday, June 1, 2004: shopping spree at NEX (Navy Exchange). Went to Oppoma and rock climbed and ate Tempura again (it's my new favorite food).

Wednesday, June 2, 2004: Climbed Mt. Fuji (the people there were sooooo nice). I'm assuming the trails just opened for the seasons because there were NO OTHER HIKERS the entire time we were there. Plus all of the trails were closed except the red trail (I forget the name of it off the top of my head.. Shiri something?) so we had to take the red trail up and the red trail back down again. IT WAS REAL HOT too so we got burnt because there aren't a lot of trees around since it's mostly gravel and volcanic ash.... which, by the way, is NOT fun to hike in. Coming down you practically sink into the gravel, which equals tons of little sharp rocks in the boots (didn't think to bring my gaitors).
Had my first trip to Lawson’s.
Also drove in Japan that day!

Thursday, June 3, 2004: Went to Kamakura to see huge statue of Buddah and different temples (bought souvenirs and chopsticks), ate at little Tempura restaurant, experienced Japan train systems, Yakiniku (where you cook your own meat) with Dave, and had my 1st crepe in Kamakura.

Friday, June 4, 2004: Ate Tempura, went to the mall for crepe and then pet store where doggie pissed on Luke and Lissy made bird friends and saw the slot-ish game Pachinko being played... very LOUD! Took a ton of video on base (Also filmed rock climbing and Mt Fuji).

Saturday, June 5, 2004: Shrek 2 with Dave, pizza with Dave in hotel, truck died and Jared jumped it, dressy dinner in Oppoma at restaurant.

sorry... am getting lazy with the trip report details. i figured the only thing anyone would be interested in is mt fuji anyways.

Sunday, June 6, 2004: Drove around base, went shopping at the base store and drove to Narita Airport to go home. : (

During my layover in Chicago, I got delayed 5 hours for some stupid plane problems.

Finally got home around 1:30am. I'll write more later.”

“you didnt HAVE to tell them i got pissed on..... ;) i got a necklace too...my baby takes care of me”

“yea i did, it was funny as hell”

“I'm not done uploading, but a lot of the pictures are up:

http://community.webshots.com/user/scorchfire”

“Hey, welcome home!

Glad you had a good time.”

“I was in Yokosuka for 2 years 40 years ago. The picture with Mt Fuji brought back some warm memories. Everything looks remarkably the same. Thanks for the report.”

“imagine that? a mountain that doesnt really change?? wow...who'd a thunk it...”

“Welcome Home Scorch!

It was really really quiet while you were gone!

j/k, sounds like you had a good time!”

“I was talking about the fact that the view is not cluttered with signs, billboards, etc, which happens so often in our country. Hope you can handle the stretch.”

“Welcome back. Looks like you had a great time. So how long did it take to get that '80's song "Turning Japanese" out of your head?”

“could've posted a couple times eh??? :) The guys was going nuts here.

Great pics!”

“Welcome back! Good report. Forgive my ignorance of Japenese fare but, what is tempora exactly? And we need more details about the diamond ring! Engaged?”

“Glad I got in early this morning. Got a chance top view all 57 albums of your trip to Japan. Nice shots, Scorch. Looked a bit a hazy day up on Fuji. But, appeared to be fun nonetheless. So, how long did you get stuck in the airport?

Welcome back!”

“"Welcome home butthead!!!"

Gemini, you're so sweet!

Welcome home !”

“Welcome home, Scorchy!!!

Glad you got to be with your man. Now we want to hear about the ring and so forth. Details, details!”

“Ring, schming!!!

I wanna hear about the sushi!”

“Okaeri nasai!”

“Bow bow, nookie nookie!!”

“Hey, nice trip.

The season for climbing Mt. Fuji is July 1 - August 31. You were lucky that you did not encounter any rough weather. It can change real fast near the top. (Gotemba Trail, July 4th, 1987)

Does the "Love Hotel" across the street from the Yokosuka Base still have a copy of the Statute of Liberty on the top?

Ah, memories of the Outlaw Saloon and Rock City Cafe(?), Yokosuka.

Congratulations.”

“Um, what was that about a ring?”

“glad you had a good trip and enjoyed yourself.”

“I think what everybody really wants to know is if they show "The O.C." on TV over there.”

“Awesome, thanks for the report.”

“Stuck for 5 hours at O'hare? Should have let me know. Could have met you and even had time for a quick tour of the loop!”

“Still no explanation of "the ring."”

“One ring to bind them......

Ring of truth?

"Why, I'll wring your neck you lousy little....."”

“"Welcome back! Good report. Forgive my ignorance of Japenese fare but, what is tempora exactly? And we need more details about the diamond ring! Engaged?"

Thanks! I didn't know what tempura was either til I went over there... It's sort of deep fried veggies and seafood over a bowl of white rice... shrimp, eggplant, pumpkin, beans, etc. REALLLLLY good stuff.

So, how long did you get stuck in the airport?

From 4pm until approx 9:30pm.... it sucked big time.

What, No Sushi ? ?

I had sushi on the plane... wasn't a big fan of it but I'm willing to give it another try!

Does the "Love Hotel" across the street from the Yokosuka Base still have a copy of the Statute of Liberty on the top?

YEA! The Goddess Hotel, LOL. I took a picture of it. Cracked me up. The best was that the first 3 nights at the Navy Lodge hotel didn't have air and it was soooo hot and humid that we were looking for another hotel. I saw that and said "What about that one?" And he just laughed at me and said it was rented by the hour. DOH!

"Stuck for 5 hours at O'hare? Should have let me know. Could have met you and even had time for a quick tour of the loop!"

DOH! The thing was they were tricksy about it. It started out with the flight being at 3:55pm and then every half hour they'd come on and say we were delayed another half hour. It wound up not leaving until almost 9:30pm.”

“It's not an engagement ring... more of a promise ring (I promise to get you a bigger diamond, ring LOL). JK
A promise ring is more like a promise to get engaged in the near future.”

“sounds like scorchie is not out of circulation just yet guys, just on hold
great pics, glad you had a great time enjoying your graduation gift”

“I promise to congratulate you when the bigger ring comes in!



Hee hee - sounds like you had a great time. Loved the pics, too....”

“Yea, it was definitely a blast.

Damn, it's 5pm and I just woke up... this jetlag sucks!”

“OK, you've figured out what time it is, but here's your quiz for the day: What day is it?!”

“I have no clue LOL”

“baby, its sunday you goof nut”

“looks like im a little confused to cause its actually monday.....i just dont remember coming to work yesterday, maybe thats cause i didnt actually do anything here.... DOH!”

“Hey Scorch, sounds like you had a blast. Welcome back.

That being said, when are we going hiking?”

“Awesome Scorch! Glad you had a good trip! Gonna check out the pictures now!”

“PS - Whenever! Looks like my next trip is this coming weekend with two girls from work. But we're just doing the car camping thing. Next trip after that is Ithaca.. you goin?”

“Congratulations on the promise ring (but more importantly the promise!). =)”

“looks like im a little confused to cause its actually monday.....i just dont remember coming to work yesterday
BATMAN LUKE
06:43:39 PM
06/07/04

Batman's got a perma-grin!!!

Welcome back Melvin!”

“No SUSHI, wtf???”

“Sushi is love food........








......you eats it raw!”

“I ate sushi!! On the plane, but it sucked, so it kinda turned me off of it.

Thanks, Sass : )”

“You've got to eat sushi off a naked lady's tummy to really enjoy it!!!”

“Hmm... I'm thinking that I'll pass on that one : )”

“I don't think Sushi as airplane food would rate very high on the culinary charts.

Oh well, I'll just keep going to my favorite sushi spots around town, too bad for you.”

“BITE IT, I'll get there”

“You need to learn Scorch-hopper.

You should not "bite" fresh sushi, it should dissolve in your mouth as your tastebuds capture the pungently-sweet flavor of the fish whilst the wasabi essence wafts to the back of your throat and into your sinuses.

Face it Scorchness, you need me!


Next lesson - Ginger.
ehwww, Ginger!!!!”