how we get from here to there

This is the entrance of our apartment building. It requires a key to get inside or you can punch in the apartment number and be buzzed in.

Now this is what you see as you first step outside the building.
Once you are out on the sidewalk, this is the view looking left. To get to the train station we cross at that first crosswalk that you see here (there's a traffic light) to the other side and walk a very short distance.
Occasionally we ride the bus in which case we'd go over to the other side and catch it at this stop which is right across from our building. Taking a bus means I have to break down the stroller though so I usually don't bother. However, last time I did this a nice Japanese lady held my stroller for me the entire way and carried it on and off the bus for me. Very nice, but still a bit awkward with the fact that we could only communicate through gestures.
Here is the view to the right from the sidewalk. There are tunnels everywhere, I believe there are 5 tunnels between here and downtown Yokosuka, which is only a ten minute bus ride.
Outside the train station there are lots of bikes. Well, there are lots of bikes everywhere, period.
Here is a map of our neighborhood. At the top is a park but it requires a walk up many stairs so I have yet to go up there.
One of the many, many vending machines. Near the bottom, do you see the square with the red lettering above it? That is where you can swipe your suica card to pay instead of using coins.
Thankfully, most signs have english too so at least the train schedule and map is easy to read.
One four minute ride takes us to Yokosuka.
And speaking of suica cards, here is my train pass. I now have a commuter pass that is good for unlimited trips between Taura and Yokosuka for one month. And now there is a bunch of writing on the front of my card.
Timeout - can someone figure out why these cars would be wrapped in giant plastic bags? Just washed perhaps? This is an apartment building parking lot across from the station (in the other direction of ours).
Okay, here comes the train:
And here is how I use my suica card to exit the train station (you swipe it when you enter and when you exit and it automatically determines your fare based on how far you went and then deducts it from your balance and displays it for you).


On this day I did some shopping (by myself) at the Daiei. I thought about getting Abby something "princessy" but Disney stuff is SOOO expensive here. Would you pay $80 for a dress?
Or $50 for a backpack??
Crazy!

Atlantic City

One evening this last week I took Jamie and Abby to an arcade in the Daiei mall. I couldn't figure out why it was called Atlantic city at first. On one side it is mostly just regular arcade games. But on the other side there were these games that seems almost like slot machines for children! The whole point of the game was to win tokens. The more risk you took in the game, the more tokens you could potentially win but it was also more likely that you would win none. I'm pretty sure that the only thing keeping it legal was that you couldn't turn your tokens in for money. You pretty much had to play until your tokens were all gone. Each token was only 10 yen (about a dime) so they each got to spend a few hundred yen. Jamie is already asking when we can go back :)



This fishing game was their favorite. Each fish is marked with how many coins you'll get if you catch it. The bigger fish usually just fall off the hook though.


Jamie also liked this shooting game. For each token you got one shot. If you made the shot then the wheel would spin above showing how many tokens you would win. Usually it was zero!

Ferry, cable car, and hike

Our morning started out early. We caught the train at about 8:30am. As you can see, Jamie did not want to go. (He changed his mind later)
Tristan lived in the ergo most of the day but usually on Chad's back. In the background of this picture you can see the old guys on the train...drinking beer.
After the train we had to walk to the ferry terminal:
The fishing boats near the ferry terminal.
On the ferry:



Mt. Fuji is starting to poke out from amongst the trees.
I believe this is the same type of ferry we were on.
Can someone tell me why there was a crib underneath the stairs next to the bathrooms?
After the ferry ride we got some food at the market and then walked through a residential area to the cable car and this is where I saw this orange tree.
Riding the cable car:


View from the cable car.


View at the top:


Now on to the hike, the first stop was this giant carving out of the stone wall:
Next stop, observation point:
We ate lunch near the observation point and then it was time to descend the stairs to the giant stone buddha statue. The stairs kept going,
and going...

Can you hear the whine?
...she actually got a ride most of the time from Chad. And now the statue!

Something like a wishing well. You throw in coins and then ring the bell.
Me compared to the statue.
Piles and piles of mini buddhas which are placed for good luck, or a prosperous new year or something of the like.
He really is having fun, I promise.
Some of the things we saw on our walk back UP.



The 3-headed monster.


We were so exhausted that we threw the kids in bed at about 7 and crashed at 8:30 ourselves!

some food and other things

Here are the "lame" mirrors at the 100 yen stores. I've spent about $50 at the 100 yen store in the last week trying to get things for the apartment (we only had 2 forks, 2 bowls, no cleaning supplies, etc). It's essentially just like a dollar store, which is nice when your only going to be living somewhere for a few months and can't really take anything home with you.


Here are a selection of drinks from a few of the many vending machines near our apartment building. I'm not so much a fan of Pepsi zero. I was surprised that Abby liked the hot lemonade. The cherry flavored juice-thing she liked as well. And of course Jamie loved the grape fanta.
Top ramen, ironically from the commissary (he needs to get used to noodles):
On our hiking trip last weekend (more on another post), we got snacks on the ferry ride. They have these waffle looking ice-cream treats that are essentially a waffle shaped cone filled with vanilla and sometimes another filling (in this case chocolate). These were so yummy! And not too sweet either, which was nice.
Here is the wrapper:
And some ritz cheese sandwiches (we haven't gotten too adventurous with our food choices yet). These were pretty much like the mini cheese-filled ritz crackers at home except I felt like the cracker part was a bit more greasy than normal:
Chad and Tristan had a seaweed and rice roll (boooorrrr-ing...):
Tristan seemed to like though:

Here is a sign I saw on the train, I think we need some of these "hey don't be an inconsiderate jerk" signs in states...