Today's Japanese Adventure

Friday night we had dinner at a pizza place off base called Nichola. We won't be going back anytime soon. We got small pizzas (6") for each of us. They were pretty good, but they were made with gouda cheese, which makes for an interesting tasting pizza. And for an appetizer we had "French Fried Potatoes" which I thought would be something... well, more than fries. Nope, just fries. So, it was expensive, slow service, and not great food.

Today we went to a city called Tachikawa. We also went to Showa Kinen Park (aka Showa Park). We were going to go yesterday but got a little bit of a late start, so we decided to go first thing this morning. Yesterday we just went to dinner off-base and to the Seiyu instead. The Seiyu is the Japanese Wal-Mart, except it's 5 stories. They have Great Value brand stuff and everything! But it's all in Japanese, so... who knows what any of the stuff is. We bought Jackson some shoes but that was our only purchase. The dinner was kind of a bust because it was a little expensive and not very big portions. But at least they had English descriptions in their menu.

Back to today. We found our way to the park from the base pretty easily. After paying 820 yen to park and 800 yen for Mike and I to get in the park (Jackson was free), we were thinking it was a rip off, but we were pleasantly surprised. We rented bikes for 410 yen apiece for 3 hours. We had Jackson's umbrella stroller, so I rode a bike with a baby seat on the back and we just strapped his stroller onto that. Mike's bike had a baby seat in the front for Jackson to sit in. I didn't get a picture, which is unfortunate becuase it's a very interesting-looking seat. I saw quite a few people with a baby on front and an older kid on back. I can imagine that would make it difficult to steer! So off we went on our bikes down the bike path. This park is HUGE! (Here's their website with a map and everything: http://www.showakinenpark.go.jp/english/index.htm ). We stopped at something called the "Bouncing Dome".

Turned out my pregnant stomach wasn't really enjoying the bouncing. And Jackson wasn't too thrilled with bouncing either. But he did end up enjoying sliding down the side. We were also going to go to the "Misty Forrest" where they do this mist thing for 15 minutes every half-hour.

But Jackson was getting tired and bored and we were all hungry, so we decided not to wait on the mist. We did however try the "Rainbow Hammocks" but once again, Jackson was none too thrilled with the bouncing, and it was kids only.

Then we bought some corn dogs and fries and rode our bikes to a shady spot off the trail to eat.

After snack/lunch we rode our bikes to the park exit. The bike parking lot was HUGE!

It was kind of funny to see the parking areas painted on the ground. Locked the bikes then we went off on foot. We went into downtown Tachikawa. That was an interesting experience. There were department stores and restaurants. Even a KFC and McDonald's which we have heard are very good. (Even the American restaurants have food that tastes a little different than the states.) We walked into one store that someone told Mike was his wife's favorite place to shop. We saw Prada shoes, a Tiffany department, and a Louis Vuitton store. We went out the next door we found. So much for that! We found a *tiny* Disney store. The coolest thing was that all the stores were connected on the second floor by a kind of upstairs sidewalk.

Almost like a mall hallway, except outside. It basically meant not having to deal with crosswalks, cars, sidewalks, people on bikes, etc. It was pretty neat to see. One of the buildings had restaurants on the top floor, and we walked around to see if there was anything familiar because I was kind of hungry still. No luck, it was all weird. But there was an outdoor seating area, kind of like a courtyard. Mike looked at maps, I sat (I was tired), and Jackson RAN!

After all the running/resting/mapping, we decided to head back to the park. We got a tad lost trying to find our way back but eventually got there. The problem was, they wanted tickets to get in. Except we had already paid and had our tickets torn. So Mike showed the ticket taker our two torn tickets and tried to explain we came in a different entrance. I think he thought that Mike's ticket just got torn in half. Either way, we got back in. Then back on the bikes, and back to the car. I had to change Jackson's diaper before we left and went to the bathroom myself. I pushed what I thought was the flush button but turned out to be a help call button. That was difficult to explain to the worker girl that came rushing to the door shouting something in Japanese that I can only guess was, "Are you alright?!" Oops.

By the time we got home it was about 2 and WAY past Jackson's nap time. He was hungry, so snack then nap. His sleep schedule was thrown off for the rest of the day, but I think it was worth it. He was back on track by bedtime.

Dinner tonight was at the Red Dragon Chinese restaurant off-base. I had been there before with a spouse group, but Mike hadn't been yet. It's a little expensive, but very good, and pretty big portions. The thing I get is served in a stone pot over rice, and they give you little bowls with it. You scoop out a small portion into your bowl to let it cool. It's bad manners to blow on anything except food for a baby here. I had extra to bring home for lunch tomorrow.

So I guess that's it for our adventures this weekend. Mike's headed off for another TDY tomorrow and hopefully he'll be home on Friday since we have tickets to see Cirque du Soleil on Saturday.