Day Ichi (Day One)

We woke early on the first day, mostly from the Jet lag (or lead, I am not sure which), but probably could have used a little more sleep. We opened the windows from our hotel and caught an amazing view of a Japanese frigate and submarine cruising in from Tokyo Bay.

Our priorities were to check on the pets, get cell phones and explore.

The woman who runs the Kennel is amazing. She really gave us piece of mind the night we arrived and dropped off the pets, she took care of everything. The first morning we went to the kennel she opened the door to the kennels and let us visit at our leisure. Seamus was next to a beautiful Himalayan who continually darted his paw in and out of his cage tapping us on the shoulder as we tried to visit with Seamus. Seamus did not agree with the other cat's behavior and hissed at us, his food, the litter box and everything around him until Jennifer was able to calm him down enough the come and say hello. Finchy was oblivious. She has adapted like a champ. She was a little freaked out by all the other animals and noise at first, but we went to take her for a walk and she made some other beagle friends. There are four other beagles at the kennel, I think they are going to start a gang.

Our first Japanese adventure was acquiring cell phones. I got an inside tip on what mobile phone companies to use here. There is a large shopping street close to the base (Blue Street) where these companies could be found. We went with "au" since reports sat they have the best service. The other big company has cooler phones, but since the iPhone is relatively new here it is still more than $600 per phone. The negotiations went on for more than an hour deliberating what we wanted in phones and plans with the saleswoman who spoke more broken English than we spoke Japanese (bless her heart). We finally ended up with an English phone that we still have no idea how to use. The only thing we have consistently been able to do is navigate to a menu from which we cannot return.

After the cell phone store, we wandered around some of the local shops and department stores. There are a lot of Christmas decorations and displays, which I did not expect. The best was in the nearby mall. At the top of a large staircase there was a big archway decorated for Christmas. Children were milling around-it looked like a mall Santa Claus setup. When we got closer though, it was a huge blue blob with a snow hat that all of the children were waiting in line to see. Unfortunately, we missed the photo op with the blob, but we scored a picture of his lair.