Great Sushi in Kamakura

Our initial visit to Sushi Kappa Gojo, a local restaurant about 2 minutes from our home in Shichirigahama Higashi, Kamakura City, was a wonderful 2 hour affair. We went with our pals, Ginny and David. The short rainy walk was worth it because we had a great time!

We walked in the front door and were warmly greeted by the staff. This restaurant was converted from a ramen house about a year ago and we had yet to visit it. (Hubby needs to be in the mood for sushi so we hadn't gone yet.) Now that we have only 6 months left here, we're due to visit it at least a couple more times before we move!

After stepping into a nicely lit wooden entrance, we were asked if we wanted to sit at the tables to our right or in the booths that were a bit further in. We opted for the more traditional tables, which were like our kotatsu at home, minus the warming unit and blankets, but much more comfortable than sitting on the floor like in some Japanese restaurants. A "hot plate" was built into the middle of the table for four...handy for patrons who order shabu-shabu. Our perfect meal for four consisted of the following:

• beer for Hubby (nama biru or draft beer)
  
• Sake for me & Ginny...they arrived in individual pitchers (about 20 oz. size) made from local pottery and a small exquisitely cut etched glass



• matcha tea (real stuff, not powdered) for David since he was driving them home later



• sashimi for 4 (my favorite was the tuna, although even the octopus was tasty and not rubbery at all like in some restaurants)


• shabu-shabu


• tempura (veggies)


• we also had a bit of miso soup...mmmm....


• topped off at the end with nicely chilled sliced pears

The bill was very reasonable, especially for the level of service, ambience and great food...about 12,000 yen or about $120. For Japan, that's pretty good.

Other than the great food, here are a couple of things I fondly recall about the restaurant...

• Zen-like entrance and overall decor


• Aquarium visible from the road...blink and you'll miss it because it looks just like a window


• Sushi chefs' backs are visible from the front


• You'll have to take your shoes off before entering the seating areas


• exquisite pottery for dinner dishes and serving dishes

Modern Japan's beloved Sport of Baseball

We went to our first Japanese Major League Baseball game last night with our friends Ginny, her hubby David & Rod. We saw the Yokohama Baystars last home field game against the Chunichi Dragons. (Baystars won 6-4) It was such a fun experience! I spent the 1st hour (of 4) just soaking in all the sights, sounds, and smells. Here's a list of cool observations, in no particular order:

• Organized cheering sections: the outfield is split down the middle. Home team cheering sections are in the right outfield, visiting team's on the left. (We were seated in the nosebleed section behind 1st base). There are no bad seats in this arena...the seats are steep and allow everyone to have a great view of every play.


• Brightly colored drink vendors...if you check our sandandtsunamis blog shortly, I'm sure Hubby will post some of his photos of beer gals such as Yebisu-chan and Asahi-chan. Hot tea and coffee were also for sale if you preferred not to go down to the main deck food vendors.


• Typical ballpark food varied greatly from America-dog (corn dog on a stick), hot dog on a stick, yakisoba, ramen cup-of-noodles, takoyaki (little fried balls of dough-covered octopus), French fries, ice cream, rice balls, fried gyoza. We could bring our own food into the park and did...try doing that in one of the ball parks in the U.S.!


• Super polite fans who know all the words to all the team's songs and cheers.


• Cheerleaders (!) who did a 7-inning stretch dance routine along with the home team's mascots (a giant baseball with a long red tongue a la KISS and boy & girl Baystars)


• Cool little Toyota MR2 painted in the Baystars team colors that would personally convey the relief pitcher onto the field (this happened at least twice last night).


• Cool cheering paraphenelia in the form of hollow plastic bats connected by a little chain (slightly reminiscent of nunchuks) or plastic clappers. You could also buy any number of souvenirs ranging from Hello Kitty or Mickey Mouse pens to towel banners to stadium blankets.

3 F's...Fit, Function, and Feel...

I subscribe to wonderful magazines such as Real Simple and Everyday with Rachel Ray in an attempt to balance my life, learn new things to better our daily living and clean out my vast collections of "stuff". The latest advice to clean out the clutter are the 3 F's (please excuse my simplification):

• Fit...does it still fit well?
• Function...'nuf said
• Feel...does it make you feel great?

If you say no to any of the above, you need to get rid of it or donate it....

With our upcoming move back to the U.S., we have to make a concerted effort to keep our belongings within the confines of an 1100 square foot home (the size of our wonderful little 3 bedroom condo in Parkfairfax). We don't know if we'll move back to Northern Virginia after our tour in Texas or not, but just in case, we're looking for a home that's not so big, not so small. If you give me a lot of space, I will find a way to fill it.

So far, using the 3 Fs, I've been able to clear out a dozen outfits from one of my closets. Not bad for a self-confessed packrat...

The San Antonio Home Search continues...

We're still about 6 months (+/- a week) away from leaving Japan but I've now seriously looked at so many houses that Hubby's starting to get them mixed up. Okay, I've been "sick in quarters" (SIQ) for the past week and when I'm not resting/recuperating, I'm enjoying rare unbridled luxury of internet surfing. The difference between Hubby and I when it comes to our laptops is that he surfs sites like youtube.com and I continue to "work." I don't work on my dayjob assignments, I work on our future needs...this time on the next home purchase. (Sometimes, I get distracted and venture over to online shopping and banking but for the most part, I stay to the task.)



The difficult task for me right now is NOT getting caught up with the feeling that I must buy that nearly almost perfect home NOW? Can't we afford 2 mortgages and our Japanese rent for the next, oh, 4 to 6 months? Oh, patience is NOT one of my primary virtues (also mentioned somewhere on my 2nd grade report card)...but I am trying to work on it. Did I say "unbridled...internet surfing"? Thank goodness it's not unbridled internet house purchasing... Hubby's used to coming home now to at least one more home to check out. We've agreed on a list of characteristics & have reached a compromise on many more...check these out (and if you know anyone who might be selling a home in San Antonio in the next few months, let me know!)

• Neighborhood with character and history, a certain energy and vibe that's difficult to describe


• Vintage home, preferably mostly if not completely remodeled


• Enough room for a young family, a dog or 2, occasional guests, and perhaps an au pair or nanny


• A porch or deck, nice backyard


• Fairly safe neighborhood for evening strolls with dog and/or stroller


• Nearby shopping areas


• Nearby neighborhood cafe or breakfast joint...not a requirement but definitely a plus


• Steady supply of teenagers with lawnmowers...does this exist as a summer job any longer or are they all indoors playing on their computers?

With this in mind, I've found a nice blog that provides some interesting insights not otherwise found during my recent forays into the San Antonio housing market. It's called "San Antonio Vintage Homes" and I've added it to my list of spots to watch. We love vintage homes (new term for me) but are concerned about the "dodgy areas" that sometimes accompany up and coming neighborhoods. However, we are far from wealthy and are not really DIY folks when it comes to self-help projects, so I think we'll end up spending a pretty penny on an already-done home that doesn't put us in the poor house. While a nice ranch house with a lot of rooms and a lot of land can be mighty attractive, we really don't need much room. We actually like each other, you know?

Online Househunting & the Moleskine Notebook

We're getting ready to move again in a few months. While we will dearly miss our life in Japan, we are looking forward to being closer to both of our families when we move back to San Antonio, Texas next year.


In anticipation of this upcoming move, I've been perusing the housing market in San Antonio for the last four months. We just started working with a local agent and managed to narrow down the hundreds of choices to about a dozen... I think. Hubby has been reminding me to slow down since we have at least another 6 months until we get there. I tend to obsess about certain things and when it comes to moving, I get even more list-happy (see post from 29Sep).


You see, in the past 16 years, since joining the military, I've spent little to no time in "temporary lodging" because I've prepared so well for each move. When I moved from Maryland to San Antonio in 1999, I moved right into my one bedroom apartment in a gated community in Alamo Heights the same day I drove into town (I'd never seen it before I drove into San Antonio and I hadn't been in San Antonio since I was 12 when we went to visit the Alamo). Okay, that meant that I had to beg a trusted friend to check it out for me with yet another list of my preferences (overall safety, proximity to Ft. Sam Houston, nearby businesses/shopping, etc.). Afterwards, the lease was fax'd and signed and I even had rental furniture arranged to be delivered before I moved in (my own furniture wouldn't arrive for at least another month). I did the same thing when I moved back to Maryland a year later... that time I did stay in temporary lodging at Walter Reed's Mologne House for about a week or so until I could arrange for my furniture to be delivered.


When I moved from the DC area to Japan in 2004, I spent a couple of weeks in the BOQ only because I had to wait to find out when I was going to be flown out to meet the ship. In the meantime, I decided to go ahead and find some housing rather than wait until the ship returned a month later...that way I could step off the ship and into my own house. It took me 2 days and 2 houses before I found our current gem of a home.


Virtual aside: Shichirigahama-Higashi is the wonderful little village where we've lived for the past 3 years. It's a great neighborhood that's considered pretty upscale for Japan...a house 2 doors down from us is listed at the equivalent of $500,000 USD and it's less than 2000 sq ft. There's a little bit of a yard in the back and no garage since land is at a premium around here. The average family car around here ranges from a Toyota Caldina (station wagon) to a Mini-cooper (very popular with the younger mothers who drop their kids off at the kindergarten at the end of the street) to a Range Rover (big for most Japanese streets). I've even seen a Ferrari parked around here. Since most people take trains to work, cars are either driven by stay at home moms or only on weekends.


This is the beach down the hill from our little neighborhood... it's sometimes so quiet that you can hear the waves. During the last typhoon, you could definitely hear the waves! We'll miss this neighborhood, our wonderful neighbors and just being so close to the water. Sigh...we truly live in paradise (that's what my mother-in-law said when they visited us this past spring).


So, what's my secret to househunting? I am prepared...overly prepared. I took away a lot of lessons from grad school, but one that's really been applied many times over the years is the classic decision matrix. I haven't done it yet for the San Antonio move, but it's coming... to Hubby's dismay. (His eyes glaze over when it comes to anything remotely resembling my "Army Baylor" experience or health care administration in general) The closest to "the matrix" I've come so far is my classic "list"... and the dedicated notebook.



It's not just any notebook...it's a Moleskine journal. Hubby turned me onto them and heck, it works. I've gone full circle when it comes to organizational tools. When jotting down important thoughts & contact information for people I meet along the way, I've had a Handspring and a Blackberry (at the same time), mobile phones & IPODs, all of which can do wondrous things like keep a calendar and address book, play music, play the radio or check the Internet (Japanese mobiles). Regardless of what new technologies arise, I've found that the old-fashioned pen to paper has never failed me. A Moleskine (whether hardbound or the new "paperback" versions) is better than loose Post-it notes...and there's this great little pocket in the back where you can keep slips of paper like the loose Post-it.

This particular Moleskine journal is dedicated to our San Antonio househunting journey... I've got the basics that we'll need when we chat with our agent via phone or email, listings that we've found on various sites, etc. When we get closer to our move, I expect it to evolve into the central repository for the really important stuff ... utility companies, cable providers, home repair services... the nearest neighborhood coffee shop...the nearest decent shopping mall... the nearest Wal Mart... the nearest Home Depot



SAN ANTONIO...I've managed to use a variety of online sites to get information on San Antonio neighborhoods. Since I love doing the research and presenting options, that's what I'm doing. (I research like a mad scientist and present my findings to Hubby...this is also how we managedto have a wedding and reception for over 200 guests with 6 months of planning.)


SAN ANTONIO ONLINE HOUSEHUNTING TOOLS: Through the use of 2 major Internet portals, mySA.com and trulia.com, & Google Earth/Maps, I'm able to triangulate and get good basic info on a house listing or a neighborhood. If a house is listed on mySA.com, I can usually get more information off trulia.com. While it seems that every listing found on trulia.com can be found on mySA.com, it doesn't work the other way. The nice thing about trulia.com is that each listing will also have additional views of the home, via the agent's own website. Now that we're working with a great agent, Kathy Seale with the Phyllis Browning Company, we're able to ask her about listings found online and since we've already done as much research as possible from half the world away, we rely on her for the fine details that aren't readily evident online. Game Plan: She sends us additional information in the form of sellers MLS listing (with price change history, days on the market, room sizes, exterior and interior details), offers her personal & professional opinions (this is critical), and finally, we narrow our choices down and make a realistic and sensible offer on our next home. Ahh, but that's in a perfect world. Hopefully we don't have to do it more than once, but we can only hope...

Alamo Heights is at the top of our list but we think that the houses we're finding on the current market are either going to be gone when we are ready to make an offer, turn out to be lemons and fall off our list of choices, or we end up having to make an offer relatively soon and have to pay out of pocket for a couple of months to secure the deal... yikes! (So, we're preparing for just about anything to happen...) However, since the housing market nationwide is in a slump, we hope the stars line up just right and we find at least ONE home that is nearly almost perfect for our needs and the seller graciously accepts our offer with minimal to no negotiating at the table. We want a home that not only fits our present and future needs, but in case we are transferred out of the area in a few years, we can readily rent or sell it.

If only we could transport all the great qualities of our old Parkfairfax neighborhood in Northern Virginia down to Texas...the proximity to work, friends, parish church, downtown and neighboring entertainment areas like Shirlington Village and all the great restaurants and shops therein. Alamo Heights comes closest in terms of the energy and vibe...so we're crossing our fingers that luck will be on our side!

Snail Mail

Virtual aside: In the old days, before a sailor crossed the equator, he was called a Wog (as in pollywog) and was looked down upon until he became a Shellback. This was accomplished after much trial and tribulation during an event lovingly called Wog Day. Nowadays, Wog Day events are much tamer and less gross than in decades past (there is no longer the arduous task of eating a cherry from the hairy belly button of the largest man on the ship). This photo is of one of my favorite people searching in vain for the elusive Mail Buoy off the coast of Vanuatu... Mail is very important to the deployed sailor, even on Wog Day!

Okay, what's the big deal about snail mail? Living overseas has taken it's toll on my mental state when it comes to checking my mailbox. BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): Mail call while I was deployed at sea took a whole new meaning...I opened up magazine subscriptions and eagerly awaited catalogs and other 3rd class mail just so that SOMETHING was in my office INBOX. Granted, I had to beat back my admin staff (all male) when my Victoria's Secret Holiday catalogs came. Ick factor alert: there's nothing like getting ABC'd mail (Already Been... well, you get the picture).

Brown Boxes & Blockbuster.com DVDs: Oh, packages are even better... even if you're the one who ordered from Amazon or any one of the hundreds of online companies who cater to military post offices. Those companies are amazing! Blockbuster.com, you guys are also on my list of "favorite things to get in the mail"! I could have been in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with no land in sight, but when the mail came, those lovely brown boxes with the familiar amazon.com swirl or the flat little blue and yellow squarish envelope with any one of the next 3 DVDs on my Blockbuster list could make an otherwise crappy day at sea pretty darn good. 10 days delivery time was about the norm...in fact, no packages from an online company took greater than 2-3 weeks (10 days was about the norm). The only thing I recall being delayed was my Texas ballot that was sent to the wrong ship while at sea...so it probably went to more port calls than I did. (FYI: I still managed to send my ballot in time...)

Anyone who knows someone who's a long way from home, whether in another country or another state, please remember that little things in packages mean a lot. We wouldn't have been able to get into the holiday spirit while at sea on a ship that's stationed overseas if it hadn't been for our friends and family who sent us the little things to help us along the way...

These photos are from my last holiday party on my old ship in 2005...that was probably one of the best times I've had with my coworkers in the 16 years I've been in the service. You know the saying about "these are the best of times, these are the worst of times"...that pretty much summed up my 2 years on the Kitty Hawk. I wouldn't trade it for all the tea in China!