yokohama, japan

well, it's been four days since we left yokohama, japan and we will be at sea for another five days before we make it honolulu, hawaii.

we just finished celebrating easter twice (april 12th) in order to be on the same day and time as hawaii we had two days of april 12th and have moved our clocks forward two hours in two days. when all is said and done we will have advanced our clocks twenty four hours and celebrated one day twice. not only am i confused but i'm tired too.

we were in yokohama for two days-two quick and jammed packed days!

on the first day i went to tokyo with andrea, becca, janetta, jason, kate and kate. we stopped at the post office in yokohama to get yen so we could catch the express train to tokyo. once in tokyo we went in search of a restroom and chai from starbucks :) once we had met some of our basic human needs we walked around tokyo until we found a picture booth place. picture booths are HUGE in japan! we ended up in a place filled with school girls in uniforms gigging and laughing as they crammed into the different booths to pose for pictures with their best friends. somehow we managed to fit all seven of us into one picture booth for a speed round of pictures.

after the glamour shoot, we went in search of a grocery store in hopes of finding sushi and sake to take to yoyogi park for lunch. as we made our way to yoyogi, we found several malls selling very expensive clothing and accessories but we never found a grocery store :( we went to yoyogi park anyway where we walked around and took in the sites of friends having lunch, children playing and the cherry blossoms raining down on us as they began to shed their blossoms.

knowing that janetta and i would have to leave tokyo by 2:00pm in order to get back to yokohama for the baseball game, we left the park in hopes of finding a sushi restaurant. we wandered around takeshita street where we found several stores filled with hello kitty items, alternative clothing and lots of knick knack items. unfortunately we did not find a place for sushi so janetta and i left the group and headed back to yokohama.

we made it back to the ship in time to grab a quick bite from the grill on deck seven aft. after a veggie burger, i made my way back to the terminal to help with the baseball game attendees since i was the designated trip leader for this event. trying to get 150 plus people to walk with you through the streets of yokohama is similar to herding sheep. there are always one or two little lambs that seem to wander when they see other little lambs across the street or bright and shiny things in a store along the way.

we arrived at the yokohama baystars baseball stadium two hours ahead of game time so there was plenty of time to watch the baystars and san francisco giants warm up, drink beer, catch fly balls, eat popcorn, talk to friends, eat salty little fishes that still had eyes and purchase baseball souvenirs. watching a japanese baseball game can be tiring with non-stopping cheering complete with individual cheers for each player, fans who bring their own trumpets and other musical instruments and our very own cheerleader! even though the yokohama baystars lost to the san francisco giants 9-2 the fans cheered until the very last out.

i had a great time at the baseball game, and yet i must admit that my mind wandered at times as i tried to make sense of my interaction with another semester at sea individual who was also in attendance at the baseball game. as the filed trip leader, i helped the local tour guides hand out player rosters to all the semester at sea baseball fans. as i gave out the rosters, one person asked me why she would want the roster and as i tried to explain to her that it had each player's stats as well as their picture, she told she didn't need it since they all looked alike anyway. i felt like i had just been hit in the stomach with a baseball bat and hit in the head with a fly ball. i couldn't seem to catch my breathe as my head was spinning trying to determine if i had indeed just heard what i had heard. since this blog is a public blog i will not repeat here what i said or did but for those of you who know me you know cutting was involved!

after the game, we returned to the ship to meet up with those folks who had stayed in tokyo for the day. after bantering back and forth about whether we should go out and share our karaoke talent with others, janetta, bama and i ventured out to chinatown. we arrived in chinatown about 11:00pm to find the streets deserted and the closed neon signs the only lights left on in the bars and restaurants.

the next day i woke up at 6:00am in hopes of being able to get on the mt. fuji and hakone field trip. luck, and kate (sas field trip assistant coordinator), was on my side and i spent my last day in japan at mt. fuji and hakone. even though we were only able to get to stage five (there are ten stages) on mt. fuji because of the snow the view was well worth it. instead of attempting to describe mt. fuji to you ( which would be a pitiful attempt due to her amazing beauty) i would like to end this blog entry with a series of pictures of mt fuji from the bus, the visitor's center, mt. fuji and hakone. the crater you see on the left side of mt. fuji is a result of when she erupted in 1709. in the last picture, if you look close enough you can see the start of a fire on mt. fuji.