Hale of a Journey

Adulting at its Finest

Well, the best we can do during Covid-19.

Monday, August 3rd

Today Doug and I had some errands to do around base. We had to go to the health clinic to transfer our Tricare and get access to use the health clinic. Covid-19 has made everything different. There is only one way to get in the health clinic and they make sure you don’t have any Covid-19 symptoms. The health clinic houses medical and dental. I am allowed to use medical on base but dental I have to go out in town. I did everything out in town when we were in Denver since the closet base was Air Force. I am due for a teeth cleaning. I will have to get the list that has what dentist I am allowed to use. We ate on base for lunch. We had Taco Bell. It is actually really good here. Plus, they have Melon Soda.

We then we had Housing appointment to find out how to find a place. We sat through a 45 minute presentation about how much our OHA (Overseas Housing Allowance) is and COLA (Cost of Living Allowance). We should have between $5,000 to $7,000 for the initial contract signing. We are expected to pay for first month’s rent, security deposit, pet fee, realtor’s fee, and restoration fees (tatami mats). We will get back the realtor’s fee and the restoration fees. There is a chance there might not be any restoration fees. We learned how to read the listings they post in the Housing Office. We also got some information about trash and recycling. They take it serious here, makes me happy! We will have to use certain bags and learn how to sort the trash and recycling. There is only specific days you are allowed to set your garbage and recycling out. It depends on your cho (neighborhood).

After the presentation, we went to see what was available. The only house they had that accepted pets was a five bedroom house. We walked out disappointed. We left base and decided to check out a realtor that someone in the Tricare office told use about. I have actually looked at the realtor’s website several times during ROM. We talked to a realtor and he told us the only option they have is a house about two miles from base. The people are actually moving out today. The realtor asked if we could go see it next Tuesday, August 11th. We agreed to meet him next week at his office. They have to clean it up and inspect it. Doug and I left there happy we get to actually look at a place next week!

Our informational packet to help find a place.

Then we went to Yonkacho because I wanted to buy a water bottle and to get dinner. We went to AEON for a water bottle. The AEON is eight floors. The water bottles were on the seventh floor and then Doug wanted to look at video games on the fifth floor. I am excited for my water bottle. It is light weight and has a strap to carry it.

My new water bottle. It holds six cups of water.

For dinner, we went to Mos Burger because Doug couldn’t decide on what to eat. Mos Burger is at the end from where we started so we just choose that. Plus, I have been waiting to try their Tobikiri burger. The Big Man burger was better than Mos Burger. The Tobikir burger I got at Mos Burger was just okay. The best part was the Gouda cheese. I think this is the first meal I felt just okay with.

Tobikiro Burger, onion rings, fries, and melon soda.

Tuesday, August 4th

My mission today was to withdraw money from Navy Federal and then exchange it to yen at Community Bank sponsored by Bank of America. Luckily both banks are in the same building. We are getting the money ready in order to pay for our rent and the other fees. We want to be ready so we can sign the lease quickly and get our household goods moved in. We don’t get to look at the place until next Tuesday. We are in a time crunch because we want to move in before Doug leaves at the end of the month. Our plan is to have a car and place to live before he leaves. We go for our driving test this Friday. We shall see! I withdrew $6,000 out. I exchanged $3,000 for yen. $3,000 ends up being 306,000 yen (the exchange rate for today). Why not all $6,000? Community Bank requires a few days notice if you need to exchange $5,000 or more. We decided to exchange some out today and the rest later. Smart.

After Doug got off work, we went out for dinner and picked up some things at the grocery store. We ate at Pepper Lunch, again. Doug said this was his favorite place we have ate at, then asked for my opinion. Well my favorite is Toride which is the ramen place I went without him. Then Hamakatsu, the place I had chicken katsu, and then Pepper Lunch. We then discussed how we like Big Man Burger over Mos Burger.

After dinner, we went to the grocery store because I wanted more peach water. It is cheaper at the grocery store and Doug wanted to get some snacks. He has watch tomorrow and won’t be back until Thursday after work. My plan for tomorrow is to have Cup Noodle for lunch, then go out for dinner. It is too hot during the day and I would rather go out in the evening. I feel safe going out on my own. We then stopped at Mister Donut, couldn’t resist.

The Lemon Mochi Donut was interesting. The mochi layer had powder sugar underneath that made it messy. Once you got a bite with the lemon, donut, powder sugar, and mochi; yummy!

Wednesday, August 5th

So, I had Cup Noodle for lunch and then stayed in. I got addicted to my show, Find Yourself, and decided to watch it instead of going out. I will be going tomorrow. I have a meeting with FLEET and Family about applying to Federal jobs tomorrow.

Thursday, August 6th

I set an alarm so I could get up early enough to work out. I have been working out for about a week and a half. We shall see if I will continue. After my workout, a minute siren went off to commemorate when the Atomic Bomb went off in Hiroshima. I did record it for a moment. There will be another minute long siren to go on August 9th from 11:02 to 11:03 for Nagasaki city.

I went to FLEET and Family to talk about job opportunities. I discovered that I need to build a federal resume, which is going to be lengthy. The minimum requirement should be three pages. The example I was shown was eight pages long. You are thinking why. Well, they use a company to plug everything is. The company only looks for keywords. So you copy and paste the key words into your resume. The more you have, the more ‘qualified’ you are for the position. So I started to work on it. It is up to four pages but I am going to take a break. I like to take breaks and will check it later. It allows me to catch silly mistakes and add more information. I use the same method with this blog.

Doug texted me telling me to go ahead and have dinner. I decided to go try one of the many food options at the Ginza, Yonkacho. I went to Restaurant Gyuemon. I got steak on rice with miso soup, a cabbage salad, pickled vegetables, and green tea. It was yummy. The seaweed with the rice was a little interesting but it was still good. The cabbage salad was dressed with thousand island dressing. I am not a fan of cabbage but it was good. I spent 1,408 yen ($13.36) on dinner. I do want to come back to try their tonkatsu.

Friday, August 7th

We went to get our driver’s license in order to drive in Japan. Driving here is a privilege and can be taken away from you. In order to get your license to drive in Japan, through the military, you have to have a current stateside driver’s license. We also had to have out INDOC paperwork, orders, and my authorization to be in Japan. We sat through an hour long class then took a 50 question test. The questions were mostly about Japanese driving laws and signs.

DUI is also a huge deal here. If you blow a .03, you are drunk and will be charged with DUI. You can get three years in jail or a 500,000 yen fine. You don’t want to go jail in Japan. During our INDOC, we were told about a guy who spent a week in jail here. In jail, you are giving disgusting food, no bed, you are allowed a shower once a week, and no air conditioning. The guy they picked up from jail apparently smelled disgusting. You can also be charged with DUI even if you are a passenger in the car. Doug and I don’t drink often but if/when we do, we will make sure to have a ride of some sort.

You must score at least an 80% or higher to pass the written test. After the written test you take a driver’s test. I got a 98% on my written test but I messed up the driver’s test. The last part of the driver’s test is backing up into a spot. Yeah, I hit a cone and failed. I get to take the test again next week. The instructor felt bad, but it was my mistake! Doug passed his written and the driver test. Doug got his license and I got a learner’s permit. I am allowed to drive on base with the learner’s permit, so I plan on practicing my backing up skills once we get a car.

Looking for a car

There are several Facebook groups of people selling their cars here in Sasebo. If you buy a car to use here, you must get rid of it before you leave Sasebo. Doug found a couple selling their 2005 Nissan Cube for $1,800. We were able to meet up with them and test drive the vehicle. We agreed to purchase the vehicle and they were awesome to show us what we needed to do. They are leaving next week, but were nice enough to let us purchase it today. It was nice to talk to other people and they were nice to tell us about some of the things they have done in Japan. They are actually moving to Jacksonville, FL so Doug and I gave them some tips. I plan on sharing some more information with them because we are friends through Facebook.

We are now the proud owners of a 2005 Nissan Cube! The former owners named it Bender and we decided to keep the name.

We spent a couple of hours insuring the car and then talking to the people on base to get it registered for the gate. After that we went back to the Lodge. The previous owners needed the car until the evening to do some errands, which we were totally fine with. We decided to stay on base because we didn’t know when they would be done with the vehicle. We went to Chili’s for a late lunch. We got what we always get which is Skillet Queso. Doug got chicken and I got the Chicken and Bacon Quesadilla. It was yummy! They actually put a lot of chicken in my quesadilla.

The couple took us to Ra Ra Ra Ramen. Someone treated them to Ra Ra Ra Ramen when they first got to Sasebo so they wanted to treat us. There was some back and forth about paying for dinner but they were adamant about paying. I have heard how good Ra Ra Ra Ramen is. Doug and I both got the Bariuma Ramen. I got some gyoza to go with mine. It was good.

Saturday, August 8th

What a difference having a car is. Today we woke up without an alarm and left when we were ready. The realtor emailed Doug about the house we were going to look at on Tuesday. Well, apparently they will accept little dogs but not cats. We decided to head over to talk to the realtor to see if they had anything available that accept cats. We drove to Nimitz Park to park the car and walked over to the realtor. Nimitz Park is across the road from base. Nimitz Park meets up with Sasebo Park. You walk over the Albuquerque Bridge and the realtor is across the street on the right. It was nice to not be as sweaty.

The realtor found a place but he has to talk to the landlord to see if they will allow the cats. We went to look at it. Its about 20 minutes from base which is fine. It is actually in Sasebo-Daito. Daito is the where we got off when we missed our stop going to Hard Off. This is where we found the massive AEON Shopping Center. Anyways, the realtor took us to this beautiful house. It is gorgeous! Doug and I are excited but the realtor has to check to make sure the landlord will allow two cats and if the base will approve it (they require an inspection).

Once we came back, we went to Yonkacho (Ginza) to get the cats a litter box. The Ginza is two blocks from the realtor. We want one with taller sides. We bought a litter box and the litter for it. We walked back to the car. A nice short walk. Then Doug wanted to go to Book Off. We walked to Book Off two weeks ago, it took an hour there and an hour back. Today it took five minutes in the car. I was the navigator and Doug was the driver. At Book Off I found a Yokohama Starbucks Mug. I collect Starbucks Mug. I have a decent collection. What is cool about this mug is it is from 2012. I got it 1,310 yen and found someone selling one for $16.99. We bought a charger for the car. Then we went to the GEO in the same area. We didn’t find anything.

We then went to AEON Daito Shopping Center. We decided we were going to get something to eat because they have several options. We got some chicken from a karaage place. It was delicious but it wasn’t filling. We then decided to try KFC. Doug and I both got the Red Hot Chicken Meal. It came with two pieces of chicken, fries, a pie, and a drink. We then added a biscuit because it comes with Honey Maple Syrup. It was amazing! Then I wanted to check out the selection at Mister Donut. I got a Strawberry Pon De Ring with strawberry jelly and mochi.

We then headed to another GEO on the way back. Doug bought two games for 330 yen. Then we decided to go back to base. We rested in the room for a bit then went out to get dinner. We went to Yonkacho (Ginza), Doug decided he wanted McDonald’s. They have some Hawaiian sandwiches as their seasonal item. I got the Spicy BBQ sandwich and some shaka shaka chicken. It was awesome! Doug got chicken nuggets and shaka shaka chicken. We decided to try the hot pepper for the shaka shaka chicken. It was amazing!

Then we went to AEON because Doug needed some more masks. He bought three black masks and one cooling mask. Then I decided to finally go to Starbucks. I don’t know how I have survived! Well, Starbucks is usually a treat not a habit. Anyways, I got my basic white bitch drink. Its just an Iced Caramel Macchiato. Its pretty basic. Doug ordered a Mocha Frappucino. It was so yummy!

When we got back to base, I decided to practice my driving skills and backing into a parking spot. Having a learner’s permit takes me back to being sixteen. It is a strange feeling.

I am rocking driving on the opposite side of the road and turning. I did a much better time backing into a spot this time. I am quite proud of myself. We shall see on Wednesday if I pass. There is still more time to practice.

Sunday, August 9th

I finished watching Find Yourself early this morning. They tied all the lose ends in the last episode and rushed things. I hope they release another season, because it was released in January of this year. With everything going on, who knows. It was a good watch but I feel empty now. Its the part where you finish watching something and now have to find something else to watch. I have plenty of TV shows and movies to discover through Japan Netflix. I have been just looking after titles of actors and/or actresses I have the shows or movies I have watched.

I am only running off of three hours of sleep. Once Doug got up, we decided to go explore west of the base. One of Doug’s friends suggested we go to Coco Ichibanya, a Japanese Curry restaurant. We decided we would go there for lunch and just look around the area. Coco Ichibanya was in a mini shopping area. There was a grocery store, a book store, cell phone provider, hair salon, and a bank. We went to the book store just to see what they have. I love stationary here! I found a Belle pen and a Belle towel. I also bought my mom some Cinderella stuff. You can find Belle, Ariel, and Rapuzel items but Cinderella is harder to find.

We then went to Coco Ichibanya for some curry. I got a chicken cutlet, vegetables, and rice and Doug got a beef cutlet with rice. Our waitress spoke beautiful English so ordering was easy. Our meal was delicious.

Then we were thinking about going to the grocery store to get stuff for dinner. We decided against it. We will just back out later. The scenery was beautiful! I made sure to take some pictures safely. I love it here.

The realtor got back with Doug through email. The house we looked at yesterday doesn’t allow cats. We talked to another realtor, and they don’t have anything allowing pets. The plan is to go talk to housing tomorrow and check out what they have available.

We went to 7-eleven after the realtor. I found a new Starbucks drink. I cannot wait to try it. We bought some pastries and Doug decided to try a snack. He didn’t like his snack. I got a couple of pastries.

For dinner, we went to Hamakatsu, the tonkatsu place. We have been here and it was amazing! I decided to try something different. I got a chicken cutlet with cheese, a pork cutlet with cheese, a piece of shrimp, zucchini, and avocado. It was amazing! I love this place. It is my favorite place to eat right now. Doug got a beef cutlet. After dinner, we went to the grocery store next door. I wanted ice cream. We got ice cream, along with some snacks. We require lots of snacks!

Adventurous Week

Monday, July 27th

It was a rainy day. I decided I wanted to try out a ramen place close to by, Toride. I decided on Toride because it had the best reviews on Google. Toride has the best ramen and gyoza I have had so far. I cannot wait to go back with Doug.

I have been exploring the same areas but getting there different ways. I went to Gobangai to get a donut from Mister Donut. While at Gobangai I went to the 100 yen shop there. They have some awesome kitchen stuff. Then I decided to walk around different streets to see where things are. I found the bar area of town.

Tuesday, July 28th

I had to do a few errands around base. I got those done and went to Gobangai for a beef bowl from Hanamaru Udon. It was delicious. I went to Village Vanguard to buy some socks for my Toms. I had to buy men’s sock to fit my feet. They were cheaper to buy out in town instead of on base. I also bought this cute pikachu pouch for all my yen coins. Then I went to Ellena, a grocery store, to buy lunch for tomorrow. Doug will be coming back and my plan is to go out when he gets back. I bought some sesame miso roasted pork with rice and some Cup of Noodles.

Wednesday, July 29th

I worked on my Japanese for about two hours and then Rosetta Stone made me mad. There is a part where you have to speak into the mic on your device, and it wasn’t working properly. I am good at short sentences but the longer sentences are tough. I am just going to have to keep at it.

Doug got in late, like almost 9 p.m. At this point I had ate dinner which was a Cup of Noodles. We went out. It was my first time being out so late in Sasebo. It was awesome. We went to Sasebo Yonkacho in search of food. We found several places but Doug is a picky eater. He decided not to try something new tonight. We ended up at McDonald’s. I know, typical Americans going to McDonalds. Its different though! I got the teriyaki chicken sandwich and Doug got chicken nuggets. It was good. Then we went to 7-eleven for snacks. We were out for about an hour and half.

Doug told me all about his first time being on a ship. I know he has been in the Navy for seven years and this was his first time being on a ship. Doug’s first command was a flight squadron in Jacksonville, FL. He seems to really enjoy the people he works with.

Thursday, July 30th

View of Sasebo from second story of Navy Lodge.

Doug went to work and I had a lazy day. I stayed in the room the whole day until Doug got off work. As soon as he got off, we went to have dinner at Pepper Lunch. Doug has been talking about Pepper Lunch for a while now and we were going to go last week. Pepper Lunch was delicious and an awesome experience. You get to cook your own steak on a hot plate. I have been sticking to small portions and I am glad I have been. The food is more filling here.

After dinner, we went to Family Mart, a convenience store. We bought some snacks and drinks to have in the room. I got some gyoza for a snack and Doug got some spicy chicken nuggets. We picked up some snacks we haven’t seen. I bought a lemon turnover and it was amazing! Everything I have tried has been good. I feel like I don’t know what I am going to do when I find something I don I have enjoyed everything I have ate. I enjoy the pastry here are just sweet enough. In the U.S. there seems to be too much sugar in everything.

I enjoy when we go out in town. I love seeing their fashion sense is different and to see how small some of them are. It is amazing. Doug and I talked about how we are glad we get to live out in town and we will want to get to know our neighbors. They have a program on base that will give us a translator in order to talk to our neighbors. I am excited for this opportunity and glad to be in Japan with such turmoil happening in the U.S.

Friday, July 31st

I have a set routine. I get up, work out, eat breakfast, and take a shower. Today I decided to do a load of laundry. The humidity is crazy here. By the time we go out and walk around and come back, our clothes are soaked. I am going to be doing laundry more frequently so I only have to do one load at a time. There are only two washers and two dryers on the floor. I don’t want to hog both washers and dryers. I ate some gyoza for lunch and worked on my Japanese through Rosetta Stone. I am starting to feel more confident with certain syllables and reading the katakana and hiragana. Katakana and hiragana are easy to learn compared to kanji. Kanji is adopted logo-graphic Chinese Characters. Japanese uses a mixture of all three.

I waited until Doug got off work to leave the room. We went exploring the Sasebo Yonkacho since the shops were open. Doug has been looking for a video game store, no luck there. We know where one is for sure, but it is an hour walk or we can take the train. We are planning on taking the train tomorrow to go there. We found a store with a cute Pikachu bag and decided to go in. This place was amazing! They had Pokemon, Studio Ghilbi, Hello Kitty, and Disney stuff. We spent about 5,300 yen (about $50). I got a Pikachu resusable bag, a JiJi towel, a JiJi bag, a Pikachu key ring, and a Pikachu pen. The Pikachu pen has two colors, red and black. The right ear down is black and the left ear down is red. Its pretty cute! I love that I can find JiJi, from Kiki’s Delivery Service, items. I haven’t bought much so it was nice to actually buy some things for me!

Then we went to go eat. Doug was thinking tonkastu or Pepper Lunch again. There is a tonkastu place next to Pepper Lunch so we knew just to walk to that area. Doug decided on Pepper Lunch again. I was happy because I wanted to try a different dish. I tried pepper steak rice and it was awesome! Doug got pepper steak rice and the same steak he got last night. It was awesome! We have decided that we need to branch out and venture out further. I feel like we have explored all we can in this area. I am glad we are planning on taking the train tomorrow to go further out.

Saturday, August 1st

We went on an adventure today! Doug wanted to go to Hard Off to look at video games. In order to get there we could walk for an hour or take the train and walk for 20 minutes. The temperature today was 90 degrees and the humidity was 89%. There is nothing like stepping outside and just being drenched in sweat. Anyways, we decided we were going to take the train. That means we had to figure out if they had a train card we could use for multiple rides or just purchase a round trip ticket. We went to information and the guy was nice enough to explain to us they have a train card only for the central area of Sasebo. Where we want to go is outside of that. We just went to the machine, thank goodness it has an English button, picked the station we wanted to go to and pay. Round trip tickets to go to Hiu station was 840 yen about $8 for the both of us. The train wouldn’t be there until 1:04 p.m. and it was just 12:10 p.m. We decided to have tonkastu (tempura pork cutlet) for lunch.

We went to Hamakastu which is right next to Pepper Lunch. I know. We actually went somewhere besides Pepper Lunch. I was happy because I have been wanting some chicken katsu. This place had a tablet that we ordered from and the waitress who seated us was nice enough to set the language to English. We started looking through the menu and it took a moment because we wanted to look at everything. Doug got tonkastu and I got chicken katsu. We got to make our own tonkastu sauce! You grind sesame seeds then pour either the traditional or the special sauce they have on the tables in with the sesame seeds. Doug and I both went with the special sauce. Then when our food came we poured the tonkastu over our tempura battered meat. It was the best chicken katsu I have had so far! This place was amazing and was worth it. It was 3,298 yen which is $31.14. I want to go back again!

After lunch, we went to find the platform for our train. That took a little bit because we cannot read Japanese and the English translation gives the name of the train, which we didn’t know the name. What saved us was the departure time. We knew the train we wanted to be on left at 1:04 p.m. There was only one train at 1:04 p.m. which was on platform one (there were six platforms). We got there early so we waited. Once the train arrived, we got on in an orderly fashion. We were in a line by the door we were getting on the train.

On the train, it was different, in a good way. It was quiet and if people were talking it was in a whisper. We were suppose to get off at the next stop but our train doors didn’t open. Apparently during non-business hours, the front train cars open to exit, but the second car doesn’t open. Yeah it was a small train. Well we didn’t know this and we got off at the next stop, Daito. We weren’t the only ones who didn’t know this. It made us feel a little better. At the next stop, we found AEON Shopping Center. At first, we thought it was a mall, which it kinda was, but was just a large department store. They also had a food court and a grocery area. This place was like three floors of shopping and the fourth and fifth floors were parking. This place was huge. We found Doug a water bottle for work. I found a couple of gacha machine items I couldn’t live without. Gacha machines are everywhere! I love it!

After the AEON Shopping Center in Daito, we went walking to Hard Off. It was about 2 km walk, mostly uphill. It was brutal! It was too hot today. We found this store GEO which has video game and movie rentals. They also sell video games. Doug found the game he was looking for but they were sold out. We did buy two used games. We are getting better at handling transactions with limited Japanese. Japan charges for plastic bags as of the first of July. It can be three to five yen. Which doesn’t sound too bad but it adds up. This transaction, the guy was telling us about how the charge might take up to a week to show up. We figured that part out after we left. We literally got through the conversation by just saying ‘yes’ in Japanese. The bag part is now the easiest part because they show us a laminated mat with the the two options. Sometimes we buy a bag but if we already have a bag, we just point to the bag. I have bought a couple of reusable bags but we didn’t take one with us today.

This house has some amazing landscaping!

We made it to Hard Off! Hard Off sells used electronics and some kitchen appliances. Doug was disappointed at their video game selection and we walked out without buying anything. Which is surprising. We got some water from the many vending machines you can find and started walking to the train station. We waited about ten minutes at the train station and then went back to central Sasebo. We decided we weren’t going back to the room until after dinner. We decided to explore a little bit. We went to Tonoo Tunnel Market which is known as “the kitchen of Sasbo”. They had fresh seafood and ready made food. We then headed to Yokocho Shopping Street.

We decided to have dinner at one of the many restaurants at Yokocho Shopping Street. It took us a while to figure out what we wanted. We decided to have a Sasebo Burger. Sasebo Burger was created when the U.S. Navy took over the Sasebo Base after WWII. There are plenty of places to find a Sasebo Burger. We picked Big Man because they had plenty of seating. Doug and I shared the Gokusen Burger, onion rings, potato wedges, and some fried chicken. Doug always orders extra food. I make sure to order small because there is always extra food. I am glad we only got one burger. The Gokusen Burger was amazing! You are probably thinking there is no way that burger was good. I hate to tell you this, but it was the best burger I have ever ate. I know, how can a burger in Japan beat all the burgers I have had in America. Easy. In Japan they have a higher quality for their food and their work ethnic is truly outstanding.

After dinner, we went to 7-eleven for some snacks. I got some chocolate chip bread and a couple of rice cakes. I am excited to try my rice cakes. We also got some drinks.

Chocolate and Vanilla ice cream from 7-eleven. Yummy

Some more pictures I took out in town.

Sunday, August 2nd

Doug has decided he wants a lazy day. He just wants to play video games and stay in the room. I finished a Korean Drama, Tomorrow With You and then started a Chinese Drama, Find Yourself. Tomorrow With You was a roller coaster of emotions! One moment you are happy then the next you are crying. Tomorrow With You is about a time traveler who saves someone and changes both their futures. It has some good twists. Find Yourself is about a woman in her thirties who is still single and is being pressured to date anybody. I am only a few episodes in but I enjoy how it deals with themes of being single in your thirties, living at home with your parents, dating a colleague, and being love with someone who is ten years older. We shall see how this one will end.

This week was great. I survived without Doug in a new country. Doug went on the ship for the first time. Doug and I rode the train together for the first time in Sasebo and had an amazing weekend!

Next week, we go to housing and have a driver’s test.

Getting Settled, Yeah Right

We earned the privilege to leave our hotel room and the base Tuesday, July 21st. We were excited and happy to get outside of the room and leave the base. Our first adventure was to go to Sasebo GoBanGai (5th Avenue) mall. There we looked at some places and got food.

Wednesday, July 22nd

Doug wanted to go to Book Off. It was a 5 km walk from the Navy Lodge. Yes, we walked there because we don’t have a car yet and we needed to walk to lose our quarantine/ROM weight. Book Off resells used products. They had a little bit of everything. Doug was interested in there used game selection even if it is in Japanese. I was interested in looking at collectibles for Pokemon items. I bought a Oshawott and a Butterfree chain. Doug bought a bunch of games.

While we were walking back, this older woman asked us how long we had been in Sasebo and how long we were going to be here. She seemed surprised to see us walking. Then she asked where we were from, Kentucky of course. This is the best part. She was like “Oh, Kentucky Fried Chicken!” Doug and I replied “Yes!” It was heart warming and lovely she took some time to talk to us.

We ended up eating Yoshinoya that night. I had a small beef bowl. Doug got a medium beef bowl and a medium pork bowl. I learned from our udon outing to just get a small. I ate all of mine and Doug struggled. I helped him finish the pork bowl. The pork bowl was better than the beef bowl.

We found out from Housing, the earliest we can start looking for a place will be August 3rd. We have a meeting scheduled with housing on August 3rd to talk about out in town options. Nothing on base will be opening up any time soon, so we will be living out in town. I wanted to live out in town, so this works, but we get to live at the Navy Lodge until we find a place.

Thursday, July 23rd

Doug left for his ship in the morning. They are just under weigh in the harbor, so not too far. He will be back Wednesday. I got to go out in town by myself, this will be happening a lot while we are here. This also means I really need to start working on my Japanese.

I went to Sasebo GoBanGai (5th Avenue) mall for lunch. I have been wanting some takoyaki (they have octopus in them shaped like a ball). I got some takoyaki and a peach water (my favorite drink here). Then I wanted to explore Sasebo Yonkacho Shotengai (https://www.yonkacho.com/english/). It is a central shopping mall in Sasebo. It has two 100 yen stores (dollar store), two 7 elevens, several clothing stores, restaurants, two fruit stands, and a mini grocery store. I went into the 100 yen stores looking for a few things. I ended up with a few extra things, like always. I found some cute cat stuff, which is always needed. I didn’t buy all the items with cats on it, but I wanted to. I am also waiting until we get a place to get some of the essentials.

Friday, July 24th

I didn’t leave base. I have a terrible ear ache. I went looking for medication at the NEX and they didn’t have any. I looked for medicine yesterday out in town, but couldn’t find any. My plan is just to place a warm washcloth on it and take Tylenol. I am hoping it gets better because tomorrow is Pokemon Go Fest and I plan to be out the majority of the day.

I got several emails about our driving test. It is schedules for August 26th. This means we cannot buy a car until one of us has a driver’s license. I am not worried about it. I have been walking everywhere I want to go. This will be a concern when we find a place and need to take our luggage from the hotel to our new place. Not too worried about right now. There is also public transportation in town if we need to go out further.

Saturday, July 25th

My ear feels better today. I believe there is too much moisture in the air. What has been helping is I have been placing a small amount of cotton ball in my ear.

Day one of Pokemon Go Fest. It started at 10:00 a.m. but I couldn’t leave the room until they came to clean it. We have two cats and we don’t want them to run out of the room. The Navy Lodge is requiring they clean the rooms every day when you are out of ROM. I have tried to make it easy on house keeping and keep the litter box tidy. Calcifer likes to sling the litter everywhere and we have a little broom and dust pan I use to clean it up.

I left the room around noon. I wanted sushi for lunch and went to Sushiro. You have a screen in front of you that you order from and the food comes out on a conveyor belt. Luckily they have an English menu. I ordered several different kinds of sushi. My lunch ended up being 638 yen ($6.38). Sushiro is actually at Sasebo GoBanGai. I have been wanting to check out the 300 yen shop they have. OMG!! They have the cutest penguin bins and mats! I wanted to buy them all but I need to wait to see what we need for our apartment. It was difficult.

Sasebo GoBanGai is made up of several buildings. One building I haven’t really looked at the shops, even though I have been by it twice. I decided to go into Village Vanguard. It has a mixture of things. From the outside it looks like a lot of things from America, which it does but it has some Japanese anime as well. My favorite item was a towel with poop on it. I also found the Pokemon section and a Studio Ghilbi section. I wanted the big Jiji pillow but it was 3,400 yen (about $34). I couldn’t justify it to my self. Maybe later.

From there I went back to Sasebo Yonkacho Shotengai. It is a great place to play Pokemon Go. I also went into one of the 100 yen shops because it had a second floor I missed. The second floor had arts and crafts, resusable bags, school supplies, socks, and toys. I ended up buying a few things. I went to 7 eleven for some caffeine and a snack, spent about 300 yen ($3). Then I decided to find a place to sit and play Pokemon Go. I found an area with several places to sit.

I bought this cute reusable bag, cat stationary, penguin stationary, and cat stickers.

Then I decided to go back to base a different way. I also didn’t use any GPS to help me. I ended up finding Sasebo River and the Albuquerque bridge. There was a park, Sasebo City Park, that I decided to wander through. Then I found Nimitz park which is across from the base. I am proud of myself for purposely getting lost, I like to call it an adventure, then finding where I needed to go on my own.

Today I found myself marveling at how beautiful Sasebo is.

Sunday, July 26th

Day two of Pokemon Go Fest! My luck was better today. I got nine shinies and some are new and some I already had. Yesterday, I only got two shinies. To me, it was a successful Go Fest because I got new shinies. I like to name my shinies where I caught them. The ones I haven’t named will just be Go Fest 2020.

I ultimately decided Sasebo Yonkacho Shotengai is the place to play Pokemon Go. This is the central shopping mall that is outside but has covered walk ways. It has lots of poke stops and gyms. I was able to join a raid to maximum capacity which is 20 accounts. It has been nice to be able to join a large raid group without having to coordinate.

While at Sasebo Yonkacho Shotengai, I went into AEON, a grocery store. I decided to get some Japanese Fried Chicken and Eel Sushi for dinner. It was amazing. I made a mistake while checking out. I tried to check out the opposite way. I am glad the cashier knew some English and was able to help me. He was nice.

I also went to the 100 yen store for some chopsticks to eat my dinner with.

Freedom

We were finally set free to roam the base today. We cannot leave base until they send our certificate that we finished our seven hour videos.

Doug had to go check-in with some office because his ship is under weigh. I got up and did my normal routine. I just made coffee and starting to work on this blog. Doug came back about two hours later saying we were moving rooms. The Navy Lodge in Sasebo has two buildings. Building one is for ROM people and building two is for non-ROM people. We quickly packed everything up and moved rooms. Our new room is a little bit bigger and it has a beautiful view of Sasebo! Its a cloudy day but plenty of buildings to see.

After moving in, we went to housing. Doug had to fill out some paperwork. Then after housing, we had to take the cats to the vet on base. The cats got the all clear and they don’t have to be quarantined, because we did all the prep work! Thinking back on how Covid-19 really screwed everything up. I am glad we started getting everything together for our move to Japan early on, like November 2019. We took the cats back to the room. Then we went back out to get lunch. We got Taco Bell for convenience plus we both didn’t have breakfast.

After eating, we went to the NEX and the Commissary. We just picked up a few things we needed. At the NEX, Doug bought Paper Mario and I got a face mask. We bought some coffee, laundry detergent, and fabric softener at the Commissary. We then went to the Mini NEX to get some snacks and to check out what pet items they have. We were looking for a deeper litter box, but no luck. We decided to head back to our room.

When we got back to the room we put our drinks away, then Doug decided he was going to work out. He has been upset that he hasn’t really worked out since March. We all got fat. Its okay. He was ready to go, then our certificate came back, which allows us to go out in town. Doug went to double check we could go out in town. He came back and was all excited! I got ready and we left.

I looked into what was around base last week. When you leave base, left is the shipyard and to the right is places to eat and the mall. It is a quick walk, like 15 minutes. We went to the Sasebo GoBanGai (5th Avenue) mall. They had plenty of places to shop for clothes, a stationary store, a cookware store, a grocery store, and places to eat. We looked around. We went in the Toys R’ Us, the arcade, and the stationary store. Toys R’ Us was dangerous. They had a lot of cute toys and they had some snacks. Doug bought a really cool Mario Lego set. I got some Pokemon stuff. At the arcade, Doug won me three items. I got a stuffed Raichu, a mini stuffed Munchlax, and a Totoro purse from the claw machines. We spent about $25 (2,500 yen) playing and all three items are valued at $50. We then went to the stationary store. I just wanted to see what they had. They mostly has stickers and some cute paper. Then we went to this udon place to eat. I got curry udon. Doug got beef udon and beef and rice. It was delicious. We were both so exited and happy to finally get to see Sasebo and feel like we are in Japan.

After eating, we went to the grocery store. We went in for snacks and some drinks. I was excited to finally find the Pokemon snacks I was looking for. We decided to get back because Doug’s leg was hurting him.

It has been an amazing day! I am looking forward to all the new adventures and things we will get to see. I feel like I am finally in Japan!

Quarantine/ROM Week 4

This is it! Our last week of quarantine/ROM!!

I was looking into what is around us. Doug and I are making a list of places we want to go when we can leave base. It mostly includes food, like sushi, takoyaki (octopus balls), gyoza (pork dumplings) and ramen. There is a mall just across the river that has many food places. The mall is like a one in all stop. It has a grocery store, different shopping stores, and food. We cannot leave until we get our paperwork saying we watched some videos about the base and Japanese culture.

Tuesday, July 14th

Doug’s ship is under weigh, so no meals from the ship. This makes us sad because the ship food was amazing! We were going to have galley food, but unlike Atsugi, we have to pay for my meal. Its $5 per meal. That isn’t happening based on the food we got from Atsugi. Our gofer was nice to go to a restaurant and pick up food for us. She agreed having to pay for my meals at the galley was silly. I was excited because the menu she sent us from the restaurant had Gyoza (pork dumplings) on it! I was just discussing how I wanted some.

Since we are not getting galley food, we decided to get some groceries from the Commissary for a week. We tried to think of dishes that require hardly any seasoning. This is when we realized that we utilize seasoning for many dishes. We don’t have an oven, so we had to stick to items made in a pan or pot. Our meals will just look different and some things we just don’t make.

Food for the Day

Brekfast: eggs, bacon, and toast

Lunch: GYOZA!!! It is pork dumplings.

Dinner: Hot dogs

My hot dogs have nacho cheese on them. I know that is weird but its so good.

I am glad we don’t have to eat galley food. After trying the food from the ship, cannot go back to having galley food. I mean it wasn’t the worst food I ever have had, and food is food. It is when you have the option of having something different based on a scenario you didn’t expect. Plus cost has a lot to do with it. We don’t know what other expenses we will face will moving, especially if we have to move in town. If we move somewhere out in town, a few items won’t fit and we will have to pay to dispose of them.

Well, I didn’t do much today. I played Pokemon Go for a few hours. I checked Animal Crossing turnip prices and did a few things. Doug watched YouTube and played a game. The internet will be down for an hour tomorrow. Its been going in and out. I hope they fix it.

Wednesday, July 15th

The Lodge has been leaving Continental breakfast at our door. We have a stash of muffins, Nurti Grain bars, and oatmeal. This will be our breakfast for a while. Today I am having a banana nut muffin for breakfast. I don’t know what Doug will eat because he is picky.

Food for the Day

Breakfast: banana nut muffin and coffee

Lunch: peanut butter sandwich with white cheddar popcorn

Dinner: Hamburger Helper Chili Macaroni

Well I was tired of watching U.S. Netflix and decided to explore Japan Netflix. I found some movies I wanted to watch. In order to do this, I needed to download the Virtual Personal Network (VPN) app to my ipad. Doug bought a VPN a couple of weeks ago. We are using the VPN to bypass our geographic location. If I wanted to watch something bound to the U.S. I can just go into the VPN app and change my location. Same thing for if I want to watch something on Japan Netflix. I mean I have been watching way too many Asian dramas.

What did I watch yesterday? Well more K-pop videos, its becoming an unhealthy obsession. Oh, my bad, on Netflix Japan. I wanted to watch Tokyo Ghoul (live action), there was no English subtitles. No idea what they were saying but I did understand what happened. Its gory and the CG is impressive for its small budget. I might have laughed a good bit in the beginning.

Then I discovered they have The Hunger Games collection. I have been wanting to watch them after reading the prequel. I got through the first one and made it halfway through the second one. I laughed though at the titles of the movies. Instead of it being Catching Fire its just The Hunger Games 2. There was probably a reason behind the title being different.

I took Gigi out for a walk once I was allowed to leave the room. She cracks me up. At first, she wanted to go back inside as soon as we made it out. She then was happy to be outside. We now have a routine. She walks around the parking lot (its in a loop). Then we go back inside. We were outside for 30 minutes. It also gives me a chance to get some fresh air.

Thursday, July 16th

I finished watching Catching Fire and then I watched Mockingjay Part 1 and 2. That took up the majority of my day. I listened to some music and took Gigi outside.

Food for the Day

Breakfast: maple brown sugar oatmeal with coffee

Lunch: chicken ramen

Dinner: nachos

We got an email about our household goods. They have arrive in Japan earlier than we expected. Doug called the number he got in the email to tell them we don’t have a place yet. They told him to call once we have a place. We first have to get out of quarantine so we can go to the housing office. I am starting to feel overwhelmed. We knew we wouldn’t see our stuff until the end of July.

Friday, July 17th

Just another day in quarantine. I have notice the weekends are the toughest part of ROM. I think it has to do with we normally go out and do something on the weekend, but we cannot.

Food for the Day

Breakfast: blueberry muffin

Lunch: hot dogs

Dinner: pizza from Anthony’s pizza

Saturday, July 18th

Today was rough. I laid in bed and listened to music. I haven’t done that in a while. A whole day in my head, filled with negativity. It was suffering.

Food for the Day

Lunch: peanut butter sandwich

Dinner: fish and chips, coconut shrimp from Chops at the Harbor View Club

Sunday, July 19th

Today was better. I played Pokemon Go for a good portion of the day. It was Community Day, they feature a Pokemon with exclusive moves and it could be shiny. I usually catch several shinies. Doug finally got the links that we must watch as part of incoming to Sasebo. They were seven hours long all together. My favorite video was about the culture, history, and basic language in Japan. The lady who taught the class was hilarious. We got that out of the way. We have one more day in ROM.

Food for the Day

Lunch: chicken ramen

Dinner: kielbsa and bacon with beef rice

Monday, July 20th

Last day of ROM! What to do? Same thing we have been doing. The best part of it is the last day!

We did what we have been doing. Doug watched YouTube and played a game. I watched Japan Netflix. I have been invested in a South Korean romantic series called Warm and Cozy. It starts with a girl reaching out to her twin brother, but they aren’t twins. They just happen to have the same birthday. They end up meeting each other ten years later. He thinks she is terminally ill and she just wants to run a cafe. I am only half way through but there are a lot of misunderstandings that lead to some comedic moments.

Food for the Day

Brunch: eggs, bacon, and toast

Dinner: coconut shrimp, a crab cake, macaroni and cheese

We have been in ROM for a total of 28 days. 14 days in Atsugi and 14 days in Sasebo. There was a day where we could roam NAF Atsugi and then went to the airport to the next day. We got about a day and a half of freedom. It could have been worse. One of us could have got Covid-19 and been in place for longer. We are lucky. We are fortunate enough to travel and live in Japan. I am glad to be here and cannot wait to see Sasebo.

Quarantine/ROM Week 3

Different place, more ROM.

We made it to Sasebo! We have to ROM again due to being on a commercial flight. The only way we could get the cats to Sasebo was to take a commercial flight. Military flights were not allowing pets on board.

Wednesday, July 8th

Today we needed to find more information about how we were getting meals and who would run to the store for us. Doug’s ship, USS Ashland, will be providing us lunch and dinner. At first, Doug wasn’t worried about breakfast. I usually don’t eat breakfast unless its on the weekend but I have been eating breakfast during quarantine. Then Doug got hungry this morning so he had left over pizza from last night. We ordered pizza from a place on base called Anthony’s pizza. It was delicious.

Doug called the front desk to see if we could have someone get things from the mini NEX they have by the front desk. They said yes! We just have to give them a list and they shop for us. We were paying by card, so they got the number over the phone. Then they delivered the items. Our list was mostly breakfast stuff, snacks, and drinks. We got lunch around noon. Doug got more information about when are meals will be delivered and the person asked if we needed anything.

We will be delivered breakfast, lunch, and dinner until quarantine is over. We cannot be placed on the housing waiting list until Doug check into the command. He won’t be able to check in until we are out of quarantine. We will be receiving Per Diem from when we flew to Japan until he checks into the command. Doug and I both will receive Per Diem. It will just be when we turn in all of our travel expenses. I applied to a few jobs, we shall see if I hear anything back.

We were delivered dinner last night. I played Pokemon Go for a little bit. I like the room we are staying in here because I can reach two poke stops and can see sixteen gyms. Gyms are useful for raids. I was able to do four legendary raids during raid hour.

Thursday, July 9th

Doug and I just did what we have been doing. I watched Netflix and Doug played a game on his PS4. I got tired of the show I was watching and went down a K-pop (Korean pop) YouTube rabbit hole. You are probably thinking why K-pop not J-pop (Japanese pop). I haven’t found any J-pop groups I like yet. I will look into it more because I have plenty of time.

Food for the Day

For breakfast, we had a pancake, bacon, eggs, and some marinated chicken. For lunch, we had beef lo mien, potatoes, and rice. The beef lo mien was delicious! For dinner, we had fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and rice with quinoa. The mac n’ cheese was amazing!

Friday, July 10th

It was a rough day. I just spent the whole day in bed and didn’t really do anything. I mean there really isn’t much to do. I usually at least work on this blog but didn’t feel like it. I just post about our food and what we did, which isn’t much.

A major disappointment was a show I was invested on Netflix, Terrace House, just wasn’t that good. Terrace House seems to be about six people living together and they are their to find love. I have like six episodes left. The two things that bother me are they have people give commentary about what is happening in the house, they are annoying. One of those people have this mousy voice, cannot stand that, and their commentary just isn’t interesting. Then the people on the show are just not great with their timing with trying to date each other.

Food for the Day

For breakfast, we had eggs, bacon, a hash brown, french toast, and a blueberry muffin. We love the french toast! For lunch, we had shredded steak, Au gratin potatoes, and corn. The steak was seasoned beautifully! For dinner, I had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, rice and mixed vegetables. I am a picky about my meatloaf. This meatloaf was amazing! Doug doesn’t like meatloaf so he had Ramen.

Saturday, July 11th

What has been tough is our room has been hot since we checked in. At first, we thought the AC wasn’t on and had been off for a while. So we turned it on and waited. Then, we thought we didn’t have it on the right setting because its in Japanese. Nope. Its been broken since Tuesday and they finally fixed it today! Our room had been hot and humid. Of course we asked for a fan last night then this morning the AC was fixed.

Food for the Day

I had cereal and a banana for breakfast. The ship didn’t send food. For lunch, I had beef, noodles, and mashed potatoes. It looks off-putting but it was amazing! The mashed potatoes are amazing. Everything has been seasoned well. Doug had Ramen for lunch. For dinner, I had spaghetti and pizza. Doug doesn’t like sausage pizza and chunks of tomatoes. He decided to order from Harbor View Club. They are a restaurant located on base that deliver to the Lodge. Doug ordered him chicken tenders and mozzarella sticks. I wanted some coconut shrimp. The food got to our room quickly. The restaurant is across the street from us. The coconut shrimp was awesome!

I decided to stay up to take Gigi out and to do laundry. We are allowed to do laundry from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. I took Gigi out for about 20 minutes. I love how excited to gets and actually walks on a leash. On our walk we could hear the water from Sasebo River and could see Sasebo at night. The buildings you can see is mostly shopping and a parking lot. I tried to find information on the ship, no luck.

Laundry. I checked out the facility to make sure they had everything we needed. I was surprised to see how cheap it was. It was only $1 to wash and 25 cents to dry for 20 minutes. I only had to do to one load. At NAF Atusgi Navy Lodge it was $2 to wash and $2 to dry. The machine to get detergent and fabric softener was high up. I had to stand on my tip toes in order to put money in there.

Sunday, July 12th

We actually slept in. I slept until 11 a.m. and Doug got up around noon. I usually only sleep in when I am not feeling good. Well, we missed breakfast, they didn’t bring breakfast anyways. Doug decided to make breakfast since we now had stuff to make it! We have been ordering items from the mini NEX they have at the Lodge.

Food for the Day

For brunch, we had eggs, bacon, and toast. For dinner, we had steak, shrimp, mashed potatoes, and corn. Doug gave me his shrimp. The steak was well seasoned and the shrimp was good. I am in love with the mashed potatoes!

I mostly played Pokemon Go. There was a Team Rocket event so I played for a few hours. There has been events leading to Pokemon Go Fest. Last week was a flying event and this week has been Team Rocket. They found a way to incorporate Jessie and James into the game now. I love it! A Meowth balloon comes to you so you can fight Jessie and James. Yes, it includes there famous dialogue! It makes me wanna watch Pokemon Indigo league again.

Monday, July 13th

I had a hard time falling asleep last night but I did wake up around 8 a.m. I actually have motivation to work on this blog.

Food for the Day

No one from the ship delivered breakfast. Which is fine because we have cereal, muffins, and oatmeal from the Lodge. They deliver us a bag of goodies every morning. We have been eating them for snacks. For lunch, we had chicken, potatoes, rice, and corn. The chicken was great but the potatoes weren’t done all the way. They bring us fruit. We have been getting oranges and mixed fruit cocktail. Doug doesn’t eat fruit so more for me! Today we got mango. I have been craving mango. It was so good! For dinner, we had two different meals. Doug got chicken wings, macaroni and cheese, and mixed vegetables. I got Chicken Alfredo, macaroni and cheese, and mixed vegetables. I loved my dinner.

The window ledge in Atsugi was wider than the window ledge here. Gigi and Calcifer kept trying to get onto the window ledges but couldn’t sit down. I created a cat lounge out of the two bar chairs. I think they like it. I love how close they are and are getting along, for now.

This week has been an interesting one. Its is daunting to think about how we are finally where we are going to live for the next three years but are confined to a hotel room. I just want some Ramen, Gyoza (pork dumplings), and sushi! Cannot have none of that. There is a reason we are in another quarantine/ROM and we must abide by it in order to live here. I know many would be upset and angered at the situation, but in order to thrive you must concede to some order. People are afraid to lose control of their freedom but what freedom do you actually have?

Final Destination: Sasebo

Yesterday, Tuesday, July 7th, we left NAF Atsugi for Commander Fleet Activities (CFA) Sasebo. Our adventure began at 6:30 a.m., when we woke up to finish packing up and to clean up the cats litter box. We then headed to the lobby to check out and to wait for our ride. On our way to Haneda Airport, we got to see Ayase. Ayase is the where NAF Atsugi is located. I tried to look into the name but there is no true explanation why for its namesake. I know you would think, its NAF Atsugi so its in Atsugi, but its not. Moving on. We also got to drive by Yokohama.

At the airport, I had no idea who are airline carry was. Thank goodness for Doug knowing. We went up to the counter and checked our bags and the cats. Gigi and Calcifer were placed together in a crate. Gigi was quiet while in the carrier with Calcifer. She was not quiet on the van ride to the airport. Then we took our baggage through the x-ray machine they had at the counter. This is convenient! They x-rayed our luggage and our personal items. We then had to go through security. Security was easy compared to going through security in the U.S. We scanned our boarding pass, no I.D. shown, the machine printed a paper for security. You put your personal items in a bin, show your security paper, and walk through a medal detector. I didn’t have to take off my shoes or go through the machine that makes you hold your hands up.

After security, we then went to find our gate. It was a short walk, it seemed, to the gate. We passed several places that were open. This made me happy because I was hungry! Once at the gate, we got settled in, we got there about two and a half hours before our flight. Doug went to buy drinks and I stayed to watch our stuff. Then I went to grab something to eat. Doug told me of a place that had sushi. I went to investigate and got some fried chicken sushi. It was delicious! Doug even tried some. He’s not a big sushi eater (he liked it). We sat and waited for our flight. I played Pokemon Go the whole time because I could reach a poke stop.

On the flight, I got to see Tokyo during take off. The pictures I took doesn’t do it justice! I cannot wait to back and actually experience Tokyo. That is a huge to-do on my list while living here. We landed in Fukuoka about two hours later. I love how they greet you and have respect for one another. In Japan they bow instead of a handshake. I was caught off guard when our plane was making its way to the gate, once there, the ground workers bowed to the plane. The overall respect Japanese have for anybody is amazing. I guess coming from the U.S. where our culture is the vast opposite, its interesting to see the differences.

We just followed everyone else to find baggage claim and to exit the airport. I also noticed how the Japanese don’t wait around. They were quick to deboard the plane, they were quick to get their luggage, and leave the airport. You didn’t see much standing and talking happening. We got to baggage claim and waited for our luggage. This might have taken five minutes to get our luggage. You normally have to wait forever. While the luggage was making its way to the carousal, our cats came though a different area. There was an airport worker there waiting for them. Gigi became mouthy once she saw us. We had to get our luggage first because the cat carriers were in them. Then we got the cats. We walked out to the pick-up area and our driver was waiting on us. When you walk out of the Fukuoka Airport, you are greeted by these huge billboards.

We had a two hour drive to Sasebo. This drive was absolutely scenic. It was like driving through a Japanese anime movie. Doug and I would later on talk about what Japanese movies it reminded us of. For me, it was mostly “Only Yesterday” and for Doug was mostly “When Marnie was There” and the small town in “Your Name”. It was truly a remarkable drive even with it being cloudy and rainy! I took only a few pictures.

Sasebo. We had heard that Sasebo was this small coastal town. When we got here. Man, I was shocked to see so many tall buildings! It sits in a valley and is surrounding by houses and buildings. Its quite remarkable. We made our way to CFA Sasebo. We were required to show our I.D.’s then went to the Navy Lodge. At the Navy Lodge we learned we would be on ROM again because we were on a commercial flight. This made me wish I would have got more food at the airport. That’s okay. We get to spend 14 days in our new room. Our new room is a little more updated and the layout is different. We do have a beautiful view.

Quarantine/ROM Week 2

I am keeping track of what we do on a daily basis during our stay at NAF Atsugi in the Navy Lodge. Our last day of quarantine will be Monday, July 6th, well it was suppose to be. Our last day of quarantine was Saturday, July 4th. We are confined to our hotel room at the Navy Lodge. We may leave to do laundry at night from 10:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. There is a gofer who brings us food from the Galley and will go to the Commissary for us (we must provide a list and payment).

If you haven’t read week 1, here you go https://haleofajourney.travel.blog/2020/06/24/quarantine-rom-week-1/.

Monday, June 29th

Our sleep schedules are normal now. Doug and I have been in Japan for a week now. We have had Japanese snacks but no Japanese meals. We been discussing all the foods we want to eat! Yesterday was perfect ramen weather.

Food for the day

For breakfast, we had shredded steak, whole wheat waffle, bacon, tater tots, and a hard boiled egg. I gave my egg to Doug and he gave me his waffle. I love that we trade food to each other. For lunch, we had Japanese beef curry, potatoes, Japanese fried chicken (Karaage), and mixed vegetables. The Japanese beef curry was amazing! This has been my favorite lunch so far. For dinner, Doug made Kielbasa and beef rice. Doug thought he told them no dinner, but they brought it anyways. Dinner from the Galley was meatloaf, pork, mash potatoes with gravy, and mixed vegetables. That meal made its way to the trash.

I did my daily tasks in Pokemon Go and Animal Crossings. I took Gigi outside. We think she was depressed by being confined to our hotel room. Gigi enjoyed herself and was upset when I took her back to the room. She would be an outside cat if we let her. Gigi and I are going to take evening adventures outside from now on.

Gigi enjoying nature.
Calcifer looking down upon us.
Calcifer not pleased with my picture taking skills.
Calcifer loves drawers.

I tried to take Calcifer outside when I brought Gigi back in, but he didn’t want to. Calcifer is afraid of strangers. When anybody comes to the door or he hears anybody in the hallway, he runs and hides.

Tuesday, June 30th

Today we woke up and did our normal routine. I made a ‘pot’ of coffee. The coffee maker in the room can make up to 4 cups. Doug logged into YouTube and started watching the video below. Well this didn’t help our envy for Japanese food even though this is in the U.S.

This is Kanako Urai, she is also known as Asuka. She is a WWE wrestler and is quite entertaining.

The message group that Doug is in for food delivery and Commissary runs, added 20 more people in today. With more people, means more food to prepare. They warned us breakfast was running behind. No problem, well for us. There were some people who did complain.

Food for the day.

Breakfast was french toast, sausage hash, eggs, and tater tots. I love the french toast! Lunch was chicken quesadilla, a cheese enchilada, corn, and Spanish rice. It was a good lunch. I made dinner. We had hot ham and cheese sandwiches. We had ham and bread we needed to use.

It rained the majority of the day so I wasn’t able to take Gigi out for a walk. We will try tomorrow. I became invested in a new Japanese romance. It is called Coffee and Vanilla. I discovered it by looking into something for Good Morning Call. Coffee and Vanilla has an actor and actress from Good Morning Call. I figured I would look into it. I was able to watch it because I am in Japan. Season 1 has 10 episodes that are only 25 minutes long, so now I am looking into what to watch on Netflix.

Gabbling Soda Float and Mitsuya Cider
Inside the Mini-fridge
Inside the Tyrant Habanero
Melonpan and Tyrant Habanero

Our gofer for the day was able to go to 7-Eleven for us. The 7-Eleven’s over here are amazing, from what I have heard from others. We haven’t had the chance to go yet. Doug has been asking for Melon bread and Mitsuya Cider. Well we got them! The Melonpan which is a sweet bread, was amazing. The Mitsuya Cider was amazing as well. Doug made me wait to try it until he could see my reaction. Doug visited Tokyo about 13 years ago and these snacks that he remembers. That says a lot because he doesn’t remember things well. The Tyrant Habanero rings are awesome! They look spicy but just have a kick for me. Later on, Doug opened the Gabbling Soda Float, this was new to Doug and obviously me. Its hard to pinpoint the flavor but it tastes like a vanilla float. It was great. I cannot wait for us to be able to buy more snacks at 7-Eleven.

Wednesday, July 1

I woke up to Calcifer being mouthy. I thought he needed some love, no. I thought he needed some dry cat food, that stopped him for about a three minutes. I decided to make me some coffee, Doug was still asleep. I usually wants until he gets up, but not today with mouthy Calcifer on the loose. I decided to give them tuna. That is what Calcifer wanted. Our cats are spoiled. He became a happy kitty until breakfast was delivered. Then he went to his hiding spot.

Food for the Day

For breakfast, french toast, a hash brown, sausage, eggs, and turkey bacon. It was all delicious except for the turkey bacon. My turkey bacon was well done. I decided to give some to Gigi but she didn’t want it either. If Gigi doesn’t eat something, I find it suspicious because she eats EVERYTHING! For lunch, a cheeseburger, chicken nuggets, fries, and mixed vegetables. It was good. For dinner, we made nachos again!

I wasn’t able to take Gigi out for a walk. It rained all day! I played Animal Crossings: New Horizons. I sold my turnips and made a profit of 324,000 bells (currency in the game). I played Pokemon Go. I am trying to catch a certain amount of Pokemon before Monday. We shall if I make it! There are regional Pokemon and I have a couple of them due to past events. I was able to get two more last night. I was staying up to do laundry and while waiting, I played for a bit. I walked down the hallway and found the ice machine. I thought it was pretty neat since it has penguins on it (I love penguins) and is in Japanese.

Pansage. I didn’t have him but now I do!
I already had Farfetch’d due to an egg event.
Shellos. I caught him on my first day.
This is adorable!

Thursday, July 2nd

This is suppose to be the nicest day of the week. I woke up to the sun shining and hardly any clouds. My plan is to take Gigi out this morning and this evening. She was upset when I left the room to do laundry last night.

Food for the Day

For breakfast, English muffin with cheese, bacon, and egg. There was also chicken, tater tots, and a waffle. Doug said this is his least favorite breakfast. I think its due to the English muffin. For lunch, we had a pulled pork sandwich, corned beef, potatoes, and mixed vegetables. For dinner, we ordered Pizza Hut. Doug ordered more than we would eat so we have leftovers for tomorrow.

I took Gigi for a walk several times because its suppose to rain the rest of the week. She cracks me up. As soon as we made it downstairs, she runs to the back. She loves being outside.

Daily tasks. I worked on organizing my house in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I just had too much clutter and it was driving me insane. In Pokemon Go, I used an incense to catch Pokemon. There are no spawns where I am at. I even went to the Pokestops, no spawns. What is really weird is, you have a nearby that locates what Pokemon are near you. On my nearby, I only have Pokemon that are located off base. Which is fine because I cannot really go anywhere. I can sneak to the other end of the hallway to reach the Pokestops. Sometimes I drift while in the room and if I cannot I just to where the elevator is in the hallway.

I almost forgot! Doug asked the gofer is they could go to 7-Eleven for snacks. Our gofer did! Doug asked for all the snacks we got the other day, then asked if she could bring back some snacks she likes. She is one of my favorite gofers! She brought back a few extra things. The pictures below are of the new snacks. I enjoyed them all. She did not disappoint.

Its like a mango fruit snack with marshmallow.

Chocolate pie and the koala chocolate snacks.

What I watched today.

I finished watching Aletier (Underwear), it is about a lingerie brand, Emotion, in Ginza (shopping district south of Tokyo). In the first episode I was getting Devil’s Wear Prada vibes. The show is about a young female, fresh-out-of-college, Mayuko, who goes to work at Emotion. Mayuko is very strong willed and butts head with her boss, Mayumi. Aletier discusses how most women don’t fell sexy in beautiful lingerie and how Japan hides it sexual promiscuity. Mayuko goes through the show trying to figure out how she can embody Emotion’s brand and how it fits with her sexuality.

I started and finished Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries. I loved watching Unsolved Mysteries hosted by Robert Stacks. How does the Netflix show compare? Well, it keeps with the same format and has the more information needed at the end. I love how they kept the music the same and didn’t try to change it. There was one episode that was slow to start but I still watched it. Overall, it was nice to watch.

I started watching Netflix’s Well-Intended Love, it is a Chinese show about a contract marriage. I just started it last night with hopes of finishing it tomorrow. What I know so far is Xia Lin (female lead) is aspiring to be an award winning actress but finds out she has Leukemia. Xia Lin matches with a donor but the donor refuses to help her. Xia Lin peaks at the documents and learns who her donor is Ling Yi Zhou. Ling Yi Zhou is the CEO of some company and he refuses to help her. Xia Lin ends of stalking Ling Yi Zhou to get him to help her. Ling Yi Zhou agrees to help her Xia Lin if she marries him. Xia Lin agrees and they arrange a two year contract. Xia Lin wants to build her career as an actress and doesn’t want the relationship to go public. Ling Yi Zhou agrees. I am at the part of the show where they are start to fall for each other. I predict, they will be in love by the end and will want to stay married. At some point, they will go public with their relationship.

Friday, July 3rd

I woke up to Gigi sleeping next to me. She usually sleeps at my feet and I usually kick her. I got up to make coffee and then laid back down. Calcifer decided to join me and went under the blankets. He heard something out in the hallway, and then ran away.

Food for the Day

For breakfast, we had bacon, sausage links, eggs, a hash brown, and a waffle. For lunch, we had a corn dog, sweet and spicy chicken, onion rings, and mixed vegetables. Doug was unsure if he was going to like the chicken but he did. I enjoyed lunch today. For dinner, we had left over pizza from Pizza Hut.

I finished season one of Netflix’s Well-Intended Love. I don’t want to spoil anything but yes, Xia Lin and Ling Yi Zhou fall in love. This show takes you on an adventure of love, revenge from the past, and some interesting twists. I started season two last night. Man oh man! At the start of season 2 they changed the time when Xia Lin and Ling Yi Zhou meet. Its two years later than season 1 and Xia Lin is a well-known actress with advertisement deals and a show. Ling Yi Zhou is still the CEO of a company. I am only three episodes into season two but its been interesting to see the differences and some similarities.

Saturday, July 4th

Happy Fourth of July! There won’t be any fireworks today. The base did fireworks on July 2nd and we couldn’t see them because are room faced the opposite way. That is okay, because Doug doesn’t care for them and Calcifer hid. I spent the whole time trying to console him. Gigi, she didn’t care. She was actually looking out the window, because you could see the light reflect from them off the roof next to us.

Food for the Day

For breakfast, we had a waffle, shredded beef, a hashbrown, and a hard boiled egg. For lunch, we had a grilled cheese, a chicken breast, sweet potato fries, and mixed vegetables. Doug didn’t want his lunch so I ate his grilled cheese. The grilled cheese was the best part of the meal. I only at the grilled cheese and sweet potato fries. I gave Gigi some of the chicken. For dinner, we ordered Popeye’s.

Breakfast. I need to make sure my picture looks good.

I spent the majority of the day finishing Well-Intended Love season two. It wasn’t as thrilling as season one, but I think its because they use the same themes and you kinda expect certain things. I was able to do about six raids in Pokemon Go. I only do the Legendary raids with my Remote Raid Passes. I was able to complete the special research for the fourth anniversary of Pokemon Go being released.

Sunday, July 5th

Yesterday was our last day of quarantine and we got the all clear to leave the room. We get to leave the room today, but we have to stay on base. On base, there are some things to do, but we really only want to go get some food. We are very food motivated!

Doug and I made a list of things we needed and then started out on a mini adventure around base. We decided to head to the NEX first, then the Commissary, and then 7-Eleven. At the NEX, we were looking for toothpaste, cat food, a small broom and dust pan. We got toothpaste and the small broom but no cat food. They only had the big bags. I found some Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer. I was wanting some extras to have in Japan but the store in Richmond, KY didn’t open up until after we left. I also didn’t feel like going to Lexington, KY for some either. The NEX does carry some Bath and Body Works products! This makes me happy because I left my stash with my mom.

At the Commissary we bought some tuna for the cats and another retractable leash. Then off to find 7-Eleven. At first, we were weary as to where it was because it was in a gray building, but we went in. I have been looking forward to go to 7-Eleven because I have heard how awesome the food is. I am in love. I took several pictures and we spent 3,040 yen ($30) on snacks.

These were the drinks we got.

These were the snacks we got. This will hopefully last until we leave on Tuesday.

We were both glad to leave the room and just roam the base for a little while. I have been looking forward to seeing the vending machines and 7-Eleven. I really don’t know why the vending machines fascinate me, but they do. I think its because they are different. 7-Eleven. 7-ELEVEN! 7-Eleven just completed the mini adventure and I cannot wait to go to one out in town.

I am looking forward to all the amazing adventures we will be on in Japan.

This is just the beginning.

Quarantine/ROM Week 1

We are being quarantined (ROM-Restriction of Movement) at NAF Atsugi for 14 days, June 22nd to July 6th. We are not allowed to leave the room where we are staying unless we do laundry. There are specific times to do laundry too (11 p.m. to 5 a.m.)! We cannot go get food, go to the Exchange, or to the Commissary. We have a different gofer each day to go get what we need and bring us food. We are just eating food from the Galley.

If you want to read more about ROM: https://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/messages/Documents/NAVADMINS/NAV2020/NAV20083.txt

I took this picture in the van somewhere near NAF Atsugi.

Monday, June 22nd

We got into Narita International Airport around 1:55 p.m. Then we eventually made it to NAF Atsugi around 4 p.m. We were taken to the barracks for the night. I thought it was nice, it defiantly could have been worse, we could be in a tent. We joked about that with my Dad (he was in the National Guard Army). The ROM coordinator provided a few items. Some MRE’s, small bags of chips, granola bites, water, and a coffee drink: DyDo Cafe au Lait American. This was thoughtful and nice. My favorite was DyDo Cafe au Lait American.

The gofer got us some litter, a cardboard box, Coca-Cola, and dinner from Popeye’s. We didn’t want the gofer to get a lot of things since we were only here for a day. I took a shower, ate dinner, then went to bed. It was an exhausting day!

You can read about the travels on Sunday and Monday down below. https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/100356987/posts/2773305231

Tuesday, June 23rd

I woke up at 2 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep. I started re-watching “One Morning Call” a Japanese Netflix Original, because I forgot the password to the Wifi and it was already on my iPad. I tried my best to be quiet because I didn’t want to wake up Doug. I talked to my mom and dad for a while when Doug woke up. I showed them around the barracks and talked about our adventure so far. Then I played Animal Crossing: New Horizons and fixed my time on my Switch (for turnip reselling purposes).

Around 3 p.m. we moved from the barracks to the Navy Lodge. I made sure to text my mom and dad when we made it to the Navy Lodge and sent pictures of the room. I got my first disappointing meal from the Galley, I am sure more will come! I only ate the chili macaroni. Doug decided since dinner from the Galley was terrible, he ordered Pizza Hut. We are only allowed to order what is on base, which is only American food *sad face*.

Our new ‘home’ at the Navy Lodge for the next 13 days.

We do have a kitchenette stocked with pots, pans, dishes, and utensils!

Wednesday, June 24th

I woke up at 2 a.m. again! This time Doug also got up at 2 a.m. We decided to get up. We would just take a nap later in the day to help reset our sleep schedule. I decided to start working on my blog, this blog. I wrote ‘Entering Japan During Covid-19’ which took forever (its the link under ‘Monday June 22nd’). I video called my mom through Facebook messenger for about an hour. I also texted my brother Travis a ‘Happy Japanese Birthday’! Since Japan is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard time in the United States. I checked on turnip prices in Animal Crossings, the price sucked so I didn’t sell them. I opened up Pokemon Go to do daily achievements (catch a Pokemon, claim a research task, and send gifts).

Doug worked on calling the domestic airlines here in Japan. We have one more leg of the trip to go in order to get to Sasebo. He called to see what airlines allow cats but they aren’t allowing them in the cabin. Doug got a hold of an airline but apparently they are notoriously known for being complicated to Scheduled Air Transportation Office (SATO). SATO books all military travel. Doug couldn’t do much more so he is playing The Last of Us Part II (he brought his PS4 with him).

We were served breakfast and lunch from the Galley. They were good. We never got dinner. Which was fine because we had left over Pizza Hut and stuff to make ham and cheese sandwiches.

For breakfast: sausage, toast, eggs, and tater tots. The sausage and toast were the best part of this meal!

For lunch: hamburger, fries, chicken nuggets, and mixed vegetables. I added cheese to the hamburger and give my vegetables to Gigi.

I did take a nap around 3 p.m. and woke up around 7 a.m. This was more of going to sleep than a nap. I woke up to our gofer bringing the list of items we requested. Doug and I made a list earlier in the day to make our stay more pleasant. We asked for some more cold coffee drinks, shampoo, conditioner, stuff to make nachos, Coca-Cola, coffee, coffee filters, butter, and Nutter Butters. I helped Doug unpack the stuff and we discovered some bacon bits, we didn’t ask for those. We are sure someone asked for them and got put in our bag somehow. Oh well.

We thought our gofer knew what coffee drinks because she seemed excited when we asked for them. But she came back with these. I was like “Oh well, we can try these.” I figured if she raved about how good they were, then these had to be good too. Doug put as many as he could fit in the mini fridge. We will have to try them tomorrow when they are cold.

Thursday, June 25th

I went to bed around 1:00 a.m and woke up around 4 a.m. My nap that turned into sleep didn’t work. Today I am going to have to suffer and stay awake.

We tried the new coffee drinks, Georgia Cafe au Lait. It is better than the first one! I looked into them, because I was curious if they had different flavors. Georgia Cafe au Lait is made by Coca-Cola in Japan. It is named after the state of Georgia where Coca-Cola was founded! This is where I found that tid bit of information https://j.cocacola.co.jp/qrt/014/georgia_cafeaulait.htm. This is where I found the different kinds they have https://j.cocacola.co.jp/qrt/014/.

Doug was able to book us a non-stop flight from Haneda Airport to Fukuoka on July 7th! Doug had to book it himself because cats were not allowed on the previous flight. The Haneda Airport is an hour away from where we are staying at NAF Atstugi. Fukuoka is two hours from Sasebo. The only thing is the cats cannot fly in the cabin with us. They will be held in the cargo area. At least the cargo area will be air conditioned. The airline is also providing the carriers for the cargo area. We thought we might have to order the correct carriers for the flights. We will also have to ship some of our luggage. We are only allowed one carry on and one checked bag.

Our food today. Breakfast was an English muffin with egg, bacon, and cheese. It also came with tater tots, chicken, and a hard boiled egg. I gave my hard boiled egg to Doug. Lunch was a pulled pork sandwich, some slices of corn beef, potatoes, and mixed vegetables. They did bring dinner by but we decided to make nachos for dinner! All the nachos are is: nacho cheese Doritos, then ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning, and on top is Mexican style shredded cheese. To melt the cheese, we put it in the microwave for a minute.

We decided to do laundry, because there will be a power outage tomorrow during the time we are allowed to do laundry. We are allowed to do laundry from 10:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. There are also guidelines to do laundry. There can only be one person in the room, you must wear a mask and gloves. I tried my best to stay up but I fell asleep. I did wake up around 10 p.m., so it was more of nap. Doug was asleep and I didn’t wake him because I am in charge of laundry (he does the dishes). We have had this deal since we have been married. We did switch roles and that only lasted a week.

The washer and dryer only take quarters, so I had to go get change. They only have a change machine on the first floor. I went down to the first floor to get change. I went back up to the third floor where we are staying. I checked to make sure a machine was open and got our dirty clothes. The laundry room is only two doors down from our room. The washer was rather small but I decided we had enough to only do one load. I carried our laundry in three plastic grocery bags (this will help me for the next time I need to do laundry). What I love is they detergent and fabric softener to buy for 75 cents a piece. They are good for one load. They also have a sign to tell you how long each cycle was so you didn’t have to keep checking.

Friday, June 26th

I finished laundry around 12:30 a.m. and decided I should go to bed. I am still working on my sleep schedule. I didn’t fall asleep until 2:30 a.m. I had to break out the video I sometimes listen to before going to bed, in order to ease my mind. This video helped me through April. It totally worked! I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to Doug watching YouTube.

We decided to make another list for food from the Commissary. The mini fridge doesn’t hold too much, so we are trying to be strategic about what meals to cook. We have been disappointed with at least one meal from the Galley a day, usually dinner, so we have decided to plan out a few meals. We made sure to pick meals that don’t require extra seasoning (we only have salt and pepper), only have a few ingredients, and can be made on the stove top.

Food for the day. Breakfast was amazing, it’s our favorite meal of the day! For breakfast today, we had french toast, bacon, eggs, sausage links, and tater tots. Doug and I love the french toast! It has lots of flavor, especially cinnamon, and is soft like they put syrup on it but not too much. For lunch, we had steak, pork, rice, and mixed vegetables. The steak and rice were the best part of the meal. The pork was dry and Gigi ate some of the mixed vegetables. For dinner, Doug made chicken and dumplings. It was amazing!

I finished reading the prequel to the Hunger Games series, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. No spoilers, but it gives you insight to President Snow as a teenager. I also finished Abyss on Netflix. Abyss is a South Korean series about a marble that can bring people back from the dead. It is a very thought provoking show that has many twists and turns. I enjoyed it. I have been fixated on South Korean shows since November and don’t mind subtitles. I have the song from Abyss stuck in my head. It is the video below in case you are curious. Be careful, it might get stuck in your head!

“Into the Abyss” by Suran and Coogie

Saturday, June 27th

Last night we had a schedule power outage starting at 11:00 p.m. and ending at 7 a.m. this morning. We made sure to put the meat in the freezer so that it wouldn’t go bad. We also made sure not to open the fridge, in order to keep everything cold. I woke up at 5 a.m., I was able to sleep 9 hours! Maybe I fixed my sleep schedule? We shall see. The power came back on promptly at 7 a.m. Doug checked the fridge and everything was still cold and we took the meat out of the freezer. It worked!

Food for the day. For breakfast, we had a whole wheat waffle, real eggs (they have been powder eggs), sausage, tater tots, and a hash of some sort. I turned my waffle, eggs, and sausage into a breakfast taco with some butter on the waffle. It was quite tasty. For lunch, we had spinach lasagna, side of meatballs, garlic bread, and mixed vegetables. I enjoyed it but Doug didn’t want his. He made himself a fried bologna sandwich. I ended up eating all mine but the mixed vegetables, then I ate some of Doug’s share. For dinner, they brought us turkey and mash potatoes with gravy, and mixed vegetables. Well, we didn’t eat that. We ordered Pizza Hut instead. I am happy they bring us meals and we have options to eat something else, but I just want some Japanese food!

I sold my turnips and made a profit in Animal Crossings: New Horizon. I played Pokemon Go for about an hour. I was able to catch a shiny (different color than its original form and rare)! That made me happy. I played Spyro for a little bit. I died twice, which made me mad, so I quit.

Sunday, June 28th

Our sleep schedule is somewhat getting better. I woke up around 4 a.m. and Doug woke up around 6 a.m. The sun rises here around 4:30 a.m. I was able to get about 7 hours of sleep. It was a rainy day here, that makes being quarantine more bearable. As soon as Doug got up, I made some coffee and got started on updating here!

Food for the day. For breakfast, we had biscuits and gravy, tater tots, and eggs. Our favorite meal of the day is breakfast! What we have been served for breakfast has been good, no complaints yet. For lunch, we were served pizza, chicken wings, and mixed vegetables. There were two slices of pizza: one was sausage and the other one was cheese. Doug thought they were both sausage and gave me his pizza. The sausage pizza was good but the cheese pizza was gross. For dinner, we were brought fish, chicken, rice with beans, and mixed vegetables. I only ate the chicken. I didn’t take a picture of the whole meal because I forgot. Doug noticed many people declining dinner in the group message he is a part of. I am glad to know that we are not the only ones who think dinner is gross. Doug didn’t eat his chicken and ordered Popeye’s. I did eat some biscuits from Popeye’s. They were yummy.

I was able to drift while playing Pokemon Go to spin two poke stops. I played for about an hour, no shiny Pokemon. I played Animal Crossing: New Horizons to buy turnips. Yes, I buy the turnips weekly because I am addicted and have a problem. I know. Plus, it will give me something to do this week.

We worked on re-arranging our things in the suit cases. We can only take two suit cases on our flight from Haneda Airport to Fukuoka Airport. We brought seven suit cases to Japan with us. We are shipping five of them to Doug’s new command. USPS will ship them for free. We had to fill out labels and Custom forms. Doug’s sponsor, who he is replacing, will be collecting our luggage and will give them to us when we get there.

For the majority of the day, Doug played a game on his PS4 and I watched Netflix.

Entering Japan During Covid-19

Doug and I started our journey to Japan on Sunday morning. We got up at 2 a.m. to leave for the Cincinnati International Airport (it’s about an hour and half drive from Richmond, KY). My Dad was able to take us to the airport. We loaded up the SUV and set off for our day of traveling. We arrived at the Cincinnati Airport around 4:30 a.m. We unloaded the SUV and went to the United Airlines counter. There was not a soul at the United Airlines counter so we waited. The other airline counters were open. Around 4:45ish a.m., Doug called United Airlines to see when the counter would be open, they said 5 a.m. Well 5 a.m. came and no one showed. Doug called United Airlines again, they now said 5:30 a.m. The airport and the airlines suggest you should be there about two hours before your flight, but you cannot have someone out your check-in and checked baggage counter. Okay.

At 5:30 a.m., the check-in Kiosks turned on, but you cannot check-in on them if you are flying international. Someone did eventually arrive a little after 5:30 a.m. We eventually got our seven bags checked for the flight. The cats were flying in the cabin on the flight. Doug had Calcifer and I had Gigi. We decided to take Calcifer and Gigi because they travel better than Mittens. When we moved from Florida to Colorado, Mittens didn’t eat for a few days and she scared us. Mittens is staying with my Mom and enjoys being on her own.

We made sure to pack enough because we won’t be getting our household goods until middle of July. We have been living out of our luggage since May 15th.

The cats. Calcifer is in the carrier with the red blanket. Gigi is in the carrier with the blue blanket. We out the blankets on the carriers to help ‘keep out the world’.

We used TSA precheck to help us get through security quickly. Doug had heard we would have to take the cats out of the carriers and walk them through. We have been nervous about this because Calcifer doesn’t do well around strangers. He doesn’t know how strong he is and he uses his claws when he is scared. We bought harnesses and leashes for them but Calcifer is a big, powerful cat. I have witnessed his great strength and can escape the harness quickly. The TSA agents said they could call someone to take a look. The TSA agents were understanding and kept assuring us someone was coming to help. We had no problem waiting, it was only a few minutes anyway. Two TSA agents came, we handed them the cats, we went through the scanners, and they escorted us to a room. They checked under their harnesses and then checked the cat carriers. They were lovely and talked to us about how cute our cats are. Then we left, headed off to find our terminal and gate.

Once at the gate, Doug went in search of some water. I stayed with the cats and our belongings. While walking through the terminal to the gate, nothing was really opened, I just figured it was way too early for them to be open. There was a Starbucks and a Subway opened. While waiting to board, they made sure to announce, you are required to wear a mask at all times on the plane (you could remove the mask when eating or drinking). Once on the plane, we knew there would be several people flying. The plane wasn’t full, but it was at or below 50% capacity. The cats were under our seats for the flight. We flew from Cincinnati, OH to Newark, NJ. There was no beverage/snack service during the flight. The flight was about two hours long.

We landed in Newark, deboarded the plane, which didn’t take long. We made sure to wear our masks the whole time in the airport, as we made our way to the next gate. Thankfully we landed in the same terminal that we were leaving from. While walking through the airport, it was eerie. The shops and the food places should be open, because we landed at 9 a.m. Not with Covid-19. The shops were closed, totally get it. The food places were closed too. The airport wasn’t bustling, it was quiet and few people are traveling right now. It was a long walk with the cats and our personal items. We made it to the gate, and there were only six people waiting at the gate. Doug and I had been up for seven hours and hadn’t ate anything. Doug went off in search for a place to get food. I stayed with the cats and our stuff. He ended up finding a breakfast place. He called me to tell me what was on the menu, and I told him what I wanted. Doug got a steak sandwich and I got a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. He also got us drinks too. He got himself a Coca-Cola and me a lemonade. It was delicious.

Our next flight was from Newark International Airport to Narita International Airport near Tokyo. We would leave at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday and land at 1:55 p.m. on Monday. Our flight was for 13 and half hours. We were required to wear a mask the whole time on the flight. The only time we didn’t have to wear the mask was while eating and/or drinking. Before boarding the plane, we had to show our documentation that we were allowed to be on the flight. Japan is limiting who is allowed in the country. Japanese citizens are allowed and military through the SOFA agreement. We had to show a copy of orders, the cats’ authorization to get into Japan, and our passports. We had to show all this documentation twice. Then we were able to board the plane.

Leaving Newark, NJ

The plane we were on, was a newer Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner. The windows had two dim buttons, one to make it lighter and one to make it darker. The seats had a built in touch screen tablet. You could watch movies or TV shows, look at the flight path, turn your overhead light on and off, and a USB charging port. They had a vast collection of TV shows and movies. My plan was to re-watch a Japanese TV show on the plane, downloaded from Netflix. Yes, on Netflix you can download any Netflix Original shows or movies (make sure you do this beforehand). Doug was looking for movies to watch and they had all the Harry Potter Movies. I decided to see how many Harry Potter films I could get through before we landed in Tokyo. I started with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone a few minutes before take off and made it through all the way to Goblet of Fire (#5). I made it about thirty minutes into Half-Blood Prince before we landed. I did take short naps during the movies to help with jet lag.

On our almost 14 hour flight, we did receive three meals. I have heard airline food isn’t the best. This was my first flight to receive meals on, so I got to form my own opinion. They fed us three meals. Our first meal, we had chicken with a creamy spinach sauce over rice, pretzels and chocolate chip cookies. Doug is a picky eater so he only ate the chicken and the rice from his tray. I ate all of mine. I gave him my pretzels since he didn’t eat much. Our next meal, we had a turkey and swiss sandwich with Dijon mustard on it, a mixed fruit cup, chocolate chip cookies and M&Ms. Doug did not eat his sandwich because he doesn’t like mustard. I got to eat his sandwich! He also gave me his fruit cup. I did give him my M&Ms since I got two sandwiches. Our last meal, we had a flatbread sandwich with sausage, egg, and a red pepper sauce, blueberry yogurt, and chocolate chip cookies. Doug doesn’t eat yogurt so we traded! He gave me his blueberry yogurt and I gave him my cookies. My favorite meal was the chicken with rice, it was yummy! My least favorite was the flat tortilla sandwich, it was cold in the center, this made it distasteful.

Chicken with a creamy spinach sauce with rice.

Sausage, egg, and red pepper sauce flatbread sandwich

Landing in Narita International Airport

Deboarding the plane in Narita (Tokyo) was different than when we deboarded in Newark. Before you were allowed to leave the plane, we had Covid-19 and quarantine papers to fill out (we received these papers before we took off). First, they deboarded passengers who had a connecting flight to Singapore. Then, everyone else was allowed to leave the plane. There were a total of 26 passengers on the plane. When we got off the plane, we were standing waiting on an airport personnel to walk us to the Covid-19 testing area. Once there, we handed our paperwork to a quarantine airport worker, who made sure our information was correct and translated a few things from English to Japanese. We then got into another line. While waiting, they took our temperature. When we got to the front of the line, they took our Covid-19 and quarantine paperwork, then prepared a vial for our cotton swab to go into (Covid-19 test). Once we got our vials, we then had to wait in another line. This line was to get swabbed. I got the pleasure to go first! My brother got a Covid-19 test done for his work. He kept saying they touched his brain and couldn’t see for a good bit afterwards. He was correct! The lady had me tilt my chin and pull my face mask past my nose. She inserted the cotton swab in my right nostril and the left nostril. When finished, I got out of the chair and got some hand sanitizer. I really couldn’t see for a minute and then my nose started to run. Doug was next. He sneezed after his test.

The forms we had to fill out for quarantine due to Covid-19.

After the Covid-19 test, they had us in a waiting area. Everybody was told to wait there unless your ride was waiting for you already. We waited for fifteen minutes, we were waiting for two other military members, then we were off! We had an airport official to escort us around. Our first stop was the SOFA Entry checkpoint. We could only go one at a time, so Doug had to hand me a copy of his orders. I gave the Immigration Officer, my military passport, my military ID, and the orders. Next, we went downstairs to pick up our luggage. There was an airport worker who took our luggage off of the carousel and had it grouped together. We loaded our luggage on two carts. The lady from animal quarantine, came to get us from the luggage carousel. You could see the animal quarantine from the luggage carousel. At animal quarantine, they needed all of Gigi’s and Calcifer’s paperwork from when we took them to the veterinarian. While Doug was getting all the paperwork out, another person from the animal quarantine came to get Gigi’s and Calcifer’s temperature. We went to a small room, where they took their temperature and made sure Gigi was a girl and Calcifer was a boy. At animal quarantine, they were given a post-it to get them through Customs and a paper that approved them to enter Japan. Next, we went through Customs. This was close to where we picked up our luggage. We went through one at a time. We had our passports scanned and they checked the cats for the post-it. Then we were off to the DoD Information Desk. At the Information desk, we were told the bus doesn’t allow cats, we knew this, and Doug had talked to the Restriction of Movement (ROM) coordinator at Naval Air Facility (NAF) Atsugi, who provided a ride for us. We were then escorted to an area to wait for our ride. In this area, we had to provide our information and we would wait in an area. While giving our information, a lady wanted to talk to me about the cats. She kept saying ‘Neko’ which is a cat in Japanese. I held up two fingers because I forgot how to say two in Japanese (I keep getting one and two mixed up). She was so excited and it was a precious moment. I know they love cats in Japan, but it took this specific moment for it to really sink in. After they got our information, we were escorted to some cardboard seating.

There were also some free snacks! I stayed with our luggage and Doug got us some snacks. We both ate a banana and the bean paste pancake. Then Doug decided to go to the bathroom since we would be there for a while. I stayed with the luggage and I would go to the bathroom when he came back. Well, while Doug was in the bathroom, a guy came to tell us our ride was there. I had to tell him I was waiting for Doug to come back. As I was saying that, Doug walked up and was like oh it is time to go. We were then escorted to our driver. Our driver then took us to an area to get the van. We loaded up the van and then left the airport.

Our destination for this part of the trip was to NAF Atsugi. You are thinking, ‘wait I thought you were going to Sasebo.’ We are, but we are being placed on a fourteen day ROM period at NAF Atsugi. The trip from Tokyo Narita Airport to NAF Atsugi was a two hour trip in a van. I fell asleep for an hour in the van.

Once on NAF Atsugi, the driver took us to the Navy Gateway Inn and Suites but we weren’t staying there. There was another driver there to take us to the barracks. You usually hear negative things about barracks, but Doug and I didn’t care as long as we had a place to stay. The barracks was a better option than a tent. Doug and I were told we would only be in the barracks for a day then be moved to the Navy Lodge. We were fine with this. At this point, we just needed a litter box for the cats. Calcifer only peed on the plane and Gigi hadn’t used the bathroom at all (surprising for her because she usually poops 20 minutes into a trip). When we walked into the barracks, I was surprised at how nice it was. It was better than any dorm I ever stayed in college. We had our own room and bathroom. There was a kitchen that you had to share because there was another room. There was no one in the other room though, maybe that is why it was nice because it was just us. I put our suitcases in the closet to get them out of the way. Then Doug started to work on a list for our gofer. Our main concern was to get a litter box and litter. We only had the gofer get a few things since we were only staying in the barracks for a day.

Our gofer was able to get litter but no litter box, but we ended up getting us a big cardboard box. This would totally work for a day. As soon as we put litter in the box, Gigi hopped in and went to the bathroom. Cats can hold their urine for 24-48 hours. I am proud of her for holding her bladder that long.

Calcifer exploring a large drawer in the kitchen. He loves a good drawer.

Gigi in the sink. She likes to get into places she shouldn’t.

Our total travel from waking up, going to the Cincinnati International Airport, to arriving at the barracks in NAF Atsugi, was 26 hours.