hello! yoshi > Memories

The other day I made a post about old car memories and one of my friends called it the Sushimobile. That totally brought back some memories, and another friend also reminded me what we called ourselves: “The Sushi Crew“. I’ll probably explain why we called ourselves that in a different post. That just about made me LOL when I read that. Ah, good times were had in those days. I think we went everywhere there was to go in Jersey in the sushimobile. I remember getting lost in it, and being found, breaking down, pushing it, and everything that could ever happen in a car happened in the sushimobile.

One time while driving down Route 38, I remember the area losing power. We were on our way home from somewhere, and all the lights down 38 were out, including all the stores, the car dealerships, and everything. That was before the construction was done to make 38 a big ass four lane highway, so going through Mt. Holly was pretty scary with all the lights out.

We were all marveled, because it was just eerie without the traffic lights and I made a comment, “Wow, even with all this power out, it’s good to know that the radio station still plays and has backup power.” And just at that very moment, the radio went silent. WMMR, 93.3 went quiet. I think everyone at once were slackjawed and just looked at the radio. But soon, about 15 seconds later, the DJ came on and apologized for the dead air.

That was a freaky night in the Sushimobile. Have you ever had anything freaky like that happen to you?

This weeks Topical Tuesday is birthday memories. You know you’ve got that one birthday that you loved, or perhaps it’s one you totally hated! Well, here we go, you get to talk about it!

I don’t remember too many of my birthdays. Usually it involves me trying to ignore it and keeping it from friends. I try not to make a really big deal out of birthdays, and keep it on the down low, because I want my friends to do the same. Therefore, I really don’t have too many birthdays that I remember. Nothing really stands out.

Ok I lied, one does stick out, and it was the first year I was in the Navy. I was fresh and green, and my birthday came around, and I remember now that I got a card from my mom with some money, and I was so thankful. I went out and got chinese take out with it (that was a treat, believe me) and found out that one of my shipmates was also having a birthday. Neither one of us were drinkers at the time, but we shared some fun and played guitar and just had a great time. And you know, sadly I cannot remember his name. But we share the same birthday. The navy is such a small world. But that might have been one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had which I can remember.

This weeks Topical Tuesday is about holidays. So let’s share some memories of a holiday today.

I’ll be honest with you. I don’t think much about the holidays. And when I say holidays I really mean Christmas time. I’ve never been a big celebrator of it. I used to be, when I was younger, and no cares in the world. I guess getting older changed things. I guess when you grow up, you lose the magic. But I digress.

When I grew up, there was one holiday that especially filled me with cheer. I have to admit, it’ll sound really cheesy, but it’s the first Christmas that I spent with Meesh. We met online, as some of you might know, and unfortunately, we lived miles apart. I lived in St. Louis at the time, and she lived here, in Washington. So we couldn’t really get together very easily. The summer we met, I had flown out to Washington and we spent a great time together.

Well, we apparently had so much fun, that her parents decided to use some miles (my father in law travels a LOT) and bought me a ticket to fly out for Christmas. How cool is that, right? Well anyways, I got to spend the holidays, of which I used to spend alone, with my “new” family. I got to meet the awesome brothers and their families, and I even got plenty of gifts, even though I didn’t really have any gifts to give out! I really felt loved.

Of course, they gave me gifts that hinted that I should move out to Washington (including a bag of Space Needle macaroni!), and I eventually did, as you already know. Aside from last Christmas/New Years, that might be one of the most memorable holidays ever.

In case you’re curious, last Christmas/New Years, me and my sister surprised my parents by not telling my parents that my sister was visiting at the same time that Meesh and I were visiting. It was a very momentous occasion and there was a lot of cheer and love. Family is great, isn’t it?

So, feeling nostalgic about living in Iwakuni, I decided to take out my super old Geocities website that I had, that got some pretty decent hits in the old hey day. It even got reviewed and received 3/5 stars (read: crappy) in some Internet magazine. (Jeff remembers that one I’m sure.) Anyways, this portion is what I wrote about Hiroshima so long ago (1997 or so - that’s the geocities days right? And sorry the image is so small! Even the clicked on image is a bit small.):

If you were to go north of Miyajima, taking the JR for about 6 or 7 more stops (don’t quote me on that one), then you would arrive at Hiroshima. Hiroshima is historical worldwide not for it’s commerce, or industrial power, but because it was the first city to have a nuclear device used upon. On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped “Little Boy” upon the city of Hiroshima, and an estimated 200,000 people were killed that day. It is truly sad to know while we would walk through Peace Park that not so long ago, people were fighting to survive this catastrophe. Surely, as my friends and I, as part of the United States Navy, were very guilty to be walking through the park, feeling rather remorseful. However, we know that we did not do it, and that made it feel a bit better. But walking through the hallways of the Peace Park Museum, it was very hard to not feel somber. The displays had remnants of clothes, watches, uniforms, and other structures showing the effects of the A-Bomb. I would have to say that all in all, Peace Park and the Museum was a very sobering experience. There were people from all over the world, and in this one place, we could see what devastation such devices wrought. In some areas of the newly designed Museum, you can see the current growth of nuclear arms in the world, and it is by far rather sad. Though I have not been there in a long while, I’m sure it hasn’t changed. War is not a good thing.

You can see me in the above picture standing in front of what is now called the “A-Bomb Dome”. This is all that is truly left of 1945 Hiroshima, a reminder of those times of war. It is truly a breathtaking site, in the middle of this industrial city lies a now dead building, shown as a shrine would be.

[tags]Hiroshima, Japan, A-bomb Dome, nuclear arms, Peace Park[/tags]

I will warn you now: This is a very somber post.

I don’t remember the first time I went to Hiroshima. But there are other times I do remember. I remember going there and taking a brisk walk from the train station to Peace Park. On the way we would buy Bento boxes for lunch, since we knew we’d be hungry. We would normally buy them in the shopping area below the train station there. I’m sure it’s all changed by now, but there were many many stores where you could buy a variety of food.

After packing our lunches in our backpacks, we might stop at the convenience store outside the train station and stop to get some drinks. I would normally buy Calpis, which actually did taste very good and did a decent job of keeping me hydrated, despite the name.

As we would walk towards Peace Park, we’d carry on casual conversation about the train ride from Iwakuni, or we would laugh a little at the Engrish which we would see just about everywhere.

Once we arrived at Peace Park, which if you did not already know, was ground zero when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, we would go out in the middle of the field of grass and unpack our lunch. There’s something quite peaceful about peace park, with all the pigeons, and a variety of people wandering around.

There were many days like this. Sometimes they left me feeling a bit melancholy. Other times I was very chipper. All in all, Peace Park and the Hiroshima Museum would always leave you just a little bit speechless. I thought I’d speak more about the Museum, but I think I’ll just leave it simply at this: You have to see it to understand.

The Children’s Peace Monument is located in Peace Park, with thousands, more likely millions of paper cranes around it. Anyone can donate paper cranes. I’ve walked around the monument and saw a set of cranes that came all the way from a 2nd grade school classroom in Chicago, Illinois.

Peace Park was a really good place to hang out, and just enjoy living. I really do have some great memories of hanging out with friends sitting in the field in front of the memorial Museum. Do you guys remember?

Have you been to Peace Park in Hiroshima? Feel free to tell us of your first experience there.

[tags]Hiroshima, Peace Memorial Park, memories, calpis, bento[/tags]

While stationed in Japan as I mentioned earlier, we would frequently go to Hiroshima. A trip to Hiroshima soon became a “welcome to Japan” tour from yours truly for any new clinic personnel arriving to Iwakuni.

I recall one time when one of our new Lab technicians arrived, we took her to Hiroshima. The week she arrived, it just happened to be the week that the Lucasfilm exhibit was in town. For some of us Star Wars nerds, this may have been the ultimate rush. My friend Jeff and I knew we simply had to go.

Now, I remember I was very excited to go on this trip, and we had quite a few folks with us. One distinct memory that stuck out in my mind was while walking to the exhibit, the new Lab Tech asked me, “Does she have to walk so fast?” referring to our friend Swan. I just simply laughed and told her that you kinda get used to walking fast in Japan, but there’s no need to keep up, she knows where she’s going and so do I.

I’ll discuss Hiroshima more in a future post.

It’s memories like this that continue to make me smile. Keep on remembering…

[tags]memories, Japan, Hiroshima, Lucasfilms[/tags]

While I was stationed in Japan in MCAS Iwakuni (1993-1995) I learned a lot of things about Japan. First of all, I was 24 years old then. When I last stepped foot in Japan prior to that, I was 15 years old. A lot of things can happen between those years. Those are life changing years. Since I was much older, and an adult then, I got to go to places that I never would have went to. Places like hostess clubs, love hotels, and such. Although honestly I never did get to go to a love hotel, as they were a bit spendy, especially when the yen rate was so horrible. Although hostess clubs weren’t any cheaper either!

But no, Japan is tons of fun. One memory I have while stationed there was what everyone called “The Chicken Shack.” Now, I’m betting that most people in Iwakuni are still calling it that. And if not, I don’t see why not! The Chicken Shack is actually a very expensive restaurant called Sanzoku. Now I’m betting you’re wondering why it’s called “The Chicken Shack” and you’d be of good mind to wonder about that. Because it is the place we bring all the new folks who get stationed there, and they serve chicken (which is always a safe food option in Japan), it’s thusly called “The Chicken Shack.” Never mind that it’s not the real name of the place. You learn that people give nicknames to a lot of places.

But The Chicken Shack was a very cool place. Very “Japanese-y” if you will. (forgive my Engrish.) The service was great, the people were friendly, and although they didn’t speak very well English, people always managed to get their point across and get the food that they wanted. I’ve really got to find some old photos of that area and post them, to accompany this post.

Hey Iwakuni-ites, are you missing it? It was way too expensive there though. I think most of us really preferred going just outside the front gate, and going to California Chicken. I miss that place, because you could pay in dollars there and the chicken was exceptional.

[tags]memories, Japan, food, chicken, Sanzoku, MCAS Iwakuni[/tags]