A Través del Pacífico

This blog is no more. Today we bid sayonara to Japan and return to our roots in South Texas.

American Airlines
Tokyo/Narita Airport to DFW, then DFW to San Antonio, then a long drive south in the dark hours of the night through the brush country.

We pick up our former lives where we left off back on August 10.

the new old life Blog
http://new-old-life.blogspot.com/

Last Day/Night

Tonight we stopped in a great little "Mexican" place called Surf Taco. It is in an area called "The Honch," a bar district directly across the street from the Naval Base. Every town should have one of these. Great drinks, food, atmosphere, decor, and music.

After tonight, though, the feeling Melba and I share is that it's tiime to go home. "Let's just go!"

I feel like a kid who is having a loose baby tooth pulled with a string and he's thinking to himself, "Just do it. Now. Just pull it!" The day is perfect; the air is still and cool, the sky bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Perfect. Let's just get on the plane and go.

Our Last Week

The final hours are slipping away much too fast. You want everything to register in your memory. It feels like the struggle to hold on to a good dream before you wake. If you were in our shoes you would understand how you want to envelope yourself in the essence of this city and its people. An agreeable way to begin is to eat and drink with the locals and our friend for life, Marissa. We found a great place to eat called Pepper Lunch (see video), then we went to what amounts to a little Japanese beer joint and numbed some of the pain of separation with cups of sake.

Ants in Our Pants

Melba and I are like a couple of horses whose riders have turned them back to the corrals after a long work day. They know that they are headed for their stalls and the water trough. There is almost no stopping them.

We are ready to go home. Mentally, the switch has been made. Our time and experience in Japan have been compartmentalized in the travel section of our brains. Our noses are pointed toward South Texas. We have ants in our pants.

Compounding our antsy condition is the miserable weather we woke up to this morning; windy, cold, and drizzly. Poor Melba still has to put in two more work days at school before we leave.

Clean Clean Clean

We vacated the apartment and moved into the Navy Lodge. Once again we are down to living out of a couple of suitcases. Melba spent a good part of the day cleaning our former home according to her standards. That's a lot of cleaning. At 3 o'clock Monday afternoon Mr. Kudo of the Housing Office will come over and perform a final inspection of the property and take the keys off our hands. Melba didn't leave much for the cleaning crew to do before the next family moves in. They'll probably just stand outside on the sunny balcony, chat, and smoke a few cigarettes. It's just possible that she may have left the apartment cleaner than how we found it when we moved in.

Cheers

Marisa, our newest life-long friend, discovered a little hole-in-the-wall joint just off Blue Street here in Yokosuka. It serves up skewered meats seared over an open flame and cold beer or sake to wash down the bite-sized chunks of beef, pork, or chicken. She brought us there tonight. It's a place called Sagamiya. We soon discovered that she is a regular there. The Japanese locals were very excited to see her walk in. Their eyes lit up.

Sagamiya's isn't a big deal to look at. It doesn't amount to much more than a few stools, a bar, and a small grill. The interior is compact enough to shake hands with every customer without having to get up, but the Japanese clients don't shake hands. Out by the narrow alley patrons can just stand and order their meats or drinks through the large window. It's a good and steady business. It would be great to have a place like this back home.

Miss List

I will miss...

...the economy and efficiency of my Nissan March. The little car had little to no 'passing power' but in my corner of Japan who needs it?

...the 24/7 pageantry of ship traffic on Tokyo Bay. From two-man fishing boats to navy destroyers, the show was never-ending and never the same. Tokyo Bay had more costume changes than a Miss America pageant.

...the orderliness of community life on the naval base. Everything in its place, and a place for everything. This was the best maintained living environment for people from incredibly diverse backgrounds. It is as honest a harmonic convergence as can be achieved on this earth.

...witnessing the pride and professionalism that the Japanese employees of the base display day after day in the work they perform. What an incredible work ethic.

...the public transportation system. With only a few Yen in your pocket you can get just about anywhere in this country with ease, speed, and comfort. America, are you listening?

...the rain showers you can count on. If the rains back home in South Texas were as dependable as they are here everyone would want to be a rancher.

...seeing on a daily basis the young men and women in uniform serving the United States of America in overseas bases like here in Yokosuka. They are proof positive that America still has a great future.

...the wonderful variety of trees; big, beautiful, leafy trees that make you want to lay under and write or read a book.

...seeing Mount Fuji at sunrise and at sunset. Look up majestic in the dictionary and you're sure to find a picture of it.

...the litter-free nature of Japan. What a clean and neat society. There's probably more trash on the five miles of highway shoulder from the ranch driving into town back home than in five-hundred miles of Japanese highways.

...the mass of neat and well-dressed Japanese making connections in the major train stations. What a wonderful and attractive people.