Ports of Call (2)

Beware, Porn to Follow!

October 10th, 2008

The continuing saga of a Twiget Nuke’s first impression of Japan.

“Another thing that amazed me was how much 18+ things there were in Akihabara. It seemed every single store had its own collection of hentai/porn. We went into a corner store one time just to look for a few small things, and sure enough there was porn in a section. And it isn’t covered up, its not hidden away. You just find yourself looking at like music cds, anime dvds, porn; OK, new store, magazines, porn, novels. There doesn’t seem to be a line somewhere that says Beware! Porn to follow! Some stores with basements have a sign as you go down that says, “18+ (Read the rest of the story…)

Akihabara Maid Cafe

October 9th, 2008

OK, a herd of Nukes with a food fetish? My Twiget Nuke Son’s continuing saga of his first impressions of Japan, Enjoy!

“One of the things my friend had wanted to do while in Akihabara was go to a famed “Maid Café”. In a society all about social standards and ones place in society with the dominant male and subservient female, a whole sort of fetish revolves around the idea of a female serving you. But not in the “Can I get you a drink sir?” type way, but in the “Yes Master, how may I be able to serve you today?” type approach. The term “moe(mo –eh)” comes to mind. Well a maid café is a place where you go, all the waitresses and staff are female and dressed in French maid outfits. They talk sweetly and laugh in girly high pitched sounds and always try to bow. We were trying to figure out how to get to a maid café when (Read the rest of the story…)

Japan is a Geek’s Paradise

October 8th, 2008

My Twiget Nuke Son’s continuing first impressions of Japan, enjoy

“So when we finally arrived in Akihabara, Japan. It was much much different than the small city of Yokosuka. Being a part of Tokyo, Akihabara isn’t exactly deserted. Masses of people were all over the sidewalks, and when the light changed colors a herd of people crossed the street in one direction or another. The buildings were plastered with anime characters and video game signs, and one tall building on a corner had in large letters “Welcome to Akihabara” on a huge sign at its top. There were buildings with just floors and floors of arcade games, from the simple “UFO Grabber” games where you try to grab prizes, to the more complex. The more complex being one floor with 10-12 large mock cockpits to Gundams that close sealing you inside immersing you into a brawl of 5v5 Gundam arena combat. The non-participants got to watch a large screen in the center of the room (Read the rest of the story…)

First Day In Japan – Mass Transit

September 29th, 2008

My Son who is a Nuke on the USS George Washington sent me an email with a description of his first day off the ship in the country which will be his new home for a couple of years. I decided to post the part of his day when he and his friends had to tackle getting in and around the mass transit station. He has been studying Japanese for a few years but this is his first time actually using the knowledge “for real”. I always wondered what possessed people to ask in the foreign tongue if they speak English… Anyway, the first of what I hope are many installments of my Son’s Far East adventure.

“The streets were new to us, the signs with the engrish on them (attached photo) and the way just everything was situated. This will be our new home for a while and it was a lot to take in. On the base there are cliff like faces, the area itself seeming to be a sharp hilly terrain that was molded to allow buildings.

One off the base (after stopping by an ATM and getting yen out, 103 yen to the dollar) we entered the greater Yokosuka area. As an instant immersion, everyone around us was Japanese, all the buildings were labeled in Japanese with smatterings of English below the large Japanese lettering. We walked a ways that we thought was the train station (the brief we had gotten on locations having been back in may so our memories were a little fuzzy. After walking (Read the rest of the story…)

Space A Adventure

September 9th, 2008

My wife and I have decided to embark on a “no idea where we’ll end up” vacation. As you may be aware, one of the benefits of serving in the United States Armed Forces is being able to fly on military and military chartered aircraft that have empty seats.

Flying “Space A” or “space available” is the method Bonnie and I used only once before back in 1994. Our desire was to get to Germany, rent a car and drive the Autobon. Everything went surprisingly smooth, from what I have read I think luck was on our side. To make a long story really short, (Read the rest of the story…)

Going to be Stationed In Japan?

August 25th, 2008

I enjoy reading FEWL.NET because the writer has a unique way of expressing himself, he is in the Navy and also he is stationed on a ship in Japan, my twidget nuke Son is on the USS George Washington and on his way to Japan. Well, the Author just wrote an article that should be mandatory reading for every member of the any crew headed for the Yokosuka waterfront. The following are a couple of excerpts from “What USS George Washington Should Know About Japan“;

I can see how this law might make sense,

Don’t ride with someone who is drunk – Under Japanese law, you will be found just as guilty for letting the person drive, whether you’re sober or not. Also, just having one beer and getting behind the wheel can land you in jail for a Driving While Drinking Indicated (DWDI). The base conducts surprise breathalyzers all the time, so driving drunk here is definitely Russian roulette with your career.

(Read the rest of the story…)

Benidorm Spain

August 23rd, 2008

One of the first ports I had the pleasure of visiting was a city in Spain with long sandy beaches, British pubs, bull fighting and a Burger King.

We pulled-in to the port, well, we didn’t actually “pull-in” – the USS Forrestal was a little too large to pull up to their dock so we anchored just off shore and rode liberty boats to and from the fleet landing. Amazingly enough the process of getting all of us Sailors to and from the shore was pretty efficient and the liberty boat was like an old Disney E-Ticket ride, life was good.

It was almost noon Benidorm time when I hit the Spanish shores for the first time, I was hungry. Back in the early 1980’s Americas fast food industry hadn’t yet invaded every corner of the planet like it has today and Burger King, that little slice of home, was on my list of a must visit location. But not on this day, my first day in Spain – today was going to be something authentic – today was going to be (Read the rest of the story…)

Fish On!

August 16th, 2008

Yup, we went camping again! This time I wanted to do a little fishing and not spend our life savings in gas to get there. After reviewing a few places within a half days drive from Memphis we settled on Bull Schoals – White River State Park.

We called ahead to make reservations and were able to get a site that was actually right on the fast moving river. Having only been trout fishing once in my life prior to this trip I was looking forward to the adventure. (Read the rest of the story…)

My First Trans-Atlantic Flight

June 27th, 2008

Twenty years ago this month I commenced a set of orders that would take me to the land of fire and ice. We lived in Iceland for two and a half years, I have tons of stories to tell about our adventures while there but this isn’t going to be one of them. What I am going to share during this post is how really small the world can be. How you really never know…

Before I selected the orders to Iceland I was actually given a few choices but I was looking for an opportunity to live overseas. That narrowed things down a bit to the Embassy in Seoul, Korea or an island I only heard stories about. At the time in 1988 there was rioting in Seoul over the coming Olympic games – the stuff seemed to be on the news every night. For that reason and also the fact that a transfer to Keflavik, Iceland included a school which was located in Latina, Italy. The school was for NATO’s version of SATCOM – yup, I got to work on state of the art, 46 foot in diameter antenna, satellite ground terminal equipment – God, I love the Navy! Anyway, (Read the rest of the story…)

MEDIC!

May 29th, 2008

Disney Security

Security at Disney is something they take very seriously. Thousands of people enter the various parks every day. The worlds climate for hate dictates that every one must remain vigilant. Some security measures I have noticed which hadn’t existed prior to 9/11 are things like increased video surveillance and coded tickets which are matched with your finger print each time you enter.

One other inclusion into Disney’s security is the bag check once reserved for airports and federal buildings. Disney does have a better process – they have two lines, one for people with bags and one for the stream-lined traveler who is packed lite. (Read the rest of the story…)