I came to Japan back in January to visit Rich, who at the time was merely my boyfriend. I was supposed to stay a month and then go back to my lonely and depressing life back in PA. But Rich asked me to marry him, then asked me to stay and of course I said yes because that's exactly what I was hoping would happen. So here I am, six months later, finally married after a whole lot of obstacles. Now I'm officially a Navy wife (again), and living in Japan. It's pretty cool over here. The peolple are amazingly friendly and polite. The language is hard to learn, but we've managed a few important words like "do you have a toilet"(they generally do, but it's usually one of those little holes in the floor that no one can possibly be comfortable using) and basic greetings. The only Kanji we know is for Misawa, the city we're in, and for two other cities that we visit on occasion. Misawa is called a city, but it's more like a town if you ask me. I thought it would look a million itmes different from a town in the states, but the only major difference is that the streets are smaller and everything is written in Kanji on the signs. And you have to drive on the wrong side of the street and the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car. Other than that, it looks like a town, with McDonalds and Circle K's and various stores. Oh yeah, another big difference is that they have vending machines everywhere. Literally all over the place. You can be driving down the road and there could be nothing around but a vending machine sitting off to the side. And they don't just sell soda. To be honest, I don't really think I've even seen one that does sell just soda. They sell all sorts of really good coffees, like lattes and mocha, and regular too. There are at least several dozen regular coffee's that can be found in these machines. And they come in cans and can be bought hot or cold, both temperatures right in one machine. A very smart concept, why haven't we thought of that. But coffee, tea, and juices aren't the only things you can get out of these machines. You can buy soup, film, disposable cameras, smokes, underwear, even sex toys. And beer. They have beer vending machines on the side of the road. I don't think there's a drinking age. If there is, I don't see how they could enforce when all you have to do is go to a machine and put in your money to get drunk. They also have this alcohol here called Chu-Hi, which looks and tastes almost like seltzer water that can be mixed in just about anything and you can't taste it at all so you can get really drunk really fast without ever realizing that you've been drinking. There are a bunch of bars off base that play really bad music and are filled with really annoying people, like girls who when they run into a friend that they just saw an hour ago will still scream at the top of their lungs like they haven't seen this person in years. And guys who think it cool to talk like they don't have an education or talk shit and get into fights to prove just how manly they really are. We all know what I mean by annoying people. We avoid those places at all cost and instead go to a little bar in an alley that is run by one lone Japanese guy who will almost always play whatever we ask him to. Rich will walk in, hand him a CD and say "track 5" or something and Akira will play it. It's generally pretty empty in there. Aforementioned annoying people will walk up to the door, open it, and turn around and leave. Good riddance.
All in all, so far I really like Japan. I miss my Mom and my family and my cats, but I couldn't be happier because I'm here with Rich and I'm experiencing a whole new culture. It's expensive here, but if you ever hit the jackpot or have extra cash, it's worth seeing. Next issue I'll tell you about the festivals since I'll have seen more by then. We've only gone to one so far, but there are a bunch this summer. Till then, go read the rest of the zine.