After quite an experience trying to find our hotel and getting lost in Yokohama, it was too late to blog last night. To be driving in the outskirts/suburbs of Tokyo must be like driving in Manhattan or Mexico City. There are mid/high rises everywhere, bypasses and expressways that begin and end everywhere. It is very difficult to get your bearings even with a GPS. Of course, part of our issues with the GPS is that we cannot read Japanese to program locations. Anyway, we did arrive, but much later than planned.
We then headed across Tokyo to our destination for this morning which is why we spent the night in Yokohama. After slowly navigating our way out of Yokohama, we managed to make it to Atsugi. Great location for photograhing planes (even benches on which to sit) - a wonderful park right at the end of the runway - the runway lights are right in the middle of the park. The weather was not great, but we stayed for over an hour and then headed north to Iruma. T
here were lots of people there hanging out and sharing their photographs. they even included Joe in the exchange. Both are worth a return visit (with good weather)!
Yesterday turned out to be the most beautiful day at the location Joe most desired for it to be. We 
were at Hyakuri Air Base photo-ing F4s, F-15s and anything else that showed up. It is also the place where you 
call this phone number on the gate and for a small fee a woman will come let you in. It appears that they built the air field around this family's land, but they refused to sell the part that houses their Shinto Shrine. So, in the midst of the shrine, someone has built two platforms that you can stand on to get your airplane pictures. It was a huge challenge because of the language. Joe called but had no idea what the response was. Someone else showed up (a local), called and the woman appeared. So, it was a great day.
were at Hyakuri Air Base photo-ing F4s, F-15s and anything else that showed up. It is also the place where you 
call this phone number on the gate and for a small fee a woman will come let you in. It appears that they built the air field around this family's land, but they refused to sell the part that houses their Shinto Shrine. So, in the midst of the shrine, someone has built two platforms that you can stand on to get your airplane pictures. It was a huge challenge because of the language. Joe called but had no idea what the response was. Someone else showed up (a local), called and the woman appeared. So, it was a great day.
On our way back to the expressway, we were driving through one of the sma
ll to
wns and decided to stop for dinner in Tschirsa. We found a cute little restaurant by the train station. It was authentic Japanese with no one who spoke English and few pictures on the menu (and the pictures there were obviously fish). Joe ordered some fish stuff with cold soba noodles. after a big struggle with language I think I ordered chicken on skewers. I was hoping for a least only thigh meat but I think I ended up with a variety which included heart, gizzards and liver?. I ate the one that I think was thigh and sampled the heart or liver one and decided that was enough. Thank goodness for potato chips, ice cream and rice crackers.
ll to
wns and decided to stop for dinner in Tschirsa. We found a cute little restaurant by the train station. It was authentic Japanese with no one who spoke English and few pictures on the menu (and the pictures there were obviously fish). Joe ordered some fish stuff with cold soba noodles. after a big struggle with language I think I ordered chicken on skewers. I was hoping for a least only thigh meat but I think I ended up with a variety which included heart, gizzards and liver?. I ate the one that I think was thigh and sampled the heart or liver one and decided that was enough. Thank goodness for potato chips, ice cream and rice crackers. We then headed across Tokyo to our destination for this morning which is why we spent the night in Yokohama. After slowly navigating our way out of Yokohama, we managed to make it to Atsugi. Great location for photograhing planes (even benches on which to sit) - a wonderful park right at the end of the runway - the runway lights are right in the middle of the park. The weather was not great, but we stayed for over an hour and then headed north to Iruma. T
here were lots of people there hanging out and sharing their photographs. they even included Joe in the exchange. Both are worth a return visit (with good weather)!Since the weather is so overcast (rain is predicted) in Tokyo (Could the typhoon in the Philippines be affecting our weather?), we decided to head north. We drove up to Sendai. We were so excited that we quickly found the hotel! It is early AM and we are getting ready to head up to Matsushima for the morning. Then, this afternoon we plan to sightsee there and here.
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