At Iwakuni

Well, I’m here in Iwakuni City, Japan surrounded by Americans. I’m staying on a Marine Corps air station with the rest of the project team of which I am the only female and the only one under the age of 50. You learn how to be flexible very quick. It sure would be nice to have someone to pal around with. We made it through the Tokyo airport and rechecked in on All Nippon Air to Hiroshima. I was so tired by that time I fell asleep and nearly capsized onto the Japanese lady sitting next to me on the flight. We made it to the base via shuttle bus and checked into the Kintai Inn. I thought we would be staying at the inn where I would have Wi-Fi, but no, we are staying in converted barracks. Below is a picture of my room—that’s a lot of furniture for a hotel room. Plus there are three built in closets (from when it was actually barracks). There is no A/C and it is HOT. October 1 they switched off the A/C. There’s also a picture from my window. If not for those very unattractive steam pipes, you could see the mountains.

Today we started bright and early with a breakfast meeting at an on base restaurant. I went out with some of the team and toured the base to look at canals and treatment plants afterwards. Since it’s an air station we also got to see fighter jets and other planes taking off and landing throughout the day which was really neat. They do not allow you to take pictures of the planes so I will not be able to post that. Today was a long day. We ended at 5:00PM and will be going out to dinner on base again. I’ve had breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the same restaurant. I’d really like to get off base and eat in Iwakuni City.

All is OK so far. I’m anxious to see some sites, but work comes first. Japan seems a lot easier to get around than I assumed. I would have no hesitations about coming back here and vacationing. In the airports everything is written in Japanese and English. Did you know they drive on the left side of the road here? Did you know they bow to everyone? Did you know they sell beer in vending machines?