Misawa, Japan - three years and counting

Three years ago today we stepped off of the plane and into the cold and freezing rain of Misawa, Japan. After gathering our luggage and cat, we were escorted to our temporary housing and it proceeded to snow 19 inches. Welcome to Misawa.

I was very pregnant with Miss Lily. The flight here was the worst thing I had ever endured in my entire life. We flew over on the rotator (plane contracted through military) and not commercially. We had to stop at two other military bases in Japan, get off the plane and wait for hours, get back on the plane, etc. I cannot even remember how long the trip took, it felt like years. In addition to the horrid flight we had to be at the Airport in Seattle several hours before the flight wait in horrendous lines for our name to be called, then wait again to check in, then wait some more for the flight. Before that we had traveled from Italy to Virginia, Virginia to Salt Lake City and, Salt Lake City to Seattle. Each leg of the trip with our cat Daisy. Each leg of the trip fraught with delays and several different plane changes. All while very pregnant, with about 10 tons of luggage and on our way to a new unknown home.

When we arrived it was afternoon. Jeff thought we should stay awake until night so our bodies would adapt faster to the time change. We showered and tried to sleep but discovered our hunger was more pronounced than our exhaustion. It was snowing by then. Luckily we arrived with full winter gear. I carried all this from Italy to Japan but now I was glad to have it. We called a taxi, even though we were on an American Military Base our Taxi driver did not speak a lick of English.

We asked him to take us to a Japanese restaurant. It turns out that in Japan, they don't call Japan - Japan they call Japan - Nippon. He took us to the Japanese Police Station. We tried again to explain where we wanted to go, and he took us to a Chinese Restaurant. Chinese food in Japan, whatever I was hungry. He gave us a card with a telephone number to call when we were done eating and we went inside to eat dinner.

It was early for dinner, maybe five. This was a small restaurant, The New Myiaki. We were immediately seated and given menus. Everything looked delicious. We were so hungry we ordered a ton of food. Soup, salad, appetizer, main dishes and dessert. We went crazy. It turned out to be way more food than we can eat. Which it turns out is not appropriate behavior in Japan. You eat what you take, no waste. So we were very rude on our first day.

It was a huge difference being in Japan compared to being in Italy. In Italy if you arrive at a restaurant at five pm they will not be open. When you arrive at seven you are the only one there, sometimes they haven't even turned on the lights. It takes the waiter at least 15 minutes, even though you are the only ones there, it takes forever for them to come and take your order and even longer to get your food. If you order several courses you are so screwed because each course takes so long to arrive. If I were there in Italy alone with my husband or with friends this would be wonderful. A long leisurely dinner, but with my family it is so painfully slow.

Here in Japan it is not at all like that. You have a door bell on your table that you ring to let your server know you are ready. You can ring it anytime, and get immediate service. Once we ordered, our food was brought to us within a couple of minutes. We almost fell out of our chairs. The food was perfect and delicious. We were in and out and back to our lodging in less than an hour. This is why we go there, to our lovely New Myiaki on March 7 - to celebrate arriving in Japan.

To celebrate all that Japan has come to mean to us. The prompt and courteous service, the perfect food, the smiling faces, and the 19 inches of snow. Let it snow as long as I can fill my belly with Chinese food in Japan. I wonder what we will be eating in China?