This little girl was having such fun beating these drums while her mom took her picture. 

A sign welcoming 2007 -- Year of the Wild Boar! 

Sanzoku's famous chicken on a stick being cooked over a charcoal fire. It smelled delicious in here! 

Looking through the trees and the outside tables where you can eat. Even though the weather is cold, these tables have a heater underneath and a quilt on top, so it holds in the heat for your lower body. 

Walking around the gardens and walkways at Sanzoku. Notice the lanterns and bridge over the small brook. This place is amazing at night with all the lights, so we decided to come back another time at night to eat.

We found this statue in a small, quiet garden area. Pam read that there is a Buddha (maybe this one?) whose job is to protect small children (by hiding them under his robe) from the hell that they have gone to because of the pain they caused their parents when they died prematurely. So the parents pray to this Buddha and leave coins and prayer cards for the protection of their children. 

Foliage growing on top of the roof of some of the buildings. Although it smells delicious here, we've decided to drive back to Sako's the famous BLT place near the base as planned, but it was closed, so we went for sushi -- we're always hungry for sushi!

Lunch was delicious, so we decided to show Pam & Jake our favorite European dessert shop. It's such a beautiful building and there's a two-story structure above this shop, where we assume the family lives.

Sign outside this pastry/bakery shows all the traditional symbols of the New Year in Japan. 

Stan's dark chocolate cake with fruit & icing decorations on the plate. The forks are small, so the dessert is really smaller than it looks! 

This is mine -- chocolate mousse cake -- yum! And it's light as a feather . . .

Pam's decorated pastry & fruit plate -- notice there are only 3 & not 4 of these? Jake is off sugar & is the only one who was strong enough to resist!  

Around the Base

A couple days after New Years, Stan & I were driving around the base perimeter road, where we saw some traditional New Year's decorations outside a building on the Japanese side. All the branches, nandina & cabbage roses are fresh. The bamboo is new (still green) and the cover at the bottom is woven from rice sheaths.

Driving a little further, we found ourselves at the new pier area that's been built from land reclaimed from the sea. This is an unusual sight -- the front of a jet powered high-speed troop transport that we heard is "stuck" here for repairs. It has 40,000 hp engines. We also heard it's primary run is from Okinawa to Korea. It's really huge!

Back end 

From the ground level, we can see the whole ship through the chainlink. We can't get any closer. 

There were no signs saying not to, and there was a nice ladder, so Stan climbed up a fire tower to get above the buildings, so he could get a picture of the entire ship. Of course, while he was up there, he decided to take pictures from every angle.

Huge piece of equipment at the new harbor that's used for loading/unloading cargo.

Stan looking down on me in the car below the fire tower where's he climbed up to take pictures. 

The new area being reclaimed from the sea and Iwakuni beyond. It's an overcast day . . . 

Looking out to sea -- the new pier & beyond our "floating" island in the Seto Inland Sea. 

A covered picnic area and in the distance, the rest of the base beyond the flightline. 

Japanese Zodiac Animals

Here's some great info about the Year of the Wild Boar -- my year, Sherri's year, and Heather's new Baby Boy's year! Check this out & you can find out your personality traits for the animal of your year. http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa010307a.htm?nl=1

Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu!

(Happy New Year!)
We wish a very Happy 2007 to all our readers and hope you will check out this VERY cool website that explains what an important event New Year is in Japan: http://www.japanesegarden.com/events/newyear.shtml

Although we were not able to see the "ball drop" in NYC on TV (it would not fall for another 14 hours here), we did see the "Night Watch Bell" televised on Japanese TV (scroll about half-way down the above-referenced website to see a pic) being gonged at midnight, and when we walked outside, we could hear many bells from local Buddhist temples ringing! We had a small, but fun party with some great friends & great food! Of course, I didn't take enough pictures, so if you're not photographed, sorry! -- but we're so honored that you chose to celebrate with us!

Mi-Chan & Sachi enjoying wet cat food goodies before the party.

Yum -- look at all the people goodies!

Sue & Gary really enjoying karaoke & yummy food . . .

Jim J telling a wild story to Tim, and then to Jim S (Ingrid's in the US), while Lib (who may have hear this before), excitedly looks on . . .

Belinda's talking to Stan about "just the right song" while Pam & Jake wait their turn for the mic . . .