Bike Ride Cancelled

I am not going to be able to take the bike trip I had planned up the river into the mountains. But I want you to realize that it took a typhoon to stop me! The base will be closed to all traffic. At the very least, it will rain all weekend. As a consolation, there will be an Octoberfest on base Saturday the day the typhoon will be here. No, they did not plan it just for me because I had to cancel my bike trip. The Octoberfest sounds like a great way to spend your time during a typhoon, but during typhoons, all alcohol sales are suspended. One of the things these Marines are really good at is drinking beer. Think about it, a bunch of drunks trying to cope with 100 knot winds and rain, leaving doors and windows open, trying to play volleyball, ride their bikes, and worst of all puking into 100 knot winds. You can be killed by flying vomit if it is driven with 100 knot winds. I think I will stay indoors during he typhoon if the Octoberfest is still on.

Sushi Night! Actually, this is a kaiten-zushi (phonetically spelled) resturant. That's right, it is a rotating sushi bar! This is one of the better ones in Iwakuni. It is conveniently located right on highway 188. How do you get there? Oh, yes, of course. You go out the main gate of the base. Proceed to four corners and turn left on to highway 188. Go for about 5 kilometers and look for it on your right just across the bridge. You can't miss it. But if you do, miss it that is, just stop and ask directions by saying, "Kaiten-zushi doco des ka?" Which means, "Rotating sushi bar where is?" 

This is #2 in the series. Here we are at our table. First is Vicky Taylor, the principal of the elementary school, and next is Alice Berard, the principal of the high school (my school). We have the picture menus made for guigins in front of us. There are about 100 items on the menu. As you can see, we have already grabbed some plates off the conveyor. You can see several of the cooks in the background. They make dishes and place them on the conveyor belt. Those plates just keep coming and coming and coming, tempting you with every turn.  

This is #3. Do you realize how difficult this is writing in backward sequence? I hope you appriciate how I am trying to keep the pictures in proper sequence this time. Anyway, this is the "before" picture. Notice that we each have only one plate in front of us. That is about to change drastically. Those plates just keep coming and coming and coming, tempting you with every turn. In the blue cups is green tea. On Alice's left are boxes containing tea bags, regular and green. At the back of the table in the center, if you look carefully, you can see the hot water tap. There is an endless supply of green tea here. The cook in the background making freah dishes and placing them on the conveyor. Those plates just keep coming and coming and coming, tempting you with every turn. We had eel, tuna, eggplant, scallops, and another fish that I can't name. All were good and fresh. We ate plenty of fresh ginger with the sushi. The ginger makes your breath fresh and also kills any parasites that may be in the fish. 

This is #4 and I call this one the "after" picture. Here you see Alice Berard, the principal of my school, and me relaxing after the meal. There are about six or seven plates in front of us. I alos hav a soup bowl in front of me. I just love the miso soup. It is a fish based soup (what a surprise) with tofu, clams, and vegetables. I must admit, however, that we added to the stack of plates after the picture was taken. Those plates just keep coming and coming and coming, tempting you with every turn they make. So... 

Ok, I am trying to load these pictures in the sequence I took them. This is actually #5 or the last in the series. This is the waitress that comes and counts your plates after your meal. It took her a while because (1) we asked for separate checks and (2) we had a lot of plates for her to count. In the background, you can see the color coded plates that tell the prices of each dish. At the top is the black plate. Items on black plates cost 500 yen. The others are all less than that. 

Well, here I am almost back to the base. The bridge in the background is the railroad bridge that goes by the base.  

She is stocking the shelves with bento boxes of all kinds. Bentos are like a box lunch and are very good.

But they sell a little different stuff here. Here, you see rice cakes, crab rolls, rice pancakes, squid, and several other things I can't name. 

Yep, It is a 7-11 store. They are all over the place here. 

Look familiar? I go tired and thirsty so I stopped here.... 

If you don't consider the chain link fence, the roof line on that high building is really interesting. It is probably a school. 

This a wooden building that house the shrine itself. It has very beautiful carvings all around it. 

In the shrine park is this memorial to Japanese Naval heros. I can determine this from the emblems on the tall marker. The large rectangular stone sign has names or a historical event written in Kangi. 

While traveling homeward on some narrow back street, I came upon this shrine. The portals are stone. 

Look at the sculptured trees in this yard.  

That path under the freeway is where I ran out of river road. Next time, I will try on the other side of the river and see how far I can get. So here I started taking pictures of the neighbor hoods. Because I wanted an adventure, I did not go back the same way. I went exploring and tried to find my way back through the backstreets. Obviously I was successful because I am writing this. 

This is the pedestrian/bike path under the freeway. The sign in Knagi says "Watch your Head." No, I do not read Kangi yet. What you can't see in the picture because of the glare are the words in English. 

A couple of local fisherman try their luck. I did not have a rod with me. That is a situation I hope to remedy soon. By the way, somebody tell Mahlon that there is no limit on bass or bream here. You can catch them by any means you want except dynamite. 

Yep, that's Mike waiting for me. You can get an idea of how long the spill way is.