My Kind of Town, Hayama Is

It was a dark and rainy night. The fickle wind deposited the Ancient Mariner's jaunty cap on a thorny hedge and bent the ribs of my favorite umbrella. We were soaked by the time we reached the shelter of the Mercure Hotel where the Otsukas were waiting to whisk us, Big Bird, and her husband, let's call him Mr. Chipper, to the Otsukas' favorite Chinese restaurant in Hayama, a small seaside town on the other side of the Miura Peninsula. The five minutes I had devoted to styling my hair would have been better spent reading or knitting.

The Imperial Family maintains a villa in Hayama, something you already know if you are a fan of Sujata Massey's Rei Shimura mysteries.  The Chinese restaurant, owned by the family of Admiral Otsuka's longtime best friend, used to have a private room where the Emperor and his family dined when they were in town but these days the restaurant delivers to the villa.  Big Bird and I think the Oakleaf Club lunch bunch ought to experience the excellent cuisine and scenic views the restaurant offers.

Jellyfish was one of the appetizers.  I ate it.

Chinese Sake

We watched a waiter ladle a drink the color of whisky from a vat on a rolling cart into a small glass pitcher which he placed on our table with a bowl of ice. The Ancient Mariner and I shared a glass. Goodnight, Peevish!

Beer Tastes Better at Baseball Games

We saw the Yokohama Bay Stars trounce the Honshin Tigers tonight. I usually travel to the Tokyo Dome to scratch my baseball itch but could not resist the chance to check out Yokohama Stadium when the Seventh Fleet proposed a group outing.

Getting to Yokohama Stadium from Yokosuka is easy.  You can either ride the Keikyu train to Yokohama and switch to a JR train that will take you to Kannai station or you can hop off the Keikyu train in Kamiooka and take the subway to Kannai.  The stadium is right across the street from the JR end of Kannai station.  If you exit the station at the subway end, you could end up walking two or three blocks.  A little exercise won't kill you. 

Ninjas?  No, those are Power Rangers celebrating a run.

We sat in the upper deck above first base. Walking up two flights of stairs to reach our seats, we found restrooms conveniently situated on the landing. I've missed a lot of innings over the years while waiting in long lines outside of ballpark restrooms, so I appreciated the architect's thoughtfulness in carving out facilities just for us Section 8 fans.

There's the Sapporo Beer Girl!  We'll take two, kudasai!

Just like at the Tokyo Dome, cute young girls scampered up and down the aisles offering four kinds of beer, whiskey, and chu-hi. The Tokyo Dome beer girls carry their beer in little keg backpacks but the ones in Yokohama poured beer from cans. We sampled Asahi, Sapporo, Kirin, and Yebisu beer. My favorite, Yebisu, cost 50 yen more than the others but I consider it seventy cents well spent.

I'm going to try to visit more ballparks this summer and next spring. For research purposes, of course.

The Tokyo Marathon: June Version

We managed to reserve hotel rooms for only one night - the never-popular Tuesday - while James and Emily were here, so we had a lot of ground to cover in two days.  So many factors had to be considered: Kate was due to arrive Wednesday afternoon, Suzi had visited Tokyo in October 2007 so we wanted to add some new sights to the mix, and Matt had graduation rehearsals scheduled both days.  Major Broadway productions have been staged in less time than the Kinnick High School Commencement Ceremony . . .

So.  Meiji Shrine was our first stop.  We shooed the Texans toward the torii gate for the obligatory photograph, but Emily insisted on posing in the foreground.  The middle-aged sisters raised their eyebrows in unison and whispered, "She's quite smart."  This is an accolade they rarely confer on anyone not related to them by blood.

Good Lord, she even has him washing his hands!

Inside the shrine we happened upon a Shinto wedding, always a treat.  "Look!  She's marrying a foreigner.  She's wearing a hood to hide the horns all women are expected to reveal once they are married."

 
The Ancient Mariner wisely resisted the impulse to share his thoughts on this topic.

Emily wanted her picture taken with the shrine entrance in the background.  Everyone whipped out a camera. 

"Is that a Nikon, Birkenstock Lady?"

James takes his best shot

"Step aside and let the master show you how it's done."

Sumimasen, allow me to demonstrate the proper way to take a photograph.

After a quick dash through Harajuku followed by one of my infamous shortcuts down a labyrinth of narrow lanes and alleys leading to a dead end, we found our way back to the train station.  Mike went back to Yokosuka to chaperone Matt and the rest of us headed across town to Sensoji Temple and the Five-Story Pagoda in Asakusa.  James called Emily a brown-noser when she bought a change purse like mine in one of the little shops but she forgave him when he agreed to pose in the cartoon Mikoshi Parade.

Over our usual Teppanyaki dinner back at the hotel, we hammered out plans for the morrow and hammered down sake while Emily opted to sample shochu, which apparently has much in common with Kentucky moonshine.  After a couple of sips, she followed the waitress's recommendation and mixed the shochu with grapefruit juice.  That did not seem to do the trick so I guess I'll stick with sake and beer.  Good to know, right?

Pre-Shochu Portrait

Next:  Tokyo Tower and Yebisu Brewery