Look at this stuff, isn't it neat!

Because I am not working right now, I have a lot more time on my hands to go wandering about Japan. On one hand, that would be so much fun! On the other, I don't want to see cool stuff without Blake!

So, I'm still working on a middle ground to that dilemma. If I do go out, I can find cool things and take him back to them, or learn how to do certain things and then teach him. I think I will venture out more as we've been here longer, but so far my solo adventures have been minimal.

One thing I did was go on the Zushi city tour, hosted by some Japanese locals through our Fleet and Family Services office. Ikego is technically in Zushi, so it was basically a neighborhood tour, which is useful. It will be Zushi beach that we get to take Malcolm to when the weather warms up. While it was fun to get out and see Japan, and the people were nice (locals and other transplants like me) a lot of the tour was parts of Zushi that Blake and I had already seen on our own wanderings. That's okay though, because the more familiar we get with the area, the better. One tour guide did help me get a loyalty card to a local grocery store, so that will come in handy! That was also the outing on which I went to a more traditional Japanese restaurant and had to put my shoes in a locker. The following are from the Zushi adventure with Blake.

Japanese architecture is fascinating!

Adventure!

If you look very closely or click to embiggen, we caught our first glimpse of Fuji! It will look even better on a more clear day.

Another day, I decided to get off at the station where we usually just change trains and see what was around. First, I turned left out of the station and found the Seto-jinja Shrine. There was one bigger shrine and a handful of smaller ones. I really love how many shrines there are around that give people a chance to pray and worship in the middle of their busy days.

Further up the road, I wandered a mall. Nothing terribly interesting, but that's okay. I turned back around and walked past the station, and found a cemetery. We Americans aren't really supposed to go into the cemeteries, but they are certainly intriguing from the outside. For lunch, I was going to attempt a konbini where they would heat up the food for me, but I chickened out and just bought a CupNoodles and onigiri to take home. Next time!

Entrance to the cemetery

I have yet to walk to the closest grocery store on my own (haven't needed to), but together, based on recommendations, we discovered the canal path this week, which is a much nicer route, and there are koi!

Sorry it's sideways

While we are definitely looking forward to more of the big adventures, little ones are great too!