I told them I don't work at Costco or Sam's Club

Back in DC, Blake and I loved our Costco dates. We'd stock up on dog food or flour or whatever, try samples, and top it off with a cheap hot dog and some Pepsi. The Costco south of us, with better parking than the one to the north, also had fries and we'd split an order. Sometimes we would even splurge on some frozen yogurt. Tasty, simple, and inexpensive. My grandparents frequently enjoyed Costco dates themselves, even after almost 60 years of marriage. So, we're just following their excellent example.

Unfortunately, without a car, Costco has become less of a routine for us. We decided that the only thing we need from there while we live here is dog food (which would be inconvenient on the train no matter where we get it), and a Costco-sized bag lasts about five weeks. So, every 5-10 weeks, I get to ask a friend for a ride (or just ask them to pick it up for me). Occasionally, a friend going there will ask me if I need anything, saving me the trouble. If I go with them, I get a couple hours of friend time, a couple of bags of dog food, and whatever else happens to appeal to me while we're there. I went about two weeks ago with a friend and got three bags of food, so we're probably good until at least January.

But because I always run this errand while Blake is at work, he hadn't been. It's his Costco membership I married into (though I got my own card eventually), and it used to be his primary source of dinner when he was living on peanuts and had one practically in his backyard, so he actually kind of missed it. So, with a day off for Veteran's Day, we made Costco our adventure today to pick up our photos for our Christmas cards (which look awesome), have a hot dog, and really explore what Japanese Costco has to offer.

Costco cafe - the matcha ice cream is new. Oh hey, I'm in this photo. Blake took it, and I honestly just noticed my presence.

Sesame seeds!

Instead of a chicken alfredo bake, we have a bulgogi bake.

Everyone at the cafe just lines their carts up so neatly.

The grooves in the wheels lock the cart in place on the escalator treads.

Better than any grocery store sushi you'd find in the States, especially for only $25.

Curry pan!

Filled pancakes! I should try these.

A Costco-sized tub of miso for soup

Miso soup mix

Nori (seaweed)

So much nori

Our nieces really like this dried ramen snack. This was quite a lot of it.

The escalator up to parking.

Since we went by ourselves, we took the train, which allowed us to try a new to us line, which just added to the fun today. The other two lines we take the most (Keikyu and JR) also have mascots and the occasional themed train or promotional items, but this line (Kanazawa Seaside Line) had way more!

Drinks, snacks, promotional items

Train pass card holder, available in the vending machine.

Drinks and snacks

Themed water bottle

At the stop for an aquarium and amusement park

A little community library. The sign reads: "These are everyone's books. Read them and return them when you are done. If there are books you don't need you can place them here."

All in all, a rather simple adventure date, but an adventure nonetheless. And just like our other more traditional adventures, I picked up a Seaside Line keychain at the train station office!

Elevated train = lovely view

I'm a survivor! I'm not gonna give up!

I really love the Olympics. You can actually find a lot more of my commentary about them on Eilonwy's blog, as we've made it a tradition to transcribe our conversations about them, whether we watch near or far from each other. It was so exciting to watch the closing ceremonies in Rio last year, when they did the official hand off to Tokyo for the 2020 summer games, because I was in the midst of preparations to move there myself! Unfortunately, and I knew this then too, we will likely be leaving before the Games themselves, as we expect to be heading to our next duty station in fall 2019. I recently saw my first call for Olympic volunteers and got bummed that I wouldn't be here to do it. Still, I figured I'd keep an eye out for test events or other opportunities to be involved in the lead up to the games. So, when the American Red Cross (with which I am officially signed up to volunteer with - all paperwork and briefings and such) on base sent out a call for volunteers for an emergency preparedness drill at a future Olympic site, I dropped everything else I had going on during that time and signed up!

I can actually read the word "sailing" on this banner!

The drill was this morning out in Enoshima, an island we love to visit in nearby in Sagami Bay, where they will have Olympic sailing. Team 1 did a drill to simulate a bomb attack at a train station closest to the event.

Train station, prepping for the drill

Future victims, lining up and waiting for their assignment

I was on Team 2, and we simulated a sarin gas attack at the actual yacht club where they will hold the event. Of course, given the option between being an actual victim who would fall and have to be transported to care and safety instead of just running and screaming away, I definitely opted for the more dramatic.

Everything beyond the rope is observation - media, military, emergency personnel

Pretending to just hang out in the yacht club, but really waiting for the drill to start

It's a beautiful location, some of the best sailing and wind-surfing in Japan. You could also see Fuji today, but I couldn't get a photo.

The attack has begun! These were the first victims and our cue to start.

Amanda down!

And since I really couldn't take photos after that (until I was cleared medically), here's how it went down. I waited on the ground for close to 30 minutes. It went rather quickly, but I bet it would feel like an eternity if it were reality. Emergency personnel finally arrived in hazmat suits, which would get less serious the farther away I got from ground zero (from huge suits to just basic masks and everything in between). Eventually, one of them came behind me, hooked his arms under mine, and then started dragging me to the exit.

My pants tried to stay where I had fallen. Once they had slid past my bum, and I was given a chance as my rescuer was readjusting, I pulled them back up and tried to keep them from doing that again. Soon, someone had my feet and my legs weren't dragging anymore. My apologies to everyone who saw my underwear. In a real emergency, none of us would really care.

I then laid on the balcony outside of the room of the attack for several minutes. Being right on the water, in the shade, and with a breeze, I was getting pretty cold and shivery, so I was pretty glad when a couple more rescuers rolled me onto a flexible plastic stretcher thing (kind of like an open top body bag), tucked my feet into a pocket, buckled a helmet on my head, and dragged me down the stairs. Then the sun was in my eyes, but I wasn't shivering anymore. From there, I got put into a stiff orange stretcher to wait outside of decontamination and another orange stretcher into the decontamination tent. This is where it wouldn't have mattered if my pants had come off earlier, because in real life, I would have been stripped and showered here. For the purposes of the drill, I just had to remove my hoodie. Outside of the tent, I got one more final check and was sent to hang out and wait in the survivor area, finally walking under my own power. Apparently I missed getting to ride in ambulance, even just around the block - maybe I should have been more dramatic.

Overall, it was a really interesting experience and, pants situation excluded, actually pretty fun! It was all Japanese emergency personnel and most of the other victims were medical students (maybe from pre-med high schools though), but they wanted a few non-Japanese speakers to help prepare for that eventuality. We had about ten Americans at each site. If I were really attacked with sarin gas, I probably wouldn't have been so calm. I started out crying, but since we mostly just waited for 30 minutes, that's a long time to fake cry. By the time I was getting help, I recognized that if I knew was getting help, it's entirely possible I would wait quietly if I could. That's just how I am.

Another interesting note was that a lot the personnel would ask me, in English, if I was okay when they approached me. I always answered "Okay." When someone, several steps in, asked it in Japanese ("Daijoubu desu ka?"), I responded in Japanese ("Daijoubu desu"). But when they reacted with pleasant "Oh! Nihongo o hanashimasu ka?" (Do you speak Japanese?), all I recognized in the moment was "Nihongo" (Japanese) and just stared at him. "A little" I finally squeaked out, in English. Under normal circumstances, I would have been able say "Sukoshi" (a little), but for all intents and purposes, the answer at this point to whether or not I spoke Japanese was a definite "Nope!" Anything I can automatically say, like excuse me (sumimasen) or alright (daijoubu), came out, but anything I had to think about even a little? Definitely not. This would likely be the case in a real emergency as well.

If I never get another opportunity to help prepare for the Tokyo Olympics, at least I had this! I had a great time and I think that with some more practice over the next three years, they will be well equipped to handle emergencies that may come up. Hopefully, they never have to.

Amongst the vending machines and the year old magazines

Everything you've heard about the popularity of vending machines in Japan is true. You may have also heard that you can get everything in Japanese vending machines, but that has not yet proven to be true. Mostly, it's drinks. There are drink vending machines everywhere.

Five vending machines in a row, adjacent to a parking lot

If you own property in Japan, you can put a vending machine on it. Therefore, you can be walking down a residential street and pass vending machine or even several along your route. There are multiple machines in every train station and pretty much everywhere else you can think of. So, thirsty? Have a little change? You will soon come across a vending machine and your problem should be solved.

This one is on base, on our usual route in. We are amused by the extra large Pepsi cans (shown actual size) and Tommy Lee Jones advertising coffee. There is another one we pass on the way to church with at least four different Coca-Cola size and bottle or can options.

A little more American looking in variety, this is in the lobby of the building of Blake's office.

The end of that same bank.

This is in the lobby of our apartment building. It is way too convenient sometimes.

In the cooler months, vending machines will have both cold (blue labels) and hot (red labels) beverages in the same machine! It's mostly coffee, but there is some hot cocoa and usually our favorite, hot lemonade. So good.

Vending machine at our home train station.

The PASMO is one of the two possible transit cards (the other is the IC card from Suica, they are interchangeable in use around this area), so if you don't have change, you can pay with your transit card!

Hot corn or bean soup anyone? We have not been brave enough to try this yet.

We try not to use these too often, but we will definitely miss them wherever we go next.

In the supermarket she got distracted in the meat department

When people find out we don't have a car, one of the most frequent follow up questions we get is what do we do about groceries? Well, getting groceries in Japan without a car is actually really easy and fairly typical among the locals. There are lots of little green grocers around for produce and I'm gaining familiarity with the supermarkets. Between having small kitchens without a lot of room for storage, having to walk everything home, and cooking with fresh ingredients, the Japanese tend to make smaller grocery trip more frequently, maybe even daily.

We have a bigger kitchen, since we live in base housing, but having to carry it all and preferring to cook fresh - we, too, make more frequent trips rather than stocking up on everything every two weeks, like I remember my mom doing when I was a kid. We tend to get most of our milk, eggs, and produce out in town at supermarkets or green grocers and everything else at the commissary on base. It depends on what we're making though, and I'm definitely trying to make more of effort to cook local foods. I have a lot to learn, but we have some time to keep figuring it out!

First, a grocery trip I documented back in March. Every grocery store does things a little differently, but this is the place I go the most.

This supermarket has two levels.

You pay a 100 yen deposit for the cart, which you get back when you return it. When you check out, they move the things from the red basket into a green basket.

Everyone bags their own groceries. Most of them are also going into backpacks. This was an usually large grocery trip, since I had to borrow Blake's largest backpack to get it all home.

Heading home!

This is a less pleasant trip when it's training.

And this was yesterday's haul:

I actually know what all of this is! One thing that I like about this store is that a lot of the store seems to be organized by meal type. The ramen section has a lot of what I need for ramen, all the okonomiyaki specific stuff is near each other, etc.

I'm getting lots more confident at the Japanese grocery stores, but I'm also confident that I will probably never buy one of these.

And this is dinner from last night! Blake's bowl says "No Ramen, No Life", which we picked up at Fire Ramen in Kyoto.