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Here is the group of Mids that I
traveled with. I am in the middle of the front row, with the hat.We are
at the top of Mt. Furutaka, overlooking the Japan Maritime Officer
Candidate School (MOCS). MOCS is located on the island of Eta Jima,
which is about 50 miles from Hiroshima in Western Japan. |
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While at MOCS, the Japanese cadets
performed a martial arts demonstration in their dojo for us. It was a
really nice building (a lot better than Nintendojo, anyway!), and the
cadets took a lot of pride in showing off their skills to us. |
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| Here I am (in the green) being
instructed by a group of cadets in Shodo, which is the art of
traditional Japanese calligraphy. The end result is that we got to make
a fan to take home with us. Shodo is much more difficult than I
imagined, and takes a lot more finesse than I could muster. |
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| While at MOCS, we took a weekend
trip to Hiroshima. The city has a fascinating (if somewhat gloomy)
museum regarding the A-bomb attack, a bustling shopping district, as
well as a lively night life. The building in the background of the
picture is the "A-bomb Dome," one of the few buildings that survived the
atomic attack of 1945. |
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 The weekend we visited Hiroshima
happened to coincide with the annual Yukata festival. This weekend was
the first weekend Yukatas (the summer version of the Kimono) could
officially be worn, so there were large numbers of women wearing them.
Here my friends and I posed with a group of them. |
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Another place we went while we
stayed at the MOCS was Mya Jima. Mya Jima is renowned as one of Japan's
most popular tourist destinations. A lot of beautiful scenery and a
large, ancient temple are the biggest reasons why. Here is the group and
I in front of one of the large Tori gates (the big red thing in the
background). |
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| After our stay at MOCS, my group
traveled to Tokyo and got paired up with a host family for the week.
This is my host dad, Mr. Tanouchi. He is a retired JMSDF admiral, and
used to be in charge of their entire submarine force. |
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This is my host mom, Mrs. Tanouchi,
and I in front of the Landmark Tower in Yokohama. This 70 story building
is the tallest in the area and is readily visible for miles around
(hence the name). |
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| After my stay with the Tanouchis, I
went to Yokosuka for a training cruise on the USS Kitty Hawk. The Kitty
Hawk is the oldest ship in the Navy, and one of only two non-nuclear
carriers in the fleet. |
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| Yokosuka is a major fleet base for
the US Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. Here are two of
the ships that were moored near the Kitty Hawk. The USS Vincennes
(CG-48), on the left, is a Ticonderoga-Class guided missile cruiser. The
smaller ship on the right is the USS Vandegrift (FFG-48), a frigate. |
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Also moored nearby was the USS
Coronado. The Coronado is a command ship, which means that it is a
floating office building/antenna farm. The ship is designed to embark
the Admiral in charge of the battle group and execute all necessary
command and control functions. |
