Yokoso Japan!

Here we are, living the dream once again. For better or worse, we're here for a while.

Our hotel room is great. It's more like an apartment than a hotel room. We're in a new building that claims to be "American Style" apartments. It's actually still a Japanese apartment with some American influences. (At every turn they love to point out how huge everything American is.) One of the major American influences is that our two bedroom is a palatial 770 square feet. Why do those fat Americans need so much space anyway? The Japanese influences are still pretty fun. The fridge is quite small, but that doesn't bother me. We have a drawer dishwasher that can't quite handle an entire meal's worth of dishes, and of course, the perennial favorite, the toilet seat with the control panel.

Our view is pretty tough to beat. Our room has balcony on two sides with four sliding glass doors to access it. Looking out across the way we can easily see the whole reason for our being out here, the George Washington. Closer in there is a nice assortment of US and Japanese ships. The night view is also great.

We are very near one of the local train stations, so every morning Jerry wants to go out onto the balcony and see the boats and trains move around.

Our transition here wasn't what I would call seamless. Jerry did pretty well on the flight, except for only sleeping about an hour. I can tell you, it was a blessed hour. Welcome peace, but short lived. Later Jerry slept a little on the bus ride, so by the time we were at the hotel he was about 20 hours awake with only about two hours nap. He was bouncing off the walls.

Since then we've still been trying to get some continuity. Of course, when you get here, you wake up at four or five every morning for a few days and we have been no exception. In my case, though, I'm working swing which translates to very little sleep. Jerry's been waking  up between five and seven am, and that's tough because nothing is open until like 10 here, so you can't really get anything done until he's starting to hit that nap time zone. In a few more days we'll all get aligned for more normal schedules.

I think Jerry will be happy to get to that point also. This has thrown him for a loop. Between sleep problems and being cooped up in some apartment that is not our house, this has been a little tough. Pretty regularly he asks about Jake and asks to go home. Disclaimer: We're not sure if he means home to the apartment, or home to home.  Today he broke Chelsea's glasses, for which she has no backup and one of the dishes provided by the hotel.

I think Jerry is a little exasperated. I know I am.