Now that you’ve seen a bit of our life on the base, I’ll show you a little of what we’ve discovered as we’ve wandered off the base. First, I must say it’s been amazingly HOT here. When I check the weather it might say “83 degrees – feels like 97” very high humidity. In fact, often when we step outside our glasses get all steamed up. Since we don’t have a car yet we do our walking and wandering early in the morning on the weekends and later in the evenings. And even then it’s too hot. But we (I) am trying to get used to it. Here’s a sign that’s commonly seen in the bathrooms around the base.

As you head off base this is the road to the main intersection, commonly referred to as Four Corners.

Home is never far away.

We opted for a Japanese restaurant and had no clue what we were getting in to.  Very small.  Everything in Japanese, of course.  No one spoke English.  But we did it.  And had a great lunch.

Here’s our bill for this meal.

Iwakuni, much like the rest of Japan, is surrounded by the sea and by very high mountains.  The towns are tightly packed in between.  It’s fun to walk along the back roads which are really tiny.  Among the small tightly packed houses are small vegetable gardens everywhere.

There are also small cemeteries squeezed in throughout the neighborhoods.  This was by far the highlight of our trip so far for me.

I’m sure they will appreciate their caps this winter when it will get really cold.