Category: Japan

2/3rds the way home

whbeebe


I’ve been spending the day traveling from Kumamoto back to Orlando, via Tokia’s Haneda and Minneapolis. Right now I’m sitting in Minneapolis trying to fight off the chill brought on by the outside temperature of 5 degrees F. For a Florida resident (I’m not a real native, mind you) that’s just too cold. It never got that cold in Atlanta where I grew up, although it certainly tried from time to time. No, this is just too cold. And the travel back with this long layover (I’ve arrived from Tokyo 12:45pm local time) only adds to the long slow grind of getting home.

Thankfully there’s no more long business trips for 2016, just Christmas with the family. But next year promises to be just as grinding with trips up to Kansas during the winter, as well as next year’s business support trip north of Tokyo near Sendai.

I managed to catch a few multi-hour naps from while flying out of Tokyo. When I woke up, it was about an hour out of Minneapolis. Outside it looked cold and remote, covered in snow. Almost like an alien landscape.

Photos were taken with the iPhone 7 Plus, and post processed using VSCO’s various filters; Distortia Pack for the top, and B4 for the bottom. This post was written using WordPress’ latest iOS app on an iPad Pro 9.8″. Getting the photos to the point where they were visible to the WordPress app required a number of non-intuitive steps, but otherwise the WordPress app makes writing a quite post like this reasonable.

kumamoto

whbeebe

Another two-week-plus trip to Japan and YS-71 has come to an end. I leave in the morning on a 20-plus hour flight back to my home in Orlando. While here I’ve had to put up with sinus problems and blisters on my right foot the entire time. Couple that with the dark-to-dark work schedule for the every day I was here and I’ve had no time to do much more than eat, sleep, and work. No time at all for much of anything except for today, because the exercise ended yesterday. I had a Major with the JSDF come by for a few hours to visit. We did a little bit of sightseeing in the downtown area and we had lunch. I’d met him last year when I installed software for one of the Japanese Army’s training schools. We hit it off and he’s become a true “pen-pal.” I look forward to seeing him when I come to support these exercises.

One of the places we visited today was Jojuen Garden. I did take more than just the cat, but that cat came up to ask for rubs and say hello in his own cattish way. The day may have been cloudy, but the little guy brought a bit of personal sunshine into my life at that moment. Made me think of the Gingersnaps back home. Quite the handsome little guy if I do say so myself.

I haven’t written much because I’ve been busy, and I’m still in a state of shock over the election of Trump as president. I’m gathering my wits about me as it were, and coming up with a long-term plan to counteract what his election has wrought. I’ll have more to write about in the future, but for now, I need to finish packing and get ready for tomorrow’s flight home. I can’t wait to get home.