I See Japanese People (and the Miyagase Dam)

Let me begin, by saying, "A few weeks ago..."

Yokosuka City Hall organized a free field trip. They were going to use a lottery system to pick forty lucky citizens to travel to the Miyagase Dam and see firsthand, where the water they drink comes from. Noriko mailed in my application card and we sat back to wait for the drawing.

The next day, J-Pop told a coworker to put me on the list. J-Pop is an engineer and section chief at city hall (in the waterworks department!). I'm glad to see systems like the lotto being abused. The poor guy whose job was to make sure I made it back to the bus at appointed times seemed pretty nervous and stressed when he'd have to rush after me pointing to his departure schedules.

I joined my fellow senior citizens outside city hall and took my place on the bus.

We had a pretty swanky bus. They pulled out all the stops. There were chandeliers and multicolored track lighting. It was about a two hour ride.

Our first stop, for lunch, was at the Miyagase Park. This park (flood plain?) is located below the dam and is a pretty large park. I pieced together this panoramic. I need more practice.

Here is a view looking back across the open flood plain. That large staircase with the mosaic tree is where I took the panoramic shot.

There was also a little area near the top of the stairs with a stream and some shops.

At the dam, before they turned us loose, we had to suffer through a thirty minute video presentation put on by the front desk person. They are really big on uniforms in Japan. In the Pokemon cartoons (I watched them when I was younger, about 28), all the women that work at desks or in a civic role (nurses, police, etc.) are drawn identically. I used to think it was just some Pokemon thing. But after going into department stores and museums, I saw everyone wearing the same uniform, unique to that particular store. So with all of the women with the same hair, same clothes, and same features, I could see where Pokemon drew its parody. Or maybe that's why you shouldn't watch things like Pokemon as an adult. I'm going to stick to Inuyasha.

Dam Specs: Height: 156m, Crest Length: ~400m, Catchment Area: 213.9km-km

(I have more specs available. Email me if you want them! haha.)

I don't know if I was the only one that was a little nervous about being at the foot of a dam in a country with so many earthquakes. Some of my first impressions of the dam was that it looked like something out of Halo(tm). I probably was the only one thinking that, though.

In the walkway at the base of the dam. Again, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if a quake hit. The "ghost" in the picture was trying to get out of my shot. I think it's funny how most people will run and sprint from a camera flash. I think it's not funny how some people will walk right into a camera shot (foreshadowing).

Here's a shot looking up the staircase (I wanted to use them but the gate was locked). There's also a cable car track on the left. It's 200 yen one way. I saved my money for the cafe au lait vending machines. Again, I'm pretty much just walking around thinking about playing Halo.

A shot of the reservoir.

A shot looking downstream.

I live in a large metropolitan suburb of Tokyo. It's famous for hosting a huge US Navy base. That means there are tons of Navy people roaming around. That means there are tons of ex-Navy people roaming around. I must be off the beaten path. I'm always surprised that during most of my excursions, I'm the only foreigner. It's nice in the sense that I can get a small feeling for being a stranger in a strange land. Of course, I can head down to Dobuita Street and see all the swaggering, drunk sailors I want. I usually shy away from that part of town. Actually, that's the only time in Japan I've been looked at menacingly. It was by some young punk sailor! I'm too old for that so I just chuckled.