Greetings from Yokohama, Japan

OK, I'm now an official blogger. Diane kept telling me to add a few of the pictures I've taken while being in Japan so here we go. Actually Diane let me bring her new camera with me to Japan so I have some good shots. As Diane mentioned in her blog, I had a heck of a time getting out of Nashville so I could make my connecting flight in Chicago. You know you look harried when the girl at the news stand asks you if you are having a bad day. I made it to Tokyo and met my co-worker at the airport. It all turned out all right. My pictures are a little out of order as I'm new at adding pictures. I've found you start adding the last picture first and the first picture last. This first picture is me with Nagahama-san on the island of Enoshima. This is south and east of Yokohama near Fujisawa. We hiked to the top of the island today to see what we could see. As you can tell it was a beautiful day. This morning we thought it might rain on us, but it held off. Enoshima is a beautiful island that is all of 4 kilomters around. I think we hiked all 4 kilometers. Part of the island has an escalator to go up and part has stairs. One section of stairs we counted 250 steps. I think I lost a few pounds hiking today. I don't know exactly how much we walked, but I'm guessing it was a good 5 miles. The air temperature was around 80 degrees, with the humidity high enough to work up a sweat while climbing the steps.
This picture was taken at the entrance to the island. Nagahama-san couldn't read the konji. He said it was an ancient text.

The second place we visited today was Kamakura Daibatsu at the Kotoku-in Temple. This is a 37 foot high bronze Buddha and is the second largest in Japan. The statue was built approximately 1258 AD. When you first see the statue, it takes your breath away at its enormous size.

This is a shot of John Buskey and myself in front of the Buddha. I find it interesting the crow decided to stay atop the statue for quite a while.

Another shrine we visited in Kamakura had several weddings taking place today. We watched part of the ceremony for one couple. I felt out of place watching this couple getting married. Everyone around the couple were taking pictures of the entire event. I wonder if they have a good photographer. I'm sure the pictures I took with Diane's new camera would look good in their photo album of their wedding.

This is the hotel I'm staying in. I took this standing below the hotel. This is the Landmark Plaza with the hotel called Yokohama Royal Park Hotel. The building is 70 stories high with the hotel occupying floors 49 to 67. Floors 68 and 70 are restaurants. The 69th floor is an observation deck. For Japan this is a very nice hotel, with a nice size room. Friday morning I could see Mount Fuji from my window on the 53rd floor. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of the mountain. In case you wanted to know, it's still snow covered.

The following picture is myself with the Japanese staff. From left to right, Shibukowa-san, Nagahama-san, myself, Reiko-san, and Kaneko-san.

In case you might be wondering why I'm in Japan. I'm here to learn first hand about the G37 Coupe and a new Nissan model called the Rogue. Once I return home I start developing training on both vehicles. I always enjoy coming here. Maybe next time Diane will come with me. This picture is of our group in Japan with the Japanese staff. We have myself and John Buskey in the back. Yang-san from Korea, Chang-san from Taiwan, Steve Comacho from Guam. I took this picture in the mall attached to the hotel. These two girls work at the information booth. Both John and I thought their uniforms made them look like they were out of a Audrey Hepburn movie. Little did they know they would make it into a blog.