Back From Japan! AMA

"Snuze: Needs another Swede" (markg) 08/29/2016 at 11:56 • Filed to: None

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I just spent a whole week in Yokosuka supporting an inspection on the CVN-76 USS Ronald Reagan. I didn’t get to see much of the country, but I ate a lot of weird stuff (salted pickled fish gut sushi, anyone?) and drank all the booze (beer, chuhai, sake, habusake, whisky). Ask me anything about the ship or Japan.

For Sweden > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 11:58

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Did ol’ Ronny pass inspection?

Ash78, voting early and often > For Sweden 08/29/2016 at 12:02

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No, but in 30 years everyone will think it was the greatest ship ever built.

Trunk Impaired 318 > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 12:02

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Best Japanese beer you had?

Jcarr > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 12:02

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Did you get to watch launch and recovery ops?

For Sweden > Ash78, voting early and often 08/29/2016 at 12:06

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That must be awkward when all the Soviet ships sail by.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > For Sweden 08/29/2016 at 12:06

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It wasn’t so much of a pass/fail effort as we were trying to document deficiencies so they don’t get passed on to the Ford class.

I was supporting shock, so we’re looking for ways to mitigate extraneous damage if the ship were to have some unfortunate, catastrophic event like a weapon strike.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Ash78, voting early and often 08/29/2016 at 12:06

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This is true.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Jcarr 08/29/2016 at 12:08

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No, we were in port the whole time. Though on Monday we almost got to go on an unplanned trip - we got to the ship to start and just as we were setting up they kicked us off. A major storm system was coming through and they said if it got any worse they may have to put out to sea to ride it out. Fortunately it didn’t, but just losing that one day put a major kink in our plans, though we recovered.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 12:08

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Are aircraft carriers like universally noisy? Is there like a dull hum at all times? Or are there legitimately quiet places within them?

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Trunk Impaired 318 08/29/2016 at 12:12

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Sapporo. I know that’s kind of cliche but I really like it a lot, and it was as good in Japan as it is in the states. Also I didn’t notice a much larger variety of beers there than are available here - Sapporo, Kirin, Asahi. Suntory also makes a beer, which I’ve never seen in the US, and it was pretty good, but Sapporo is still my favorite. I was kind of hoping to find some craft beers or something, but I don’t think that’s a big scene in Japan. Also, Yokosuka is very “Americanized” due to the base so that may also contribute to the lack of variety.

I drank a lot of chuhai while I was there. If you’re not familiar it’s shochu, which is basically japanese vodka, with soda water and fruit juice. A lot of bars and resturaunts sell it, but you can also buy it in cans, where it’s mixed to 9%, or almost twice as strong as beer.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 12:13

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Is Hibiki (whisky) popular there or did you try it?

We keep a bottle of Hibiki 21 on hand at all times for special occasions, events, etc. Our usual drink though, is Hibiki 17. Easier to find and less expensive for those just because times.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 08/29/2016 at 12:13

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Yes, they are. We were in port for this inspection, and even then they are relatively loud between the ventilation and the thrum of machinery down in the bowels of the ship. I’ve been out to sea on them before and they are positively noisey, especially when air ops are happening.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 12:16

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Yikes. That would drive me crazy. Cool job you have!

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) 08/29/2016 at 12:19

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Hibiki is popular, though I didn’t try any. It’s the high end Suntory whisky, and Suntory is popular in general. I ended up having Nikka, who is a competitor to Suntory and I really liked it, so I picked up a bottle of Nikka Yoichi to bring home with me.

The history of japanese whisky is very interesting, if you’re not familiar. Two men, Shinjiro Torii and Masataka Taketsuru basically started the whole thing. Torii was a pharmaceutical supplier who had the vision to create a distinctly Japanese wisky, and Taketsuru had studied in Scotland and knew the art. Together they founded what became Suntory. They later had a falling out, and Taketsuru struck off on his own and founded Nikka. So oddly the two biggest Japanese whiskys are basically the fruit of one man, competing against himself.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 08/29/2016 at 12:23

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I think in modern life we are surrounded by noise so we get used to it, even in my quite office I hear the ventilation and the traffic outside. A ship in port isn’t much worse. And after a while you get used to it, even the air ops at sea where the planes slam into the deck on landing, and the steam roaring as the catapults race down their tracks at launch. The only thing that ever really made me take notice was CIWS testing. It sounds like satan’s chopsaw. Just a loud “BUZZZZZZZZZZZ” that echos through the hangars.

And thanks, it’s a pretty good gig. I wish I could do inspections full time instead of sitting behind a desk. Which may happen, we are taking on more and more inspection work. I did 3 total my first 2 years here, I’ve already done 3 this year and am slated to do at least one more, with maybe another trip back to Japan for a 5th.

Trunk Impaired 318 > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 12:25

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I like Sapporo a good bit but was kind of hoping that there was something even better that’s not available in the US. I’ve had shochu before but never chuhai, it sounds great and I’ll definitely give it a try given the opportunity!

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Trunk Impaired 318 08/29/2016 at 12:29

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I was hoping for the same thing but was never able to find it. Our schedule was tight so we didn’t get to explore beyond Yokosuka, but I imagine you could find more stuff if you went beyond that city.

Chuhai is great and if you can find some shochu in the US its easy to make. The craziest thing I had was habusake, that’s the sake with the dead cobra in it. It was actually pretty good, tasted kind of like cinnamon, though I didn’t trip balls or anything from it.

Trunk Impaired 318 > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 12:32

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Good to know!

Camshaft Chris: Skyline/McLaren/Porsche Fanboy > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 12:34

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Obvious Oppo question: Did you see / drive any cool cars?

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 12:34

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That is interesting. I had no idea about that. I will have to pick up a bottle of Nikka to try.

Hamtractor > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 12:35

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I was homeported in Yoko from 93-95. Did you go into the bar district, used to be called "The Honch"? My favorite bars there were Pumpkins, Buffalo and Popeyes. Popeye's was the fighting and metal bar, bartender was an old dude named Tak, loved Pantera and mixed a drink called the Suffering Bastard that was a brain-cell assassin! Did you see any of these bars? I know the Honch is a lot quieter now, lots of rules about liberty and partying that didn't exist in the old Navy, lol! I still have scars from all the old Navy shenanigans, used to fight Marines damn near every weekend, the guys I ran with were a rowdy bunch, as snipes tend to be...

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 12:35

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Favorite flavored Sake? (If you had any) I quite enjoy plum flavor.

A college friend will just drink regular sake like it’s water.

My bird IS the word > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 12:41

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I’m becoming a fan of rice beer. Though, I got started on the chinese stuff.

ttyymmnn > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 12:45

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“Satan’s chopsaw.” I’ve never heard one IRL, but I’ve seen plenty of videos. That’s a fantastic description.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 08/29/2016 at 12:48

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You get used to it, it all becomes white noise. I’ve been on floats from San Diego to Australia.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Trunk Impaired 318 08/29/2016 at 12:49

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Hitachino is pretty good.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 12:51

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Shochu:

Snuze: Needs another Swede > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 08/29/2016 at 12:57

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That was basically my Wednesday night. Lots of *strong* chuhais (average water glass filled 3/4 with shochu), a few beers, and a shot of habusake!

Scimitar7 > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 12:57

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Out of curiosity (because my department also had people out there for 76), were you dealing with the diesel generator problem?

Snuze: Needs another Swede > My bird IS the word 08/29/2016 at 12:58

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Agreed, I think its quite good.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Flyboy is FAA certified insane 08/29/2016 at 13:00

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Didn’t have any of the flavored stuff, unless you count habusake, which tastes like cinnamon, and not rotting snake as you might expect.

But regular sake was pretty good. A lot of people I was with didn’t care for it, so I helped them finish theirs. Heh.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Scimitar7 08/29/2016 at 13:01

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I was supporting shock inspections. Didn’t know anything about the diesel generator problem, though I was in aft DG at one point. Maybe it was up forward?

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 13:03

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I lived in Tama Plaza for a couple years, that’s in Yokohama, I used to go down and play darts with some businessmen in the evenings because they were fucking hilarious. They kept drinking that shit and I would stop and drink water, they were so hammered they never caught on and we just had fun. I like a buzz but sleeping on my briefcase in the station because I missed the last train is not a good time. I once saw an old lady empty a bottle of water on a guy passed out, as she mumbled expletives at him. I think this will be the first year I won’t go to Japan in 15 years, my wife wants to go to India and it’s all we have time for. I’ve been a sumo fan for 15 years so I try to hit a basho, they are 15 days long so that helps with planning.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Camshaft Chris: Skyline/McLaren/Porsche Fanboy 08/29/2016 at 13:07

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Saw some cool stuff, but didn’t drive anything while I was there. I saw a lot of older Skylines (R32/R33) and one R34. I also saw an STi 22B which was awesome. That aside, I loved all the little kei cars running around, and I like looking at the Japanese names of “American” cars, like the Lexus ES series here is the Toyota Celsior over there. Also I was surprised to see several old mini coopers there, though I guess it makes sense because they are RHD and tiny. I also saw an interesting Daihatsu called the Mira Gina which is basically a 4 door mini cooper.

My other favorite thing to see was enormous western cars there. My first night I saw a C6 Corvette tearing down the main drag. I also saw few S-class mercedes, a Land Rover Defender, and someone on the base had an early 70's Lincoln Continental. I would have loved to have seen it out in town among all the kei cars, like a whale swimming through a school of minnows.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 08/29/2016 at 13:10

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That’s really cool! This was my first trip to Japan, I never even made it over when I was in the Navy. I’ve always wanted to go but was always a little unsure because the culture and language seemed so different. Now that I’ve been, and loved it, it’s not as intimidating and I definitely want to go back. Shame you won’t get to go back this year, but hopefully you enjoy India. That’s another place I have similar feelings about, I’m interested in visiting but just kind of unsure about.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 13:22

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Well my wife is Japanese and we have a house there that she inherited. I was a Marine and then I worked for the DIA. I am not thrilled about going to India right now, I know there is a lot to see, my wife has only been to very organized and clean countries. I have spent a lot of time in hot, dirty and disorganized countries so I would like to go back to New Zealand or check out the national parks in the UK, since brexit I think we could get some deals. But no, she has to go. The deal is I get to pick next time. It is tough when you first start living in Japan, takes time!

Snuze: Needs another Swede > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 08/29/2016 at 13:29

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That’s really cool, now I understand why you go back to Japan so often. Hopefully you’ll end up enjoying India, though. And next year you can pick something fun. Brexit is going to take a while so hopefully there will still be deals in a year or two.

My wife works for a 3 letter agency and she travels to hot, dirty, disorganized countries about once a year. So for our vacations we usually just stay state-side, or go to the carribean. This year we’re going to Germany though, to see my sister and brother-in-law. In fact that’s coming up in 3 weeks. I’ve been telling her all about Japan and I think she’s interested, so that may be a vacation for us in a year or two.

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 13:34

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I like regular sake as well, but oh man I couldn’t do that cinnamon stuff.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 13:53

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If you want something cool in Japan that is different I can recommend the Oki Islands. Tokyo is crazy after a few days and I finally went over to this island group on the northern side and it was amazing. But better to go in the warmer months because of water activities.

Scimitar7 > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 15:40

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Not sure where on the ship it was, but it was for EDG #2. They had a transformer issue that wouldn’t seem to go away

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Scimitar7 08/29/2016 at 15:47

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Hmm. I think thats in fwd DG, another team inspected that space. I was in aft and it looked like business as usual back there. I would expect with a bad xfmr there would be massive tagouts and stuff, which I didn’t see.

Camshaft Chris: Skyline/McLaren/Porsche Fanboy > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 15:53

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Wow, that’s a pretty cool list of stuff, lol. And I’ve heard that ‘50s American cars are starting to get really popular over there. Like they’ve had an increase of people who are into that whole rockabilly scene now or something.

Flavien Vidal > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 16:34

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Yebisu is where it’s at man :)

They also have tons of microbreweries.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Camshaft Chris: Skyline/McLaren/Porsche Fanboy 08/29/2016 at 16:37

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You know, that wouldn’t surprise me. I saw some people, especially girls, walking around tatted up and sporting the rockabilly look. Hardly a great sample size but that would be pretty cool to see their take on American 50's Hot-rod culture.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Flavien Vidal 08/29/2016 at 16:40

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Yebisu is a sapporo beer, right?

And I don’t doubt it, microbrew seems to be exploding everywhere, I just didn’t really encounter it in my very limited experience. I’ll have to do some research and try to look for some on my next trip, which is hopefully soon as I may have to go support some work in Sasebo later this year.

Camshaft Chris: Skyline/McLaren/Porsche Fanboy > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 16:40

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Yeah. I feel like a read an article about it a year or so ago and it had a picture of a bunch of Japanese guys with the Grease Lighting clothes and giant Elvis hair-dos. Now I’m gonna have to go back and see if I can find it, lol.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/29/2016 at 17:23

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Fun fact, the Minis you saw were, in fact, probably not old. They were built there with a lot of special-to-Japan parts into something like the late ‘90's!

Also, kei cars rock. :P

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Camshaft Chris: Skyline/McLaren/Porsche Fanboy 08/30/2016 at 07:54

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If you do, please share, I’d love to see that!

Snuze: Needs another Swede > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 08/30/2016 at 07:58

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Really? I didn’t know Japan built it’s own minis, but that’s pretty cool. And it definitely makes sense given the kei car laws and all.

Weirdest thing - I went to Katie’s Cars n Coffee (the one in DC, where the Merc backed over the Ferrari the other week) and saw a Honda Acty Attack pickup for sale (Kei truck? I don’t think it actually meets Kei requirements but it is tiny!) and a Honda Beat! I got talking to the owner of the Beat about how he got it, he imported it himself, turns out he read Doug DeMuro’s articles about the Skyline and decided to try to negotiate the process himself. Later, I found out Doug was at Katie’s (late arrival) with the new Doug Viper, and I missed him! Such a crazy, small world.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Snuze: Needs another Swede 08/30/2016 at 08:28

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Damn, shame you missed him! I could be wrong about the Mini being PRODUCED there (pretty sure it was though), but it was at least sold there in a modified-for-the-Japanese-market capacity.

Do you watch Mighty Car Mods? If not, check out Moog’s build series...the Mini is one of his favorite cars and he used to own one when he was younger, so he imported and modified one last year for himself....cool videos! :D

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=…