Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Class, class, class


Here's Josh with battleships - it's such a boy thing.

I’m writing this in Benny Decker movie theater on the base, where Josh and I have been sitting on our keisters all day, watching PowerPoint slides and listening to presentations. Today is Base Day, and tomorrow we learn more about Japan.

The lawyer from Navy Legal Services Office was really funny. They deal with divorce, adoption, divorce, wills, power of attorney, divorce…he kept talking about it – apparently the stress of living overseas puts strain on a lot of marriages. So far Josh and I are ok. Speaking of lawyers, though, here’s some free advice:

DON’T BREAK THE LAW IN JAPAN.

Japanese authorities have primary jurisdiction over everybody who is on Japanese soil, including gai-jin (white people/foreigners) like Josh and me. Possession of one joint, just for example, can land you in prison for 5-10 years, DUI charges are up to $10,000 plus lots of jail time, and repeated failure to separate your trash properly will cost you upwards of $2,000. The Navy takes things seriously too – once you get out of Japanese prison, you might also face court martial or Civilian Administrative Forces if you’re a dependent like me. They can send me home and make Josh finish out his tour here alone.

Holy crap, man, I’m following the law while I’m here.

Just for fun, here are a couple pictures from around the base. We’re hoping to get off base for dinner, so I should have some pics of Japan itself for you soon!

Still, isn't the foliage around this tunnel pretty?

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