Yokohama Navy Exchange was where?

I remember as a child eating delicious persimmons in Japan. Also pomegranates, which we took off neighborhood trees on the bluff. Delicious. This was our candy. As for the extremes in temperatures that we're all experiencing - this is the flip side of global warming. Hopefully more normal temperatures will return soon.

I do not recall persimmonds in Japan. Our food inspection team did not inspect any that I know of. I do remember mikans like small oranges or tangerens. Once on a train in the hot summer we came to a local train station. Local venders were selling them on the platform to passengers right through the open windows. They were wonderful. They were packed in groups of 5 and were semi frozen which was wonderful for a hot day. Another time we stayed at a Japanese inn and for "entertainment" they dropped us off at a mikan grove for a couple of hours. What a nice experience. It was overlooking the ocean and was right out of a picture postcard. Very cold today [ whats new] my friend on the other side of the state has -20 last night.
Steffi did you see any of the plane crash in the Husdon? They were lucky. Welcome Hawlkeye san.

We live on the Hudson River a couple of miles north of where the plane landed and therefore didn't see it come down but people in tall buildings in the downtown areas who happened to be looking west saw it. The immediate thought was that maybe it was another terrorist event. Right now they're hunting around here for the plane's engines which have disappeared and trying to figure out what went wrong.
Another day in NYC.
Hope it warms up - this is getting ridiculous.

Would that be the upper west side? Janet and I were hauling her things north from Atlanta a few years ago and we broke down on Sunday morning on the exit ramp from the Geo Washington Bridge in the rain. We limped into a u-haul place and it was a real experience. Have not gotten a full story on the crash but I thought they said that the plane sucked up a flock of birds in both engines. Not the way you would want to go to Miami. Have a sneeking suspision that our new Hawkeye is Eric, how are my detective skills ? I have a prediction, once this cold is passed we are going to be mild for the rest of the winter. Hey I can wish.

The area you "limped" into, Peter, is the largest drug-dealing area in the city - we have the biggest and best of everything! So no wonder you don't want to return here.

As for the downed plane, the assumption is that maybe it hit a flock of flying geese. But they haven't interviewed the crew yet, and the plane is still in the water in Batter Park City, which is in lower Manhattan. As for the engines, they fell off in the Hudson, which actually is an estuary here and had a very strong current at the time of the landing, so they're looking further south for them so they can be examined - I guess for the squished geese. I think the plan is to raise up the plane maybe tomorrow to examine the black box and the general condition of the plane.

Yea it was pretty scarey. We were waiting at this place near 250th st or whereever, and some lady came to the counter to rent a truck. They said to her that she needed to give them a credit card, which she did not have , the clerk said if that is the case it will be $5000 in cash. Oh.. thats no problem as she pulled a wad as big as a small island. Alls well. We left and 5 hours later we were having clam chowder in Portsmouth. The approaches to the Geo Wash Bridge looked like out of some zombie movie. We take Tappan Zee. New Jersey is a little longer but less anxiety. OOps.. faux pas.. that maybe close to where you live sorry. No offense intended. Its all in what your used to.

In 1961 I lived at 604 Riverside Drive which was near the Washington Bridge. Did the plane come down near there? Watched it all on TV. I would fly more if I could always get Sully as my pilot. What a hero!

The plane came down at about 42nd Street - "the miracle of 42nd Street" which is about 6 miles south of the George Washington Bridge area you lived in. I share your dislike of flying - one of the reasons I haven't been back to Japan - imagine having to fly over the arctic!

NEW YORK – Investigators encountered more treacherous conditions Saturday as they embarked on the delicate task of trying to hoist the miracle 80-ton US Airways jet from the Hudson River without damaging the airplane.
Crews will use a crane to raise the plane a few feet at a time to let the water drain out. If the deluge doesn't flush out on its own, bilge pumps will be used to get rid of the rest. Load cells will be attached to each wing to measure the plane's weight as it comes out of the water.
Big patches of ice had formed around the plane Saturday morning as the temperature fell to 6 degrees.
After the plane is up, it will be taken to a location in New Jersey for examination. The plane's wingspan is wider than the barge, so the wings will hang over the side as it is moved across the river.
The delicate task of removing the aircraft was not the only work playing out on the Hudson River. Divers and sonar operators hunted for its two missing engines in the cold, dark and murky river.
The engines were lost when Flight 1549 splashed down after colliding with birds. Exactly where, though, was a mystery. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers vessels and city police department boats were to resume the search Saturday, probing the sediment of the river bottom along a 4 1/2-mile stretch from the point of impact to the southern tip of Manhattan.
Authorities want to closely inspect the engines to figure out how exactly the birds caused the plane to fail so badly and so fast. They may also look for feathers in the engines to determine the bird species, helping prevent future mishaps.
The engines could be 30 to 50 feet down, obscured in thick sediment. Conditions are so murky that police and fire department divers will have to feel about by hand.
Under the direction of the police department, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration used sonar to look for the engines. That technology can produce a picture of the river bottom, but its range is limited.
The engines will be a main focus of the probe.
The type of engine on the Airbus 320 is designed to withstand a 4-pound bird strike, said Jamie Jewell, a spokeswoman for CFM International of Cincinnati, the manufacturer. That's fairly typical for commercial airliners and their engines, although larger Canada geese can exceed 12 pounds.
The accident also raised questions about whether airports around the country are doing enough to deal with bird flocks.

personally I love to fly. Would even like to pilot an ultralight. I hope they don't have a fuel leak. Found it interesting that the pilot was not interested in giving an interview as he felt that the media would beat up on him for some reason, as he was a former air force pilot, pretty sad. Do not envy the divers in that water. Airline deaths in the last two years.. zero. Better than driving. Tastes like chicken. Seems like Wally lived close to where you live now.. small world. Warmer today almost 20 ! yea.

Hope this works - click the following amazing pictures of the flight path -

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/15/nyregion/...

Don't know if this will work - but here are some still pictures.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/01/15/nyregion/20...

Steffi it came through OK, quite a nice graphic Thanks. I like the comments from the passengers. I can't believe that the wings stayed afloat let alone hold the weight of passengers. One guy said that the landing was like the log ride at a theme park ..so smooth. Steffi 1/2 mile to the east and a couple of miles short and you would have had a pile of aircraft in your living room. Back to my snow shovel and roof. This is getting old. I have a steel band CD, think I'll play it tonight. Need some tropical infusion. Snow on the ground now er.. 4 feet deep who's measuring.

Yes. We figured out from the graphic that just 2 minutes after takeoff the plane was directly over our house at just 1600 feet and in the water just a couple of minutes later. Does not make me fonder of flying.
Peter - careful on that roof. We had a couple of inches of snow last night and an inch expected tonight with the temperature almost up to freezing - seems almost warm.

Steffi thanks for your word of caution. As it turned out I got up there and after a couple of close calls I scrubbed it. Just to slippery. Will try it again tomorrow. I can understand the fear of flying. I think in part it is the closeness of the compartment and the lack of control one has over the plane. I do three things. I lay a kiss on the plane [ via my hand] when I enter from the jetway. Next I figure that the pilot and co-pilot are better qualified to fly it than I am [ and they probably don't want to die either]. And what cinches it is that I think of how long it would take to walk to where the plane is going. So Doc.. how'em I doing ?
Going to Japan I flew from Travers AFB in San Francisco re-fuel in Ancorage and a day later [so it seemed] landed at Tachikawa AFB west of Yokohama. It was a bit of a strange flight. From our altitude I couldn't tell how high we were. Approaching Japan, Mt Fuji [ that I would later climb ] was way below so I figured we were at 35.000 feet or something like that. It was a also strange as most of the other soldiers were not getting off in Japan but were headed to Vietnam. Talk of counting your blessings! To this day I can't recall if it was a jet or prop plane. My wife came back to the states via JAL very elegant. She was given a complementory blanket which I still have with the JAL logo on it. They had hot towels and the works. Imagine that today. Last time I flew I didn't even get a small bag of peanuts. I would have settled for a cookie. OH well. I wonder what it would be like to take off in a helecopter from a skyscraper. I think that might give me the spooks. At least a fixed wing aircraft can glide a little, choppers on the otherhand.. Lights out..straight down. Were you home when the plane went over ? Glad it wasn't another 9-11. Think I'll play 1549 on the NH lottery. Do you believe in luck ?

In my bones I do believe in luck. You just reminded me Peter that I did once take a helicopter, maybe in 1966 or 7 - they used to have these going from the airport to the PanAm building in midtown. About 6 or so passengers plus the pilot. Very very noisy. You can't see where you're coming down, so as the pilot arranges his landing, it feels like you're definitely going into the surrounding skyscrapers. I would not recommend it - really frightening. But it was sunset and the view was spectacular. Don't know if they still have these sightseeing flights. We do see choppers at rush-hours, doing traffic reports - they seem to keep them in a waterfront area south of the Intrepid Museum.

Steffi As a child you grew up speaking Japanese. How much do you remember and how easy would it be for you to regain the skills that you may have lost?

Japanese was my primary language until I was about 10 but I stupidly lost interest in it when I reached my teens and focused on other things. My Mom did send me to language classes here for a while, but it didn't help much. I now still remember individual words and have a general feel for how sentences are put together, but I cannot carry on or follow a Japanese conversation when I hear it. I would really like to learn it again and would welcome any suggestions about how to do this. My husband and I learned Italian suing Berlitz a few years ago when we were traveling, but that was easy by comparison.

Question - a word just popped into my head - "ombu" - do you know what that means? It means piggyback, as in carrying a child "ombu."

Peter - how is your Japanese? Did you learn it while there and do you remember it?

Steffi, My Japanese is pretty bad but I am working on it with the help of you-tube and other sites including this one. Sometimes i'm surprised how much I remember and how much I have forgotton. As we lived in a Japanese apartment It was very helpful to have friends and neighbors to help us. I was told that I spoke as well a a 5 year old. Which I took as a high complement. There were a number of times when we were around Japanese people that assumed that we spoke no Japanese and we were able to "evesdrop". Not proud of this but there were a couple of times when we pretended to speak no Japanese to be "stupid foreigners". Our last 6 months there were really wonderful as we could do almost anything. We worked very hard on our Japanese. Every day we would go over new words and phrases and we were never without our dictionary which we used constantly. The Japanese people were very appreciative of our work on the language. The telephone was hard as one could not use gestures. When we were with our Japanese friends we spoke Japanese. Except for a couple of friends that spoke very good english. I regret that I could not read any Japanese. I could write my name but it was rote as I had no idea what the symbols ment. I think it is a wonderful language . Where are the midwest guys. Maybe its just us.

I learned to speak enough Japanese to get me around town, and I understood it pretty well. American GI's learned the language from Japanese women, so they learned feminine Japanese, much to the amusement of Japanese men.