February 6, 2013
Happy Super Bowl Monday!! We woke up bright and early to eat breakfast before the 8:00 a.m. kickoff, and spent the day on base, rotating between the four separate clubs hosting Super Bowl parties. We mingled with members of our Navy, posed for pictures, signed autographs and caught glimpses of the game in between! Yokosuka is home to people from all over the world—some were big Ravens fans, some were big 49ers fans, and others were indifferent to the outcome of the game—but everyone was having a blast watching it!
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After the Ravens' victory, we headed out to the on-base Chili's for lunch with the Commanding Officer of Yokosuka Naval Base. It was an honor! The girls from Hooters Tokyo were also visiting the base, and after lunch they gave us cheerleaders a ride to downtown Tokyo, since we had the rest of the day for free time and sight seeing!
We checked out downtown and continued on to the city of Asakusa, famous for the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple, and its fun marketplace. We bought some souvenirs and got our fortunes there before continuing on to Shibuya. We walked across the famous intersection outside Shibuya Station and marveled at all the people and bright lights!
Our tour guide, Tomoko, then took us to the most authentic sushi restaurant in the area, where we adventurously tried blowfish, raw squid and sea urchin! Hey, when in Japan...right? After dinner we took the train home, which was still jam-packed at 10:30 at night!
This trip was amazing. Thank you for allowing me to represent the Raiderettes in Japan!
February 3, 2013
Raiderette Jennifer finds a Raiders fan in Japan.
We started off day two of our military entertainment tour with an awesome brunch at the Officer's Club at Yokosuka Naval Base and actually had some free time before the pre-Superbowl party to do some sightseeing! Our tour guide, Tomo, is native to Japan but is also a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleader - the perfect chaperone for our tour group, which includes myself, Aundrea from the Rams, Emily from the Bills, and Nicole from the Cardinals.
The cheerleaders stop for lunch.
The five of us took advantage of our 3-hour break with some exploring just outside the base, in the city of Yokosuka. There are many shops and restaurants in the area, and we ended up at a local mall where we shopped around the 100 Yen Store (which is equivalent to a dollar store in the states), and got some traditional ramen for lunch.
Raiderette Jennifer and other professional cheerleaders at the pre-Super Bowl party.
The pre-Super Bowl party was held at Sharky's Bar & Brewery on base. We signed our photo cards, cheered on a sumo-suit wrestling match, cheered on a hot wing eating contest, and took pictures with fans. It was a great day, and everyone's excited for the game tomorrow!!
February 2, 2013
Greetings from Japan!
Raiderette Jennifer and the other professional cheerleaders work with the high school cheerleaders.
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| Raiderette Jennifer sits in the Captain's Chair. | |
Today was my first full day here at Yokosuka Naval Base, representing Raider Nation and the Raiderettes in a military entertainment tour with ProTour Productions. We started the day with a visit to the USS George Washington--an enormous nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Talk about impressive--this ship is over 60,000 tons of steel and serves 18,000 meals daily to a crew of up to 5,000 when underway. We were led up to the 20th level to the "bridge," which is where the steering and navigation take place. We got to sit in the Captain's Chair and peer out the window onto the flight deck, where the airplanes literally get catapulted into the air. The ship is basically a self-contained city, with a medical and dental center, gyms, and even its own jail on board!
After a quick lunch and autograph signing on the ship, we went over to the on-base high school to teach the cheerleaders a dance workshop. We taught them an NFL routine and answered all of their questions about making it into a professional squad.
Tomorrow we have a pre-Superbowl party to attend, to get the troops amped up for the game on Sunday! (Well technically, it's Superbowl Monday in Japan.)
Sayonara,
Raiderette Jennifer
