tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25911250773192458502024-03-12T18:01:05.570-07:00You *can* knit with a lightsaber!You *can* knit with a lightsaber, as long as you don't turn it on until you want to cut the wool...
Or, the continuing story of a Jedi mom & the creative side of life. Because the best way to stay sane is to keep on knitting (or crocheting, or tie-dyeing, or sewing, or folding origami, or... you get the picture).The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.comBlogger155125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-87016860045994470002018-09-23T04:18:00.002-07:002018-09-23T04:18:37.843-07:00Japan 2018: Visiting Atsugi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Today, our last full day in Japan for this trip, we visited Momo, Hiroshi, and the kids at their home in Atsugi-shi, which is a 50 minute ride (on the express train) from Shinjuku Station.<br />
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We began the day with pastries from the conbini and tea in our hotel room. I had castella cake, which is a sweet sponge cake that is a favourite here.<br />
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Momo had messaged me with the times of the express trains to Honatsugi Station in the morning from Shinjuku Station, so we planned to be on the train at 9:30 am. This is a holiday weekend here, so the train south to Atsugi was pretty crowded. Atsugi is near Ooyama, a popular mountain to visit on holiday, and there are lots of hot spring resorts there as well. Momo met us at the station and, knowing that Charlie likes to stock up on baked goods for long flying trips, took us to two bakeries! One was in the station and the other, which was also a craft beer bar, a few blocks away. We chose a bunch of yummy pastries for breakfast tomorrow and the flight back home.<br />
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Then we took a taxi from the station to Momo & Hiroshi's house. They had lived in an apartment complex owned by Hiroshi's employer for at least seven years and then, about a year and a half ago, decided to have a home built in town. Their house was built on the site of a parking lot in a lovely neighbourhood (with lots of kids for the girls to play with). It took about 8 months to build the house, and they moved in last December. The kids came out on the front deck to greet us when we arrived.<br />
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It's a beautiful home, light and airy and spacious. It has an open floor plan and lots of room to play :) Momo made tea and a delicious appetizer of roasted kabocha (Japanese pumpkin). She ordered lunch from a family restaurant, which was delivered by a young woman on a motor bike, and also made kinpira as a side dish (gobo root with carrot and sesame seeds- one of my favourites!). Everything was wonderful & we had fun chatting and playing with the kids. We FaceTimed with Brendan so everyone could say hi to him. I made some origami cranes with Aoi-chan, the kind whose wings can be flapped by pulling the tail. She showed me an outfit she'd made from paper for the Rillakuma amigurumi I'd made her- so cute! She and Mai-chan swung in the cool swing on their front deck, with Momo's help.<br />
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We stayed until mid-afternoon, then Momo walked with us to the bus stop and took it back to Honatsugi Station with us, so we wouldn't get lost. It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone! I know we'll skype with Momo & Mai-chan soon, but I don't know when I'll be coming back to Japan to see them. :(<br />
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We caught the train very quickly back to Shinjuku, and at this hour it wasn't nearly as crowded. Charlie and I went back to the hotel to rest, then went back out again for a lovely tenpura dinner on the 13th floor of Takashimaya, where all the restaurants are.<br />
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On the Southern Plaza, opposite Takashimaya Times Square, there was a food truck... selling Maine Lobster. Go figure...<br />
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We did a bit of last-minute shopping and now we're back to our hotel room, repacking the luggage and preparing, as much as you can, to get up at 5 am tomorrow to catch an early train from Shinjuku to Narita Airport and fly back home to Rochester. Wish us luck!!!</div>
The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-7299226834150702222018-09-22T05:52:00.000-07:002018-09-22T05:52:04.424-07:00Japan 2018: Chikorita Day in Tokyo!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Today we spent the day with our friend Marian, who has been a schoolteacher in Tokyo for over 20 years. Her dad is our next door neighbour. We met her in Japan on one of our earliest trips here, and she's been a friend ever since. Last year, when she was visiting Rochester during the summer, Brendan & I got her into Pokemon Go. We had a lot of fun playing Pokemon Go with her during her visit this past summer too, and we were able to arrange to meet during our visit to Japan on a Pokemon Go community event day. On community days, they release a particular Pokemon during a 3 hour time period, which kind of marches around the world from time zone to time zone, and there's the possibility of catching "shiny" versions and also evolving them with special moves during the event. Today's Community Day featured Chikorita, which you can see in the photo at the top. The number of Pokemon that actually pop up in an area depends on the number of people playing in that area, so the prospect of playing in highly populated Tokyo was pretty exciting!<br />
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To prepare for a day of walking & catching (& catching up on what's been happing since we last saw each other) Charlie & I had a breakfast of conbini pastries, purchased last evening, in our hotel room. Marian came over to our hotel around 10:00 am, giving us time to chat, go to Shinjuku Station so Charlie & I could buy our train tickets to Narita Airport Monday morning, and then catch a train to Harajuku, where Marian had found a ramen restaurant that serves vegan ramen!<br />
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Ramen is almost always served in a pork broth with slices of pork & veggies (or other toppings), so the prospect of vegan ramen (since I can't eat meat, the usual ramen broth would make me sick) was very exciting. This is another holiday weekend in Japan, so the train to Harajuku was pretty busy. Getting to the restaurant a little early was a very good idea!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The main shopping street in Harajuku </td></tr>
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It was very small & only had counter seating, but we were able to get seats. You actually order the ramen from a machine by the entrance by putting money in the machine, pushing a button, then getting a ticket & your change. You hand the ticket to the person behind the counter, & in a few minutes your ramen arrives. There are pitchers of ice water on the counter & you can order beer from the machine, too.<br />
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The ramen was delicious & the restaurant filled-up quickly, so we ate and then headed for Yoyogi Park, which is right next to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_Shrine" target="_blank">Meiji Jingu</a>, a Shinto Shrine dedicated to the Meiji Emperor and his wife. The Chikorita began popping up at noon, and we were in the park & ready to catch them. Since Charlie doesn't play Pokemon Go, we decided to go to the Meiji Jingu so he could look around while we played. The place was very busy with visitors, and we got the chance to see our first traditional wedding in Japan!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg8wld1PfKyA9pLacE9OEuDP1k_iUSrMpVK0aTDQP9NJaaiq7LCBhr029cYeudMNC6yuMmxlSV-E-y6tqNSTNT_P_T8hf51nI03-L-rJMKolrpxg6fTDA5HEQFFsi-3v1yk5kkzGzZZehQ/s1600/japap2018day10wedding1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg8wld1PfKyA9pLacE9OEuDP1k_iUSrMpVK0aTDQP9NJaaiq7LCBhr029cYeudMNC6yuMmxlSV-E-y6tqNSTNT_P_T8hf51nI03-L-rJMKolrpxg6fTDA5HEQFFsi-3v1yk5kkzGzZZehQ/s400/japap2018day10wedding1.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bride & groom & friends</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4MW9z_kpaWC7c1TrDxOSURhufG8F5zi1UgbGO1fKjBeha99x13iqzqdHBGuzmFD_cjfXLbocnVCjAY1cDtb8LzltToGFnhbnqvwWWDN_1BklrZQmJrSfb7mVnb1RA25_uSBWSp9y9OvMw/s1600/japan2018day10wedding2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4MW9z_kpaWC7c1TrDxOSURhufG8F5zi1UgbGO1fKjBeha99x13iqzqdHBGuzmFD_cjfXLbocnVCjAY1cDtb8LzltToGFnhbnqvwWWDN_1BklrZQmJrSfb7mVnb1RA25_uSBWSp9y9OvMw/s400/japan2018day10wedding2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The wedding procession, with priests in front, followed by miko (priestesses) and then the bride & groom</td></tr>
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Charlie bought an ema ("ay-mah") to write a prayer on and hang on a rack to be prayed over by the priests so that it might be answered.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizrPNUDhtkqjOtBjNe-mpjSHAB6OwzjY5D1_p5IQL14KnxIGhjEDrrCdeHsspnWkADsDBu11g1TbGWGD8NSrE2275e-9HKsyccmXkeYRFf3dkK3163R3f6i2JDC5QEj__19YWY1yxG8uzZ/s1600/japan2018day10ema.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizrPNUDhtkqjOtBjNe-mpjSHAB6OwzjY5D1_p5IQL14KnxIGhjEDrrCdeHsspnWkADsDBu11g1TbGWGD8NSrE2275e-9HKsyccmXkeYRFf3dkK3163R3f6i2JDC5QEj__19YWY1yxG8uzZ/s400/japan2018day10ema.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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After walking for 1 1/2 hours of the 3 hour event, we decided to take the train back to Shinjuku (closer to our hotel) and find a place for resting & refreshment, while still catching Chikorita. I found a poster for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at Harajuku Station.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8HbmhB5u2gvAsqXRbdhY9Zh8Cl8MTsDGA3DxhbO3k6qclgX_iH1cPIKlDPUlgEMSPHwup_ayVJlv2skANjGi1x_eH6ACSLw6qHgITzKgAFfM8zkeilnW3its9T4sp6p95T9R0KXdK1b38/s1600/japan2018day10olympicsign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8HbmhB5u2gvAsqXRbdhY9Zh8Cl8MTsDGA3DxhbO3k6qclgX_iH1cPIKlDPUlgEMSPHwup_ayVJlv2skANjGi1x_eH6ACSLw6qHgITzKgAFfM8zkeilnW3its9T4sp6p95T9R0KXdK1b38/s400/japan2018day10olympicsign.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The poster shows the mascots for both the Olympics and the Paralympics</td></tr>
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We hoped to get a seat at Starbucks, but it was mobbed, as were the streets. Everyone was playing Pokemon Go!! There were sooooo many Chikorita popping up!!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxAOYPTeApywLfnlJzEOPv4ZRU3Z5TdSdcEdatwSrQfppzHNQtUH3fMNO6eV67FTudVVICDPIHB-b9V_cU_k78pebDAHapqsACgF3hdqf-z7pEztJFrMmQyoyEO0ZkO-RQ4Iy8wUJGAMBA/s1600/japan2018day10chikorita2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxAOYPTeApywLfnlJzEOPv4ZRU3Z5TdSdcEdatwSrQfppzHNQtUH3fMNO6eV67FTudVVICDPIHB-b9V_cU_k78pebDAHapqsACgF3hdqf-z7pEztJFrMmQyoyEO0ZkO-RQ4Iy8wUJGAMBA/s400/japan2018day10chikorita2.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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We tried to do a raid at a gym, but there were so many people there it overwhelmed the cellular signal. By 3:00 we were ready to buy cold drinks at the conbini and relax in our hotel room for a while. Then, right after the community day time was over, strange Pokemon flooded the area. It was very strange- a never before seen Pokemon! When we caught them, they turned into the Pokemon called Ditto, which usually shows up as regular Pokemon & then transforms after you catch them. We still have no idea what this was about, but I caught a load of Dittos for that half hour. Bonus?<br />
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After resting, we decided we'd like to have dinner at an izakaya, which is a particular kind of restaurant where you can sit and order a bunch of small courses of all kinds of foods and drinks. The main problem for me with izakaya is that they're usually full of cigarette smoke, which is a major asthma trigger. We asked at the front desk of our hotel about local izakaya that might have private rooms, which would minimise smoke exposure. They said there was a good one right next door, so we gave it a try. It was only 5:30 pm, so they had a room free for us without a reservation- woo hoo! They started us out with some dishes steamed in a nabe pot right at the table, to enjoy while we ordered.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWMvUHxdUNb2TMYx_u9meVtbiLvhAasssotajfTn_2iqOYEvqcnuK5F-PN4U_KYM1vVUzQFSFS0hCMT2L2ImBqbVpblHz6kLguLM8yIS81KSIJYm9FtepWpO9W7MfpKQtDPBn_NO8qlYg0/s1600/japan2018day10izakaya1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWMvUHxdUNb2TMYx_u9meVtbiLvhAasssotajfTn_2iqOYEvqcnuK5F-PN4U_KYM1vVUzQFSFS0hCMT2L2ImBqbVpblHz6kLguLM8yIS81KSIJYm9FtepWpO9W7MfpKQtDPBn_NO8qlYg0/s400/japan2018day10izakaya1.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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We didn't have to order a lot of food to fill up quickly. It was delicious!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxdOo0rP__vqsXi5w9bDPtAfo0FWE64OPBM-F5ilXB3L1_3bUWumydmJqiAIjPP9_Pg5R4d2cNWbQ05LG6sFDNmA4c-QJtP2PoZlJ-ikeOWW4eKmFLV6x4EQJyNhbHHKYrSBsWhzJrtEWA/s1600/japan2018day10izakaya2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxdOo0rP__vqsXi5w9bDPtAfo0FWE64OPBM-F5ilXB3L1_3bUWumydmJqiAIjPP9_Pg5R4d2cNWbQ05LG6sFDNmA4c-QJtP2PoZlJ-ikeOWW4eKmFLV6x4EQJyNhbHHKYrSBsWhzJrtEWA/s400/japan2018day10izakaya2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhzgF9N36qZ77Bfa3cGEqB00H0B15jjmC3c4kmjEEgKejc4NPfF2tGOAHU1E7itMjW-xQL8dZyPlII7vxPdRcT9sv-h4y_efYmmBtuPsTLWjE7kiPqX_BdHYGfkXKMCsAFyAyuVfRH43y_/s1600/japan2018day10izakaya3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhzgF9N36qZ77Bfa3cGEqB00H0B15jjmC3c4kmjEEgKejc4NPfF2tGOAHU1E7itMjW-xQL8dZyPlII7vxPdRcT9sv-h4y_efYmmBtuPsTLWjE7kiPqX_BdHYGfkXKMCsAFyAyuVfRH43y_/s400/japan2018day10izakaya3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aburage (fried tofu) stuffed with miso</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFe4y4GCA5yQXAs8F0PoERz2Y9kYIZn4Wah92q8zWtKZ6kf9J5wnUk9DvsM6DSgcHuUV1eNljkZtbFNxS4qaPeWDQS9ZMWnV3ZHm_uaD7vZBcBJo2a8E3tZJzmhJRLP8ZM0WxS7ipfFL4Y/s1600/japan2018day10izakaya4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFe4y4GCA5yQXAs8F0PoERz2Y9kYIZn4Wah92q8zWtKZ6kf9J5wnUk9DvsM6DSgcHuUV1eNljkZtbFNxS4qaPeWDQS9ZMWnV3ZHm_uaD7vZBcBJo2a8E3tZJzmhJRLP8ZM0WxS7ipfFL4Y/s400/japan2018day10izakaya4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The last piece of delicious tamago yaki</td></tr>
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Then there was a very short walk back to the hotel and saying goodbye to Marian. That's the hardest part!!! But we had a wonderful day together. Tomorrow we take the train about 1 hour south of Tokyo to see Momo, Hiroshi, & the kids again, in their new house!<br />
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The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-36300755661580775652018-09-21T15:32:00.002-07:002018-09-21T15:32:32.836-07:00Japan 2018: Kyoto to Tokyo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikle8Hcckvjzpq8MBOUTOGhd3-xvEPCtWlgBGMm4T56non5eo1-04pmzTioNGYYk_ZV92vDDX40oQrAVW-eAlzNc_bntQWXqakOpI8qmQs_8l-osucqTntlvp2GcoO6IsOTVFY8sJ1OQJl/s1600/japan2018day9teramachisign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikle8Hcckvjzpq8MBOUTOGhd3-xvEPCtWlgBGMm4T56non5eo1-04pmzTioNGYYk_ZV92vDDX40oQrAVW-eAlzNc_bntQWXqakOpI8qmQs_8l-osucqTntlvp2GcoO6IsOTVFY8sJ1OQJl/s400/japan2018day9teramachisign.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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Well, we've had so much fun in Kyoto it's hard to leave (even though it's still raining :)! But we have people to see and places to be in Tokyo, so we're off on the shinkansen back to Tokyo today.<br />
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We decided to have breakfast a bit farther away, at a chain shop called San Mark Cafe that has the best chocolate croissants. Charlie discovered this all on his own on a previous trip to Japan when Brendan & I refused to accompany him on a visit to the parasite museum (yes, this is a thing, and, can you blame us?) in the Meguro section of Tokyo. He came back raving about the cafe where he'd had chocolate croissant (he liked the museum, too :) but it took us a while to find another one. I had a soy latte with my croissant and Charlie had cocoa (chocolate overload!!!).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFB7eBPJOdCuPYzz6mkmv1RdNEFPHrB_dZZ3h8FoQka58Lt0chMzwQHxM5ou_ekvlIarO4csAuSNovMlh3fHiNwwJ3JeatSMh4eYntEN_PNjrXcwxwyPaFrWbtd3JPJUhe7fn0ODkp8jK/s1600/japan2018day9brekkie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFB7eBPJOdCuPYzz6mkmv1RdNEFPHrB_dZZ3h8FoQka58Lt0chMzwQHxM5ou_ekvlIarO4csAuSNovMlh3fHiNwwJ3JeatSMh4eYntEN_PNjrXcwxwyPaFrWbtd3JPJUhe7fn0ODkp8jK/s400/japan2018day9brekkie.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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On the way back to our hotel we wandered through the Teramachidori (translates as "temple town street") one last time. In the morning, they allow cars and trucks in, so the shops can resupply, and the shops are mostly closed. But it was fun to take in the atmosphere and some of the interesting sights.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIA6PGUoYL5v4dMB_AmRSbZ_nsluyd4gprp8Ob_uyNtkf5sFLT9Vij7rWO7L4BbsVfGCJTB6LBCuZsDTzNDMEvmOY4uf1huvZEpXCwhUKhKi2sPhOdE1kEcQMlISo5Xk_P92LEKGe4r-pw/s1600/japan2018day9psychobunny.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIA6PGUoYL5v4dMB_AmRSbZ_nsluyd4gprp8Ob_uyNtkf5sFLT9Vij7rWO7L4BbsVfGCJTB6LBCuZsDTzNDMEvmOY4uf1huvZEpXCwhUKhKi2sPhOdE1kEcQMlISo5Xk_P92LEKGe4r-pw/s400/japan2018day9psychobunny.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No idea what they sell here...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJHz2WhNo1F7m6svBHZPyl9ZRekl9jvlPWE1EH7wwHvRhlDLdCtWLKoKqQ5DVplF6_McATOoSoCo1JSgyhJhSsR0Wfp9I9hfRJTWjBzJQWoQTy6BEgB3vRj4lUkETmxymJLcyepP_pOwnn/s1600/japan2018day9kimonosign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJHz2WhNo1F7m6svBHZPyl9ZRekl9jvlPWE1EH7wwHvRhlDLdCtWLKoKqQ5DVplF6_McATOoSoCo1JSgyhJhSsR0Wfp9I9hfRJTWjBzJQWoQTy6BEgB3vRj4lUkETmxymJLcyepP_pOwnn/s400/japan2018day9kimonosign.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charlie's comment on this poster: "This is Lisa in Kyoto" :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A little side corridor leading to...?</td></tr>
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Then back to the hotel to close our bags and wait for the taxi to Kyoto Station. Our taxi driver heard us speaking English in the car and told us (in Japanese) that he's been studying English conversation, so we said "let's practice!" He was such a lovely guy & we had a great time chatting with him in both languages (when the conversation stretched beyond any of our linguistic capabilities). Charlie gave him a postcard from Rochester, which he carries with him for just such occasions (they happen fairly frequently). Then into the station to look for ekiben (lunch!) and some omiyage yummies for friends in Tokyo, and some yummies for us, too.<br />
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The shinkansen arrived around 1:00 pm and we boarded with no trouble, and soon we had our lunches out & ready. Charlie went for a sandwich and tuna salad rice ball (which, apparently, he had already eaten in the photo :).<br />
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This is the part of the trip where I get really snoozy, so I dozed most of the 2 1/2 hours to Tokyo. I did get a few photos of the rainy countryside, though. I love seeing the rice fields surrounding the towns, the foggy mountains on rainy days, and even the occasional solar farm as well (more are springing up since the 2011 earthquake).<br />
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The taxi wait & ride to our hotel in Shinjuku took nearly as long as the train ride to Tokyo! Note to selves- get to Tokyo earlier in the day!! It was raining in Tokyo too, which added to the "fun". But, we checked-in and got settled, rested a bit, then went out to find dinner in a nearby department store. Thanks to my snooziness, there are no photos of the delicious dinner, because it was half eaten before I remembered! I will leave off with a photo of the yummy Kyoto treats we had back in our hotel room (along with tea, of course). Tomorrow, we see our dear friend Marian & play Pokemon go together on Chikorita Day!!<br />
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The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-66195540277286424862018-09-20T05:43:00.000-07:002018-09-20T05:43:44.952-07:00Japan 2018: A Rainy Day in Kyoto<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We woke up to a rainy day in Kyoto today. It was cooler, though, which was nice. The original plan had been to visit a shop specialising in tea ceremony sweets that we had visited 5 years ago & liked very much. Then we were going to visit the Nishijin Textile Center, which has a small museum, exhibits about traditional textile crafts in Kyoto, & shops, which we've also visited before and wanted to see again. Then we'd take a taxi to a bamboo forest in a different part of Kyoto,and try to have a vegetarian lunch near a Buddhist temple, then visit an old traditional home that is open to the public. (Since many Buddhists are vegetarian, the most reliable place to find veggie food is on or near the grounds of Buddhist temples.) However, the rain made strolling through a bamboo forest a very damp prospect, so we decided to visit the sweets shop and Nishijin, then look for lunch in the subway station on the way home.<br />
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I started the day by doing a small load of laundry, and while it was in the dryer we went for breakfast at the subway station cafe that we ate at on Tuesday. I had a melon-pan-like pastry called "Maple Sunrise" which had a delicious lightly maple flavoured filling along with a milk tea. Charlie had a cranberry roll that was also really yummy.<br />
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On the way home we encountered a sign that I just had to get a photo of. This sort of creative English is absolutely everywhere, and always makes us giggle :)<br />
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After folding laundry, we went back out in the rain to catch a taxi to the sweets shop. Charlie showed the driver the address, written in Japanese in the guidebook, and the driver admitted that he probably could find it :) He did. The shop is called Shioyoshiken, has been in business since 1882, and is still owned and run by the family that started it. We visited the shop on a visit to Kyoto 5 years ago and it looks exactly the same as it did then.<br />
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There's a moderate selection of sweets available, but they are all amazingly delicious, and most are packaged in gorgeous boxes. We are bringing an assortment home with us :)<br />
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After burying our purchases deep in Charlie's backpack (the thought of delicate sweets encountering rain... shudder!) we put up the umbrella and walked down some narrow, narrow streets to the main street where the Nishijin Textile center is located.<br />
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Charlie had read online that they were having kimono fashion shows beginning at 10:00 am, so we got there in time for the 10 o'clock show. The kimono were amazing. Here are only three of the seven they showed:<br />
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After the show we did a bit of gift shopping in the shops, then went out with the umbrella ready, for a very damp walk to the subway station. Along the way we saw a tiny street shrine tucked between modern buildings. Once we got to the subway platform it was just 3 stops, on 2 different lines, to get back to the subway station near our hotel. There is an underground shopping "mall" there so we wandered around looking for lunch & decided to go to a soba noodle place. I had cold soba noodles with dipping broth & tenpura & Charlie had hot soba noodles with rice and veggies. So good...<br />
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Then we got soggy again on the way back to the hotel. We had a very quiet afternoon, relaxing at the hotel and drinking tea occasionally thanks to the hotel's hot pot, teacups, & teabags, which were refreshed every day when they made up the room.<br />
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The rain just kept coming down, so we decided our best bet for dinner was the top floor of the Takashimaya department store (where the Pokemon Center is located). We could walk there through the covered Teramachidori to stay dry most of the way. It's a little over 1 km each way, so good exercise too :) As usual with Japanese department stores, the top floor is dedicated to restaurants and food courts. We looked around a bit and decided on a family restaurant with a varied menu. Lunch had been a lot of food for me (as you may recall, our lunches have been thin on the ground these past few days) so I was happy to have a Kitsune Udon soup set (Kitsune udon is thick wheat noodles in broth, with a big slab of aburage- sweetened & fried tofu) that included 2 little inari sushi (which is rice that's wrapped in aburage to look like foxes' ears). Charlie had beef stew. It was all delicious!<br />
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This evening we repacked our luggage to incorporate the omiyage gifts that we've bought in Kyoto to bring home. Tomorrow we take the shinkansen back to Tokyo at noonish. I'm looking forward to more station bento! And thankfully, we have fun things to look forward to this weekend, otherwise, leaving Kyoto would be nearly unbearable. We've had just the best time, and I've been promising myself we'll come back again. </div>
The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-31358122275374361282018-09-19T06:51:00.002-07:002018-09-19T06:51:53.438-07:00Japan 2018: Uji and Gion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This morning we had breakfast in a little cafe around the corner called "Sizuya" (not an exact romanisation, as there is no "si" sound in Japanese, so it's pronounced "shizuya") which is part of a local chain of cafes. They had the usual Japanese "morning set" available- toast & tea or coffee, with a "healthy salad" option as well. They added a hard-boiled egg, which suited us as well. Charlie went for the salad version & I opted for raisin bread. It was delicious. Even chain shop food here is delicious!!<br />
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They also dispense wisdom on their salt shakers, as you can see here:<br />
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Today's plan was to take the train to Uji, a town a little south of Kyoto that is famous for tea (they grow it there), the Byoudou-In Buddhist Temple, which is a World Heritage Site, and also for being a place where some of the Genji Monogatari ("Tale of Genji", written about 1000 years ago & considered the first novel ever written in any language) takes place. We visited Uji on our fist trip to Japan 11 years ago and it has become a favourite place to revisit whenever we're in Kyoto. Our first visit was in mid-June, right when the first harvest tea is being roasted, & I remember the gorgeous scent of roasting tea wafting out of the shops with great fondness.<br />
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On our half-kilometre walk to the train station for the train to Uji we passed a Lawson's convenience store (called "conbini" here) and went in for some gum. The conbinis in Japan often partner with popular games, movies, and anime for special promotions & products. Lawson's has partnered with Pokemon to promote the new "Let's Go Eevee" game, and was selling their fried chicken in Eevee containers (a different one for each flavour :) and I had to take a photo and text it to Brendan, who adores Eevees. He wasn't sure what to think of Eevees selling fried chicken (being vegetarian himself). The packages are pretty cute, though!<br />
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To get to the station we cross the very picturesque Kamogawa (Kamo River), which runs very shallow & has wide banks where people like to sit and rest or picnic.<br />
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The train trip to Uji took about half an hour and the station we debarked at landed us at another very picturesque river, the Ujigawa.<br />
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We crossed the bridge over Ujigawa and headed into the street of shops that leads to the Byoudou-In because that's where my favourite tea shop in (literally) the whole world is. We had happened into the Mitsuboshi tea shop 11 years ago and felt so welcomed & enjoyed their tea so much that we come back every time we're in town. Brendan was 11 years old our first trip, and when we were last here, 3 years ago, he was 19 and the owner's wife was so amazed to see him grown up she nearly cried. This time we were greeted (in English!) by her new, Swiss, son-in-law, who is helping them with the business now. Mitsuboshi has been in business for at least 6 generations and has provided tea to such illustrious historic samurai as Date Masamune.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGLmiZGKCG8XIdlJf0yQICOh0CoUoSfSOKCLdZXFnqS5dsRCbJjDkaA9qsBmgZTJ6H4uw5u1dq8Dm2Xgmej7-XvDKe_rgKlOdePjmxpmz4PltrfK5s5SfY4uz82hFMA8uorA2pVNUg2ah1/s1600/japan2018day7mitsuboshi2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGLmiZGKCG8XIdlJf0yQICOh0CoUoSfSOKCLdZXFnqS5dsRCbJjDkaA9qsBmgZTJ6H4uw5u1dq8Dm2Xgmej7-XvDKe_rgKlOdePjmxpmz4PltrfK5s5SfY4uz82hFMA8uorA2pVNUg2ah1/s400/japan2018day7mitsuboshi2.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 3 red balls on the banner are the mitsuboshi, which means "3 stars".</td></tr>
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After buying enough tea to last until our next visit (I hope) we walked back down the street and over the bridge to another favourite place in Uji, Tsuen-jaya, a sweets shop that has been in business for over 800 years, and in the present building since the 1600's (!). They serve the best anmitsu I've ever had. Anmitsu is a sundae-like confection that combines small scoops of vanilla & matcha ice cream and anko (red bean paste) with fruit & mochi, all served on a bed of unsweetened jelly cubes, with your choice of kuroame (black sugar) or matcha syrup to pour on top. Whew! I love it with matcha syrup, & Charlie borrowed some of my syrup to drizzle on his ice cream sundae- which had mostly the same ingredients except the anko, with an emphasis on the ice cream.<br />
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When we finished our sweets, we felt fortified enough to wend our way up the opposite side of the Ujigawa, about a kilometre's walk to the Ujigami Jinja. Japanese jinja (Shinto shrines) are often associated with one of the animals of the Jyunishi, or Chinese zodiac. Ujigami is associated with the rabbit, which is Charlie's zodiac animal, so he has a particular fondness for Ujigami. Like most jinja, it's a collection of shrines, small & large, scattered over the grounds. There are multiple purification springs- this one has the water trickling out of a leaping rabbit's mouth. The bunny's head is shinier than the rest of its body because it's lucky to rub the head after you wash your hands.<br />
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The main shrine building, called the Honden, is gorgeous & elegant. It's one of the oldest shrines in Japan.<br />
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Another purification area has you climb down to a little stream, covered by a building.<br />
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And there is a small building that sells omamori (good luck charms) and omikuji (fortunes) too. We stocked-up on omamori :)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvbOgfqsgXXL9lD4-I-fPOKAVLQcs8oZii3VJDh5Og-RupZyLkiUkreILL7ZEXjDKgnIhyphenhyphengm-DOWDeuYimeqpi3T9Tp_lNaVs3YV74uHX5q2sQQPdxF_-HxSXt4Tjn1gUkxgo9vz1C-ZlD/s1600/japan2018day7ujigami5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvbOgfqsgXXL9lD4-I-fPOKAVLQcs8oZii3VJDh5Og-RupZyLkiUkreILL7ZEXjDKgnIhyphenhyphengm-DOWDeuYimeqpi3T9Tp_lNaVs3YV74uHX5q2sQQPdxF_-HxSXt4Tjn1gUkxgo9vz1C-ZlD/s400/japan2018day7ujigami5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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On the road from Ujigami back to the train station is another shop we like to visit when in Uji, the Asahiyaki pottery shop. We were surprised to find it in a new building, a bit closer to town, and the owner gave us a newspaper article, printed in English, that talked about their move, a year ago, to a newer shop. It's situated in a very scenic place along the Ujigawa. They still use the original pottery workshop, down the river a little bit, which has been in business since the 1600's. While we were there he treated us to some delicious tea served in their pottery. We left with a couple of gorgeous teacups that will be my Christmas present from Charlie :)<br />
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It was just after 1:30 when we headed back to the train station. We weren't hungry for lunch, thanks to the delicious anmitsu, so we thought we'd go back to our hotel, hitting the conbini on the way for lunch food, then walk over to the Gion section of Kyoto in the later afternoon & evening. It was a great plan, with just one flaw... when we changed trains to go back to Kyoto, we got on the one going the wrong way! By the time we figured something was wrong, we were in Osaka! Good grief! I think all the different names of stations and towns started to blend in our heads and all sound familiar. So, instead of a half-hour trip to the hotel, we had an hour trip to Osaka & back to Kyoto. Whee!! At least we could laugh about it. We really needed lunch by the time we got off that train (and a bathroom...).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi48XzmtI1u_Ac1PzWAX23K3362fSaDCP1w4Tu6NdJf5kJmlTQriqVIB8ws7YuEU1vqkTXR-Ud5iiSZ5foj78zWLj_mfyZ8dNLu6fNwhc8rbOSGjebBsoKgyaaI5WJPaYzNa_pLum0fGOY4/s1600/japan2018day7lunch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi48XzmtI1u_Ac1PzWAX23K3362fSaDCP1w4Tu6NdJf5kJmlTQriqVIB8ws7YuEU1vqkTXR-Ud5iiSZ5foj78zWLj_mfyZ8dNLu6fNwhc8rbOSGjebBsoKgyaaI5WJPaYzNa_pLum0fGOY4/s400/japan2018day7lunch.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There is a small amount of healthy food in this photo, really!</td></tr>
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So, instead of spending the afternoon and evening in Gion, we left the hotel around 5:00 pm for a 2 km walk to Gion, the center of the legendary "floating world" (entertainment district) made famous in the 18 & 19th century Ukiyo-e prints. It was mobbed, even on a Wednesday night in September when nothing in particular was going on! And there were lots of folks dressed in kimono everywhere :)<br />
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We looked at the menus outside random restaurants until something caught our fancy for dinner. A lot of the restaurants had you sitting on the floor in tatami rooms, which doesn't work well with my back these days, but the Gion Mitoko restaurant had a counter around the cooking space where they were happy to seat us. Charlie and I both ordered vegetarian sets that featured tofu served in different, yummy, ways, including yudofu (blocks of soft tofu simmered in a light broth right at the table).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4bcHtI_PFRLzl_df9JZXcnqfKtlnQRHsHM3ytA4lqKVQMrdw2knAcE-IKemn0BALMH9SG1YsZMTKBok6vrpviIm-xs69aO7JZ3y_XRHtSTwYMjswf1J6EXmylurXDhNOaT-QpmgOcQsNe/s1600/japan2018day7gionmitoko2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4bcHtI_PFRLzl_df9JZXcnqfKtlnQRHsHM3ytA4lqKVQMrdw2knAcE-IKemn0BALMH9SG1YsZMTKBok6vrpviIm-xs69aO7JZ3y_XRHtSTwYMjswf1J6EXmylurXDhNOaT-QpmgOcQsNe/s400/japan2018day7gionmitoko2.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm not sure how they treated that paper over the brazier so it wouldn't burn, but it didn't...</td></tr>
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There was also vegetable tenppura, with rice and miso soup. It was absolutely delicious. As I was telling the waitstaff how delicious the food was, they asked about where we were from, and we ended-up chatting about our home, compared weather between Rochester & Kyoto, and had a nice time making a connection. It was a lovely end to a beautiful day!<br />
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Tomorrow we hope to visit a venerable candy shop and a bamboo forest.<br />
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The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-36421539386510100832018-09-18T06:31:00.000-07:002018-09-18T06:31:25.509-07:00Japan 2018: In Which We Eat Our Way Through Kyoto...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtT40HpwteAgWF3v4Bp_5TuJofJn9k-lsHw4R4s_9E_D_oEjV7O4ZQGjRmvdfyofRiT933Fmz32NpYYxwHmgsumaSQgMZDZrn_9_tkAloQeRER9SYJaJaoqE0DGmzAb10IcFx1rTRIiPxz/s1600/japan2018day6yatsuhachi1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtT40HpwteAgWF3v4Bp_5TuJofJn9k-lsHw4R4s_9E_D_oEjV7O4ZQGjRmvdfyofRiT933Fmz32NpYYxwHmgsumaSQgMZDZrn_9_tkAloQeRER9SYJaJaoqE0DGmzAb10IcFx1rTRIiPxz/s320/japan2018day6yatsuhachi1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Today's plan was to meet our dear friend Tomoko, who was our first Japanese teacher 13 years ago when she was working on her Masters degree at the University of Rochester, & who took a train from her home in Kanazawa (a 2-hour trip) to meet us here in Kyoto. Brendan & I worked with Tomoko for the first few years of our Japanese studies, then she went on to the University of Minnesota to do PhD work, returning to Japan to work in the student counseling center of the University of Kanazawa. We have stayed in touch all these years and were absolutely delighted that she could spend a day with us in Kyoto!<br />
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Because we were headed to Kyoto Station to meet Tomoko at around 10:15, we thought we'd eat breakfast at one of the cafes in the station. However, although Charlie & I both slept through the night (finally!), we were up really early, so I decided to open the box of delicious Yatsuhachi that I'd purchased yesterday, for an early snack with some tea. Just to hold me over until breakfast :) Yatsuhatchi is sheets of mochi that are made from rice flour & have been steamed (rather than pounded until smooth & sticky). They add matcha tea, cinnamon, and other flavours to the mochi & then place a dollop of anko (red bean paste) in the middle and fold it over on the diagonal. Because it's Fall, you can get them with a chestnut in the middle, which is what I bought.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First breakfast.</td></tr>
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Soooo yummy!! After our snack (Charlie also partook) we headed out to the station to catch the subway to Kyoto Station. The local station's cafe was practically empty, so we decided to eat there, rather than at the much busier Kyoto Station. I had Royal Milk Tea made with soy milk (a real treat!) and a melon pan, which is bread dough baked with cookie dough on top. It's crumbly & messy, but delicious.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Second breakfast!</td></tr>
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We got to the station a little before 10:00 am, so we bought some special tea sweets (a present for Tomoko & some for us) and then went to meet Tomoko at the main gate. Kyoto Station has some very dramatic architecture.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Random cuteness in Kyoto Station</td></tr>
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It is not only a train station but has a department store & loads of little shops selling bento and omiyage (little gifts, usually food, that are local specialties). We were so happy to see Tomoko when she arrived! We visited her in Kanazawa on our last trip to Japan, so it's been 1 1/2 years since we'd last seen her. We found a little cafe in the department store that had some gorgeous cakes, and stopped there to catch up with Tomoko, FaceTime with Brendan (so Tomoko could see Brendan & chat with him), and try some of the lovely cakes.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMl17ayfLDU5u68osIye4Mcw2Xo8Trr2pAMzDVBCsu2WiRRwsT_pHuVcxFT3tuO1ooGSgEs9MXO4yNrZsGXD3aXC-pHPf-aFPX0QTXTCxGBxUzz045IwsUp-82FpHEIYr2nyFWi8-8XKNJ/s1600/japan2018day6kisatensweets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMl17ayfLDU5u68osIye4Mcw2Xo8Trr2pAMzDVBCsu2WiRRwsT_pHuVcxFT3tuO1ooGSgEs9MXO4yNrZsGXD3aXC-pHPf-aFPX0QTXTCxGBxUzz045IwsUp-82FpHEIYr2nyFWi8-8XKNJ/s400/japan2018day6kisatensweets.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Third breakfast! (I am becoming a Hobbit by now...)</td></tr>
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We left the cafe around noon, but since we'd just eaten, we decided to head for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimogamo_Shrine" target="_blank">Shimogamo Jinja</a>, a Shinto shrine that is featured in one of our favourite anime, Uchouten Kazoku (The Eccentric Family). We hadn't visited Shimogamo on any of our previous visits & thought it would be a fun thing to do with Tomoko. We took a taxi from the station, and had another first in Japan- our first lady taxi driver! She spoke English and chatted with us all the way to the shrine. The shrine is connected to a beautiful forest that is also famous as a serene place to visit. Today was pretty warm, so it was a cool place to visit, too. There's a stream running through the forest that had been recreated from archeological excavations, based on ancient drawings of the shrine (which dates back to the 6th century). On our walk through the forest, on a very wide path, we saw beautiful red flowers that Tomoko told us are called Higanbana, and are associated with the afterlife.<br />
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There were also ancient trees that are considered holy.</div>
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There was also considerable damage from the previous week's typhoon, the same one that hit Osaka so badly. Uprooted trees were everywhere.<br />
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When entering a shrine or temple, it's customary to purify yourself by rinsing your hands at a natural spring. Shimogamo's spring is situated in an old, traditional boat, which was really interesting.<br />
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Most shinto shrines are actually a collection of shrines, venerating different gods & goddesses in buildings large and small. Most have a place for you to place a coin in a box & say a prayer, sometimes with a bell to ring to get the god's attention. The main gate at Shimogamo is really beautiful.<br />
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There are all sorts of lovely places tucked away, like this bridge over the stream.<br />
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The stream gets wider and they have a little building where you can buy gifts & omamori (good luck charms) and an unusual kind of omikuji (fortune telling) system called "mizumikuji". You buy a paper fortune & then take it out to the stream & float it in the water, & the water reveals your fortune, Tomoko & I did this for fun.<br />
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Neither of us got "daikichi" or the best luck fortunes (but we didn't get the worst, either :) so we tied them to a fence there to purify our less-than great fortune. After all the wandering around we were ready for refreshment. There was a little shop at the shrine that sold traditional summer treats, so we went for it! Tomoko & I had oshiruko, which is soup made from red bean paste (cold for the summer) with little mochi balls in it. Charlie had an enormous kakigori (shaved ice) mixed with condensed milk and strawberry jam. It was all delicious! We asked a shop person about the leaf pattern on the teacups, and discovered that they are Aoi leaves, which is the Japanese word for hollyhocks (and the meaning of Aoi-chan's name!). They are the symbol of the Shimogamo Jinja and found everywhere as decoration.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdjYLzZhXJRlQm6RRZSNTn4Ggp_mrktniAkgDQe8hvItf8P8cUOp0V9kUOn4EK-ecWZbSv9wG0zp4FzLWDQ5jbeE_vYD0hnkc5W8s2kxW0F3CxBHDadM00kar7EspCRhC_FTBC5jtbfwNX/s1600/japan2018day6shimogamo7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdjYLzZhXJRlQm6RRZSNTn4Ggp_mrktniAkgDQe8hvItf8P8cUOp0V9kUOn4EK-ecWZbSv9wG0zp4FzLWDQ5jbeE_vYD0hnkc5W8s2kxW0F3CxBHDadM00kar7EspCRhC_FTBC5jtbfwNX/s400/japan2018day6shimogamo7.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fourth breakfast (haven't had lunch yet, so, yeah...)</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBCoMJXhjc5s9wuzUj3EdclbXqOZcQq6qIyUgJ9R4HgzAy48flyDxzxj1j7ZKnz1obF6umbCm69VcJJKTvIKuaNyZX3sO-YZQLbg_hEE9wNHxFyXJNFH3XT2g6lQJ3RTPecASpjmmaE-jG/s1600/japan2018day6shimogamo8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBCoMJXhjc5s9wuzUj3EdclbXqOZcQq6qIyUgJ9R4HgzAy48flyDxzxj1j7ZKnz1obF6umbCm69VcJJKTvIKuaNyZX3sO-YZQLbg_hEE9wNHxFyXJNFH3XT2g6lQJ3RTPecASpjmmaE-jG/s400/japan2018day6shimogamo8.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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After this little snack, we thought we should find some more substantial food, but it was just around 3:00 pm and all of the local noodle shops were closed because it was between lunch & dinner time. The energy I got from the oshiruko was wearing off, so we decided to take the train back toward the part of town where our hotel is & see if we could have dinner at a kaiseki (traditional Kyoto cuisine, served in courses) restaurant. Since we needed a bit more sustenance to get us through to 4:30 pm, when the kaiseki restaurant opened, we stopped at Starbucks (which I didn't bother to photograph :).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghqTu8LVxXOIDtQTZOWJxgW8by_3nT8tsWrGBXgnURuyJ-gMlL0A5_cpQkkogyWNcEWORoO9s-eryqSc8Sk-cadfC6XQnAwflMOGtjO04QJrHpO5R7Q6LcgU_CHkgN3QuT7xj02wFEEUGJ/s1600/japan2018day6kaiseki11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghqTu8LVxXOIDtQTZOWJxgW8by_3nT8tsWrGBXgnURuyJ-gMlL0A5_cpQkkogyWNcEWORoO9s-eryqSc8Sk-cadfC6XQnAwflMOGtjO04QJrHpO5R7Q6LcgU_CHkgN3QuT7xj02wFEEUGJ/s400/japan2018day6kaiseki11.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And then, after wandering around narrow alleys full of cool shops, and asking for directions (finally) we made it to Tagoto Honten! Since we were early (4:45) they had plenty of room for us. Later on, we'd have needed a reservation, perhaps days ahead, to be seated. Kaiseki ryori is amazing & very popular. I had a set featuring tofu dishes, including do-it-yourself yuba (the skin skimmed from boiling soy milk, which is eaten with soy sauce like sashimi) which I have wanted to try for a long time. When you're done skimming the soy milk, they add a coagulating agent (described to us as sea water, but at home when I've made tofu you use epsom salts) and you eat the rest as tofu. Charlie & Tomoko had a set that featured tenpura. It was all amazing!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVVPLV0dIeFiINVS6B5DNh7dfLZVrqnmZb5lpKl7yJZwvx3J7Oq86C-QtPwqpXJePkzcWJkhps_BmISBwKn7uduWIw_bSfoP9qkHaHGAS1ndr_E9Trez6Rux7eDVpWsrtBWq0eZYjo83Wj/s1600/japan2018day6kaiseki2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVVPLV0dIeFiINVS6B5DNh7dfLZVrqnmZb5lpKl7yJZwvx3J7Oq86C-QtPwqpXJePkzcWJkhps_BmISBwKn7uduWIw_bSfoP9qkHaHGAS1ndr_E9Trez6Rux7eDVpWsrtBWq0eZYjo83Wj/s400/japan2018day6kaiseki2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yuba sashimi (premade)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi97Hrdrc7UBgQQumlw5kj6Zg-oYY9hWNk58eDH0IplHpafCYZuCPgXOXGQVdiL09mo7UE9BRqF713mAmttlZ0US9MN2mJbnsSi3Bto4iv7KflKORd0OkmI2fDFoUkbaSOhFNwXI0bmdbtH/s1600/japan2018day6kaiseki3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi97Hrdrc7UBgQQumlw5kj6Zg-oYY9hWNk58eDH0IplHpafCYZuCPgXOXGQVdiL09mo7UE9BRqF713mAmttlZ0US9MN2mJbnsSi3Bto4iv7KflKORd0OkmI2fDFoUkbaSOhFNwXI0bmdbtH/s400/japan2018day6kaiseki3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Soup with moon-shaped tofu</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxi84JtPSGyCb-XmuHfoxXoUlvLL20flZUcKAMf0m6RHBa_G3NXZ1CKeMdjLcjUet6cu1_F3UVcDBEpdgr0WIQDR2HF4IUVsT3zk9RoGKjBhOHTuC5ikDHiR_SFzXaRHS8vmB6hxLkqXWj/s1600/japan2018day6kaiseki6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxi84JtPSGyCb-XmuHfoxXoUlvLL20flZUcKAMf0m6RHBa_G3NXZ1CKeMdjLcjUet6cu1_F3UVcDBEpdgr0WIQDR2HF4IUVsT3zk9RoGKjBhOHTuC5ikDHiR_SFzXaRHS8vmB6hxLkqXWj/s400/japan2018day6kaiseki6.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An assortment of omelet rolls, veggies, and tofu</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1WhZEAQm0ix2OMKoRo79Rzf0_hZ2XaBqXfEPBIENj-dZ1D1mcoUI-qxFKLsoEibRsga71vek9YuBbJHU4I6t6Dg_V2I6M4eYpNlepA_6CtWTrvufxkiihkbu_RbOl07-3A2iPPPBFp2cr/s1600/japan2018day6kaiseki1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1WhZEAQm0ix2OMKoRo79Rzf0_hZ2XaBqXfEPBIENj-dZ1D1mcoUI-qxFKLsoEibRsga71vek9YuBbJHU4I6t6Dg_V2I6M4eYpNlepA_6CtWTrvufxkiihkbu_RbOl07-3A2iPPPBFp2cr/s400/japan2018day6kaiseki1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Soy milk on a heater</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTb-qKlYxriLBtppVdoXHrrW6XdV3sY0IACf9vmpqCRkD8vwUZEudNznQr5fVftqkkPj0AUvxR9MIowzzPfUL73RQGq6OIZPyjDdijFjVRvsPXHOVg-ItVRP4JkbiLYQ74UFhBUMn1m68_/s1600/japan2018day6kaiseki4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTb-qKlYxriLBtppVdoXHrrW6XdV3sY0IACf9vmpqCRkD8vwUZEudNznQr5fVftqkkPj0AUvxR9MIowzzPfUL73RQGq6OIZPyjDdijFjVRvsPXHOVg-ItVRP4JkbiLYQ74UFhBUMn1m68_/s400/japan2018day6kaiseki4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready to skim the yuba</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSbkPOFBrFeKJuxzuQmWumid-pJzGpY02lvgeWHundhY6dGFkQLaah4LeXs-ZoPoTEaZf4fuspyGupRVFfw6X9cxrquNRuQYm_8AOhmPW-l3qClXSq450Cny07pY7rhH9PrnRSxRtwqB20/s1600/japan2018day6kaiseki5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSbkPOFBrFeKJuxzuQmWumid-pJzGpY02lvgeWHundhY6dGFkQLaah4LeXs-ZoPoTEaZf4fuspyGupRVFfw6X9cxrquNRuQYm_8AOhmPW-l3qClXSq450Cny07pY7rhH9PrnRSxRtwqB20/s400/japan2018day6kaiseki5.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yuba in soy sauce</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji3HTklCL6mYJc4WQIKxlKgtJ4YICyRxTcK3CzNHsyUKlIjwWlfU0-85R4TQcQfeqThjBy65HBYXkV6Opg9M4V9IDlS3WAYrUOBRHwMCZ1D70kSQIkI0H6yutf4-JculzzVezHeumv-nuc/s1600/japan2018day6kaiseki8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji3HTklCL6mYJc4WQIKxlKgtJ4YICyRxTcK3CzNHsyUKlIjwWlfU0-85R4TQcQfeqThjBy65HBYXkV6Opg9M4V9IDlS3WAYrUOBRHwMCZ1D70kSQIkI0H6yutf4-JculzzVezHeumv-nuc/s400/japan2018day6kaiseki8.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tofu made from the leftover soy milk</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUmALc4UbQ7G5QDGPP6dIZDXAvUtNmNHAUyBozm3HTAv6UP2Nl9WDLgSwP_8S5JX0-pMP-2H2gqvy8MKFdZbS5XvHqQrnQEdURlgyZtC6k5Re8-FXDtI7n1oPytMQB9JlZS_Qfb9nx3gV/s1600/japan2018day6kaiseki7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUmALc4UbQ7G5QDGPP6dIZDXAvUtNmNHAUyBozm3HTAv6UP2Nl9WDLgSwP_8S5JX0-pMP-2H2gqvy8MKFdZbS5XvHqQrnQEdURlgyZtC6k5Re8-FXDtI7n1oPytMQB9JlZS_Qfb9nx3gV/s400/japan2018day6kaiseki7.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grilled tofu with miso</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijBDjuTiTrKDOaUq5sPcb3-fJoiHfdRJquyCqkmEI8TWEnHQk6rwsjODL6pUWSIihPzL0z78cOgx8RRhTLMEbTks5zAO6sOFMbsSmzM6KpJQTOl1AypmkJX_eX468n_Tm8tVZhihKAIyNN/s1600/japan2018day6kaiseki9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijBDjuTiTrKDOaUq5sPcb3-fJoiHfdRJquyCqkmEI8TWEnHQk6rwsjODL6pUWSIihPzL0z78cOgx8RRhTLMEbTks5zAO6sOFMbsSmzM6KpJQTOl1AypmkJX_eX468n_Tm8tVZhihKAIyNN/s400/japan2018day6kaiseki9.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A tiny nabe (hot pot)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsi-Bt65KT35YzFIGBjKfNbha6IFFZV-bLKHDk_iJpyA2fOnmUKKjomSI3RlpJgMFV4ZnTahG1CynEKHmmO17xnAOSReQaSMu804I3mi1LIdXUpaAQqL_yLRd_M_ELLi_PDBoteNVheLAb/s1600/japan2018day6kaiseki10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsi-Bt65KT35YzFIGBjKfNbha6IFFZV-bLKHDk_iJpyA2fOnmUKKjomSI3RlpJgMFV4ZnTahG1CynEKHmmO17xnAOSReQaSMu804I3mi1LIdXUpaAQqL_yLRd_M_ELLi_PDBoteNVheLAb/s400/japan2018day6kaiseki10.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dessert- warabi mochi and strawberry ice cream with pears.</td></tr>
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Everyone there was lovely, explaining all of the courses and answering our questions, and showing me how to skim my yuba from the boiling soy milk.<br />
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After dinner, Tomoko called her mom who lives near Fukuoka City, way down south in Kyushu, who we've stayed with twice on early visits to Japan, and is very dear to us. I was able to chat with Nobuko-san for a few minutes and it was lovely just to hear her voice. Then we helped Tomoko find her way to the subway station for her voyage back to Kyoto Station to catch her train home to Kanazawa. It was a totally amazing day! I'm so grateful for all the friends we have here in Japan. I'm grateful to Tomoko for giving me the foundation in Japanese that allows me to talk to & understand her mom, and other folks here who don't speak English, and to have relationships with them in spite of living on opposite sides of the world. I learn so much every time I visit Japan. And now, off to bed with a full tummy & a full heart :)<br />
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The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-50389540165079121872018-09-17T05:56:00.003-07:002018-09-17T05:56:31.735-07:00Japan 2018: From Osaka to Kyoto<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHfeCc_ntdEVzn14WgO7skn6enXHxhocajlBAkqFUxDJq1EOK9IpsjSyuPi-efqSDuPll15DB0wWTeoXRuBV-dQ8ovHVKtWIaQpYlezHxvftuBNE9iva8OsthppP6g6x52kYpKeB0WQheP/s1600/japan2018day5hpshirts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHfeCc_ntdEVzn14WgO7skn6enXHxhocajlBAkqFUxDJq1EOK9IpsjSyuPi-efqSDuPll15DB0wWTeoXRuBV-dQ8ovHVKtWIaQpYlezHxvftuBNE9iva8OsthppP6g6x52kYpKeB0WQheP/s400/japan2018day5hpshirts.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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The kids were up bright and early this morning, in spite of having a busy & tiring day yesterday. Charlie & I are getting this sleep thing under control, thanks to the aforementioned busy day :) Breakfast was once again yummy & home-made by Momo & Hiroko (I offered to help, really!).<br />
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Last evening I gave everyone their omiyage (presents given to friends and family when you travel). Since we were going to Universal Studios, I found everyone Harry Potter t-shirts. The kids wore theirs today :)<br />
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Momo, Hiroshi, Hiroko, & the kids were traveling back to the Tokyo area by shinkansen this morning and had figured out the timing and reserved their tickets last evening online. So after breakfast parents packed & kids ran around and had a great time together. The only casualty was Mai-chan's hat, which had disappeared sometime since yesterday afternoon. Considering all the stuff we all carried to Osaka, that seems pretty miraculous to me. The gang left around 10:00 to catch their subways & trains. I felt lonely the minute they went, since the house had been full of joyful noise & conversation since we'd arrived. Fortunately, we'll visit Momo, Hiroshi, & the kids next weekend and finally see the new house they built last year.<br />
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We didn't have to check-in to our hotel in Kyoto until 3:00 pm, so we had more time. Momo had looked up the trains to Kyoto last evening on her ipad & helped us figure out which subways & transfers we needed to make to get to the right train. After a quick FaceTime with Brendan, who was winding-down his Sunday evening (being 13 hours behind us, time-wise), we finished packing & left the house for the subway station. And thanks to Momo's excellent instructions, we and our formidable luggage made all of the transfers to the Yodoyabashi Station, where we picked up the Keihan line for Sanjyo Station, the nearest to our hotel in Kyoto. When we looked at the schedule of trains, there were all sorts of trains, from locals to super speedy "Raku Raku" train. When we bought our tickets the machine didn't have any way to indicate which speed of train they were for, and the tickets we bought were just 410¥ apiece. That's about $4.00 in US currency! So we found a ticket window with a live person to ask, because I was really nervous we had the wrong tickets and didn't want to get on the wrong train. Turns out, every train, no matter what the speed, was the same price (!). Some seats were reserved on the speedier trains, but once we got to the platform, we noticed that they all had sections that were less posh, & we figured these were for the non-reserved ticket-holders. We could have taken the shinkansen to Kyoto, which would have taken about 20 minutes, but we were sure the tickets would have been expensive (it was close to $150.00 apiece one way from Tokyo to Osaka by Nozomi). This trip took about 50 minutes, but for 410¥ apiece, we we pretty happy with it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think we're headed to Kyoto!</td></tr>
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The scenery outside the train window on the way from Osaka to Kyoto was mostly suburbs transitioning to small towns with some manufacturing & not much agriculture (a bunch of rivers, though). You could see blue of tarps dotting the rooftops, too, a reminder of the typhoon that roared through the Kansai region the week before we arrived. We saw on the news this evening that the Kansai Airport, in Osaka, is just reopening after experiencing severe flooding.<br />
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We got to the Sanjyo Station in Kyoto a little before noon & found the taxis after a bit, as the signs were a bit hard to follow. We knew the hotel wasn't far, but didn't want to drag the luggage through unknown territory. We then had what has become such a recurring event on visits to Kyoto that it just makes us laugh these days. We got to the taxi stop and a spry, wizened gentleman hopped out of his taxi to load our luggage & find out where we were going. When we told him, he'd never heard of the hotel and had no idea where it was. Nearly every time we arrive in Kyoto and take a taxi, the driver, usually an older gentleman, has no idea where our hotel is. Said gentleman then consults with all the other drivers, and some discussion takes place. Eventually someone has heard of the place, and we get going. Unfortunately, the information page Charlie copied from the hotel had the address in Romaji (roman letters), which our driver had trouble figuring out. He consulted a nearby bus driver (this was a new thing) and while he did, I looked the hotel up on my phone & found the address in Japanese. This worked, except that, as he explained in Japanese, he couldn't actually take the car down the street where it was. I told him that nearby was fine, & we were off. Bonus- he spoke Kyoto-ben, the local dialect, which is often used by humourous characters in anime & manga, so I was too busy geeking-out to be put off by the info about not being able to drop us right at the hotel. As it turned out, he got us very close to it & we were able to trundle the luggage the short distance to the hotel.<br />
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We were early for check-in, so they put our luggage away & we went off to explore. Charlie does a lot of guidebook reading before we travel to Japan, so he knew a lot about our neighbourhood already. Our hotel is very close to the Teramachidori, (it means "temple street street), which is a large, covered shopping area. It started out a long time ago as the "street of shops" that lead to many temples & shrines in Japan, originally established near shrines because they were the safest places & shared their security with the local merchants. As we wandered the Teramachidori we saw at least four small, very old Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines tucked into odd corners of the street. Charlie made an "aisatsu" (greeting) or visit to the Seiganji, a Buddhist temple that dates from the 7th century. The steps were kind fo steep for me, so I let him say "hi" to the enshrined Boddhisatvah for me.<br />
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We also decided to find a cafe for refreshment, and we were not disappointed! We saw an advert for sponge cake (actually castella cake) french toast and a matcha ice cream parfait outside one called Ukeian and that's where we landed. So yummy!!!<br />
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While there I looked up the location of the Kyoto Pokemon Center on my phone, and it was just a 10-minute walk away. With more than 2 hours until we could check-in, it seemed like a good idea to go there & find one on the things I've been looking forward to for weeks- Maiko Pikachu! A Maiko is a Geisha in training, very much a Kyoto thing, and Maiko Pikachu is the mascot of the Kyoto Pokemon Center. The Center is on the 5th floor of a Takashimaya department store. We found it easily, & wow, was it crowded! Maybe due to the holiday today, I do not know. All I know is that I found Maiko Pikachu, & a bunch of gifts for friends there. I am happy!!<br />
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On the walk back through Teramachidori we saw all sorts of fun sights, including what I believe to be a hedgehog cafe, & a fun okonomiyaki shop:<br />
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Then it was time to go back to the hotel & get settled in our room, & do laundry! Which took us until about 6:15 and dinner time. We found a restaurant that specialises in panko-fried pork, chicken, & shrimp. We were instructed to grind goma (sesame seeds) with mortars & pestles, and then add ladlesful of a house sauce, like Bulldog Sauce, into the mortar which became a sauce dipping bowl. It was all so good!<br />
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Then, back to the hotel. Charlie is sampling Japanese tv right now, having had a shower and soak in the ofuro, the large bathtub that is ubiquitous in Japan. <br />
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Tomorrow we will meet our friend Tomoko, who lives in Kanazawa & who's making the 2 1/2 hour trip to Kyoto to see us. We are so psyched!! We plan to visit some places new to us and have some yummy meals together, too. </div>
The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-57631555831600819342018-09-16T17:01:00.000-07:002018-09-16T17:01:08.341-07:00Japan 2018: Osaka Universal Studios<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Today is the day we've been looking forward to for a long time (planning commenced last Fall, so, yeah, a looong time!). When we get together for a weekend with the kids, we always look for something memorable to do together, and Osaka Universal Studios seemed like a really memorable thing to do :) The truth is, these kids will have fun no matter where they go. They all get along so well! So, we were guaranteed a good day no matter what we did. And, although the forecast was for a cloudy day, the sun came out in force, which made it beautiful, but maybe a bit warmer than we were prepared for.<br />
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We started out with breakfast at home, made by Momo & Hiroko (yummy home cooking!) and then got ourselves on the train to the park. The top photo, by the station elevator, is how the kids were managing to carry their new amigurumi friends hands-free, which made me laugh. On the train Mai used my hand towel to make a nice napping place for Korillakuma.<br />
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Just as we were entering Universal Studios, there was a parade starting. Halloween is really taking over Japan! Everything was Halloween-themed, and all of the characters from the attractions for little kids were dressed in costume. All the staff were wearing orange witch hats with their regular uniforms too :)<br />
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When they stopped, the kids could line up to trick or treat with the characters. You can just see Mai having her turn with Cookie Monster in the photo below.<br />
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Some of the rides were so popular you had to reserve them, so while waiting for the Flying Snoopy ride, we waited in lines for various smaller rides and the kids played in different areas.<br />
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We had an early lunch to avoid excessive waiting in line. We ate at the Happiness Cafe in the Minions section of the park. I sat with the kids and had a great time chatting with them. I was so happy that I could not only understand them, but chat with them naturally in their own language.<br />
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After lunch, when the kids' turn on Flying Snoopy came up, Charlie & I decided to visit the Harry Potter park, which had been designated as too scary for the kids (this time!). It was really nostalgic, as we'd visited the Orlando Harry Potter park with Brendan's best friend Ethan & his parents Lee & Patty six years ago, when the guys were 16. This visit evoked so many great memories of that trip. The Osaka park was almost identical, although Olivanders had been an attraction when we went to Orlando & it was hard to get in. Here we could just go in & look around. Of course, we had to have some butterbeer!</div>
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After we met up again, we went back to the Minions park (a favourite of Nozomu-kun's) and had shaved ice. Then we had a couple of photo ops with characters.</div>
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And then, we were soooo hot and tired, it was time to catch the train back home. I was so exhausted I didn't remember to take any photos of the delicious dinner at the family restaurant near our Air B'nB apartment. The kids were energetic right to the end. We all slept really well last night!! Tomorrow, we say goodbye to our friends (for a few days :) and Charlie & I go to Kyoto.</div>
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The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-87222532808330062202018-09-15T07:03:00.002-07:002018-09-15T07:03:34.949-07:00Japan 2018: To Osaka!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As is usual the first few days of our visits to Japan, Charlie & I were up for a few hours in the middle of the night, because our bodies think it's the middle of the afternoon. And so it was last night, from 3:30-ish to 5:00-ish. I keep expecting that the tiredness I feel earlier in the day than usual will make sure that I sleep through the night, but body habits are hard to break. We did manage to sleep-in this morning until about 8:00, which was good timing to prepare for the next leg of our trip- to Osaka!<br />
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We did the hotel buffet, which allowed me to have a Japanese-style breakfast of rice, miso soup, & fish. Charlie had an omelette and pastries & we were both happy :) We were also able to do a brief FaceTime with Brendan before he went to bed. Then we checked with the front desk to have them call a taxi for us, with enough time to get to Tokyo Station & buy ekiben (station lunch box) before our Shinkansen left at 11:53. We checked-out and boarded the taxi at 10:30. It was raining pretty steadily in Tokyo, and we thought the traffic was pretty light for a Saturday morning. Little did we know, as I happily hit pokestops along the way at red lights in the back of the taxi, what we were in for at the station...<br />
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You see, it's a holiday weekend in Japan (conveniently, they have at least one 3-day weekend a month in Japan), which is why our friends are available to meet us for a fun weekend in Osaka. The photo above was the scene outside the largest bento kiosk in Tokyo Station. The scene inside was worse. I went in alone while Charlie watched the luggage & I'm not sure all of me came back out, but I did have lunch with me when I emerged.<br />
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We found our platform & the Nozomi (very fast bullet train) was waiting when we got there a few minutes early. We settled into our seats, with our luggage in the narrow space at the back of the car reserved for larger baggage. I am so looking forward to shedding some weight (aka presents for our friends) when we get to Osaka! The train took off on time (of course) and we were on our way!<br />
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The friends we plan to meet in Osaka are two families. Momo and I became friends nearly 10 years ago when she & her husband, Hiroshi, were living in Rochester while Hiroshi was earning his PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Rochester. Momo came to Rochester about a year after he'd started his degree, and spoke little English when she arrived. She met our Japanese teacher at the time, Shizuka, through the local Japanese community and Shizuka introduced us at a time when I'd only been studying Japanese for 4 years or so, & spoke little more Japanese than Momo spoke English :) We got together every week for "knitting club" but it was really knitting & cooking club, because she (and Shizuka, too, before she went to grad school) taught me Japanese home-style cooking and I taught her to knit, and pretty quickly we became more & more fluent in each others' language, and good friends, too. It was pretty tough for me when Hiroshi finished his degree and got a job in Japan, and we had to say goodbye. We skyped quite often, & saw each-other when we'd go back to Japan every 2 years. While visiting Japan, Momo introduced us to her childhood friend Hiroko & Hiroko's husband Daisuke, and we'd get together and do fun stuff during our visits. Momo & Hiroshi had their first baby, Aoi-chan 6 1/2 years ago & Hiroko had their son, Nozomu-kun, a little over 5 years ago. Mai-chan followed Aoi-chan 2 1/2 years ago, and this is how we ended-up with grandchild-like entities in Japan :) It makes the visits so much fun, because now when we visit Japan, we choose a fun location on a 3-day weekend, rent an Air B'nB house, and all meet there to do stuff together. Three years ago it was Kyoto and 1 1/2 years ago it was Nikko. This year we decided to go to the Universal Studios theme park in Osaka, and that's what we'll do tomorrow!<br />
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Happily, not only did the 2 1/2 hour shinkansen journey go very smoothly, but Charlie & I decided to follow the instructions from the Air B'nB lady (rather than take a taxi) to take the subway to the house (requiring one line change, with all our luggage!) & it went very well. (woot!) We arrived at the house about 10 minutes after Momo, Hiroshi, Hiroko (Daisuke is busy with work this weekend), and the kids arrived.<br />
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I mentioned to Momo this evening how I'm always amazed by how quickly we form a loose family unit every time we meet, even after 1 1/2 or 2 years in between visits. For the kids, it seems as though they never forget us (we only skype regularly with Momo and her family) and they are perfectly comfortable with Charlie & me from the moment we see each other. We'd all only been at the house for about 1 1/2 hours and we were ready to head out and find some dinner. There's a cool street in Osaka called Doutonbori where there are so many places to eat & so many lights and people, it's supposed to feel like Times Square, so Momo & Hiroko found the train route on their idevices & we were off on an adventure. I had made amigurumi for the kids, a Spiderman for Nozomu-kun, Rillakuma for Aoi-chan, & Korilllakuma for Mai-chan, and they decided to take them along, too. I think the kids pretty much ran everywhere, so those amigurumi got a good workout! Here are some photos of this train trip and along Doutonbori:<br />
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The last photo is near the okonomiyaki restaurant where we decided to have dinner . The katakana at the left of the board says "Mayo Beam!" and makes it look as though the chef at the top (Aoi-chan's face) is subduing the okonomiyaki pancake as well as Nozomu-kun :) Hiroko is helping Mai-chan get in on the fun.<br />
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Momo said that Osaka okonomiyaki is a regional specialty, so we got settled into the restaurant around the teppan hot plate (the kids were amazing about staying away from it, in spite of the wriggling). Deliciousness ensued:<br />
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After filling our tummies with all sorts of okonomiyaki (potato and cheese, seafood, octopus, and also some pork yakisoba, which is fried pork & noodles & veggies) we walked to the Ebisuhashi, which has the biggest, most Times-Square-ish lit-up signs, encountering a dragon on the way.</div>
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Hiroko took this last photo & sent it to me :) </div>
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Then, back to the train station, where the dad-types took the kids home & the mom-types shopped for breakfast food at the nearby supermarket (I love Japanese supermarkets!). When we got home, the kids were still zooming around, but clearly close to dropping in their tracks, so into the bathtub & jammies, & asleep within a very short time. The plan is to leave for Universal Studios, which is just a half-hour train ride away, by 10:00 am & go for an early lunch at one of the character restaurants that cater to kids before the lines get too long. We'll probably skip the Harry Potter park as too scary for 6-and-unders, but there's a Sesame Street area, a Snoopy area, Curious George & Hello Kitty, too. So I think we'll find lots to do there! O tanoshimi ni!! (Looking forward to it :)</div>
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The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-78454076997569397142018-09-14T06:26:00.001-07:002018-09-14T06:26:39.496-07:00Japan 2018: Tokyo Skytree and Solamachi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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After our first breakfast in Tokyo (continuing from my last post) we decided to buy our bullet train tickets for tomorrow (to Osaka) & next Friday (from Kyoto back to Tokyo), which have to be reserved in advance. We found the transit center in Shinjuku Station easily & got the tickets just fine.<br />
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The next plan was to visit the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Skytree" target="_blank">Tokyo Skytree</a> and Solamachi, partly because we haven't been there yet & mostly because it contains the largest Pokemon Center in Tokyo! Charlie's google-fu found the subways we needed to take (just one connection) and we had reloaded our Suica cards (passcards to ride trains & subways) so we were set to go! The trip took about 30 minutes, and we walked right out of the station to the Solamachi... which needs some explanation :) In Japanese, there is no "L" sound, although some pronunciations of "R" come close, so when romanising Japanese words, they sometimes choose "L" instead of "R". If you pronounce "Solamachi" as "Soramachi" it sounds like "sky town". And it's the shopping & restaurant portion of the Skytree, so, yeah! Makes sense!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Skytree from right outside the Solamachi</td></tr>
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The very first shop we noticed was the Studio Ghibli store, so we headed there first. Studio Ghibli's movie "My Neighbour Totoro", which we first saw (and loved!) when Brendan was four, was what led us down the path to learning Japanese, so it's a very nostalgic place for us. Charlie wanted to look for something cute for a friend who's wife is expecting a baby, and this was the place to find many cute things :) As it turns out, "Totoro" is celebrating 30 years since it was released! Cue photo op!!<br />
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Next we looked at a map to find the Pokemon Center. When we got off the escalator, the first shop we saw was filled with what looked like candy... but turned out to be jewelry! It was, in fact, Kyoto candy (boiled sweets and tea ceremony sweets are a specialty there) covered in a thick layer of acrylic & made into jewelry & phone straps- really cute! I was particularly drawn to the "make your own" hairsticks, where you could buy the sticks & charms to hang on it separately. So cute! You will see me wearing them when I get home!<br />
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Then it was time to find the Pokemon Center!! And who should greet us at the entrance but Halloween Pikachu riding Rayqueza! Halloween seems to be becoming more & more of a thing in Japan, and there were loads of Halloween themed Pokemon plushies & goods. This was also a really good time to visit because a new Nintendo game featuring Pikachu & Eevee will be released this Fall, and there were so many Eevees & Eeveelutions everywhere! We thought of Brendan constantly because Eevee is his favourite Pokemon. It's anyone's guess who might come home with us to be his new friend. I was pretty restrained, though, since there's not a lot of room in our luggage yet (we will give prezzies from home to the friends we meet here, and then we'll have room!). In truth, we plan to visit the Pokemon Center in Kyoto as well, so it's all good :D I also made a couple of the young women who work there happy when they noticed I was wearing earrings made from charms I'd bought in previous Pokemon Center trips. Pokemon love!<br />
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Next, we were ready for lunch. Charlie wanted to have okonomiyaki at some point this trip, and there's no time like the present. The restaurant here advertised vegetarian options, which is rare in Japan, so we went for it. Okonomiyaki sort of translates as "cooked the way you like it" and is a sort of savoury pancake made with veggies & usually meat or seafood, cooked on a teppan (hot plate) like you'd find at those Japanese steak houses in the US where they throw the food in the air as they cook it. Things are much more restrained here :) We were seated at a table with a teppan in the middle and ordered drinks, then I ordered okonomiyaki made with veggies, mochi (rice that has been pounded till it's like playdough), & cheese, & Charlie ordered one made with veggies & pork. They were pre-cooked mostly, then slid onto our teppan for us to tend until they were cooked through. Deeelish!!<br />
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On the way back to the train we looked at a couple more floors of shops & bought some small gifts to bring home. We actually weren't terribly interested in going up the Skytree, which is the tallest tower in the world. I don't like heights, & it had been drizzling, so Charlie thought the view wouldn't be as good today. We did catch a photo of the infrastructure of the tower, which was pretty cool.<br />
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I would have liked to stay longer & look around the shops, but we were dragging a bit from jet lag, so back to the hotel we went. When we got back I took a couple photos from our 29th floor window (the hotel is in the top 20 floors of an office building) because it's such a cool view. This time we overlook parts of Yoyogi Park and lots of highrises & apartment buildings. In the second photo, I got a closer photo of what seems to be a high school with a swimming pool on the roof :)<br />
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We rested a few hours & then went looking for dinner. I had been hoping to find a tofu-based restaurant that we've been to before, a few blocks away, but when we got there it was gone, so we had tenpura instead. It is a sign of how tired I was that I completely forgot to take photos! (sob!) But we did see a mascot out in from of a shop on the way home, so here it is:<br />
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And at night they light up the clock tower in Takashimaya Times Square, which looks really cool:<br />
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And now (hopefully) to sleep! Tomorrow we take the shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka to meet friends!!</div>
The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-88752709756086041782018-09-13T18:10:00.001-07:002018-09-13T18:10:34.648-07:00Japan 2018: Across the World...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Obligatory plane selfie :)</td></tr>
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We've made it back to Japan, just 18 months since the last trip too! (Bonus!!!) Last Fall Charlie suggested we make another Japan trip sooner than our usual two years because the kids we visit here (now 6, 5, & 2 years old) are growing up so quickly and we love spending time with them & their families (and all of our friends here, too!). So here we are :)<br />
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Not that it wasn't very difficult to hug Brendan goodbye Tuesday evening knowing I wouldn't see him for nearly 2 weeks. He's in his second year at the University of Rochester (after transferring from community college last year) and already very engaged with his classes this semester- he's a chemistry major and loves it. Practically everyone we know in Rochester is looking in on/after him (thanks guys!!!!!) so I'm not really worried.<br />
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And, fortunately, our travel was pretty easy this time. The only hitch came right at the beginning, when the taxi to the airport that Charlie had reserved for 5:30 am Wednesday arrived before 5:00 am, and then disappeared about 5:15... huh? He called & they had the pickup as 5:00 am- O.o Luckily, the next taxi arrived in 5 minutes so we were out the door on time.<br />
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We decided to switch some travels things up this time. After many years of flying Delta out of Detroit (6 of the last 7 trips to Japan) we thought we'd try Japan Airlines this time, although they connect in Chicago, which is not my favourite place to fly from (too big!). We flew American to Chicago & fortunately we were going west, because Hurricane Florence was playing havoc with the east coast flights already. We had a few hours layover in Chicago then boarded the flight to Tokyo Narita Airport and took off around 12:15 pm. It's a 12-hour flight from Chicago (11 from Detroit), but the time passed quite uneventfully. We noticed pretty quickly that the JAL plane Economy Class seats were just as roomy as the ones we pay extra for on Delta. On the downside, they don't offer vegetarian food, or barely any choices meal-wise (chicken or beef teriyaki were it), but we had food with us and there were plenty of side-dishes, and both the hot & cold green tea was really good! Charlie watched movies & I read a book (a whole book) on the flight and we dozed a bit, and then we were landing at Narita.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ1CjmPsp_JAbAjPY9vj_32OiOkMa-0auNjsZ1WZ9SP7DwF3xk3u96UMcFjbFadoqxMEB_EhVh8S3DINkDPI-Q7-_HRdwkay693TzbCOk1wrGrwwDJtPiICqhiCY-qXfVifzdLWFwrXAso/s1600/japan2018milktea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ1CjmPsp_JAbAjPY9vj_32OiOkMa-0auNjsZ1WZ9SP7DwF3xk3u96UMcFjbFadoqxMEB_EhVh8S3DINkDPI-Q7-_HRdwkay693TzbCOk1wrGrwwDJtPiICqhiCY-qXfVifzdLWFwrXAso/s320/japan2018milktea.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charlie's first bottle of milk tea of the trip</td></tr>
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The other change this time was that, for nearly every trip we've taken a limousine bus from Narita to our hotel in Shinjuku. We'd have to wait around for about an hour for the bus to leave, but the ride was good- only took about an hour- & the ticket prices did not change in 10 years (Japanese economy ftw). But last time we were here, they added an extra stop to the ride home, as they had finally finished the Shinjuku Station expansion and bus terminal (which was just a huge hole in the ground 9 years ago) and so the limo bus made a long stop there, right across the street and 5 stories up, from our hotel, adding about half an hour to the trip. So we thought we'd try taking the Narita Express train to Shinjuku Station, which we use to get back to the airport at the end of our visits, into Tokyo. Upon arrival & finishing customs, we found the train quickly & the line to the ticket machines wasn't very long at all (the line to the live person selling tickets was crazy). Fortunately, the ticket machines have an "English" button, and we remembered how to use the machine, and the tickets were slightly less than the limo bus! Twenty minutes later we were on the train- score!!!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crunky for the train ride!</td></tr>
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We came into Tokyo a little earlier than usual, but it was cloudy and at this time of year, it got dark more quickly. I love the ride into town- the countryside small towns & rice fields changing slowly to suburbs, then the big city. This is our first trip in autumn, although it's almost as warm as summer (ok, Rochester summer), so we saw harvesting activity in the rice fields for the first time. When we got into Tokyo we got a glimpse of the Tokyo Skytree Tower, which we plan to visit today.<br />
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Then we were off the train and looking for the signs to the Southern Terrace, where our hotel is. It didn't take much time at all. One thing about starting out in the same place every time we visit Japan is the nostalgia of seeing familiar places & noticing changes- which restaurants are still here, which are new, that sort of thing.<br />
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After checking-in and washing up, we went looking for dinner. By this time we'd been up for 26+ hours straight, so not feeling adventurous :) There's an Italian restaurant in the same building as our hotel that we go to every visit, and after checking out a couple new places (not much veggie food or fish for me) we went there. Had wine with dinner with the hope it would help with the sleep disruption. We had yummy food and I made myself understood in Japanese (woot!) then back to the hotel for showers and sleep.<br />
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I went to bed around 8:45 pm Tokyo time (7:45 am Rochester time- we are 13 hours ahead now) and we both woke up at 3:00 am, wide awake. Sigh. So we had tea (all the Japanese hotels provide a hot pot for boiling water & a selection of tea) and pastries (Charlie hit Panera before we left Rochester for the plane food :) and went back to sleep at 4:00- the usual routine. And we were up at 7:30, on a drizzly day in Tokyo, ready for pastries from the awesome French bakery just down the way and my first Starbucks Soy Match Latte (soooooo much better than in the US!!) of the trip.<br />
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I will leave you all with the first foodie photo of the trip- our yummy breakfast :)<br />
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From the top, a ham & cheese croissant for Charlie, a matcha pastry and scone for me, and the legendary Japanese Starbucks Soy Matcha Latte. And some critters saying "itadakimasu" ("I will partake", which is what you say before eating a meal here). We all enjoyed breakfast very much! And today we will buy our train tickets for the journey to Osaka tomorrow, & visit the Tokyo Skytree!<br />
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The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-78038701303093880192017-03-26T04:55:00.000-07:002017-03-26T04:55:37.967-07:00Japan 2017 Day 19: Last Full Day in Japan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We begin again with Starbucks & French pastries- why not?<br />
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Our plan for today was to meet our friend, Kae-san, for lunch at Takashimaya. It was raining pretty steadily & colder, today. We headed over the bridge to Takashimaya a bit early so we could do the last of our gift-shopping for folks at home. We met Kae at 11:00 & went to our favorite soba restaurant on the 13th floor.<br />
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Kae was introduced to us on our second trip to Japan, 8 years ago, by our friend & second Japanese teacher Shizuka. Kae is a veterinarian & did a fellowship year in Michigan a couple years ago. She visited Shizuka & her husband Jon in Rochester for New Years that year, and came to our house to celebrate. I was so glad we could see her again this trip!<br />
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I had nabe with mochi for lunch, one of my favorites!!<br />
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It was so much fun to catch up with Kae! We showed her photos of Brendan &, like many friends this trip, she was amazed by how grown-up he looks now :)<br />
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After our yummy lunch & fun reunion, we said good-bye to Kae (see you when we come back!!!) & went back to the hotel to drop our shopping off. We decided to visit an art museum not far away that Charlie & Brendan had visited 2 years ago, the Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art. It is on the 42nd floor of an office building a few block from the west side of Shinjuku Station, & it's main claim to fame is Van Gogh's Sunflowers.<br />
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I mentioned it was rainy today, right? The intersections looked like umbrella cities as folks waited for the walk lights.<br />
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Charlie found the museum without any problem & after about 20 minutes walking in the rain, it was nice to go inside. Our ears popped in the elevator on the way to the 42nd floor. The view was pretty nifty, though.<br />
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We were lucky to find not only Van Gogh's Sunflowers, but an annual exhibit of new artists called Face 2017. They gave out voting slips with your tickets and asked you to vote for your favorite. They also allowed you to take photo of this exhibition! Our fave painting's name translates as "Broken Heart":<br />
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Another one I liked is called "Ahiru", which means "Duck":<br />
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The Sunflowers were also very much worth seeing. Our walk in the rain paid-off :)<br />
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On our way back we noticed they were having a blood drive outside Shinjuku Station (in the rain...). Meet Kenketsu-chan, the Japanese Red Cross' mascot:<br />
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On the way home we thought we'd look for a cake shop to have a snack, but everyone else in Shinjuku had the same idea, so they all were mobbed. Our fallback position was to go to San Marco (a cafe & pastry chain) for chocolate croissant (very yummy) & pick up another matcha soy latte (because it's warm & delicious!).<br />
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Charlie noticed a cute message on the label of my latte:<br />
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We rested for the rest of the afternoon, then headed out for dinner a little before 6:00. It was still pouring outside, but there's an Italian restaurant in the building that our hotel is in (like the art museum, our hotel is at the top of an office building, & the lobby is on the 20th floor) that we like to visit. So we avoided the rain & had some delish salad, interesting focaccia (no toppings, but fluffy & good), & pizza. I got a photo of the first two, but was too focused on eating to get the pizza :)<br />
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It was nice to enjoy a lovely meal & chat about our adventures here. I am really going to miss everyone here! It's so hard to only see you every two years! But I'm going home to my kid, and I can't wait to see him.<br />
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Tomorrow we'll leave the hotel around 11:00 am to take the limousine bus to Haneda airport (first time to fly from there). It will be a loooooong day. We'll get back 13 of the 14 hours we lost crossing the International Date Line on the way here (don't know if I'll ever get the Daylight Savings Time hour back...) & have a long layover in Minneapolis/St. Paul. If all goes well, we'll get home around midnight Monday. Wish us luck!!</div>
The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-27731613553280272852017-03-25T04:58:00.000-07:002017-03-25T04:58:03.892-07:00Japan 2017 Day 18: Sakura!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Today began with the lovely French pastries we bought yesterday. Well, to be honest, it started with a trip to the nearby Starbucks for beverages to drink with the lovely pastries :)<br />
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They were so good!! We FaceTimed with Brendan over breakfast too. He's still looking & sounding great after more than 2 weeks without us, which is wonderful!<br />
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Today's plan was to meet Momo & her family at a subway stop near the Yasukuni Jinja, eat lunch together, then look for sakura trees. Momo's directions were great & even the labyrinth that is Shinjuku Station couldn't keep us from finding our way to the right place. There was a young woman on the subway beautifully dressed in kimono & hakama. Once we got to the appointed station, there were men with bullhorns directing the many people pouring out of the same station. Most of the young women in the crowd were also wearing kimono & hakama! The men were all in suits & ties. I heard the words for "university" from the bullhorn guys, & putting the timing together (the end of March is graduation time), realized that this must be graduation day for one of the big universities. When we left the station, this was the scene:<br />
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Hundreds & hundreds of people streaming into a park where, Momo told us later, the Budokan is. She confirmed that this was the day for Nihon University's graduation, & they do it by department, hence the constant stream of people in & out of the Budokan area. It was quite a sight!<br />
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Momo & her family live outside Tokyo, so they drove up & parked at her mom's apartment in Tokyo, then took the subway to meet us. It was great to see Momo's husband Hiroshi again! He'd been at a conference for work last weekend when we were in Nikko.<br />
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We went to a nearby family restaurant for lunch. After a short wait, we got settled at our table & ordered. I had a seafood gratin over rice, Charlie had omuraise (omelet rolled around rice, beef, & veggies in a sauce), & Mai-chan had Mai-chan food :)<br />
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Momo told us that Nozomu-kun had graduated from a 1-year nursery school this morning (he starts at another one in April) but Hiroko planned to join us after lunch. What a nice surprise! After lunch we went out in search for sakura... but not before a reading break (I had bought a comic for Aoi-chan when we were in Matsuyama & she was quite pleased to read about her favorite cartoon characters :)<br />
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Hiroko & Nozomu-kun we waiting for us when we finished lunch. The Yasukuni Jinja was right up the street & according to the Japanese weather service, the sakura were blooming there. As it turns out, there's a very old tree at the shrine that determines whether or not the sakura are officially blooming yet in Tokyo. Here it is:<br />
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Just the edges have started, but some of the smaller trees were farther along.<br />
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We walked around the shrine for a bit, and while Mai-chan fell asleep, Aoi-chan & Nozomu-kun found many opportunities to play.<br />
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Our next destination was a nearby section of moat around the Emperor's palace. In about a week this area will be completely in bloom. The boaters seemed to be having fun anyway :)<br />
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We walked for quite a while around the edge of the moat, & when Momo saw a manju seller, she bought some delicious red bean paste buns for us to share.<br />
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The moat ended at a busy street, & we continued around to walk to another station that would get us all back to Shinjuku. The dads took turns carrying kids as necessary :)<br />
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We even walked past the British Embassy on our way to the station. Then we all boarded a subway. Momo & family, & Charlie & I, changed to another one, & we said goodbye to Hiroko & Nozomu-kun.<br />
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While on the train, Mai woke up & Aoi started to fall asleep.<br />
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Then we had to say goodbye to them too. I was glad to be wearing a mask right then, because I was getting teary & my nose started to run. Two more years before I can see them in Japan again :( Momo & I will Skype soon, which is great, but not the same.<br />
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Charlie & I found our way back to the hotel & had a rest before going back out in search of dinner. We walked around the restaurant floors at Takashimaya, but it was Saturday night & very busy. Most restaurants had lines. So we went to the basement & got korroke for dinner (mine was shrimp korroke in a sandwich).<br />
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Momo had bought some lovely anko sweets on the walk & gave them to us when we said goodbye. We enjoyed some of them with dinner.<br />
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Tomorrow we will meet our friend Kae for lunch in Shinjuku. We haven't seen her in over a year, so it'll be so fun to connect again. Only two more nights in Japan! I always have such mixed feelings about this! I am getting ready to be home again, but there are so many people here I'll miss terribly, not to mention places & food &... you get the picture :)</div>
The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-8185879149389964202017-03-24T06:18:00.001-07:002017-03-24T06:18:57.513-07:00Japan 2017 Day 17: Back to Tokyo (by train, of course)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Charlie, Marian, & I got an early start today because we had a 9:15 train to catch, the first on the way from Matsuyama to Tokyo. We had the lovely buffet at the hotel for the last time.<br />
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I have been particularly enjoying the fresh tofu (top left bowl) every morning. Topped with a little grated ginger, sliced green onions, & soy sauce, it's delicious!<br />
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We asked the front desk to call a taxi for 3 people & luggage for 8:30 (I was hoping for another Prius V, called an Alpha here), and after 2 calls it was arranged. Ironically, the taxi that arrived was one of the tiny ones. Basically, when you hail a cab from the taxi stand in front of a train station, for example, you get the next one in line. It doesn't matter if your luggage is too big or you have too many people, you get the next in line. Probably all part of a sense of fairness. It kind of backfires in these situations though. Luckily the guy had a bungee cord & was able to sort of lower the trunk cover over the luggage. Charlie sat in front & there was just enough room for Marion & me in back. Ten minutes later, we were at Matsuyama Station.<br />
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Marian & I looked around for ekiben (train station lunch). We found some nifty ones in cute punk wrappers, named for the female lead, Madonna, in Sosuke Natsume's famous novel "Bocchan", which takes place in Matsuyama. Charlie had purchased fuwa-fuwa (fluffy) white bread sandwiches & snacks at the supermarket yesterday. The train was the Shiokaze ("salt wind") limited express again, & you can see it at the top. We spent the next 3 hours on this train, and it was very pleasant to chat about our adventures together. I had purchased a fuwa-fuwa sandwich snack yesterday too:<br />
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The package says "Cafe au Lait Cream". How could I resist? It was pretty good too.<br />
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Around 12:30 we got to Okayama & changed to the Hikari Shinkansen, bound for Shinagawa & Tokyo. Our destination was Shinagawa (right before Tokyo) because we could then pick up the Yamanote Line for Shinjuku Station & our hotel. Marian was going to take one more train from Shinjuku to get to her home in Shibuya.<br />
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Once we got settled, we dug into our lunches.<br />
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So much yum!<br />
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After lunch Marian let me piggyback on her phone internet connection to write yesterday's blog post. For some stupid reason my photos from yesterday didn't load from my phone to the laptop. I spent last evening (post-sake) & part of this morning (with a train deadline) trying to get something to upload them- iCloud, email- but nothing was working. When I booted my laptop after lunch, most of the iCloud photos were there, so I was able to make & post Day 16. Thanks so much Marian!!!<br />
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Then we chatted & rested for the remaining hours (a total of 4 on the Hikari) to Shinagawa.<br />
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Reaching there at 4:30 added some excitement that we could have lived without. It was nearing rush hour, & the trains were filling up. Like, sardines filling-up. We didn't try to mash ourselves, luggage, backpacks, etc. into the first train that came, & Marian led us to a farther down line for a car on the next train, on the chance that it might be less crowded upon arrival. That was a good tactic, although there was a scramble for seats. I made a beeline for the seats reserved for folks with physical challenges, which was full of non-challenged folks, & just said "sumimasen" loudly until somebody stood up & gave me their seat. I thanked them profusely. I have tried only once to ride the train standing up & it nearly ended in disaster, so I take advantage of the gimp seats. Charlie & Marian stood nearby (a veritable wall of luggage) for the 20 minutes to Shinjuku.<br />
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Then we debarked quickly (only way to do it on these trains), found a relatively calm spot, & hugged goodbye. We are so glad Marian joined us for the Matsuyama part of the trip. What a blast!!<br />
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Our hotel was just across the street, and as we lugged the luggage, Charlie & I realized that it's been 14 days since we left Tokyo. Kind of amazing...<br />
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After checking-in to the hotel we went back out in search of dinner and breakfast yummies. The french bakery down the way was very popular this close to dinner, so we stopped in & got amazing things- which you will see tomorrow :) Then we walked along the west side of Shinjuku Station to the Keio department store, and took the elevator to the restaurant floor at the top. We found a tofu cuisine restaurant we'd visited before with Marian, & although there were no English menus, we managed to find the perfect dinners. I had a favorite of mine, kaki fry (panko-fried oysters) with various lovely side dishes, including yuba sashimi, just like in Nikko!<br />
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Charlie had beef on rice with a side cauldron of tofu simmering in soy milk (the paper on the left was over the heat- not sure how they did that... :)<br />
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After this loveliness we walked to the conbini to buy beverages, then walked home. We've been resting this evening, & Charlie researched some of our route for tomorrow, when we'll meet Momo, Hiroshi, & the kids for some sakura-flower viewing. Can't wait!!</div>
The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-42577494355644042722017-03-23T22:00:00.000-07:002017-03-23T22:00:50.453-07:00Japan 2017 Day 16: We meet an amazing artist!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Today we had the breakfast buffet again because, why mess with a good thing?<br />
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Yuka planned to take the day off & had given us some options for things to do. Among them was to visit the wood block printing ("hanga" in Japanese) studio of the son of her friend Ishimura-san. She said that, Yoshi-kun, the artist, is not much older than Brendan & also on the autism spectrum, so she thought we might be interested in meeting him. We were very interested, so she picked us up at the hotel at 10:00 am and were were off to Niihama, about 1 1/2 hours away north of Matsuyama.</div>
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It was fun to really catch up with Yuka while we drove. She took us by Ehime Medical University, where her husband (a cardiologist) works. She is a pediatric neurologist & among her patient population are children with autism. We talked about the differences in acceptance as well as treatment of autism between Japan & the US. Because Japan is very much focused on the well-being of the group (as opposed to the individual) people with special needs tend to fall through the cracks. Although we have a way to go in the US, we tend to have more in place (depends on where you live, of course) for kids with special needs. We agreed that we are fortunate to have had so many resources for Brendan as he's grown up.</div>
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When we got to the Ishimura's home we were greeted by father & son, & then welcomed into Yoshi-kun's workshop. Right from the first, we were amazed by the gorgeousness of his block prints.</div>
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After chatting for a short while & looking around, we got into cars & went to lunch with them at a local hotel.</div>
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Yoshi-kun is 23 years old and one of his high school teachers discovered his talent for wood block printing. She has continued to work with him since graduation, and his artwork had won art competitions in Japan and Paris. Over lunch we spoke to his dad, with Yuka & Marian interpreting, about the challenges of raising a child with autism, and he agrees with Yuka that the US has far more resources for autistic people and their families. Yoshi-kun's mother passed away from cancer a few years ago, and although he still has his dad & grandmother, his family hopes that his artwork will sustain & support him as he gets older.</div>
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After lunch we went back to the Ishimura's home to see more of Yoshi-kun's work. We also got to see him working. Part of the work is actually carving his designs into the wood, and the other part is choosing the colors the bring the black-inked wood cuts to life. His dad said that Yoshi-kun makes many colour combos & discards many before settling on the one he things is right. </div>
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Marian, Charlie & I were very taken by the prints. We asked Yuka to ask his father if we could buy prints. They were glad to sell us some already framed & then send them to us Fed Ex. We were so happy!! We chose a print with ajisai- hydrangea in English- that also has "Tsuyu no hana ajisai" in the print. It means "rainy season no hydrangea" because that's the season when they bloom.</div>
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After saying our goodbyes, we headed back to Matsuyama to have dinner at Yuka's home, just outside town. On the way we stopped at the supermarket to buy dinner food (and we hit a couple stores to see if we could find some things we'd been looking for here, too :).</div>
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Yuka and her husband, Jun, both did medical fellowships in Rochester and returned to Japan about 10 years ago. They decided to build a house behind her grandmother's house, where she'd had a large garden. This allowed them to care for her grandmother, who lived to be over 100 years old.</div>
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We all worked together to put together a dinner of rice, soup, salad, steamed veggies, & tempura. Charlie got to use a cool (old) tool to grate daikon radish:</div>
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And then we made tempura right at the table:</div>
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I'm going to do that when I get home! So much more fun than standing around forever frying stuff & keeping it warm in the oven! So civilized & pleasant (and delicious!). The meal was also interspersed with various local sakes, which were awesome! We are interested in sake, but have no clue & never find the good stuff at home. Charlie made sure I took photos of various bottles & labels so we can do some research when we get back.</div>
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After a lovely evening, we pitched-into clean up & then Yuka called a taxi to take us in to town, as she had work the next day. We promised to come back to Matsuyama. After such an amazing day, you couldn't keep me away!</div>
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The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-60403770611806269292017-03-22T07:11:00.000-07:002017-03-22T07:11:13.376-07:00Japan 2017 Day 15: Castle & Izakaya<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The plan for this beautiful, sunny day in Matsuyama was to have breakfast at the hotel buffet & then walk a few blocks to the cable car to Matsuyama-Jo, the castle on the hill in the middle of town. The buffet at the hotel was so lovely I forgot to take photos (maybe tomorrow?). The sunny day out our window was deceptive, and we made a beeline back to our hotel room to get more sweaters the minute we walked out the door. Once fortified, we went to find what is considered to be the most beautiful castle in Japan.<br />
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Charlie went to visit the castle on our trip to Matsuyama four years and one reason I didn't go then was that we believed the only way to the castle was by ski lift. No way I'm doing that (no head for heights). As it turned out, there's a cable car tram (which he took with three 80-year-old ladies that trip, relatives of a friend of ours) so I was keen to visit this time around.<br />
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After paying admission for the tram & the castle, we boarded the tram & away we went.<br />
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There were sakura trees just coming into bloom below us- so pretty. There is, indeed, a chair lift to the top as well.<br />
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Not me, not now...<br />
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We were met by a lovely woman in Taisho-era kimono & hakama at the top.<br />
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From there, you walk up & up, to the beginning of the fortifications. The castle is built in layers, for defensive purposes, with lots of loop holes & stone drops in the buildings above to defend the castle. It made me think of Minas Tirith in "Return of the King".<br />
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There was a very nice lady docent who spoke English, who accompanied us up the hill & told us about the outer walls of the castle.<br />
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Charlie & Marian were ready to storm the castle, once we reached the main gates.<br />
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There were various buildings along the perimeter of this layer of the hill, as well as amazing views of Matsuyama.<br />
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Next we handed our tickets in & started the castle tour. You take your shoes off & put them in a key locker at the beginning. Then you make your way up a very narrow (2-way!) stairway.<br />
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Most of the upstairs room contained museum-style exhibits of artifacts from the families that had once lived there. The castle dates from the 1590's & was occupied right through the Meiji Restoration, in the 1850's. The castle was never captured, but the daimyo at the time of the restoration saw the virtue of surrendering, and was rewarded by losing only his name. He still maintained his social status, likely because he'd done such a good job administrating the town.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSPlD8gz7GRBEzj7D99N8bHD1Mhbjv_ouGumkQzUmS-wWbzbPAMKK0ZakXwft8pS_7h23G2L03jzwxzYk7nFRsh9CyMDnE2TkOglGFhZYjhJL-_bW9mGYL5Sar6fhPWdvdFYUNLgSojoig/s1600/day15-joarmor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSPlD8gz7GRBEzj7D99N8bHD1Mhbjv_ouGumkQzUmS-wWbzbPAMKK0ZakXwft8pS_7h23G2L03jzwxzYk7nFRsh9CyMDnE2TkOglGFhZYjhJL-_bW9mGYL5Sar6fhPWdvdFYUNLgSojoig/s400/day15-joarmor.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A suit of armor belonging to one of the rulers of the castle.</td></tr>
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There were a couple levels farther up narrow stairways, & the views were stunning.<br />
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Then we had to come down the stairs...<br />
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On our way out of the castle we stopped for beverages & soft cream cones :) And a funny photo:<br />
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It reads " Welcome to Matsuyama Castle". It really is a stunningly beautiful place & well worth the visit. I also got a nice photo of Charlie & just-blossoming sakura.<br />
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After our castle-climbing morning we decided it was time for lunch. Last time in Matsuyama we had visited a "baikeen" restaurant (Japanese for "Viking", which means it's an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord) called "Charlie's Vegetable" & liked it very much, so we tracked it down & went there today for lunch.<br />
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It serves fresh, locally-grown food (about half vegetarian) & had an amazing variety of soups, salads, side dishes, make-your-own-sandwiches, & small jelly desserts. Once again I was so in the moment I forgot to take photos, but got some of the buffet on the way out.<br />
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We did a bit of omiyage shopping then (woo hoo!!). Ehime Prefecture, where Matsuyama is located, is known for it's towels (there's even a towel museum) so we went back to a shop we visited last time to do some shopping. Then we went back to the hotel to rest.<br />
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On our first visit to Matsuyama we were introduced to a friend of Tomoko's (whom we visited in Kanazawa, earlier in this trip), Yuka, who had done a medical fellowship in Rochester more than 10 years ago (along with her husband). As it turns out, along with being a pediatric neurologist, Yuka is a knitter & hand spinner, as I am, & is part of the Ravelry online crafting community, so she & I have stayed in touch via Ravelry ever since then. When we began planning this Japan trip last fall, I asked Yuka if she wanted visitors again, & she said yes, hence this leg of the trip in Matsuyama.<br />
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We had visited an amazing Izakaya with Yuka four years ago, & so she made a reservation for us to go back this evening (once again: woo hoo!!!). She met us at our hotel at 6:30 pm & we walked a few blocks & were there. It was so fun to see her again!! We spent the walk catching up, & then showed her photos of Brendan (she couldn't believe he was in college :) & our Japanese granddaughters (she knew Momo when she lived in Rochester, but hadn't met her daughters).<br />
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An Izakaya is a restaurant that serves alcohol & either meals in courses, or you can choose lots of dishes of foods from a menu (kind of like ordering dim sum, Japanese style). This restaurant is the first kind, and Yuka had told the owner (called "Master") what our food preferences are, and we showed up to eat what he'd prepared for us.<br />
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We were seated at a table made of 2 slabs of granite, polished on top but rough & angular at the sides. One of the things we'd really appreciated on our last visit was the beautiful plates, glasses, & serving dishes, all chosen by the Master. So the table was right in character. We were greeted with a pumpkin-based salad on beautiful plates, & the Master's wife took our drink orders. Charlie & I were keen to have Yuka recommend some sake for us, and she & Marian had beer. Soon we all said "kampai!"<br />
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Next up was a sashimi course. Gorgeously prepared & delicious.<br />
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Then we had salad, which was followed by ako, a local fish delicacy, & fugu, the legendary (notorious?) poisonous fish which must be prepared properly :)<br />
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The fugu made me think of chicken legs, as it was still on the bone. It was cooked until tender & we just pulled the fish off the spine with our chopsticks. It had no fishy flavor & was so lovely. The ako was also sweet & delicate.<br />
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The Master popped out of the kitchen to say hi, & brought a bottle of lovely sake for us, on the house! He said he'd give it to us if we'd eat all the fish & leave nothing on the bones :) Not hard to do when it was so luscious. So was the sake! Light & a bit fruity. Went down too easily?<br />
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Next up was a cooked oyster & soramame (large green beans roasted in the pod).<br />
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And then panko fried sardines, shrimp, & eggplant.<br />
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We kept thinking each course must be the last... but they kept coming. Next up, shabu-shabu with tofu & veggies, then thin slices of pork, that we cooked at the table in broth. My companions kindly cooked the tofu & veggies first, so I could have them without getting pork on them. (Meat & I don't agree.)<br />
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The final course was fried udon noodles, which we poured shabu-shabu broth over.<br />
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After thanking the Master & Yuka profusely, Yuka took a group shot outside the restaurant with Master.<br />
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And... we could walk! Even after so much food & sake! Amazing :)<br />
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It was just a few blocks back to the hotel, & Yuka left for her train home. Tomorrow we will meet her for a day of adventure in Matsuyama. I realized this evening that I have just 5 more days in Japan. So I'm glad I still have so much fun to look forward to :)</div>
The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-54637465280853753902017-03-21T08:23:00.001-07:002017-03-21T08:23:43.178-07:00Japan 2017 Day 14: Many, many trains...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We began today early, because we had to catch a train at 9:04. My breakfast was just as delicious & unhealthy as yesterday's :)<br />
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We managed a quick Face Time with Brendan before finishing the packing & cleaning/checking the house. We've been so lucky with the weather this trip, and today was our first day with steady rain. We got geared-up & headed out wearing all of our warm clothes.<br />
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In the ten minutes to the station, even with an umbrella, things got pretty soaked.<br />
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But we were on time for first train (pictured above)! It was 40 minutes to Utsumiya & our first Shinkansen of the day.<br />
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And then 45 minutes to Tokyo station, where we planned to meet our friend Marian, who's been teaching English in Tokyo for 20 years, and who is accompanying us to Matsuyama. We wanted to be seated together, so we had this great idea that we'd buy the tickets together, then meet Marian at the station, hand her her set of tickets & all get on the train. With a 12 minute layover. You know what's coming next, don't you?<br />
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We met Marian, managed to get her the right set of tickets, and she set off to the gate, which wasn't where we'd met her. We were looking for her, realized that she was at the proper gate, & got to the Shinkansen gate just as the train was leaving... argh! Another first for us in Japan. We missed a train.<br />
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We were able to get new tickets for the next 2 trains to Matsuyama, but Marian was on the earlier train & my vision of a happy time catching up (we haven't seen her since last summer) evaporated :(<br />
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We caught the next Shinkansen, to Okayama, which took a couple hours. We had lunch, too, since it was after noon. I ate things that would cheer me up- the senbei I'd cooked myself with the kids, the rest of the yummy marmalade on the rest of the yummy bread from breakfast, & honey-lemon juice.<br />
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I also took a couple photos of Tokyo streets as the train passed through heading south.</div>
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We saw some impressive scenery on the way south. I played a game for a bit, where I took a photo of the first thing you could see when we'd come out of a tunnel. There were a lot of tunnels!<br />
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Once we got to Okayama, we left the speedy Shinkansen for a "limited express" train to Matsuyama, which is at the southern end of the island of Shikoku, a 3-hour trip.<br />
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To get onto the island, the train crosses at least 3 bridges connected by small islands. It is pretty impressive scenery, with the ocean & mountains in the background, & which the iPhone just can't do justice to.<br />
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Around 4 pm Charlie & I shared a snack of egg salad sandwich, Japanese-style.<br />
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We also took another train selfie, for fun.<br />
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I spent part of the trip emailing with Marian to compare notes on where we all were. Plus, the limited express train stopped at 13 stations in that 3 hours, so every time we slowed down I hit Pokestops & caught critters :)<br />
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We made it to Matsuyama by 7:30 pm & took a taxi (a Prius V!!) to our hotel, where Marian was waiting for us in the lobby. We had them hold our luggage while we went to dinner. The hotel is right downtown in Matsuyama, so there were a lot of places around, but so many were full of cigarette smoke :( My asthma can't handle that, so it took us a while, but we finally found an Italian restaurant that smelled good! We ordered a bottle of Prosecco & a few main dishes to share. They were all very delicious, but thanks to the Prosecco, there are no photos :)<br />
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Tomorrow we are planning to see Matsuyama-Jo, the castle on the top of a hill right in the middle of town. The weather should be great & I am really looking forward to it!</div>
The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-33687445795267827472017-03-20T07:19:00.000-07:002017-03-20T07:21:00.604-07:00Japan 2017 Day 13: Farewells & a World Heritage Site<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Today once again begins with cute kids :)<br />
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Breakfast was a leftovers special, and it was, once again, really delicious. Charlie & I got talking later in the day about the way leftovers here are never served in the same form as they were first eaten. So yesterday's yummy spinach had extra ingredients added to it (katsuobushi- bonita flakes- was one) and it became another yummy dish. It gives one food for thought (pun intended?).<br />
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The main activities this morning were packing & keeping kids out of moms' way as they packed. The plan was for Momo, Hiroko, & the kids to leave Nikko on the 12:04 pm train to Tokyo, via Utsunomiya. Momo had sent the greater part of her luggage here by a parcel service, & she was getting ready to send it all back home via the local convenience store (pretty cool service, if you ask me). Hiroko was doing the same with a smaller bag, so at 10:30 they left all of the kids with us (!) and headed around the corner with their luggage. Charlie broke out the finger puppets he'd brought & turned on the tv, although the only program on was about learning business-related terms in English (it was pretty funny). Aoi-chan divided her time between puppets & rapt attention to the tv (she has been taking English classes since she was 2). Mai-chan climbed the stairs, under heavy guard. Nozomu-kun did pretty well until he realized his mom was gone then the waterworks opened up.<br />
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When Momo & Hiroko got home, the next order of business was to make lunches & get Mai-chan fed before the train. Momo made a huge number of rice balls & then got busy getting Mai-chan's lunch ready.<br />
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Then final scattered belongings were packed & we all got ready to walk to the train station. Charlie & I went along to say goodbye. Just as we were leaving Momo noticed a fragrance from Mai-chan's diaper... So Charlie, Hiroko & two kids went on ahead & I stayed with Momo so I could lock the house. Then we had a mad dash to the station. Which was good because there was enough time for a group photo there (a kind person took the photo for us :).<br />
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It was so hard to see them go! We'll see Momo & her family again on Saturday, which will be wonderful, but it's just not the same as staying together for a long weekend. There were so many moments, offhand things said or funny things the kids said, time to chat after the kids were sleeping, & I will miss them all. I so appreciate Momo & Hiroko taking the time & all the fuss to spend time with us when we come to Japan.<br />
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On our way back to the house Charlie & I explored a bit. We found a little Shinto Shrine on the way, the Hotoku Ninomiya Jinja, which was built in 1898 in honor of Sontoku Ninomiya, who helped rebuild the village of Imaitchi when it was destroyed in a natural disaster. Nowadays kids come to pray for success in school. The main sign at the entrance was interesting, as it had a musical score engraved into it.<br />
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The katakana below the score reads " Imaitchi's treasure".<br />
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We loved the dragon spout on the hand-washing basin at the temple.<br />
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We went to the nearby supermarket next to get lunch & breakfast food, as we are now on our own again, meals-wise. You know our healthy diet will suffer now...<br />
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Yes, that's coke & corn chips, fried things, cookies, senbei, tea, & a rice ball that Momo left for us :)<br />
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We rested a bit in the early afternoon, then decided to take the train into Nikko one more time to see the World Heritage Site temples & jinja there. The afternoon was as warm as it's been here, nearly 60 F, and still sunny & beautiful, so we thought it would be nice to walk around. The plan was to take a taxi from the train station in Nikko to a temple in the middle of the site, & then walk back to the station, which the guidebook said would take half an hour or so. Then maybe catch dinner (though I secretly hoped the crepe stand we all shared a crepe from yesterday would still be open).<br />
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Charlie took a photo of the entrance to our home away from home here in Nikko. It's the little brown door on the left that says "Welcome". We unlock that door, go through a longish passageway, to another door, then it opens to the sky again & we walk a few more yards, & there's our door. Pretty typical for Japan, actually :) The store under the yellow sign is a bento shop.<br />
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It was a bit after 3:00 pm when we got to the station, & the book said things close early in Nikko in March. The next train wasn't due for half an hour, so we decided to take a taxi from the Imaitchi Station to the Rinnou-ji Buddhist Temple. It took about 15 minutes & turned out to be a good idea, since things did start closing up as we walked around.<br />
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The Rinnou-ji had that certain look that afflicts at least one of the temples we try to visit every trip- it was completely covered with a building & renovations were going on inside the building. At least they had a nice image of the temple on the building...<br />
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All of the world heritage sites are clustered at the top of a hill, so it made us doubly glad that we'd planned to take a taxi there. A taxi driver had told Momo yesterday that they had finished renovations on a gate in the Toshougu Shine, the site of Ieyasu Tokugawa's burial, so it would probably be mobbed this weekend. Even close to closing time there were lots of visitors. We didn't pay for admission to the Toshougu because it was so close to closing, but there were some interesting buildings outside the shrine, such as the 5-storied pagoda, which was preceded by this sign explaining that the pagoda is as tall as the Tokyo Sky Tree. The pagoda is also interesting because it has not foundation. It hangs from a pole in the center, which allows it to remain unharmed during earthquakes.<br />
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We then walked to the Futarasan Jinja, where miko were closing the place to the beat of taiko drums.<br />
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Then we decided to walk back into town, down, down, down that big hill. At the bottom there was a beautiful bridge. There was a sign at the entrance of the heritage site that say the one who crosses the bridge will find good luck. However, the bridge is closed! Bummer!!<br />
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On the walk down to town we couldn't help but notice the beautiful Nikko mountains again. They are just breathtaking!<br />
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Charlie checked the restaurants we passed by as dinner possibilities, although many of them were closed because today is a holiday here. I was holding-out for crepes, though, & magically, they were open!! Of course, I didn't remember to take photos until they were half-eaten :( Imagine that there's a cute slice of pink roll-cake with a sakura blossom on it in mine (it also had red bean paste & sakura ice cream!). Charlie's was sugar & fried yuba, which was a little salty. Yummy!!!<br />
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We got down to the shops near the station & realized we weren't hungry for dinner :) So we bought a couple of yuba manju & walked to the station, tried to puzzle-out the train schedule, then saw the sign informing everyone that the Niko line was shut down (no explanation we could understand). There are 2 stations within a block of each other, one being JR (Japan Rail) & one local, and we had hoped to use our JR passes for this trip, but we headed for the other station after reading the sign. Only to find that their next train wasn't for 40 minutes... so, back in a taxi to the Imaitchi Station.<br />
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We went to the conbini so Charlie could buy a rice ball for dinner (I still wasn't hungry) and went home. Tonight it was our turn to sort through luggage and repack for our voyage to the south of Japan tomorrow, which begins with a 9:04 am train. Charlie had a soak in the four & I finally was hungry for a crazy dinner of left over mostly-boiled egg & spinach from breakfast, and two kinds of manju.<br />
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Before bathing Charlie took a nice photo of the senbei we'd painted yesterday. Charlie painted his impressions of Nikko. Mine says "oishii" (delicious) in hiragana.<br />
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I miss those kids so much!! But tomorrow we get to see more friends we haven't seen in a long time, too, so I'm really happy to be heading to Matsuyama :)<br />
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The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-16924245860204641692017-03-19T06:18:00.001-07:002017-03-19T06:18:41.162-07:00Japan 2017 Day 12: In Which We Go Crackers...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Okay, actually we bake & decorate them. But I'm getting ahead of myself...<br />
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We begin our day with photos of a very cute child:<br />
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We all were up by 7:00 because it had been communally decided that getting out of the house too late was not kind to Mai-chan, who needs to eat lunch around noon. Otherwise, she screams until fed. Babies, you know :) So we had another delicious breakfast, including 2 kinds of tamagoyaki (rolled omelet)- sweet & cheese, various side-dishes, spinach, tomato sauce, and a delicious rice porridge made from the rest of last night's rice + the broth from the nabe + an egg cooked into it, called ojiya.<br />
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The goal was to leave by 9:00 am, walk to the train station (about 10 minutes away), and ride a taxi to a senbei (rice cracker) shop that allows you to decorate & cook your own senbei crackers for a nominal fee. When Momo & Hiroko proposed this, it definitely sounded like fun for kids & adults, but I hadn't imagined that it would such a cool place. We were out of the house pretty much on time & caught 2 taxis for the 7 of us for a 10-minute ride to the shop. Momo got the number of the taxi company for a return ride.<br />
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Somehow I hadn't realized that this wasn't just some little senbei shop... it was big! So many counters selling so many kinds of senbei! So many samples!! But first, we purchased uncooked senbei crackers & went into the room where we were shown how to cook them a bit first, before getting to draw on them.<br />
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We used soy sauce to draw lightly on the crackers with brushes. Then we cooked them some more, ending with a soy sauce wash and final roasting.<br />
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It was very warm in there, but it was a lot of fun. Then, we sampled senbei and shopped! The place had an area at one side where they had free ice chips & beverages, plus tables & chairs to eat & sip in. It was very kid-friendly, except that the kids really filled-up on ice & samples :) The shop gradually became very, very busy with customers buying senbei. Charlie & I picked out a few bags too. Momo & Hiroko bought lots of them as omiyage presents for friends & family. Senbei is a perfect gift because it's not very expensive, lightweight, & delicious. As we partook of some beverages, assorted children made a beeline for the bathroom & Charlie ended up with all of the bags :)<br />
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After our cracker adventure, Momo called our taxis again & we ended-up taking them for a longer trip, into the train station in Nikko (we've been staying in house outside Nikko, in Imaitchi). From there we walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch. We were very aware that Mai could become "exploding Mai" if we were late for her lunch, but we got there in time! On our way to the restaurant we noticed shops selling sakura soft ice cream, & yuba manju, and decided that we'd hit them on our way back to the station at the end of this part of the trip. Lunch was noodles & very yummy. I had soba noodle soup with mochi, among other wonderful things, in it (yum!!!!) and Charlie had "kitsune" soba with squares of aburage (fried tofu). Ma-chan had vegetables & rice, baby-food-style.<br />
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The plan after lunch was to visit some nearby parks so the kids could run & play. On the way we found a shop selling Japanese-style crepes with yuba & sakura flavors, so we had to buy one & share it. Okay, so what is this yuba thing? Yuba is the skin that forms when you boil soy milk, which is skimmed off & cooled. It's served as "sashimi" (vegetarian raw fish?) and also in lots of different dishes. Most of the restaurants in that part of Nikko specialized in some kind of yuba dishes, so we decided we were in yuba heaven :) (Fun fact: the kanji for Nikko, 日光, means "sunshine.) The crepe was really interesting. As the lady cooked it, she placed yuba, sakura flowers (pickled but added to sweet bean paste), & cream cheese on the crepe, then rolled it all together. My section (divided among the 6 non-baby-food-eaters) was mainly cream cheese & a bit of sakura, and it was really good.<br />
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Charlie had found a the parks on a map in a guidebook. When we got there, google maps only found one, but thanks to Pokemon Go, we found the other one too :)<br />
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After lots of play time, we found a little Inari shrine nearby to visit. Last time in Japan, when we visited Kyoto with Momo, Hiroko, & the kids (with one less kid :) we went to the Fushimi Inari Taisho Shrine, which is the head of all the hundreds of Inari shrines in Japan. Inari is the goddess of agriculture, which has been expanded to include business in modern times. Inari's guardian messengers are Kitsune, folk-tale fox spirits, so there are always statues of kitsune at Inari shrines (that's a pretty good clue to figuring out which god is in residence, as many have favored guardians).<br />
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All shrines & temples have areas set aside for washing, to make yourself spiritually pure before praying, or just to get clean, spiritually. It's a great opportunity for water play, too, although there's a specific method used for washing. Charlie & Aoi-chan went together to become "kirei"- beautifully clean.<br />
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Charlie found himself in great demand with the kids all along the way today :)<br />
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After getting clean, we walked back to the shops where we'd seen the yummies before lunch. First, we bought yuba manju for after dinner (more on them later). Then we had some sakura soft ice cream, which was very nice. It had a cherry flavor, which came from little bits of cherry in it. Sakura trees don't have fruit, and cherries are called "sakuranbo" in Japanese, so I think they mixed some sakuranbo in with their sakura.<br />
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Then back to the station... did you wonder what we'd done with all those bags of senbei? We put them in a coin locker when we left the station before lunch :) So we collected our senbei, got on a train, & 10 minutes later we were walking back to the house, with a stop at the store for breakfast supplies.<br />
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We actually got home before 4:00 pm, as the kids had played pretty hard & we were all ready for a rest. We got the heaters going again & Charlie & the kids watched tv until they were bored. I did some origami with Aoi-chan & Nozomu-kun, and then the kids ran off to play with the origami animals, & Hiroko & Momo got dinner started, which was chirashizushi, a bed of rice & pickled veggies & sauce, over which they scattered scrambled egg & chopped cucumber. I often make it for Japanese New Year, so it was a yummy and a nostalgic meal :) There are few photos because I was enjoying it so much!<br />
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Aoi-chan decided to help Charlie dry some dishes after dinner:<br />
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And then we had yuba manju for dessert. The manju are filled with sweet red bean paste (anko) and appear to be rolled in a covering of yuba that is then fried. Very wow!<br />
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After dessert Momo & Hiroko prepared their kids for bath time. Mai-chan has been very adventurous today & has allowed both Charlie & Hiroko to hold her (she's at the age where Mom is the only one she wants). I am jealous. My bronchitis is moving along, but I still cough & blow my nose far too much to be holding her :( So here's Hiroko holding her, to prove it can be done:<br />
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Bathing then commenced. There was much tooth-brushing, soaking, occasional displeased crying, & very clean people afterward. Once the kids were asleep, both Momo & Hiroko came down to the kitchen to visit with Charlie & me for a bit. Then, kids stirred & moms headed to bed themselves.<br />
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Tomorrow Momo, Hiroko, & the kids head back to Tokyo. Sigh. Charlie & I will have one more night here before we leave for the next part of the journey. At least we get to spend one more morning with the gang. And we'll spend next Saturday with Momo, Hiroshi, & the kids in Tokyo!</div>
The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-6280738605305173852017-03-18T05:30:00.000-07:002017-03-18T05:30:33.102-07:00Japan 2017 Day 11: Edo Mura Wonderland!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In spite of having three kids five and under in the house, I was the earliest riser today. I had a bit of a coughing spell, so decided to come downstairs to the kitchen so I wouldn't disturb anyone. Momo convinced me to try wearing a mask to bed last night, since the mask keeps moisture in & your throat doesn't dry out in the night. It really worked & I slept much better than I have since I got bronchitis, so I wore a mask all day too. At this time of year, about 1/4 to 1/3 of the people you see are wearing masks, so I was right in fashion.<br />
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I activated all the heaters when I came down, & made a big pot of tea as well. Momo had warned us that Mai-chan doesn't sleep through the night, but she only woke up once, & slept even longer than Aoi-chan did. Everybody was stirring by 7:30, so Momo & Hiroko got breakfast going together while Charlie watched morning cartoons with Aoi-chan & Nozomu-kun in the living room. I made tea & kept track of Mai-chan.<br />
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Breakfast was a cheese omelet, green salad & cucumbers, tuna salad, some leftover side dishes from dinner, a lovely tomato sauce, & bread. The house doesn't have a toaster, so we made sandwiches with everything in them.<br />
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In between getting everyone ready & dealing with some door issues (one wouldn't close & one wouldn't lock, but addressed quickly by the owner) we got out of the house around 11:00 am for our day trip to the Edo Mura Wonderland. A friend told us about this theme park quite some time ago, but we'd never had the chance to come here before. "Edo Mura" means a village of the Edo era in Japanese history, which is the era right before Japan opened to the West in the mid-1800's.<br />
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We took a train and a bus to get there, & it took about an hour. While waiting for the train, the gang posed in the owl hats I'd made for them :)<br />
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In Mai-chan's case, it was the only opportunity to get a photo of her wearing the hat, since she'd pull it off immediately when awake. Nozomu-kun adores trains & has all the different Shinkansen memorized, so even though we were riding a local train, he was mega-excited.<br />
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When we got to the station near the park there were photo-op cutouts:<br />
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Once we got to the park, we decided to look for lunch, since it was time to eat! We waited a bit for a table at a noodle place, & it was worth the wait. I had udon noodle soup with kakiage (tempura-fried veggies & shrimp).<br />
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The park reminded us very much of the Renaissance Faire, not far from Rochester, in that cosplayers were a big part of the show. It was hard to tell who was working there & who was dressed-up. You could rent kimono or ninja costumes & there were gangs of kids, little & big, all dressed up. I saw a little kid dressed as a ninja go for one of the actors that works there with his fake sword & it was a hoot. The actor went down quickly & dramatically. The kid's smile was priceless :)<br />
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One gang of kids was pressed into service to catch a thief. They were very earnest & very cute. There was also a street performer who borrowed my cane to do a bit of pantomime, too.<br />
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We saw a very dramatic & cheesy ninja show, & bought skewers of odango (yummy, sweet balls of mochi) to eat. The park is set into the side of a mountain, so when the sun went behind the mountain it started getting cold. We decided it was time to head home then & caught a bus back to the train station. Momo said that, although they had fun, probably Aoi-chan & Nozomu-kun will have even more fun if we come back again in a few years. I think they'd really enjoy the dress-up then. I kind of can't wait :)<br />
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The rest of the evening was spent cooking dinner (we had rice & nabe, which is a simmered stew- we used veg & tofu), taking baths, & getting kids to bed. I completely forgot to take a photo of the nabe, but in my defense, it disappeared pretty quickly.<br />
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Tomorrow we plan to go to a park near an imperial residence that Charlie read about, & also to a senbei (rice cracker) factory where you can make your own. I think the kids will have a blast!</div>
The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-6910200660410433232017-03-17T07:14:00.005-07:002017-03-17T07:14:59.960-07:00Japan 2017 Day 10: From Matsumoto to Nikko<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We woke up to another gorgeous sunny day in Matsumoto. Cold, but sunny :) We had breakfast at the buffet again, and it was very yummy again! They serve their miso soup very much the way I make it at home, made with onions & potatoes & red miso paste, so it felt deliciously familiar.<br />
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Then we went back to our room and packed for a long day of traveling to Nikko. While I was stuffing things into my luggage, I took a photo of the charms I've collected so far on this trip:<br />
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From left to right- an omamori from the Yoshira Jinja in Matsumoto, "Alp-chan" the mascot of the Japanese Alps wearing samurai armor, (above Alp-chan) a character from the web comic Johnny Wander that I brought from the US, (below Alp-chan) Rilakkuma on the Shinkansen, purchased on one of our train station layovers, and an omamori from the Meiji Jingu. I love finding little mascots & omamori along the way as a visual marker of the trip's progress.<br />
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Around 10:00 am we took a taxi to Matsumoto Station to catch our first of four (count 'em) trains to get us to Nikko.<br />
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And now for a small Pokemon Go digression (please feel free to skip this part if you have no interest in Pokemon Go...). In the game, there are four region-specific Pokemon, that can only be found in the "wild" in that region. In North & South America it's Tauros, in Europe it's Mr. Mime, in Australia it's Kangiskhan, & in Asia it's Farfetched. One of my goals has been to catch a Farfetched, but in my last 9 days here I've only ever seen it on the radar once, & it's not appeared at all for catching. I've gotten in the habit of opening the game on my phone at odd times just to check, and wouldn't you know, just as I was getting ready to pay the taxi-driver at the station, it popped up!! I was juggling change from the taxi, trying to get out of the taxi, & trying to at least grab Farfetched! Once our luggage was at the curb, I was able to throw everything at it & catch it! Woo hoo!!<br />
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Right, back to our regularly scheduled blog post...<br />
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The photo at the header is a view into the Japanese Alps from Matsumoto Station. I wish the photos could convey just how breathtaking the mountains are. Just amazing...<br />
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After buying lunch food, we boarded our first train, the local express to Nagano, at 11:00 am.<br />
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About an hour later, we got off in Nagano & looked for the Shinkansen track for the Hakutaku to Omiya. We had about half an hour, so no hurry.<br />
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After boarding the Hakutaka, we ate a lunch of rice balls, tea, & conbini (convenience store) baumkuchen. It was good, but made me think fondly of the awesome baumkuchen we had in Matsumoto.<br />
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We noticed the mountains retreating slowly as we got closer to the Tokyo area. One thing I noticed along the way was a large number of homes with solar panels on them.<br />
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I've always found traveling by train interesting because you always see the backs of things along the tracks. In the US it's fields & yards & lots of forest or unused open spaces. In Japan, it's the backs of buildings (lots of laundry hanging on balconies, as dryers are not as popular here as in the US), and then mostly cultivated fields. It's rare to see unused open land, I suspect because Japan has so little arable land & so many mountain ranges. The plots of land are often terraced to make use of hillsides. We saw the usual rice fields (drained & dry because it's March) but also loads of orchards, at least, I think they were. The trees looked almost like bonsai, pruned to be reachable from standing on the ground. Some were enclosed in net-walled structures. It was weirdly beautiful & they were absolutely everywhere. Nagano Prefecture is known for it's apples, so maybe they were apple trees. If the train hadn't been going so fast I'd have gotten a photo, but none of them turned out very well.<br />
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After about an hour on the Hakutaka we got off at Omiya & had to find another Shinkansen train, the Nasuno, within 12 minutes. A bit nerve-wracking, but we were there on time. There aren't always escalators at the older stations (this was one) & we had to wait for the second elevator... We boarded the Nasuno for Utsunomiya, where we'd pick up the final train for Nikko.<br />
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Another fun thing about trains in Japan is that, whenever any of the train staff leave a car, they turn & bow to the passengers. The Nasuno took about half an hour to get to Utsunomiya. When we got there, the local train was sitting on the track, so we hopped on. There were no assigned seats here, so we had to sit with our luggage in front of us as the train rattled along.<br />
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Our whole trip today went from west to east, beginning at the Japanese Alps, dipping down toward Tokyo, and then back north to another mountain range just north of Nikko.<br />
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Charlie's finger is approximately where Nagano is (forget Matsuyama- it's north of that :). We went from there to the first chopstick on the left, then changed trains, then to the next one north, changed trains, then ended at the one at the middle, above all of them, which is were Nikko is. The reddish areas are mountains, so you can see how we skirted them, down to the green area, & then went right back up to more mountains.<br />
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We got off one stop before Nikko, where our AirBnB house is located. Because the luggage is so heavy we took a taxi, although it was just a few blocks from the station. The directions for getting into the house were very easy, so Charlie & I got our luggage settled in our room & started the heater up in the kitchen to get at least one room warm before Momo, Hiroko, & the kids joined us, taking just 2 trains from Tokyo. The house is 2-stories tall with 3 bedrooms, one downstairs off the living room & two upstairs. There are twin beds in Charlie's & my room upstairs, and nice fluffy futon in all the rest. The living room is tatami with a kotatsu (table with a heater under it & a quilt over the table to keep the heat in. The kitchen has a western table and cooking space & is well-supplied.<br />
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Momo, Hiroko, & the kids arrived about half an hour after we did. Momo & I have been friends since she lived in Rochester while her husband, Hiroshi, earned his PhD in electrical engineering at the University of Rochester. She moved back to Japan more than 6 years ago, & has since had 2 children, 5-year-old Aoi-chan and 11-month-old Mai-chan. I finally got to meet baby Mai-chan for realisies! I have been skyping with she & Momo for months now, but now I get to pinch her chubby cheeks! Hiroko is Momo's friend from childhood, & we met her on our first trip to Japan after Momo moved back. She & her husband, Dai, have 3 1/2-year-old Nozomu-kun. We stayed in Kyoto with them on our previous trip, when the kids were nearly 2 years younger. Now there are three kids &, this trip, no dads (except Charlie) because the dads had to work. We were so happy to see them!<br />
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Momo, Hiroko, & I left the kids with Charlie while we went grocery shopping. Charlie wasn't sure about this arrangement, because he has a lot less Japanese than I do, but it all worked out fine :)<br />
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When we got home, the kids played around the kotatsu while Hiroko & Momo (with a little help from me :) made some dinner. Then we ate!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIR2pTx9hhHMtlq_B_ezJrSHcZscrGqOGSaiDuuFHB-1Km239aKd0Eot2wvjo-Yjcig97CLonuPOYlAsYRybSd3qZaMF5XyVVn5clf2nmzJ0LEgiOYmmicpvJcFNoufCu29vAvkFUkdlhw/s1600/day10-aoichan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIR2pTx9hhHMtlq_B_ezJrSHcZscrGqOGSaiDuuFHB-1Km239aKd0Eot2wvjo-Yjcig97CLonuPOYlAsYRybSd3qZaMF5XyVVn5clf2nmzJ0LEgiOYmmicpvJcFNoufCu29vAvkFUkdlhw/s320/day10-aoichan.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aoi-chan</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nozomu-kun</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mai-chan</td></tr>
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Then it was time for baths. Have I mentioned that there is no heat in this house? Only space heaters or wall units that work as both air conditioners & heaters. There's one of these in the bedroom next to ours. There's space heaters in the ofuro area, living room, & kitchen. We have to watch the kids around them because parts of them get hot. The other spaces are not heated at all! The bathroom is so cold you understand why they have heated toilet seats in Japan (ours does). When filled, the warm water in the ofuro helps heat the shower part of the bathroom as well (the toilet is in a separate little room- toilets are never in the same room as the bath in Japanese homes, just in hotels). We've opened the paper-lined door to Hiroko & Nozomu-kun's room next to ours to get some heat in our room. Momo & her kids get heat from the living room. She and her kids have warm fleeces over their pajamas, since their own apartment has no central heat either. I am hoping Charlie & I are up to the challenge! Wish us luck!<br />
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Tomorrow we go to the Nikko Edo Mura, which is an Edo-era theme park we've been looking forward to visiting for years. The kids should just love it. I'll report back tomorrow...</div>
The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-22671199558363735292017-03-16T05:22:00.000-07:002017-03-16T05:22:07.776-07:00Japan 2017 Day 9: A Beautiful Day in Matsumoto<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We woke to a beautiful sunny day- although, at 7:00 am it was 32 degrees F outside! Brrrr...<br />
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We had decided to have breakfast at the hotel buffet, and it did not disappoint. There was quite an array of Japanese-style food & Western-style food, and some crossover as well. I opted for the Japanese breakfast of rice, miso soup, pickles, and a little manju (steamed bun) with local greens inside.<br />
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Charlie had a bit of both, including beef stew with potatoes, a manju, tater tots (!) & toast :)<br />
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We had thought to do some wandering around Matsumoto Jo (jo = castle) but, I had a change in plans. I have had a sniffle since we got here, which got much worse at our hotel in Kanazawa, as the room smelled terribly of cigarette smoke, which I'm extremely allergic to. Charlie tried to change rooms but they were all booked up. Now the doctor I travel with (don't leave home without one!) informs me that I have bronchitis :( The good news is that I'm not far enough along to warrant antibiotics, and I do have my inhaler & other medicinal helpers along. But I was too tired after breakfast to go out, so Charlie tucked me in & went exploring on his own so I could sleep. He took the beautiful header photo of Matsumoto Jo, built in the 1500's, on his walk, and this one from the castle garden, of plum blossoms:<br />
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He also got a really nice shot of the mountains that loom over the town:<br />
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Matsumoto being a castle town, there are wells all over the place, open for anyone to take a drink (they recommend that those in "delicate health" refrain, however). The water system dates back a few hundred years & wasn't replaced by modern pipes until the early 20th century. The wells all have names, usually of the families that tended them historically. Many of them are pokestops, too :)<br />
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While out on his exploration, Charlie found a baumkuchen shop that we'd seen yesterday evening on our way home from dinner. It was open, & he brought back some gorgeous samples from the shop:<br />
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The shop is called "Temari-ya". Temari are the decorative, string-wrapped balls that are a local craft speciality. Baumkuchen is something I've only ever found in Japan, although presumably it's originally from Germany, since the name means "tree cake" in German. They're made by brushing batter on a rod that rotates over heat, and layer after layer makes the cake look like the rings of a tree trunk when it's cut. These cakes were made from rice flour, the one on the right from brown rice & the one on the left from white. We ate the brown rice cake when Charlie came home, as a mid-morning snack, along with bottled Royal Milk Tea (for him) & green tea for me. It was delicious!<br />
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I felt well enough to go out after our snack, so we bundled-up (it was 42 F by then) and went for a walk. Charlie took me to the castle to see the blooming plum trees. There was a very cute sign near the tour office at the castle:<br />
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We also visited the city museum, which is on the castle grounds. There were exhibits on the castle, local crafts, and a really pretty display of Hina Matsuri (girl's festival) dolls.<br />
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After the museum we walked over to the nearby Yohashira Jinja (Shinto Shrine) where I bought some omamori.<br />
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There is a statue of samurai frogs right next to it, which is the entrance to Nawate Street, a walking-only street along the river.<br />
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When we left the jinja, we saw this fun sign in the window of a cafe:<br />
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Just how big is that garden???<br />
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I wasn't feeling up to lunch food, but we found a sweets shop near the hotel & I had my favorite, zenzai (sweet red bean soup) with mochi. They served it with salty pickles, because it's believed that something salty with the sweet makes it all taste better. The seaweed pickles (black threads) taste almost like the salty licorice popular in Europe. It was so yummy!<br />
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Charlie had a cream puff & hot Royal Milk Tea:<br />
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We struck up a conversation with the ladies who ran the shop, & Charlie gave them a Rochester post card, which prompted one of the ladies to give us one of their postcards :)<br />
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After "lunch" (not really lunch :) we both rested. For dinner we decided to be adventurous, so we found a pasta place, called "Pasta Casa", across the river, that had been recommended at the tourist center. They said it closed at 7:00, so we got there a little after 6:00 and were his last customers of the day. We ordered salads & pasta dishes, penne with meat sauce for Charlie & spaghetti with shrimp & mushrooms for me. It was all prepared fresh & absolutely delicious!<br />
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It was getting too cold to wander after dinner, so we headed back to the hotel. Everything we've done in Matsumoto has been less than 10 minutes walk from the hotel, and I feel like we barely scratched the surface of this pretty town! We had the other delicious baumkuchen for dessert & are hoping for a restful night, because tomorrow we take many trains so that we can meet-up with Momo & Hiroko & their kids for a fun weekend in Nikkou!</div>
The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-64829896547416508162017-03-15T05:56:00.000-07:002017-03-15T05:56:27.336-07:00Japan 2017 Day 8: Kanazawa to Matsumoto<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We started our final morning in Kanazawa with yummy parties from a bakery in Kanazawa Station called DonQ :) We managed to get everything packed into our suitcases (not an easy task!) and loaded-up to walk to the station for the shinkansen to Matsumoto.</div>
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We got there early, and as I was walking around I saw, what I suspect is a sign of Spring in Kanazawa: they were removing the snow supports from the trees!<br />
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I bought ekiben (station bento- eki=station, ben=bento) at the station for lunch on the train & Charlie bought a couple of tuna onigiri (rice balls). We boarded the train a bit before11:56 am for Nagano, where we will take a local express train to Matsumoto. Once on the train we got busy with lunch.<br />
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Here's the route we took today. We started at the far left in Kanazawa, then traveled along the ocean at the top of the map to the gold 5¥ coin, then south to Nagano, the next 5¥ coin below it. Then it was a short hop to Matsumoto, right below the silver 100¥ coin at the bottom. The red in the middle of the map are mountain ranges. In fact, Takayama, where we were a couple days ago, is just to the left of Matsumoto (it's circled) on the other side of the Hida Mountain range. I wish I could have gotten better photos of those mountains from the train. Really spectacular!<br />
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When we changed trains in Nagano I encountered another funny sign in the ladies room:<br />
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I guess they really don't want you to stand on the toilet seats...<br />
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We arrived in Matsumoto a little before 3:00 pm & caught a taxi to our hotel. The driver warmed up to us when we spoke Japanese to him, & he asked us about our trip & where were were from. I love these random, fun encounters with folks :)<br />
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Once settled in our sunny hotel room, I made some tea (there's always a hot pot & tea available in Japanese hotel rooms) & we enjoyed some snacks that were in the room for us. The beanies came out to join us for the treat.<br />
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Then we bundled-up and took a walk around the neighborhood to orient ourselves. It was partly sunny but very windy & about 46 degrees F. We visited the tourist info center nearby & asked about local restaurants. The young woman there spoke English & there were maps & guides in English as well. There is a book shop very near the hotel that is absolutely gorgeous, squished between two modern buildings. It's also a pokestop :)<br />
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Then we took a walk toward the little river that runs through Matsumoto, crossing a lovely arched bridge.<br />
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As we wandered we looked for interesting places to eat, & found one! It's a wagashi (traditional Japanese sweets) shop with a little restaurant in back. What drew us to the shop was a sign out front advertising anmitsu, which is like a parfait, but with ingredients like red bean paste & fruit. When we noticed they had dinner food as well, we went in. Their specialty is food with chestnuts in them, so the rice in our meals had chestnuts in it as well.They were sweet & yummy. There was also koyadofu (dried tofu that's reconstituted when boiled) with boiled local vegetables, miso soup, & pickles.<br />
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I had anmitsu for dessert & Charlie had ice cream with a sauce from local grapes.<br />
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The restaurant looked over a pretty garden.<br />
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On our walk back to the hotel we saw old buildings that used to be storehouses, an important feature of the neighborhoods by the river.<br />
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This building is actually a micro-brewery. We also saw a little shrine dedicated to a local frog-god of martial arts:<br />
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Tomorrow we'll visit Matsumoto Castle, just a couple blocks away, and most likely eat more yummy food! Woo hoo!!!</div>
The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-76230261789772995732017-03-14T17:03:00.000-07:002017-03-14T17:27:55.841-07:00Japan 2017 Day 7: Kanazawa University<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We began our day early, buying day bus passes at Kanazawa Station, then hopping a bus for the 25 minute ride to Tomoko's apartment, near Kanazawa University. Tomoko works as a counselor in the health center at the university (she is particularly assigned to international students, who often speak English as a second language), and she had arranged for us to have a tour of the health center and lunch with the head of the department (her boss) and colleagues.<br />
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It was fun to visit her apartment & make yummy carrot & walnut pancakes for breakfast, right at the table. We FaceTimed with Brendan so he could see Tomoko's apartment & chat with her again. He told us that, after the previous week's wind storm & massive power outages- which he escaped- they were gearing-up for a major storm. A good time to be away from Rochester maybe?<br />
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After breakfast we took a short bus ride to the university, which used to be right on the castle grounds in the middle of the city, but moved about 20 years ago to a large, new campus on the outskirts of town, near the mountains. As we crossed the campus en route to her office, she said that it's common to see bears roaming the campus, especially in the Spring. It's a beautiful campus, & clearly quite new.<br />
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There weren't many students, because it's the end of year break here, but as we walked, we caught faint music from a student orchestra practicing for the opening ceremonies in a few weeks.<br />
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Tomoko's office is also a counseling room, so it's roomy with desk space & also a cosy area for sitting. There's a sink & hot pot to make tea (of course- it's Japan!). One thing we noticed, as it's March & hovers in the 40's & 50's outside, that they don't heat the halls, so all doors are closed to keep the heat in & there are signs on them indicating if the occupant is in.<br />
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After the stop at her office, we went to the campus health center to begin our tour. Tomoko explained that, even though the students are on break, the folks in the health center are entering their busiest time, because every single one of the 10,000 students at the university have a yearly health assessment in April, every year. The staff do too. They are working to add a mental health component to the yearly assessment, as suicide is a chronic issue in Japan, with the high-pressure educational environment.<br />
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When we arrived, we first met some of the nurses at the health center, who were busy setting up blood pressure machines & laptops for the assessments. Anyone who has some English conversation skills likes to try them out on us, & one of the nurses spoke to us in English, which was really fun. She was apologetic about her lack of skill, but we assured her she did really well! Since I wear a lot of hand-knitted stuff, women often notice this & it's fun to chat with them about "amimono" (knitting, in Japanese).<br />
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Tomoko next introduced us to staff psychologist (and also a knitter!), Dr. Yumi Adachi, who would be joining us for lunch. She was a very soft-spoken young woman with very good English (though she also apologized for her lack of skill :). A student had come in ill, so the director was slightly late to meet us, but it gave us more time to chat with the nurses & other staff. Eventually Dr. Hiroaki Yoshikawa, the directer of the health center, joined us & took us on a little tour of the place. Dr. Yoshikawa (he asked us to call him "Hiro") has done some work at the Mayo Clinic, so his English was excellent. He's a neurologist, specializing in Myasthenia Gravis research, & his latest research has been looking into the psychological factors influencing neurological illnesses. Along with his heading the health center, he also runs a clinic for Myasthenia Gravis patients. He's a busy guy! And also really interesting to talk to. Dr. Adachi (Yumi) collaborates on some of Hiro Sensei's papers, so it was interesting to get her perspective. We were glad Hiro & Yumi could take the time to have lunch with us.<br />
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After our tour, we went to lunch & chatted about lots of things. As Charlie is also a physician, we had some interesting conversations comparing medical practice in the US & Japan. Lunch was bento-style & very yummy.<br />
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After lunch we told them how much we appreciated the time they'd taken to meet us and invited them to visit us if they ever get to Rochester, NY. Then we had to say goodbye to Tomoko. She walked us to the bus stop & we hugged goodbye. I hope we get to see her again soon! It was so great to see her new home & the place where she works!<br />
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Charlie & I took the bas back into Kanazawa & decided to first go back to the absolutely yummy cake shop Tomoko had taken us to the first day. Charlie has a nose for sweets, so he found it easily:) We had more yummy cake & tea!<br />
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Then we went to the 21st Century Art Museum, which was very cool (as it should be). The main exhibit was comparing design to craft & it was really interesting to see things like traditionally made baskets compared to tub trugs, & also lacquer-ware bowls (which is a local craft) made with wooden cores & plastic cores side by side. My favorite exhibit was Leandro Erlich's "The Swimming Pool", which is partly outdoors (looks like a small pool):<br />
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And partly indoors, underneath the pool, which is really 10cm of water suspended between clear plastic:<br />
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We were ready to go back to the hotel for a rest then, so we bussed it back to the station. In the bus line were 2 girls in kimono. It has been pretty common to see groups of girls, & even a few boys, wearing kimono here in Kanazawa. The girls' tabi socks are usually decorated with rhinestones & many have furry collars for warmth, or cocoon-style kimono jackets. So cute!!<br />
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After a rest, we went back to the station for dinner at a restaurant called "Budou no Ki" (Grape Tree). Charlie had beef curry over rice & I had gnocchi & shrimp in a cream sauce. Yum!<br />
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Then we bought breakfast at a patissier called "DonQ" :) We bought beverages & went back to the hotel. Tomorrow, to Matsumoto!!</div>
The Jedi Family of Blogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00318743997892332537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591125077319245850.post-3919355421814642742017-03-14T02:09:00.001-07:002017-03-14T02:09:21.493-07:00Japan 2017 Days 5&6: Shirakawago and Takayama<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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When Tomoko invited us to visit her in Kanazawa, she wanted to show us some of the special places in this region of Japan, so she arranged a 2-day bus trip for us to the World Heritage Site of Shirakawago & the nearby town of Takayama, both deep in the mountains south of Kanazawa. So we packed our backpacks for an overnight stay, & after a cafe breakfast in the hotel, we met her at the bus station that's attached to the Kanazawa train station.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Morning Set" breakfast</td></tr>
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Very soon we could see the mountain ranges growing outside the bus windows (the funny tint in the photos is due to the bus window). Ears popping, the tunnels got longer and longer, the mountains higher & higher, & the snow deeper & deeper. It was so beautiful!<br />
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After a little over an hour's ride, our first stop was Shirakawago (the name means "White River Beloved Home"), which is a small village deep in the mountains where there are many, many traditional homes, most of them with families still living in them. They have thick thatched roofs that are steeply pitched to keep the snow from caving them in.<br />
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They also build the traditional snow houses there, called "Kamakura" that are the Japanese version of igloos.<br />
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There were so many beautiful views. Loads of other tourists, too.<br />
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And funny sights.<br />
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There were shops selling gifts, and I bought some yummy preserved tofu, along with some souvenirs. We had to catch our next bus right after lunch, but so many of the small restaurants were full of other tourists that Charlie & Tomoko ended up eating street stall corroke (fried potato & ground beef patties) and I had some zenzai (sweet red bean soup) with mochi for lunch.<br />
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We got on the next bus & rode for a little over an hour to the town of Takayama ("High Mountain"). Tomoko had made a reservation for the night at a beautiful Ryokan (traditional-style inn) called "Oyado Koto no Yume".<br />
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At a ryokan you take your shoes off at the door and are offered slippers to wear during your stay, except on tatami mat rooms, where you take the slippers off. We were welcomed with tea and Japanese sweets made from red bean paste and chestnuts. Then we chose kimono to wear, which were wrapped in a cloth (furoshiki) for carrying and then we were shown to our rooms. There was a main tatami room, with a table & chairs made for sitting on the floor, where Tomoko would sleep on a futon, and also a bedroom with a bed (for me & Charlie, as I don't do well sleeping on the floor any more). There was also a sitting room around a non-functional traditional fireplace, & an ofuro (shower & bathing room).<br />
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The inn also had two, large public ofuro for guests' use as well, which Tomoko did use. Charlie & I did the regular shower thing :) After settling-in we decided to walk around town until dinner time. A few blocks from the ryokan there was a section of town with narrow streets & old shops, where you could buy all sorts of gifts. When Japanese people travel it's expected that they'll bring home gifts, usually food, for their friends & family (called "omiyage") so these shops provide the omiyage- all local specialities like pickles, crackers, & sweets. We also stopped by the Takayama city hall- such a beautiful building!<br />
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We had asked for a dinner restaurant recommendation from the ryokan staff, & so after walking around for a while we found our way to Suzuya, a restaurant specializing in the local tradition of cooking food on hoba leaves. Hola leaves are large & dried & maybe even smoked before they're used for cooking. They are set on tin foil over charcoal braziers (right at the table), covered with miso paste, & then that's covered with vegetables and meat or tofu. We were told to wait 3 minutes, then start to stir the food with our chopsticks, until it was cooked through.<br />
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It smelled really good while it was cooking!! Charlie is not fond of miso paste, so he had Hida beef slices (Hida beef is a local delicacy) & vegetables to grill to his liking. Everything was served with rice & miso soup. It was sooooo good!!!<br />
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After dinner, we walked back to the ryokan & decided to dress in our kimono for a photo shoot. The ryokan had a lady on staff to help us dress in the kimono. I had never done this before, so I was kind of nervous & excited. The kimono were "short-cut" style, so didn't have as many layers or complicated pieces as is usual, but it was still fun.<br />
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After dressing-up, Tomoko headed to the big ofuro, & I had my shower before bed time. It had been such a full day & we were really tired!<br />
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Next morning we had breakfast at the ryokan. Charlie had a western-style breakfast, and cooked his eggs over a skillet right at the table, which were followed by weiners & bacon. Tomoko & I had a traditional Japanese-style breakfast, with rice, miso soup, fish, pickles, and 2 braziers each- one with hoba cooked meat & veg (I gave mine to Charlie :) and one with oden, which is various boiled vegetables & fish-products in broth. It was great!<br />
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We had a couple hours before the bus back to Kanazawa, so we walked around Takayama a bit more (the ryokan held our backpacks for us after we checked-out). We found a Shinto shrine nearby that had a 1200-year-old tree on the grounds. There was a little Jizo statue right in the trunk of the tree.<br />
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Charlie had been thinking about buying an omikuji fortune at a shrine, but neither of us can read Japanese well enough to know what it says, so he asked Tomoko if she'd help him. The fortune costs only 100¥ (about a dollar) and you pick one randomly. The tradition is, if you get a bad luck one, you can erase the bad luck by folding the paper & tying it to a nearby rack or tree. Fortunately, Charlie got a good luck one!<br />
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Pretty soon it was time for our bus & the 2-hour ride back to Kanazawa. It was kind of nice to sit for a while after all the walking :)<br />
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We went back to our hotel until dinner time, when we met Tomoko at the train station to take the bus downtown to dinner. She had a reservations at a little place she really likes, that serves fresh, locally-grown vegetables in season. It was delicious!! Among the dishes we shared was a pesto & potato pizza, & for dessert, ice cream made from sweet potatoes!<br />
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We said good night to Tomoko at the bus stop. The plan is to take the bus to her apartment tomorrow morning for breakfast with her, & then a tour of Kanazawa University & lunch with the head of her department & some colleagues. </div>
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