Shichi Go San Festival
Every year around November 15th is the Shichi Go San ( 7, 5 ,3) Festival. I think it's typically seven and three year old girls and five and three year old boys that participate. I'd say half and half of the girls were dressed between traditional Japanese clothes and western clothes. I'll try and talk more of the festival throughout the blog.

Etta opening her kimono, very excited

Chloe checking out her kimono

getting dressed

Taking a break to have a little fun on the floor

Etta trying to get her shoes on by herself

photo time!

Etta enjoying dressing up, Chloe unsure of the whole thing

Looking cute!

Not sure why they are jumping up and down, but clearly excited about something.

Our neighbor was nice to take a picture of us all together. Would have turned out better if Chloe wasn't checking out her buggar.

We walked down to our neighborhood jinja (Shinto shrine) with some time to spare, which is unusual for us the past year or so. So we had plenty of time to take pictures.

The occasional sister hug

One of my favorite pictures of Etta

Chloe and Daddy

Turns out the red sash is supposed to go on the inside. Wish someone would have said something sooner. We figure that out after seeing several other three year olds dressed in kimono. However, she still looks cute!

One of the cute Chloe pictures. It was a rough day for her so we didn't get many good pictures of her. Some of you may be wondering why she was dressed up as well. We figured we're moving from Shizuoka before the next Shichi Go San festival an we aren't sure if we'll be in Japan after this. So, to be on the safe side we wanted to have pictures of Chloe dressed up too. Unfortunately she wasn't keen on dressing up and pictures as Etta was.

This was the first 7 year old girl to arrive and she was just too cute. Her parents asked to get pictures of the three of them together. I should have gotten a picture of the back of her obi, it was ornately tied and amazing. This is supposed the first time a 7 year old girl wears an obi.

Chloe went into melt down mode just before the ceremony. Good thing I brought a change of clothes for both of the girls. I quickly changed Chloe and took her to a neighboring park while Eric took Etta into the ceremony. I'm not sure if pictures were allowed, but he took some anyway. I can't explain what happened or what was said since I wasn't there. But, Eric did mention a few things to me so I'll try to interpret.
Eric mentioned that each child placed a branch in a pile. They also clapped twice, bowed, then clapped again before returning to their seat. Not sure what that all meant.

The Shinto priest went to the altar and did a lot of reading of kids' names in a chant. Listen below to the video.

Eric took a video of the chant and it's sort of long. At the beginning you'll hear him say, "Wintabotomu Eriku to Wintabotomu Etta" along with a bunch of other chanting. All I can personally catch is the shichi go san. So, if you happen to watch and understand what he's saying, let me know.

After chanting and mentioning all the neighborhood kids' names, he came around shaking a huge set of bells at each of the kids. Before you know it they are done and getting ready for a group photo. Etta wasn't too interested. She was more excited about the bag of candy she received.

Chloe was off playing while someone took a picture of us together. Etta is holding her century candy (for good luck).happy as can be being the center of attention

Well, both kimonos are wrapped up and ready to be returned. Etta is sad to see them go. However, the socks were purchased and she seems happy to keep them around. Not sure how often they'll get used of course. It was fun doing something so Japanese. I hope we can do this with Chloe next year (if we are still in Japan) or sometime in the future. It would be so neat to get the girls dressed up in full kimono. Of course I wouldn't be the one tying the obi!

Intervention Needed
I'm a Twilight junkie! I need help! More on that later, I need to keep reading or I'll go insane.

Halloween
The Japanese don't celebrate Halloween so trick or treating is kind of out of the question unless several other Americans are up to doing it. I supplied some candy to two American families in our neighborhood so the girls could dress up and get some candy. Eric is out of town for the evening and thought it would be a good way to keep the girls excited and entertained.
The girls wouldn't wait for trick or treating to get dressed, so we had plenty of changes before the final outfits were ready. Here, the first few pictures are of the girls dressed up and dancing to Swan Lake. What little girls wouldn't want to dance around dressed like a fairy?

Striking a pose

Here are our pumpkins lit up. Eric bought these the last time he drove through Yokota AB. Japan's pumpkins are different than Americas. If you are ever in the vegetable section and see something called kabocha, that's a Japanese pumpkin.

This is about 30 minutes before trick or treating, the girls were getting antsy.

Chloe had to remove the entire outfit to go to the bathroom and then wouldn't put it back on. She settled for this instead.

Etta dressed and ready to go

It's fun to watch the fascination of the locals as we walked through the neighborhood all dressed up. I didn't bother trying to explain that it was Halloween, hopefully they could figure it out themselves.

Thanks mom for the fairy outfits, the girls love to wear them.

American Pop Culture Finds me in Japan
While in college I had no interest in reading Harry Potter books, they were for kids after all. Then one of my mentor teachers (in college) had recommended I read them. He said I might as well know what all the kids were into. So I started reading Harry Potter and began my love affair of reading Harry Potter books and watching the movies.
Same thing went for the Twilight books and movies. I hate hopping on the band wagon. However, I've been noticing a lot of my friends talking about the books and movies on facebook these last few months. But I still wanted to be immune to Twilight. Then, a friend of mine had sent me the movie. She advised me to read the book first because the movie is kind of cheesy. Ok, now I have the movie. Not good, especially with my will power (what will power?). That same day my parents arrived in Japan and my mom had brought the first Twilight book with her. She of course plans on leaving it behind for me if she finishes it by the end of the trip. I couldn't believe the Twilight book and a copy of the movie was in our house at the same time. Is it fate? My mom finished the book just the day before leaving and handed it over. I told her I'd start reading it as soon as I finished The Concubine's Daughter and The Strong Willed Child.
Two weeks went by and I had finished the books on my nightstand and was ready to start reading Twilight. Based on all the hoopla (is that even a word?) I kind of knew what to expect. But I didn't expect to be sucked in. Now that I sit back and think about the book, what girl/woman wouldn't be sucked in with that storyline? A super hot vampire wants you more than anything even though you are the girl next door. He fights internally about his natural desire to drink her blood and almost wants her to leave him just to keep her safe. As stupid as it may sound, it was great! It's like living in a fantasy while reading Twilight. It is not my favorite book in the world and it wasn't superior writing, but the storyline and characters were so much fun.
I spent three evenings in a row reading Twilight until I couldn't keep my eyes open. Of course I've been tired these past few days. But it was worth it. My mind was constantly wondering what was going to happen next. I am so glad I don't have the next book on hand otherwise I'd ignore everyone and everything I need to do around the house until finishing it. But mom, I wouldn't mind if you sent me New Moon as soon as you finish it. I'm looking forward to reading it.
On a slightly similar note, I'm now wondering if I'll have to pick between the Sookie Stackhouse books and Twilight books. I had asked for all the Sookie books I haven't read yet for Christmas. Boy am I going to be busy reading about vampires. I really liked the Sookie book I read (Dead to the World), a little more on the adult side but includes vampires and werewolves too. So if you liked Twilight and want to read some more books along those lines, check out the link. I can't comment on the HBO series True Blood which is based on the books, but I hear that's good too.
Now I wonder if I'll be watching the movie alone tonight or if my intense desire of reading the book has piqued Eric's interest in watching it with me?

Ooya Undokai
The day after our Kyoto trip was our town's sports day. We happen to live in the Ooya section of Shizuoka and Ooya has neighborhoods. Our neighborhood is considered Youkodai. Each neighborhood has their own tent with their Kanji written on it. Our neighborhood representative had us sign up quite a long time ago. Eric would be doing the tug of war and Etta would be doing a bread race as well as another race.
We were pretty excited that my parents were going to be able to watch it. It was just outside our neighborhood at the elementary school so it wasn't a far walk. Eric had taken Etta early for the opening ceremony. My parents, Chloe, and I came about the time of Etta's first race. I kind of forgot about camera duty and was cheering on Etta. So, I have just a couple of pictures of the race.

Etta and Eric waiting for their turn

They ran to a hula hoop, put it over their head, stepped out of it, and ran for the finish line.

After each heat they would sit under the correct flag. I can't remember if she got fifth or sixth place in her heat.

Having a good time, especially since she got a snack bag for participating.

Next was the bread race

Etta in last place.

Halfway through they had to crawl through a ladder,

then get on their parent's back,

and using their mouth take the package of bread off the clip.

She didn't end up in last place, she took the bread off the clip pretty quickly.

I'm not sure which neighborhood our team was up against here. From my angle it could have been anyone's game. Youkodai is on the right and you'll notice Eric is second, right behind another American. Our neighborhood probably was the only one with Americans participating. A lot was riding on this, they won last year and wanted to remain tug of war champs.

Turns out, they won!

The tug of war would compete again at 1pm to challenge the other winners. Of course that's when Chloe naps so the kids, my parents, and I walked back home for lunch. Eric spent the afternoon watching the rest of the games and waiting for tug of war. I'm not sure if it was only one more competition or if it ended up being two, but Youkodai ended up winning. Woohoo. Eric won some ketchup and a huge bag of salt. Don't ask, I don't know why either. Those are things you just don't ask questions to, you just take the gift and say thank you.

Random cute picture of Etta watching other games

Last Day in Kyoto
We all were up bright and early and had a large breakfast at the hotel to hold us over for our busy morning. We wanted to see Nijo-jo (Nijo Castle). Here the last Shogun returned power to the Imperial Court. Since we arrived as the grounds were opening we were told to stroll the gardens since the house wasn't open for viewing for another 15 minutes. I think we ended up walking the gardens for about an hour. It was immense!

The karamon main gate to Ninomaru Palace

Etta striking a pose half way up to the overlook

Once we were done walking around the gardens we headed for the palace. Turns out you are not allowed to take pictures inside. My mom later thought it could be because someone high up doesn't want duplicates of some of the artwork inside the palace. I'm not sure it that's the reason, but we were sad to miss out on some wonderful picture opportunities. It was a massive palace. The one thing that will always stick in my memory are the wooden floors. The corridors are made of wood (rooms are tatami) and squeak when walked upon, referred to as nightingale floors. You can even listen to the sound if you go to the link.
After the castle we headed to Gion. Here I thought I was in for a long drive but it took like 15 minutes. It's just in another section of Kyoto. If you aren't familiar with Gion then you haven't read my favorite book, Memoirs of a Geisha. Gion used to be the entertainment district pre-WWII with many tea houses and geisha. My mom and I really wanted to see the now touristy spot.
The main street still has tea houses bust mostly restaurants now. It was still a little early to sit down for lunch so we just walked around looking. Everything looked so old and so Japanese. Funny saying that even after living in Japan several years now.

There happened to be a shrine at the end of Shijo-dori where we parked, Yasaka Shrine. We figured it was worth checking out. We weren't disappointed.

Someone had just gotten married and I took a picture of them while they were having their photo session. I don't understand the head gear, but thought everyone would like to see traditional Japanese wedding clothes.

Here are prayers tied to strings

Then we ended up seeing a wedding ceremony

a procession to the reception

The place Eric and I looked forward to seeing the most was for last, Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine. If you've ever seen the Memoirs of a Geisha movie, then you've seen a small fraction of it. The main character as a child had run to a shrine through many torii gates to give her offering and pray to become a geisha in the future. I always thought that the shrine looked cool because I had never seen so many torii gates placed like that. Turns out it's located in Kyoto not far from Gion. It would be our last sightseeing stop before returning home.

Entrance

My mom and dad

first row of gates

your choice, left or right

Etta particularly enjoyed running down the long corridors

Turns out Inari is the goddess of business. Each torii gate has been donated by a business and the writing on the gates are the names of the businesses that donated the gate. Very interesting.
We were all a bit exhausted (and hungry) after this and made our way to the car. We snacked and napped (except poor Eric) all the way home. No problems with the toll road this time and made it home in less than 4 hours. I even had to make dinner since we got home in time to eat.
It was a wonderful trip and we would have never tried sightseeing with the girls if it wasn't for my parents. It's hard dragging little kids around to places of no interest to a 2 and 3 year old. We're happy we could see some of Japan's famous historical sites and to have shared the experience with my parents.

Kyoto Day 1: After Nap Time
We had to go back to the hotel for Chloe to take a nap. We were hoping she'd sleep in the backpack carrier but she'd have none of that. Once we got to the hotel, I even got to take a little nap too. It was nice and rejuvenating. We left for a temple just down the street from our hotel.
Ok, the real reason I didn't blog about this the other day is because we weren't sure of the name. It took me forever to figure out the name. We didn't know what the temple name was the day we went and didn't pick up a pamphlet (don't think there was one) while there. If I would have just shown Eric a map, he could have read the kanji and told me the name. But, since he wasn't home I had to do it the hard way and find it in English.
Unfortunately we arrived at Nishi Honganji Temple at 5 pm and was closing down. This was one of the few places we went that didn't cost anything to see. We all wished we had more time to wonder around the temple and the grounds. It was massive. It is one of the longest wooden structures in the world.

You'll notice this tree is so big that branches are being held up

Incredible lights

The picture is bleary because we didn't want to disturb the monk with a flash going off. It was so beautiful inside and to see someone inside praying was a surprise.

A different room, no monks so of course the picture turned out better

The size of the wooden columns and the amount of tatami mats between both buildings is just amazing.

We spent no more than 20 minutes there which is a shame. We would have really liked to have seen more. Afterwards, we were on the hunt to find something for dinner. Instead we found a playground. Of course we had to let the girls run around since they had been so good during the day. We were surprised at how hard it had been to locate a restaurant. We were obviously not walking on a touristy street. Luckily Eric remembered passing a yakiniku restaurant during lunch time and we figured my parents would like it, since everything is cooked.
We had a great time at dinner. My parents got to enjoy some extremely good tasting meat we got to cook ourselves at the table as well as an array of veggies. Even Chloe helped eat a bunch of meat. Etta stuck to rice, as no surprise. That reminds me, I think I need to get some yakiniku sauce for my dad. He really liked it. If you can find a yakiniku restaurant in your neck of the woods, we highly recommend it. We've never been disappointed.
We walked back to the hotel and put Chloe to sleep. Since my parents were staying in the room next to us we decided to hang out there for a little while with Etta and have some drinks. Etta fell asleep in grandpa's bed minutes later and we had a good time to hanging out and catching up. It's so strange just sitting and talking with my parents. It had been 14 months since seeing them! It was a great first day in Kyoto and were going to have one more morning and afternoon in Kyoto before heading back to Shizuoka.

Kyoto- Our First Full Day
Since we got in to Kyoto so late on our first day, we really didn't get to see much. Pretty much got settled into our wonderful hotel (thanks to Aya for finding us and getting a great deal), Righa Royal Hotel and had some dinner. The next morning we all got up bright and early and enjoyed a big hotel breakfast. Good thing, we needed energy for the day.
Our first stop was to the Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji). Originally built in 1393 by a Shogun, burnt down several times, and most recently built in 1955 true to the original. This was my favorite stop of the day. It was truly magnificent.


This was the only time we were mobbed, and by high school girls none the less. Two girls in particular started talking to Chloe, then Etta. Then they asked for pictures. Other girls saw this and wanted pictures too. Before we know it, we are mobbed for about 10 minutes by girls asking for our pictures. Hey, the girls got a little toy from one of the girls so I suppose it was all worth it. Funny to think about how many random people have pictures of us on their cameras or computers. My parents took pictures of the girls surrounding us. Luckily this was the only time on our trip this happened.

Throw and aim your coins towards the bowl. Not sure what you get if you actually make it.

Our second stop of the day was a world famous zen garden (Ryoanji). First you walk through a beautifully landscaped pond before coming to the zen garden.
At first I saw this and was unimpressed. I sat, and looked, and thought that it was too small to be as famous as it is. However, after looking at other gardens throughout the day I realized how perfect this one was. Obviously there is significance to the number and placement of the rocks and the raking, but later I realized just how perfect it was compared to others. No rock out of place and no growth other than what it supposed to be there. A perfect example of "size doesn't always matter".

My parents with the girls

Our third stop for the day was to a Buddhist Temple called Toji ,built in in 796 and was meant to guard the city. I hate to admit it, but my mind was so focused on keeping the girls from melting down that I didn't get much of the history of the grounds. There were so many things to see and it was approaching Chloe's nap time and no one had had lunch yet. So, needless to say we had a lot of whining between Etta and Chloe. Luckily my parents took a lot of cool pictures we didn't bother to take.

This plus another were on both sides of the entrance to the Temple. How inviting!

and these were just inside the gate

The gate from inside

the temple

inside the temple

not sure what all this stuff means, but it's beautiful

beautiful grounds inside the temple

from another angle

You can also see the largest wooden pagoda in Japan, the five storied pagoda. The frame represents the main deity. I don't claim to understand it, but it's neat to look at.

Another neat building, but we couldn't find any information on it. It looked relatively new.

These flowers caught my eye

On our way out we found this Buddha statue that was neat tooOk, we did see more on our first full day but I have to put it in another blog. I've spent too much time on the pictures and looking up on site names for one day. More pictures of our Kyoto trip to come.