A Weekend Get-A-Way
We took a trip last weekend to Hakone and then to Yokohama. Saturday morning just after the girls were out of their pajamas, we were out the door. We wanted to arrive at the Hakone Aquarium (our 11th aquarium since arriving in Japan) just after it opened. The girls happily ate their dry cereal in the car with a movie playing to keep them entertained. They are usually still waking up when we get on the road early in the morning. It helps with the long drives. After an hour or so on the road I asked Eric, "You did grab the camera right?" Well, that was one of the few things we forgot on the trip. Oh well, if that's the worst thing we left behind we are doing good. But we are going to Hakone without the camera!
The forecast had called for it to clear up in the afternoon but it wasn't looking good. It rained the entire 2 hours it took us to get to the aquarium. We had to alter our itinerary a little. We arrived at the aquarium nice and early, hence few people! The girls got to enjoy looking at all the exhibits without feeling rushed by crowds. It's one of the smaller aquariums we've seen but was still really nice. I think my favorite exhibit were the seals, they are so fat and cute. We even went through twice just to wait out the rain. We waited as long as we could and made our way to a restaurant just outside of the aquarium and had a great lunch. I had katsudon, Eric had ramen, the girls split a kids lunch and a little of our food. We were surprised to see the girls chow down on their food. Usually they end up leaving most of their food untouched.
Since the rain had nearly stopped, we took the short drive to Hakone Shrine. Eric and I have recently had the conversation that pretty much all their is to see in Japan revolves around shrines and castles. I liked the torii gate in the lake, but otherwise it was like almost every other shrine we've seen. Nothing too special. The girls were being really good for us and hoped to make it to the nearby volcano without Chloe falling asleep.
Since it was still overcast we weren't going to pay to take the rope way when we can just drive up. The drive to Owakudani only took 20 minutes or so and of course Chloe fell asleep. Dang it, now she's not going to nap on the longer drive later. Oh well. We arrive, pay to park, and try bundling up because it was crazy windy. We wanted to take the trail up to a hot spring on the volcano where they cook eggs and sell them. The shells turn black due to the sulfur and are said to prolong your health. Eric told me that you aren't supposed to eat more than 2.5 eggs or it's bad for you, now I'm wondering if he actually read that somewhere or was just being facetious. Due to the high winds, that trail was closed. Dang it. We walked up another trail and saw some of the sulfur being emitted through cracks. But, the chilly wind wasn't pleasant at all. We headed back down to the store since that was now the only place to buy the sulfury hot spring cooked eggs (sounds yummy huh?). It was insanely crowded so we opted to buy ice cream for the girls instead since only one person was in line versus about 50 for eggs. Eric chose vanilla versus egg flavored ice cream for the girls. I guess the girls were too cute to pass up because Japanese ladies kept giving us black eggs (or they just couldn't eat anymore themselves). Etta had been looking forward to eating a black egg since we talked about going to the volcano. We peeled the black shell away and the egg looked normal to us. Etta asked to eat just the whites (that is so Etta, everything plain) while Chloe ate anything we gave her. The girls were happy with their gifts and Eric and I got a couple bites in too. It pretty much tastes like an egg but has a little something to it, maybe a little sulfur taste but not strong.
By then, we were cold and the girls were a little tired. We decided to make our way to Camp Zama. It was cheaper to drive an hour to the army base and stay in a two bedroom than camp out in a hotel room for more. We got to check out their little commissary, go to the BX, and eat pizza. It was a nice night away from Japan.
The next morning we drove about an hour to the Yokohama Zoo which we heard is one of the best zoos in the country. We arrived fairly early in hopes of beating the rush. It was cool but at least sunny. The first exhibit was probably my favorite, three Asian elephants. We were just a few minutes too late because we caught the end of the elephant show. Two of the elephants had painted and then we saw them kicking soccer balls. It was pretty darn cute. One thing I really liked about the zoo is all the habitats were really nice and large. Sometimes you go to zoos and are depressed at the conditions the animals are kept in. I didn't feel that way at all when going through the zoo. Plus it's in a big loop and you are constantly seeing different habitats. If you don't want to go through the entire loop you can go through shortcuts throughout the zoo to cut back on your time. To top it off there are two big playgrounds in the zoo. So, if your kids need a break from animal watching, they can go climb and slide (our own personal monkeys).
We weren't at the zoo very long when Chloe started to run, tripped on the pavement and smacked the right side of her head on the ground. It sounded pretty bad. She was holding the right temple and it looked fine. I carried her over to Eric and told him what happened. I sat down with her so she could scream it out. I kissed her head and came back with a mouth full of blood. Not good. Turns out she had a little gash on her scalp. It wasn't big, but big enough to bleed. It didn't take long for it to stop but freaked us out enough to ask ourselves if we need to go to a hospital or see if there was a medic at the zoo. We waited until Chloe calmed down and she seemed to be fine. We had her sit in the stroller for a few minutes and before you know it she acted as if nothing happened. Since it was a small cut and she seemed fine, we decided to go with the flow. Our crazy girl. At least this scar won't be on her face.
We had a good time at the zoo and hung out until nap time. The girls were great on the drive home, because they slept most of it! It's nice to get out and see some sites around Japan while entertaining the kids. Next weekend we are planning to drive to Kakegawa to see Aya. She and Riko have moved into her parents house until her baby comes and their new house is finished being built (sometime in January). Then on Sunday we are planning to see a friend in Fuji and take the girls to some farm area. Hope the weather holds out for us.

Planning Another Vacation
Sorry I haven't been keeping up much with my blog lately. Between getting sucked into the Twilight series and keeping busy in general, I haven't had much time to sit down and write. I do try to post something daily on facebook.com but still that doesn't amount to much information. Ok, I'm forcing myself to sit down and type (while the girls splash loudly in the bathtub). On a side note, I really did enjoy the Twilight series!
One of the more recent exciting events around here is that Eric and I booked a cruise for December. We've been keeping an eye on last second cruises since this summer just to get a feel for how much they cost and what kind are available in Asia for families. One cruise line (Costa) in particular leaves and returns to the same destination which makes airline tickets much more reasonable. Recently I looked at the December cruises available and saw two different itineraries that looked pretty interesting and affordable. We particularly wanted to leave later in the month but airline tickets we obviously more expensive because it's around Christmas and New Years. Then we looked at going in the middle of the month going to Hong Kong and doing a round trip cruise. But, the cheaper cabins were gone and the airline tickets were still expensive. Hours later, we decided to miss some of Eric and Etta's school and go earlier in the month to get a super deal on cruise tickets and airline tickets.
We're doing a 14 day cruise starting from Singapore and going to Makassar, Komodo Island, Bali, and Jakarta Indonesia, then Malaysia, Phuket Thailand, then Kuala Lumpur. We'll stay two extra nights before and after the cruise in Singapore to ease the girls in and out of the cruise. The girls will need some down time before and after those flights too, 7.5 hours there and 6.5 hours returning. Ouch. We're not looking forward to that part of the trip.
The cruise line offers excursions at each place but of course they cost an arm and a leg so I'm spending a lot of my time looking at local companies that offer day/half trips at each of our stops. We'd like to see some of the local sites but also know how much the girls can and cannot take over a period of time out and about. I'm also salivating at the thought of some good cheap shopping. Too bad we won't be able to do Christmas shopping. The cruise doesn't end until December 26th! This will be a Christmas present to ourselves! The girls will just have to unwrap all the presents whenever we make it back to Shizuoka. Gives us more time for all the Christmas boxes to arrive from America. Thanks mom for planning so far in advance.
Ok, more on the trip to come and hopefully I won't wait so long before typing again.

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.