Time to Go Home

After an absolutely awesome three weeks, it is time to head home. We already miss Elly and Chris, but we are thankful for so many great memories that will last a lifetime!

Tokyo

April 12 - 14, 2015

We took the subway and train to Tokyo. We could use our JR passes for some of it and Suica cards for the rest. We left our luggage in lockers at the train station so we didn't have to lug it around with us. Our first stop was at Yoyogi Park. The weather was nice and there were people everywhere! They put down tarps of all sizes. Then groups of two to twenty-two could be seen gathering - eating, drinking, laughing. They took their shoes off first, of course, and lined them around the tarps. Hanami means cherry blossom viewing parties. Hanamuri describes the end of the cherry blossoms when the breezes make it look like it is snowing cherry blossoms. Many people rented bikes and rode on the paths. Some people played musical instruments. Others just walked around. The pace was slower than back home. Very few "power walkers". 

The plants were beautiful. I am surprised at how many of the plants we see that are also in Nebraska. I guess since we are half a world apart, I thought we would see many different plants. I believe we have seen every plant I have in my garden here in Japan.

Then we walked to a little area in the middle of town with food trucks and places to sit. We had lunch from the Vegan vendor. The fried soy nuggets, veggies and mushrooms over rice were delicious. Yes, we are eating with chopsticks. We are getting quite used to it. 

Afterwards we walked some more. Here is a street leading to the hashi (chopstick) shop. It was a two-way street.

Then onto Takeshita Street. There were so many people I was careful not to gawk around too much and lose the family. We felt very safe even with the large crowds.

Around six we went to collect our luggage at the train station and head to the hotel. We stayed at a military hotel. It was very nice. It had five restaurants/bars, a casino, swimming pool and shopping. 

Here is a view of the entryway from our room. The hotel was near many foreign embassies. The building to the right with the grass on the roof is the French Embassy.

Since it had started to rain, we ate dinner in the American restaurant/bar at the hotel, New Sanno, while waiting for Joe to meet us. Chris and Elly commented that they hadn't seen a menu like this for over a year. Hamburgers, chicken wings, French fries, etc.  Joe made it around nine o'clock. We sat and drank and exchanged stories of our last few days in different places. 

The next morning it was still raining. No stopping us! We bundled up and headed out. 

We took a subway further into Tokyo and then we walked all over! The boys decided to take a break.

Lunch at a Tiger restaurant. They had banana gyozas - no bananas involved except they were the size of bananas. These had a little crunch in them. 

Ramen with Dan Dan noodles 

National Science Museum in Ueno.

I remember the pendulum clock we saw at the Smithsonian Museum when I was a kid.

Connie, I have no idea what the words said, but...

We saw two real Giant Pandas at the Ueno Zoo. Shin Shin and Ri Ri.

Karen, we saw elephants too, like in your Arizona house.

Cheryl, we finally saw some snow monkeys. They put on quite a show.

The gold blob on the roof behind the boys is supposed to be the foam on a beer. People in Japan say it looks like a gold turd. What do you think?

The largest paper lantern.

Joe, stand by your sister for a picture. I meant next to her! This works. 

Miyajima

April 8, 2015

Itsukushima is an island in the western part of the Inland Sea of Japan, located in the northwest of Hiroshima Bay. It is popularly known as Miyajima, which in Japanese means the Shrine Island. Wikipedia. 

We took a ferry to the island.

This island has wild deer. They roam around and sometimes bother tourists so you need to be careful with your bags. I decided to take off my jacket while we were looking around. Now, you need to know that everyone had a backpack with their stuff - except for me. My sweet husband was carrying all my stuff in his backpack, along with his stuff. I was carrying the bag with some food for dinner and breakfast. Everything on the island closes down at 6:00 when the ferries return the last tourists to the mainland. We were staying on the island so we needed food and our stuff. So, I was taking off my coat and packing it into a little bag I was carrying. Elly is saying something about a deer, yeah, yeah, ok. All of a sudden, I get head butted in the butt. The deer wants the food! Yikes...squeal...followed by full out laughing from my family! When they finally calmed down, Elly reports to the group that I have deer fur on my butt, which starts the group laughing again. Really, I don't know what they would do without me!

This little guy was spotted the next day. They are sure he was looking for me. More laughs and giggles.

We found the house Elly had rented for us. It was Japanese style, which meant we slept on mats again. Front entry - take off your shoes and leave them at the door.

A nice, clean kitchen area. 

A Japanese recliner...?

Each room had its own decorations. 

Then we went out exploring.

Low tide. 

1. 

   Setting a sea slug free, he was drying out. They are also called sea cucumbers. 

   

   
   

   

   Shops

   

   At 6:00 p.m. everything closed. It was like we were on the island by ourselves. Gary and I had spotted a little restaurant/bar on the beach by our house earlier, so we decided to see if it was open. It was, so we went in. They had a fire in the fireplace and it looked very nice. We were just going to get a beer but we decided we should order food too. We were the only ones there and I am not so sure they didn't just stay open for us. We ordered some appetizers and they were delicious! We had edamame, fried squash, fried octopus, and baked unagi, which they told me was eel AFTER I tried some and liked it. It was fun just sitting and relaxing. We had done a lot of walking. 

   

   

   Then we went for a quick beer run, at a vending machine we had seen nearby.

   

   

   While walking through this desserted town Gary and I saw some kind of critter on the road. It stopped and looked at us, as we stopped and looked at it. It decided to turn and go up some steep steps into the mountains. Kind of reminded me of the time we were walking in Minnesota and saw a bear...we all know how that ended!

   
   

   Note: Gary looked it up...the critter we saw was a tanuki or raccoon dog. 

   
   

   We all went back to the cabin and Chris taught us how to play Canasta. It was a fun evening! Jim, I am almost as good at Canasta as I am at Spades. Maybe we can be partners. 

   
   

   The next morning we had to check out by 10:00. It seems that all check outs are 10:00 or 11:00. 

   Pufferfish or blowfish. 

   

   A man threw out the net. 

   

   Pulled it in. 

   

   And put them in a bucket. 

   

   We found out they were for the aquarium on the island. We don't know if they were for a display or as fish food. 

   
   

   We walked around some more.  We found the fried oysters that we had missed the night before. They were Hiroshima oysters that were raised between Hiroshima and Miyajima. We saw where they were "farmed".

   

   
   

   

   Look! It's mom's friend, looking for more food.      Very funny. 

   

   Tide is in. 

   

   
   

   

   
   

   

   Several stores had these machines that made the cake like cookies that a treat on the island. They are filled with different things. 

   

   Look mom. Maybe you should goggle translate that sign. Bwahahahaaa!      Very funny. 

   

   We took the ferry back, took a train to Hiroshima and toured Hiroshima Castle. 

   

   

   

   

   We walked some more and found a spot for lunch. Another little restaurant with great food. We were the only people there, but is was almost four in the afternoon. 

   
   

   Then we said good bye to Joe. He is heading off for a few days to see Kaku, a friend he met a few years ago in Omaha who lives back in Japan now. He has reservations to stay in a "Capsule" hotel. I am too claustrophic to do that! He will let us know about it when we see him in Tokyo on Sunday.  Note: He has Elly's phone with him so he can contact us if he needs us. We do know that he spent one night in the capsule and that you go into the capsules head first. We were wondering. 

   
   

   Miniature golf? Of course it made us think of our parents. 

   

   Walking back we saw a library. Marlene, maybe Holling needs a statue like this. 

   

   
   

   We got back to the base at 11:00 p.m.  We were tired and happy to be home. It was another great adventure!