Green Tea & Grits

I finally went to my first real onsen last night with my friend and neighbor, Gretchen. Onsens are private or public hot tubs. They can be in a spa setting, outdoors, in a hotel and usually are heated by volcanic springs. You enjoy almost all of these au naturel no swimming suits allowed but not to worry the women and men are in separate facilities. Many claim to have certain healing properties. Perhaps the one we went to did but I really have no idea since the only things we could read in there were the word "toilet", the temperature of the tubs displayed on the wall, and the label on some soap in the lobby. Anyhow what a great way to spend 2 hours. I definitely see why so many people here partake in these and why they are so popular.

Thankfully Gretchen had been before and knew the ropes because going to a naked public bath in another country can be intimidating. Being Japan there was of course a strict protocol to follow. As soon as you enter you take off your shoes and put them in a locker with a key. You then give your key and $14 to front desk man. He in return hands you a bag with two white towels in it. One of the towels is normal bath size while the other is more hand towel sized except narrower and a bit longer that is the one you use for "modesty" going between the different tubs. Big towel stays in your locker and is used for drying at the end of your visit. With your backside hanging out you proceed to the washroom where you thoroughly scrub your body and wash your hair. The walls of the shower stalls were only waist high and in each stall there was a plastic stool to sit on while you bathed. No doors or curtains, instead each stall had a mirror so you could easily see the person behind you. Modesty is pretty much out the window by now. Once very clean you can proceed to a tub. This onsen had 3 big tubs/pools indoors - one had jets, another was milky and the other just hot. We soaked an lounged until the heat became stifling and then we made our way to the outdoor tubs with a lovely view of the water. Outside had a big communal pool and several individual bath tubs in row and two big round cask like tubs. The cool night air and the hot water is an amazing combination.

By this time we really didn't care at all about the nudity thing. In fact most of the women were using their small towels as pillows or as turbans and not bothering to cover up anything. Some of the women were alone, some came with a friend, there was even a few moms with small kids and as we were leaving a group of women probably in their late 70's were coming in. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the baths and conversation. 

If you tired of soaking there was a lavender filled steam room and a room where you lie down on hot rocks like a lizard. We didn't try the latter but maybe next time. Spasso is also a spa/resort and we could have enjoyed facials, massages, lunch etc. Now for these activities you are given a robe to wear. Not really sure how you got about booking a massage but I brought home the brochure and will have my neighbor, Hiroku, translate it for me. (Thank goodness she moved in because my other Japanese neighbor, Mami, is moving in July.)

After you finally get to use the big towel and are dry and dressed you exchange your towels and bag for your shoe locker key. Holding shoes hostage is a pretty good way of insuring no one walks with away with the nifty Spasso bag. Relaxed and happy Gretchen and I head home. I'm so glad she took me. This may very well be one of my favorite things about Japan so far. You can only go to so many shrines before getting tired of them but I don't think I could ever tire of trying different onsens.

Nikko - Ninjas, shrines and mountains

Brad and I took the opportunity to take a mini-vacation over Memorial Day weekend. Since we are both from Florida nothing sounds more like vacation than the mountains. So off to Nikko we went. Nestled in the foothills of some mountain range Nikko also has Japan's most ornate shrine and an amusement park dedicated to old time Japan complete with Ninjas and Samurai. Perfect.

Toshogu Shrine, a conglomeration of several shrines and temples was built in 1617 and dedicated to the shogunate Tokugawa who unified Japan. It was our first stop and perhaps too ambitious for three kids who had been in the car for 3 hours. If we ever go back we will definitely take a guided tour because the English signs were almost nonexistent and we weren't really sure what we were looking at. Although I had a guidebook with me if I had actually stopped to read it we would have found Lucien and Jude hanging from a priceless building and Anders being abducted by a smitten Japanese woman.

Set of stairs leading to shrine area. Followed by many more sets of stairs. Anders loves nothing more to climb so he was in baby heaven. Unfortunately Anders had to be held the whole time because clearly a stroller was out of the question. I did see someone in a wheelchair who must have very nice friends to carry him up.

Enormous tori gates leading up to the shrines.

Once the kids were thoroughly exhausted we drove into town and found our inn. Finding a kid-friendly and affordable hotel is quite a feat. Most places charge per person and are just not suitable for small children. The Turtle Inn Annex came highly recommended in my guide book for families and wasn't going to bankrupt us so it was the winner. This was our first experience staying in a Japanese style inn. And what an experience. We all slept on the floor and the only window treatments were sliding rice paper screens one of which I poked my thumb through trying to open it. The boys slept in another room separated by a sliding door. Except for Anders who decided that he was not going to sleep at this hotel. Each person has two 1" thick mattresses topped with a down quilt and a dense hard pillows all set on tatami mats. Both of the rooms had a small view of the river which was right outside. Brad likened it to taking a nap under his desk at work when can't get home to sleep. Lucien and Jude thought sleeping on the floor was rather cool. It also kept me from having to yell at them from jumping on the beds which is their favorite hotel past time. Japan doesn't change times in the spring and fall which means that the sun is up at around 4:20am. Ouch especially since breakfast wasn't served until 8am.

The "big room" where Brad and I slept. The coffee table and tv stand where the only pieces of furniture. There was an entryway with a large closet and a decent bath.

The boys in their yakata (except for Jude who would have streaked to the tub, if we let him) on the way to the hot tub. Jude and Lucien with their souvenirs.

The Turtle Inn did have a public bath which was quite nice. Very hot water in a big tub with a panoramic view of the river. I could really get into this hot tub thing they have going on here. This one although public had a door that could be locked for privacy. 

Edo Wonderland might be our boys favorite spot in Japan so far. Think of a cheesier Historic Williamsburg except it is set in Japan during the Shogun era with lots of shows based on Ninjas, Samurai and Geisha. All of the buildings were done in period architecture and there were several educational type places showing old inns, tea houses, fire stations etc. It wasn't very crowded so Lucien and Jude had plenty of characters to interact with. Brad and I sent them outside to play while we sat down and ate our noodles and within minutes they were sword fighting with samurai who gave them swords. We actually had a meal in peace. By the time we returned to the inn even Anders knew how to sword fight. Good thing we have three boys and not three girls.

I think she is some sort of jester but she made all of these cool shapes out of what looked like my mother's place mats from Pearl River.

5 ninjas. The gift shops were practically nothing but swords and throwing stars. Little boy nirvana.

Outdoor Ninja show complete with someone getting their hand cut off. Charming entertainment for small kids.

Sword fighting.

We had all of the sword fighting we could handle so on Monday a tamer day of a walk through the woods, visiting the Emperor's summer house and a beautiful waterfall was in order. The house was absolutely stunning with it's simple elegance and how it incorporated the outdoors with the indoors. None of the 106 rooms were particularly large and most were completely unadorned with only tatami floors and shoji screens. I do kind of wish they had left some of the furniture in it to get a sense of what it looked like when occupied. 

A walk right outside of our hotel with a raging river and many many Jizo sculptures with their hats and bibs. "Jizō, or Ojizō-sama as he is respectfully known, is one of the most loved of all Japanese divinities. His statues are a common sight, especially by roadsides and in graveyards. Traditionally, he is seen as the guardian of children, particularly children who died before their parents."

Inside Tamazawa Imperial villa.

 Three fairly clean kids-check, one beautiful imperial garden-check, perfect sunlight-check and yet a decent picture of the boys eluded me. Between Anders sqiggliness, Jude's inability to smile on command due to apraxia and Lucien's goofy smile, I should just quit trying.

Overlook on the windiest mountain road I have ever traversed on the way to Kegon waterfall.

Interesting eats at a stop on the way to the waterfall. Anything can be put on a stick, cooked and eaten in Japan including whole little fish and bacon. These were the food choices at the rest stop on the way to Kegon Warerfall good thing I planned ahead and brought sandwiches. Brad did enjoy the bacon.

Kegon Waterfall a peaceful and beautiful ending to trip. Anders made sure to shatter this illusion by screaming for two hours in the car on the way home to Yokosuka.

Strawberries, Moms, shopping etc.

 

I have been so busy lately and can only attribute it to a walking Anders. He is a total menace. When awake he is a tornado leaving mayhem and destruction in his wake. Ever since having Lucien I figured out that God made toddlers so very cute as a way to keep their parents from killing them. Anders is no exception.

Last Friday both boys had off of school so I took them strawberry picking with some friends. Unlike the states it is all-u-can eat not all-u-can pick. You hand over 1100 yen (about $11) per person (Anders excluded) and you have 30 minutes to eat all you want. You are given a little tray with some yummy sugar sauce in it and then you put your stems on the tray. Simple enough system. We were there with my friend Chantel and her two boys. After shelling out so much money for half an hour Chantel and I were the fanatic mothers yelling "Be quiet and eat". The strawberries were amazing though. They tasted very different the local ones we get at the grocery here. Maybe they are just sweeter from being on the plants longer. Don't know, but they were wonderful. Anders ate his share and couldn't have been dirtier or stickier when we left.

On Mother's Day after going to church and opening all of my wonderful presents -let's just say that Brad rocks- we hopped in the van and went to Yokohama. We have never driven there before. It was an easy drive but expensive - $30 in tolls for a 30 minute drive. Yikes. They love their toll roads here. Our main destination was the Yokohama Museum of Art. Small lovely museum which happened to being having a fantastic show that we all enjoyed. Teppei Kaneuji: Melting City/Empty Forest. Loved this guys work of assemblages of found objects. He had one beautiful collage of coffee spills - Brad was happy to see someone making art out of a medium he uses. The little boys were very amused but it was hard for them not to touch the sculptures. Anders being safely strapped into his stroller posed no threats to the work. Afterwards we only had time for a snack while watching street performers before we had to head home. Too bad because there is loads of shopping and an amusement park all within a block of the museum. Another day.

Fountain in front of Yokohama Museum of Art.

Confounding parking garage. Somehow all of the cars move vertically and horizontally. Luckily we found our van where we left it. Note how narrow the spaces are. There's no way I could have backed in our big green behemoth of a van into here so I'm glad Brad was at the wheel.

During the week I decided that I really needed more strawberries and a sun hat for Anders so the boys and I went to the local mall, Daiei, after school. The malls here all have grocery stores on the bottom floor. How cool is that? We ended up coming home with two pokemon shirts and dinner but somehow the two packages of strawberries I had purchased didn't make it in our bag and no sun hats. I'm not completely certain what happened to my strawberries but I'm blaming the boys. After you check out at the grocery store you take your food to another counter and bag it all yourself. I think one of the boys pulled them out of the bag when they were looking for their chunky Fanta soda. This is their favorite Japanese soda. It's like sprite with gelatin. I rarely let them drink soda so they haven't developed set preferences.

This is exactly how it is to hold Anders most of the time. Chunky soda outside of mall.

Toy department at the mall which is really more like an enormous department store. All of the toy departments we have been in have these hideous games for kids to play for 100 yen a pop. Loud and obnoxious. I think they are trying to prime the children for Pachinko, a Japanese gambling craze which is played in huge halls that are smoky and insanely loud. My personal idea of hell.

This store has a beetle section where you can buy pet beetles and all of their accoutrements. These suckers are huge. Thankfully Jude and Lucien aren't interested.

Friday night Brad and I went to a submarine group Hail and Farewell. This is the Navy's way of welcoming newcomers and saying goodbye to those leaving. Unfortunately a family we really like is heading back to the state in a few weeks. They have two boys the same age as my two oldest, she is pregnant with number three and when they arrive at their next duty station in Washington state they will have no car and no place to live. I wish them luck. I guess hellos and goodbyes are a part of military life I will have to get used to.

Tea Hair

I've been having problems with my hair since Lucien was born. My fairly straight hair went to having a lot of wave and after Jude even some curl but only in the back. This has made my already thick hair an enormous frizzy mess. Every move I have to find a hairdresser who gets my hair. No matter how much I tell them not to try to thin in out which ironically leads to just making it look bigger, they can't help themselves. Actually when I leave their chairs after a long blowout and a straight iron session, it looks amazing. But in real life I don't have time to blow dry or straight iron everyday so with my efforts it looks like crap. On top of all of that I am really going grey and hair color doesn't want to stay in my hair. After much looking around in Yokosuka I found an American who works out of her apartment about 25 minutes away from here. Color was good, but cut not so much. Our last appointment she was a no show. This time around I made an appointment with the salon on base and the night before they called and cancelled. Blimey. Anders had a babysitter so I decided to put my big girl panties on go into town for a haircut and color. Scary stuff. My Japanese is minimal but  I can say "ok" and "just a little". I figured armed with this knowledge and a picture of the color I wanted that it would be ok. It was beyond ok, the experince was amazing and I am now kicking myself for being a wimp and not doing it sooner.

Almost all of the salons here have english names. The one I went to is called Claps which makes me think of venereal diseases but it looked really nice inside. There are usually sandwich boards outside with the services listed in kanji and english making you believe that perhaps someone speaks english. Don't be fooled by this. Peace Extensions were offered at one place. I'm sure they met "piece extensions" and not some sort of NATO conference. Anyway the receptionist at Claps handed me a card with services in English I picked a cut with a professional not a student and "one make" which I correctly guessed at meaning a one color process and no highlights. In minutes I was offered a locker with a key for my purse and put into a white cape with arm holes. Love the arm holes so much easier to read trashy magazines. As I was taking off my earrings an outstretched hand appears with a tissue to put my jewelry upon. I don't think I would have deposited my pearl earrings in a strangers hand in the states but here no problem. Then Yuji my stylist chats with me. Didn't understand a lick of english but with the picture and my sparse Japanese he hopefully understood. First to the bowl to wet my hair. There the nice shampoo girl puts a tissue over your face and a towel on your legs. Nice touch. After my cut Yuji calls over another man and they both blow my hair dry. Total rockstar treatment. In the states they color your hair first but for some reason cut is done first here. Once Yuji was satisfied another 2 people show up to change me into a black cape with arm holes. While color is being applied a girl drops off about 10 English fashion magazines. Sweet. I don't have to make small talk and I don't have to read last March's People. I'm really liking this. Once the color is done back to the bowl for a head massage and shampoo - more tissues and towels. Once you get back to your chair all they do is dry your hair. No styling tools anywhere to be seen. Yuji lets me inspect and I give him my daijobu, ok, and before I can get up someone is giving me a back massage. 2.5 hours after my  arrival I am paying my bill (about what I pay in the states) and the entire staff bows to me on my way out of the door. Thankfully I didn't get the "two make" because I had to pick Jude up from school and never would have made it in time. All of this pampering cost only slightly more than having the American do my hair in her spare bedroom and shampooing it in her kitchen sink while I hold a towel over my head as to not drown. 

Later that night Brad asks me if I was worried about letting someone who is used to dealing with straight black hair cut and color my hair and I honestly wasn't. For some reason all of the young Japanese girls and a lot of the guys dye their hair some version of dark brown called chapatsu or tea-hair. I don't know why if you had shiny straight, jet-black hair you would dye it my color but they do. I suppose it's a small rebellion done before you join the work force. I have seen enough chapatsu to know without a doubt that they were completely capable of dying my hair. The color was a fabulous dark chocolate that didn't evaporate after 1 week. Rock on. 

Ps. Don't do a google search for "Japanese girls with brown hair" if you don't want pages and pages of asian porn. However I did find an interesting subculture here called ganguro which translates into "black face". I have seen several of these kids but didn't realize it was a wikipedia worthy subculture.

Comes at you Fast.

It's been awhile since I have had time to write. Since the addition of Anders to our family, the smallest things can zap away all of my free time. Such as springbreak (9 whole days of having both big boys home and a contingency of neighborhood kids in & out of the house, plus the requisite trips to aquariums, parks, etc). That was followed by the Navy ordering Brad to Bahrain for 10 days, which included Easter and Anders's baptism, then a trip to Tokyo for the Submarine Group Ball, and finally Anders's rescheduled baptism. To top all of that off, Jude started 2 more days of speech therapy, both boys started baseball, and why not throw in 2 school festivals that I had to bake for and only got out of working at the preshcool's because Jude had a 104 plus temperature. Ouza.

Jude and Lucien were thrilled to find out that the Easter Bunny does come to Japan bearing loads of candy (some Japanese, some American) and Pokemons. He/she didn't do a great job hiding the eggs because the stupid hawks ate most of them. Can't really blame the bunny since our backyard is about 10 x 15 feet and all of our outdoor belongings were tarped due to work being done on our deck. Since Brad was in Bahrain and our house guests (David, Brad's BFF, and his awesome wife Anne from New Orleans cancelled their Japan trip because of Brad's unexpected absence) I decided not to cook and we had dinner out and called it a day. It seems whenever we have definite plans something always comes up with Brad's job to destroy them. This time some knucklehead fell asleep at the periscope causing a submarine to collide with the Navy's newest ship, the New Orleans. (I'm fairly certain that they use something much more sophisticated now than periscopes but I don't really know what.) This one act ruined David & Anne's trip that was planned 8 months ago, Admiral Connor's family vacationed in China without him, my pregnant friend Amy flew to Singapore alone with 2 small boys for a last Far East family vacation before they PCS (fancy Navy talk for moving) to the states, and finally postponement of Anders's already super late baptism - David is Anders's godfather so we were waiting for his arrival. 

The Submarine Group Ball was held in the New Sanno Hotel and was actually quite fun. At 6pm sharp our Japanese babysitter, Miho, arrived and Anders was instantly smitten. For the first time in his life he did not care if I left the room. He had a 23 year old Japanese girl almost all to himself and life was good. She did origami with the kids and made them hot chocolate while Brad and I dined, danced and had sake (as in rice wine) toasts out of small wood boxes which smelled exactly like wood shop. A good night for all except perhaps Miho.

As hard as I tried, even enlisting the help of my friend Gretchen, this is the best Easter picture I could get. In all the other pictures, Lucien isn't looking at the camera, Jude isn't smiling, or Anders is moving (or a combination of all three). 

Roppongi, Tokyo with Louise Bourgeoise spider in background.

Lucien and Jude (fishing in the background) in a beautiful little park in Azabu, Tokyo which happens to be right by the subway station for our hotel. Some of the kids actually caught fish but not Jude because leaves are not good bait. This area is full of embassies so there are many western-type people, an international grocery store, and a Baskin Robbins which had a 30 minute wait!

Anders on his big day. We are so proud of him.

Baptism Day! Our friends Brad and Gretchen agreed to be our proxy godparents standing in for the real godparents, Ann Copa and David Moyer. Gretchen was wrangling their two year old and Father Moss was game for only taking this one picture (5pm Mass was about to start.)

Jude acting silly after dinner. We had a super busy Saturday so we opted to have Anders's baptism dinner at Chili's on base. Brad and I have spent most of our marriage avoiding places like Chili's but when you are out to eat with 4 high-spirited little boys and 2 babies then Chili's is the place. I can't even imagine the years of diplomacy our group would have undone in a Japanese restaurant.

The man of the hour desperately trying to follow his big brothers footsteps. He made it, too. A little side note - he is wearing a 42 year old sweater that had belonged to my oldest brother, Will.

Spring has sprung.

Kosano Park, Yokosuka Naval Base

Cherry blossoms have come and gone in quite a spectacular fashion. Not only are they gorgeous but they are everywhere. The base is covered in them, streets are lined with them and parks are full of them. Lighter in color than I imagined but much fluffier. They are a huge deal here. Not only do they announce spring they also are the beginning of the fiscal and school year here. Many parties and festivals are held under the blossoms even at night when parks are lit with pink lanterns. Brad and I went to such a park on the recommendation of the Japanese tailor who hemmed my jeans. He told me to get on the train at Shiori station and go up 2 stops. "Park is right there. Trury beautiful." Well if they are trury beautiful, why not. So last Sunday we hired a sitter and went for the last night of blossom viewing in this park. The tailor was right about the beautiful but wrong about the right there part. Once we found it perched on top of a mountain overlooking Yokosuksa's port we shared a bottle of wine under the moonlit cherry blossoms. Unfortunately we forgot the camera and couldn't figure out how to make the cell phone take pictures which is sad since it is our one cell phone in english. Take my word for it - magical.

Scooby in a cherry tree behind our house.

Cherry blossom open base festival. 50,000 local citizens crowd onto the base to enjoy food and games. Brad intrepidly took all three boys so I could have some me time. I decided to ride my bike to the local store in search of little boy easter outfits. I had a lovely ride once I got through the hordes of people coming and going off base. The people leaving are usually carrying several boxes of cheap American pizza so they take up a huge amount of sidewalk. The store, Livin, is a huge department store complete with a grocery, kimono shop, pet store, and a KFC but no cute little boy clothes. Oh well, it was a fun ride by myself under the cherry blossoms.  

Brad and I took the boys on an unsuccessful outing to get their pictures under the trees. Anders however attracted a crowd of cute girls all wanting his picture. He is totally going to have a thing for asian girls. In fact, he already does.

My friend Chantel suggested a park outing since it was spring break and the weather was awesome. When you see the playground equipment in Japanese parks, you know that you are no longer in a society that permits stupid lawsuits. You play at your own risk here. And trust me this place could have only been more dangerous if it had the world's largest teeter totter or perhaps a balance beam over a glass shard pit. Needless to say our collective 5 boys had a great time.

These tires rotated like something you would see in logger olympics. Behind the small fence is a very steep drop off making it a not so great spot for Anders and her toddler or anyone with any knee pain.

Zip lines are very common.

Lucien, Kai and Jude on the ramming apparatus.

Guard rails and soft ground are for wimpy litigious people.

Even though I used to make fun of my friend Lynette when her father made sure her riding helmet had a chin strap and made her use it, I can even see how this thing is a bad idea. I cropped out the two uppermost tires. 

Base playground next to our house with no moving parts and a soft padding on the ground. Anders with Lucien's "friend", Anwen. 

Friday the winds blew off most of the cherry blossoms leaving huge mounds of them on the ground. The neighborhood kids were collecting bags full of them and then having blossom fights in the playground. 

Happy Easter to all! Especially Brad who is in Bahrain working. 

Making do.

There are a lot of things we can not get here that you take for granted at home, Oxy-clean for instance. I love this stuff. I found it once and only once in the tiny bulk section the Commissary before I realized what a precious commodity it is. If I had known at the time that I would never see it on the shelves again, I would have bought much much more than my one box. Luckily, I arrived with some because our clothes would all be grey from our time spent living out in town. The tiny washing machine not only didn't have an agitator it also wasn't hooked up to a hot water line! For awhile I was carrying buckets of hot water from the bathtub to the washer until I resigned ourselves to wearing dark clothes or dingy colors. Apparently most Japanese houses laundry rooms are set up this way. The Japanese society is still fairly sexist but honestly you need someone home full-time just to deal with the laundry and for most families that comes down to the women since they make much less money than there male counterparts. Anyway....

Last summer I got a delightful email from my dear friend Sonnya who lives in South Africa recounting an amazing rafting vacation she took. This made me revisit my teenage dreams of being Karen Blixen (I had lots of time to day dream because of all the damn laundry) during her time spent in Africa so I reread Out of Africa. I do love that book but it's only half of the story because she writes it under a male pseudonym and very well couldn't be carrying on with Denis. So I desperately wanted to watch the movie, drove to the base movie rental place to only find newish movies. A few scattered classics but no Out of Africa nor anything with Bette Davis. Shame on them. Two weeks later I receive it from Netflix. I know two weeks isn't a hideously long wait but really by then Karen and her Ngong hills had faded in my mind. Americans have it good and we have gotten used to being able to get whatever we want when we want it. Yokosuka has been a lesson in patience and making do.

Unfortunately we have been making due with Jude's speech therapy here and it is woefully inadequate for the severity of his problem. I'm trying desperately to find a private speech pathologist here who has a lot of experience with apraxia. I know of one and am meeting with her on Friday. She is an administrator at the speech program at the elementary school though not a therapist at so she would have to be willing to do this on her own time after school. I pray she can do it. I know she has kids and lives an hour away in Yokohama so it's probably a long shot but worth the try. I have set up a meeting with Jude's current teacher, therapist and administrators for April 17th. Hopefully someone will know of someone who can help us. I have emailed several therapists in Tokyo but have found no one with apraxia experience. If we don't come up with a good private therapist, the boys and I will have to return home for good. This has been a heart wrenching decision. We all love our life here and don't want to leave especially since Brad will have to stay behind and finish his tour. Not to mention just the thought of another move so soon makes me want to puke. So if I owe you an email or a phone call, I apologize. It takes a lot of work advocating for your child and I have logged many hours in front of my computer lately trying to figure this all out. So keep your fingers crossed for us and keep us in your prayers.

Riding the Rails

(As always you can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.)

My parents arrived last week for a long awaited for visit. After giving them a few days to get acclimated to Japan and the time difference we hopped on the Shinkansen, Japan's super fast, super sleek bullet train heading towards Hiroshima with a stop in Kyoto. My stepfather is a train fanatic and WWII enthusiast so this itinerary seemed ideal. I threw in the Kyoto because Frommer's said it was a must see and it happened to be on the way. The travel agency on base handled all of the details so all I had to do was hand over a credit card and pick up our tickets. Upon picking up the ticket package I noticed there were 5 tickets apiece which seemed odd since we were only boarding the train 3 times. The agent tried her best to explain but I simply couldn't understand her English. I finally feigned agreement and thanked her. My mother who was with me at the time thought I was nuts to walk out of there without an explanation. What she didn't understand is that the Japanese are far too nice and organized and overly burdened with helpful staff to ever let a few foreigners get on the wrong train. As I expected when we arrived at the enormous Shinagawa station in Tokyo there were uniformed attendants in abundance to help us. 

Once in the correct car and sitting in the assigned seats, I assessed our situation and it wasn't good. Two extremely excited loud boys and a baby in a train car packed full of Japanese business men wearing black suits and napping. (For some reason black is almost the only suit color you see. Not sure if they break out in seersucker for summer but I'm thinking not.) Although not totally alone, Brad had to work and couldn't accompany us. I had the monumental task of keeping the three of them in control and quiet until we reached Kyoto. I had visions of a train full of vacationing families and rambunctious children running the aisles. This was clearly not the case. About thirty minutes into the ride a pretty apron clad women appears pushing a cart full of snacks, drinks and bento boxes. She bows upon entering and exiting the car as does the ticket taker and any other train personnel! A commuter train yes but definitely not the LIRR heading to Long Island. The next set of bowing staff came in the way of ladies dressed in pink coming to collect trash.

Kyoto is full of gorgeous shrines, temples and palaces surrounded by a very modern city complete with one of the coolest train stations and a space needle. I was expecting the city to look like the sets on Memoirs of a Geisha and I couldn't have been more wrong. In fact the neighborhood where most of the movie takes place was a back-lot Hollywood set because the real neighborhood, Gion, had become too modern to film a period piece. We were lucky enough to see a few Geisha in Gion on their way to evening appointments. There are so few Geisha left that spotting one is akin to bird watching. You stake out a spot and wait and wait and then a flash of color, and there she is rushing down the alley to avoid the cameras. Taking her picture made me feel invasive and slightly gross. I would imagine that paparrazzi feel like this when getting pics of unsuspecting celebs on vacation. However, I figured you don't dress like this because you hate attention.

Tired of tackling public transportation systems we decided to take a guided tour of 3 temples and shrines. I'm usually not a huge fan of bus tours but this was so much easier with the 3 kids. I only wish they had given us more time to loiter at some of the sights.

This was a beautiful garden. Can't remember the name of the place for my life but it was gorgeous. The flowering tree behind my mom and the boys is a plum tree not a famous cherry. We were 2 weeks early for cherry blossoms.

Before entering a shrine you watch your hands in a very precise ritualistic way. Lucien and Jude had it down.

Everywhere we went we saw women in kimono. I have lived in Japan for awhile now and have never seen so many before. The tour guide, Yuki, explained that Kyoto was promoting kimono by having a special "kimono week" giving kimono wearers free transportation and special deals in stores. Very cool.

The Kyoto train station is practically a destination itself. Chock full of restaurants, a super nice department store, grocery stores, etc. One huge surprise to us was a Cafe du Monde! Our first morning we went there eagerly anticipating beignets with yummy cafe au lait but in Japan everything is different. No beignets! Corn soup and minestrone soup but no beignets. Go figure.

Here is something you will never see in the states. This is a cafe in the train station's atrium. Notice the throws to keep you warm over the chair backs.

Back on the train for a night and day in Hiroshima. We stayed in a lovely hotel practically connected to the train station. From our 14th floor rooms we could see almost all of the city in that direction. It occurred to my parents that they were older than every building they could see. A sobering thought.  We could also see the bullet trains coming and going from the station. Lucien and Jude loved watching them. Anders, however, was not having a great time. I had forgotten to pack a sippy cup and he was not happy. Not to mention that the hotel in Kyoto wouldn't give us a crib because he was too big! He's only one and kind of shrimpy. So Anders and I had to share a bed for two nights and neither of us slept much. He spent much of the trip napping in my baby carrier. I had looked in every store we passed in Kyoto. No luck. As soon as we were settled in Hiroshima I took off in search. Nothing at the train station, although there was a grocery store and drugstore there. On to the department store across the street. Which sounds like an odd choice but our big department store/mall in Yokosuka has practical things like that in it. Where is Target when you need it? This store ended up being 13 floors with no signs in english. Thirteen floors! I think Macy's on 34th Street is too big to navigate. Somehow I was able to pantomime sippy cup and voila, there was exactly one on the eighth floor.

The next morning was spent at the Peace Memorial Park dedicated to all of the victims of the atomic bomb. A somber place to be for sure. 

Lucien standing in front of artwork made out of thousands of origami swans at the Children's Monument."The Children's Memorial, inspired by the moving story Sadako Sasaki. Sadako was 2 years old when the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, she eventually developed leukemia when she was 10, and started folding paper cranes, believing the Japanese legend that folding 1000 paper cranes can heal her disease. Sadako died before reaching her goal, but her classmates completed the rest. Her story inspired a nationwide effort which continues to this day."

My stepfather, Paul, in front of the A-bomb Dome. This building originally an exhibition hall was one of the few structures standing after the attack. The bomb exploded 600 meters directly above this building sparing it from the destructive waves that obliterated everything else.

Anders inside of the Peace museum overlooking the Memorial Park. I'm kind of thankful that I went through this museum with three kids in tow making it impossible for me to read all of the harrowing plaques and stories. There was even a diorama complete with life size victims with their skin hanging off. I can't tell you how many questions a museum like this can spurn in a seven year old boy. - Who were the bad guys? Who were the good guys? How could good guys do something like this? Is that blood dripping? etc.

Finally we ended up in Tokyo after a 4.5 hour train ride from Hiroshima. We had a lovely day exploring the Asakusa neighborhood. An old Tokyo district with streets closed to cars and one big shrine. We were rather shrined out and opted not to forgo it. Seeing shrines in Japan is like looking at Catholic churches in Italy. You can only see so many.

Asakusa. It happened to be some sort of holiday and the pedestrian streets were mobbed. We saw lots and lots of cherry blossom decorations throughout our trip.

A mini-shrine in Asakusa. I know just how she feels. Unfortunately the gorgeous park beyond the fence was private.

Tokyo taxi. Not only did he wear gloves and the seats were covered in lace, the doors open and shut automatically. 

My parents' trip was all too brief. They were so adept at riding the trains and asking for help that they bravely chose to take the train to the airport all by themselves. I hope they had a good trip.

You say Hairando, I say Hiland.

When we first got to Japan and were house hunting, we were shown a house in Hiland and another house in Hairondo by two different real estate agents. It took us awhile to realize that Hiland and Hairondo were the exact same neighborhood. In fact the Japanese pronounce them exactly the same way - "high-ron-doe". One of our agents looked quite perplexed when I asked her about it the discrepancy. After a few weeks of the 5 of us living in one hotel room, the big house 30 - 45 minutes away in Hiland seemed ideal. Lots of square footage (about 1800 sq. ft.), lots of outdoor space (for Japan this means a rather small yard with some balconies) including a roof top deck, 1 block from a park, accepted dogs, 2 parking spots (a true luxury here) and what we incorrectly thought was a walkable distance to the train station (would have been doable without kids). 

5-25-12 Hiland. (I can't remember the exact address but this is close.) Hiland was divided into different numbered sections or chomes. We were in chome #5, block 25, house #12. Instead of named streets you found your way by block number. So the house behind us was block 25 as well but the house in front was block number 26. Insanely confusing to find your way using this method. To add to my confusion we were right next to chome 4 and 6 which also had a 25-12 too. When coming home if Anders wasn't screaming, I would try to new route to familiarize myself with the nabe. This inevitably did not make me any more familiar but only super super lost. 

Notice the blue hanging things with laundry drying on the balcony. The dryers in Japan are subpar to say the least and electricity is very expensive so almost everybody hangs their laundry to dry including me. Which wasn't bad except our washing machine was on the first floor and the sun never really made it to our yard so I had to take the laundry upstairs to hang. The windows came equipped with metal shutters. If you look directly above the Eminas' the windshield you will see the closed shutters of the boys' bedroom. There was also one shutter that had a remote control. Sweeeet. I had thought how jealous our Gulf coast friends would be if they knew we had built in shutters that rolled and locked from the inside. All houses here have them it must be some kind of building regulation for typhoons.

Every place I have ever lived came with a soundtrack that I can't forget. In NYC it was heels clomping down the sidewalk. On Magazine Street it was river traffic punctuated with the Audobon Zoo's lion's roar (may he rest in peace), on Pleasant Street it was banana trees rustling the side of our house, in Biloxi it was our neighbor's son, in Hiland it was the sound of those metal shutters opening in the morning and closing in the evening. Our next door neighbor must have a hell of a commute because his shutters clanked open at about 4:30 am.

Living room/dining room. This room was actually rather large but very awkward because of the tatami mats seen in the foreground and in that raised area in the back. Tatami mats are woven panels which are professionally installed. Unfortunately our American furniture would ruin them so our couch and big chair were on the wood floor. The raised room also had sliding paneled paper doors called shoji facing the porch door. I'm not really certain what that room was about. I think this was probably a dining area or a place to entertain.  From Wikipedia "There are rules concerning the number and layout of tatami mats; an inauspicious layout is said to bring bad fortune. In homes, the mats must not be laid in a grid pattern, and in any layout there is never a point where the corners of three or four mats touch. In Japan, the size of a room is typically measured by the number of tatami mats. The traditional dimensions of the mats were fixed at 90 cm by 180 cm by 5 cm (35.5in by 71 in by 2 in)." On floorplans rooms are labeled by how many mats it can hold instead of square footage - 6 mats, 8 mats etc.

Our house was actually two houses combined - a larger main house with a small mother-in-law apartment. It had two entrances, two staircases, two kitchens neither of which had an oven, 2 main bathrooms, 3 toilet rooms and 4 bedrooms. The layout couldn't have been more confusing. Three of the bedrooms were downstairs and all of the living space was upstairs. Sugoi (very) bizarre. A Japanese foyer is called a genkan. "It includes a small area, at the same level as the outside, where arriving people remove their shoes. As they take off their shoes, people step up onto a raised floor. They point the tips of their shoes to the outside. The rest of the residence is at the raised level of this floor. Adjacent to the lower floor is a shelf or cabinet called a getabako in which people may place their shoes. Slippers for wear in the home are also stored there." Our house came with it it's own slippers! On the tatami though you aren't supposed to wear slippers only stockinged feet.       

Most of the families on base have adopted the no shoes in the house custom. We really really try to do this because it keeps the floors much cleaner. In fact Lucien and Jude are quite good about it. Brad and I are the kinks in the system. 

 

Japanese homes don't have central air and heat. Instead each room comes with one of these wall units if you are lucky. The name of this one kills me. Another thing their houses lack is insulation so hallways and bathrooms stay very cold in the winter. Jude's teacher told me that she and her husband have resorted to carrying a space heater around with them. Heated rugs and tables, kotatsu, are popular way of keeping warm as well.

 

My favorite feature of the house, the toilets. Toilets are not in the bathrooms but in their own separate little rooms. Our 4 toilets also had gray water sinks, heated seats and washing features. 

Our real estate agent labeled all of the toilets and a/c remote controls for us. If you raised this panel you could also heat the seat. I love the diagrams.

 

Our shower/bathtub room. This room separated from the sink area by a door was completely tiled on the floor. Before you get into the tub you are supposed to sit on a stool soap up and wash off completely before you get in the tub. There was even a mirror way down low. Once you were clean you could get into the tub for a good soak but don't drain the tub. The water is for everyone in the family and it stays hot with some sort of heater in the walls of the tub. Since it was dead-dog hot in August I never took the time to fully check out that feature. I was also slightly afraid of it since the woman teaching our culture class made sure to tell us several times how Americans were always burning up the motor and owing the landlords loads of money. Once you got out the steamy shower or bath the mirror above the sink defogged by a switch. Another very cool feature.

Each of the kitchens and bathrooms had it's own programmable gas supply that you could turn on and off as needed for hot water. The water literally heated up in seconds.

Japanese houses are so different than American houses the The Fleet and Family Support Center holds a 4 hour long class every month called "Tatami go your down? How to live in your Japanese house." Touché.

Gratuitous picture time.

Lucien with Anwen, his future wife. They play together every single day after school. On this particular day in their classroom, I witnessed her opening his jello for him.

How cute are baby butts? Yes, Mom, our door is always that smudged with fingerprints, noseprints and pawprints.

Turning One.

 Anders who now has lived most of his life in Japan turned 1 on Saturday. He is such a delightful and hungry baby. We celebrated his big day with cupcakes, several baby friends and a slew of neighborhood kids who just happened to be in our backyard at the time. He wolfed down his cupcake and then ate the slimy frostingless leftover Jude had set down too close to the high chair. I can't believe he is already a year old but his birth absolutely seems like forever ago. So much has happened to us in his short life. Brad and I are thrilled that he already has a few words - mama, dada, uh-oh, bye-bye, bobo (for all animals who aren't Radar) and his favorite Rarar (Radar). He only says mama if he wants or needs something but says Rarar all day long. Please let this one kid of ours be free of speech problems.

I had promised Jude when Anders turned one he could get a booster seat and relinquish his carseat to Anders. So yesterday we got out the umbrellas and went to the Exchange and in true fashion they had what we needed but not what we wanted. The only booster was bright pink with butterflies on it. Jude took one look and proclaimed "Noooo way!". Later today we'll go to the Japanese mall, Livin, and see what they have. This is probably one of those items that is 5 times more expensive off base. Silly things like garbage cans or cheap crappy plastic containers are way more expensive off base. Don't even think of getting a shoe organizer that will set you back $200.

We've been staying close to home because it's been raining and cold here pretty much continuously for 2 weeks. If it's not rainy and cold it's unbelievably windy. Somedays we get the trifecta of windy, cold and rainy. I'm praying that the rain stops next week for my parent's visit. The first week of April is called Golden Week and everyone in Japan has a collective spring break. This also coincides with cherry blossom viewing. I can't imagine what traffic is going to be like.

One year ago. I had forgotten how buggy his eyes were. Trust me it's not just this picture. 

Speaking of pictures when I went to look for a newborn picture of Anders, I remembered that his big brother Lucien had erased every single one from my camera. I could still cry. 

Zachary, Kai, Lucien, Jude, Ellie and Anders. We were rather partied out after our "crawfish" boil so I kept this party simple - 12 cupcakes and a balloon left over from Brad's birthday. Sorry Anders, perhaps I'll do better next year. 

The day before Anders' birthday while I was cooking I heard Jude yell "ho, ho, ho". This is what I found. Radar lucked out - playing the reindeer is traditionally his job.