Kyoto

Our big adventure during Mom and Suzannes visit was a trip to Kyoto.  Kyoto is not exactly close to Tokyo, some 3 hrs away via bullet train, or shinkansen as it is referred to here.  We have often heard it is THE place to visit while here in Japan, so we purposely waited until company came to go.

Kyoto served as Japans capital and the emperors residence from 794 until 1868.  Over the centuries, Kyoto was destroyed by many wars and fires,  but due to its historic value, the city was dropped from the list of target cities for the atomic bomb and spared from air raids during World War II.  Countless temples, shrines and historically priceless structures abound here today.  I am rather 'shrined out' but one of our favorite puzzles we did together as a family was photographed here and again added to the draw.

                                                            Tourist boats ready to go

                                                         A Buddhist monk cemetery

                                                                Bamboo grove

                                                               

                                                                Shady but we are there!

                                           Easily one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen.
                                                      The Golden Pavillion was breathtaking.
                                             Oh and by the way, this building is covered in real gold!

                                                 The pictures cannot do it justice

The next day brought lots of rain but we headed out to see the famous Fushimi Inari Shrine anyway.  This is a shinto shrine dedicated to Inari, the shinto god of rice.  Foxes are thought to be Inaris messengers, resulting in many fox statues throughout the grounds.  This shrine predates the capitals move to Kyoto in 794, so is VERY old.  There are apparently over 5000 torii gate here up the side of the mountain.  And after visiting, I don't find that number hard to believe at all.  The torii gates are purchased by businesses for good fortune.  A small torii gate runs around 4000$ and the larger ones over 10000$.

                                                                   The entry

Notice the foxes

We headed home later in the day....shinkansen or bullet train, classic Japan.

Nagano Prefecture

When I think of Nagano I think of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games.  I remember watching endless hours of figure skating with my sisters, and never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would go there someday.  I hope we come to this area to ski soon, but this trip brought us up to see the world famous snow monkeys.  We rented a van from the base, complete with two drivers.  Its a great perk to living on base, as its a pretty cost effective, and a stress free way to navigate for day trips.  We brought with us our good friends Jamie and Matt Cowan and their two girls.

We arrived in this snowy little Japanese hot spring town and promptly got stuck.  Thankfully the men were able to push us out.

                                                                   Working hard...

When we finally arrived we had a 1.6km hike up the mountain to where the snow monkeys were, and the walk was absolutely beautiful.  One of the highlights of the day.

                                                                  steam from a hot spring

Audrey was not impressed

                                             

When we reached the park, the monkeys are literally right next to you.  There are no enclosures or cages, this is their natural habitat.  They are not scared of humans, but can become aggressive if food is near.  They love to chill in the natural hot springs of this area.

                                                               Very fun to observe

It was a long drive up here, so I was so glad we decided to go to Matsumoto castle as well while we were in this part of Japan.  This samurai castle was built over 400 years ago.  It is known as the black castle, so it could not be seen at night very well.  The samurai inhabited the second floor and the war lord the top.  There were many tiny windows for archery and later gunfire.  The kids LOVED it.

Matsumoto castle

                                                               Ready to go

                                                                   Entering the grounds

  It was very dark inside, so it made taking pictures tough.  Here is one of all the children checking out the view.

We had to wear slippers inside.  The woodwork was amazing, and it was easy to see why they wanted to protect the floors.

                                                            Room with a view

                                                                Suzanne and I

Family 

So glad we included this in our day, it was an amazing place.

Happy Birthday Tommy

 Yup, he is nine!  His birthday seemed to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the holidays and company...but he never complained...

Yokohama New Years Fellowship

January 2 brought us to the Yokohama area assembly for a day of fellowhip and afternoon Bible reading.  We had not been here before and it was such a neat experience.  Andrew and I very much would like to go back.  Dinner consisted of many traditional Japanese New Years foods, sushi, and as they put it 'American' pizza from Pizza Hut.  I liked their food far better than pizza hut!

Fujiten

January 1.  Wow where did the year go?  Have we really been here six months already?  Since day 1 our children have wanted to get a chance to go up Mount Fuji.  The iconic volcano is really spectacular from here on base, especially on clear days and when I told them that today we were going sledding on her they were SO excited.  Its a little bit of a trek for sledding, some 90 minutes, but the kids were ready, and we were as well to have some fun in the white stuff!

When I looked at the sledding hill I thought it looked rather small for what I was expecting.  But I was wrong, that hill was actually excellent.  The best part I think, was the moving sidewalk to bring you up the hill again.  No whining about tired legs on this day!

                                                                 Happy Girl!

                                                                         Loving it

No walking this time!

 
And I got to ski!  For the first time in almost 12 years.  It was heavenly.  I had honestly forgotten how much I loved it.  The hill wasn't nearly as good as I have heard many of the resorts are, but for those of you familiar with Wentworth, I would say it is similar in height and difficulty.  The conditions were perfect, and it was without doubt the highlight of my day.

                                                  At the base, family shot.

Siblings

Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower has not really been high on my priority list of things to do here in Tokyo.  I really am not sure why, I think mainly I was slightly irritated with the Japanese for trying to duplicate the Eiffel Tower in Tokyo of all places.  The Eiffel Tower is for Paris.  Period.  But when Skytree has a rumored 4 hour wait to go up, Tokyo Tower starts to sound pretty good as an alternate during Golden Week.  So after we went to the market we decided to go up the tower, and I really enjoyed it.  I guess when expectations are low, it couldn't help but please.

                                                    Always the goof ball

View of Rainbow Bridge

                                                    Gorgeous Japanese maple on December 30th!

                                                               Us....

                                                            Andrew and his mom

                               

family comes to visit!

This Christmas was a tough one.  Back in Ohio I have oft complained of having to go and do so much in such a short amount of time over those few days.  This year, was the complete opposite.  We had zero places we had to be, and though I would have to admit it was rather nice to lounge around in our pajamas all day, we felt a keen sense of loneliness all day.
We did however, have the visit of Andrews mother and sister Suzanne to look forward to on the 28th.  We were so excited to have our very first visitors here in Japan!  I fear we may have done a little too much, with not enough down time, but they did not complain, and we loved loved loved having them here for 10 days.

Knowing what to do with them here during Golden Week, Japans biggest holiday, was a real challenge.  Most decent restaurants, museums, many parks etc.  are all closed so the Japanese can spend time with family and go to the shrine to pray for the new year.

 Our first excursion into the city brought us to the worlds largest fish market Tsukiji.  The market was due to be closed for the next 5 days, so I was thrilled to get there on the last day it was open for the year.  The sight of the many kinds of fresh fish, and other seafood and the busy atmosphere of scooters, trucks, sellers and buyers hurrying around, make Tsukiji a very fascinating place to observe Tokyo life.

Molly complained the ENTIRE time about the smell, and made her displeasure known to anyone who would listen to her strong dislike of fish.  Visiting was difficult with the children, but it was a place I would love to return to.

                                                          A VERY busy place

                                                                  The remnants

                                                                     Blue Fin Tuna

                                                          These sell for thousands each day



Upon leaving we explored the surrounding neighbourhood a bit and found this great little pottery shop.  I purchased some Japanese style teacups which I have been needing.  Green Tea here we come!

                                                           A huge selection....

                                                               
Purchases made, on we went to Tokyo Tower!