LOTS of Surprises in One Day - By Ethan

On the Yokohama ferris wheel...

Dictated by Ethan, typed by Stephanie

Dear Friends and Family,

Today we had a great day.  We had TEN surprises in one day.

1.  We walked by a shop that had a small pool of balloons that was part of a game.  To play, you had to buy something in the shop, but the lady said "this is a gift" and let me play one time for free.

2.  Hooray!  In the game, I caught the balloon with the hook, so I got to take it home.  A pretty fun game.

3.  Baseball time!  I played this cool baseball game and hooray again - home runs for my team! And I won 6-5 - close game too. And I said "that was a pretty good thing for 100 yen."

4.  Yippee!  The ferris wheel!  We went on a big Ferris Wheel in Yokohama - it is called Cosmo Club 21.

5.  Alvin and the Chipmunks!  Alvin and the Chipmunks!  Haha - fooled you.  It was just a big squirrel thing (my mom said it's called a mascot) with a really big belly button!

The silly mascot thing that Ethan REALLY wanted a picture of...

6.  Ooishii yummy!  We had dim sum for lunch in Yokohama Chinatown and for dessert, I chose coconut tarts. We also got to taste mango pudding, almond jelly, and peach buns (they were shaped like a peach but filled with red beans).

7.  Again, a balloon!  And a big buta.  Haha - fooled you again, buta is a pig (the balloons had pigs printed on them because they were giving them away at a tonkatsu food stand).

8.  With the 2 balloons, I made an archery game!

9.  While we were walking by the ships, we saw lots of jelly fish swimming in the water.  And I have a story for you.  One time, Mommy got stung by a jellyfish and it hurt!  She had to put baking soda on it.

10.  A homeless man gave Ryan a fan and Ryan said it's a fan, an umbrella shade, a back scratcher, and a mosquito-smacker - all in one!

Ethan with his bow and arrow made from his 2 "surprise balloons."

We had a fun day, with Mommy's friend whose name is Sandy.  My four favorite parts were the ferris wheel, the ballon I won at the game, winning the baseball game, and the jellyfish.

Love,
Ethan

I have one song -　いちにさんしごろくしちはち

The Mt. Fuji Mission

Roooaaaadtrrrrrriipppp!

We planned a little last minute excursion to Hakone, with the goal of seeing the famous Mt. Fuji.  Though our Mt. Fuji mission was thwarted by rain and clouds, our spirits were high and we enjoyed our weekend away...

And the kids were quite excited to see their first rice fields, resulting in a shout-out every time we passed one (which was often)!

Exploring the Owakudani Volcano and other such Adventures

I was amazed by how green and lush the Hakone area is.  Kevin and I both said that it reminded us of the Santa Cruz Mountains.  We left on a Saturday morning and by the time we got there, it was early afternoon.  So, with only a day and a half to explore, we went for the gusto!  Our explorations included

• The Hakone-Tozan Cablecar up the mountainside - like a small train car that travels on a steep track up the mountainside
• The Hakone Ropeway (aka what we might call a cable car / ski lift like thing / the English term is escaping me at the moment)
• A short hike to the boiling sulphur pits of the Owakudani Volcano
• The Hakone Pirate Ship, sailing across Lake Ashinoko 
• An all-consuming search for the perfect Hakone souvenir for the boys that met our criteria of a) less than 500yen and b) a reminder of our trip.  [In case the suspense is killing you, Ethan chose a "3-D" Mt. Fuji notebook and Ryan chose a Mt. Fuji "crystal ball." We hope these will bring us good luck the next time we try to see the "shy" mountain.]

The cablecar up the mountain

A little snuggle time on the cablecar - I'll take it whenever I can get it...

On the ropeway....

Looking out at the steam escaping from the earth....

...in the Owakudani volcano area

Where our black eggs were cooked (see below for more about this tasty treat)

Looking out at the mountains, while breathing in the sulphuric fumes :)

Heading back down the mountain... on to our next adventure!

The Pirate Ship on Lake Ashinoko!

My boys... seeking refuge from the rain and wind!

 Our First Guesthouse / Hostel and Onsen (natural hot springs) in Japan

Our home away from home - for 1 night in Hakone

We quite liked our little family tatami room - it looked out onto a babbling brook surrounded by lush, green forest.  Quite peaceful, really.

There was also an outdoor onsen and an indoor onsen, and the hot water was none other than that of the Owakudani volcano that we had seen earlier in the day.  Ryan opted to skip the hot water, but Ethan was game to try it.

After a long day of exploring, we were quite happy to come back to the guesthouse, relax in our yukattas, and then relax even more in the outdoor onsen.

Exploring the outdoor onsen when we first arrived

Ethan's first onsen

Tired travelers!

FOOD!!!!

As has become "the usual" for us, any adventure includes sampling whatever tasty treats we can find (and some not-so-tasty, but we didn't know that until after the fact).  This weekend was no exception.

Clearly, the specialty of the Hakone area is かまぼこ (kamaboko), or steamed fish cakes.  They come in all different shapes and sizes and colors and often on a stick.  To our untrained taste buds, the flavors of the various types were quite similar.  Ethan tried them, but wasn't a fan.  Ryan quite liked them. 

One of many random fish-cakes-on-a-stick we tasted...

We also sampled the famous くろたまご / "black eggs" that are literally cooked in the bubbling, boiling sulphur water of the Owakudani volcano.  The eggs don't taste any different from normal hard-boiled eggs, but the chemical reaction with the sulphur creates a completely black egg shell.  The legend is that eating a black egg will add 7 years to your life, but that one should not eat more than 2.5 (I wonder if that's why you can only buy them in packs of 5).  We topped off our black eggs with egg ice cream, for no good reason at all, except that it was delicious.  We skipped the wasabi ice cream, however... that'll be the next trip, I suppose.

The black eggs cooked in the boiling sulphur water pits...

Taking a little "black egg" break in the middle of our short hike

More street food - and this was some darn DELICIOUS corn on the cob! I had no idea that corn on the cob was such a Japanese delicacy....

Our favorite meal was from a "country-style" Japanese restaurant for dinner on Saturday night.  It was a feast!  And as usual, the kids ate waaaay more than one would think people of their size should be able to consume.  But it's par for the course these days.

We had teriyaki chicken, traditional fried chicken (kara age), age dashi tofu and age dashi eggplant, oyakudon, miso soup, tsukemono, and probably some other delicious-ness that I'm forgetting.  Our meals were served with a mystery side dish that I thought was incredibly tasty, until I asked Kevin what it was and he told me that he thought it was pork innards and pork fat.  That made it slightly less appealing as I figured that I probably shouldn't be eating a bowl of pork fat - no matter how good it tasted.  I finally asked the restaurant what it was and after much dictionary searching and a call out to another apparently local restaurant guest who spoke some English, we learned that it was actually stewed gluten.  At least that's what we understood - not 100% sure that's right, but I gotta find out soon so I can eat it again!

Watching our dinner being prepared...

Watching our dinner being devoured...