The Noodles and Rice Chronicles

Guest Bloggers:  Julie, Chad, and Stephen

So, here it is. The long awaited blog post from our Tokyo Adventure! I have to warn that it is rather long so feel free to skip - I was hoping this would be a foundation for our own little scrapbook. Anyway, here goes:

I’ve spent the last 2 weeks (the drafting of this began about 2 weeks after our return) chatting with friends and family about our trip and the biggest question every one has is, “how did Stephen do?” So let’s get that out of the way. Stephen was great! He was a bit active on the way over, but the iPad/tv screen was a lifesaver (both ways). And for the lack of regular naps and bedtimes, he was a stellar toddler and remained his typically happy self. That was most likely due to the constant entertainment cousins bring. He learned to nap in the ergo and sleep on a futon with relative ease, although every night was interesting trying to find where he ended up in the dark.  He was also a big fan of all things noodles and rice and was willing to try anything once; he even liked nori!

                                         

Assuming the nap position

He became our noodle boy!

We had a wonderful time visiting Japan and the family.  Some of our favorite moments were experiencing daily life for Kevin, Stephanie, Ethan and Ryan, whether it was going to Ethan's soccer game (he scored 2 goals!), picking up Ryan from yochien on a bike, or cooking in a Japanese kitchen  with Japanese groceries. Experiencing all the new foods and activities (biking as transportation!) was truly a novelty we wished we could bring back with us to the States. Since we’ve returned, I’ve already tried my hand at both okonomiyaki and oyakodon and while they were edible, they weren’t quite the same.

As for the traditionally defined “adventures,” our visit was full of them. I’ve included all of the highlights.

Electric Sushi/Shibuya

This was a good opener to our trip. A good way to understand and experience the modernity of Japan. The famous “Shibuya Crossing” was an electronics marvel that had Stephen mesmerized; he didn’t know which screen to look at! Known as the “Times Square” of Tokyo, the lights and flashes went on for blocks, as did the crowds. Our destination was Electric Sushi where we sat at a bar and ordered from touchscreens. The food comes out on a track, you take your food off and send the platter back. Repeat as needed. It was a fun experience, though some of my specific choices were culinarily lacking. But that was more a function of my inexperience than anything else. Had we more time, I would’ve like to go back to Shibuya and view the “crossing” from the 2^nd floor Starbucks they advised in our travel guide. Apparently from above, it’s amazing to see the crowds of people strolling across the street and clearing out before the light changed.

Asakusa

Kevin escorted us via Sumida river cruise to Asakusa, a good follow-up to Shibuya with respect to the crowds. 

Being Golden Week, heading down Nakamise Dori, a street lined with shops and souvenir stands, was especially crowded. We sampled yakisoba, fried octopus balls (the popular notion that everything fried is delicious did not hold true here), bacon-wrapped nigiri (but the notion that everything with bacon is delicious did!), Japanese “fried chicken”, mochi and some lovely custard-filled, fried confections. 

bacon-wrapped nigiri

Asakusa houses the Sensoji Temple which dates back to 628. The shrine is dedicated to Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy and happiness who has the ability to release humans from all suffering. This was our first Buddhist temple, so we got to learn how to purify ourselves with incense and cleanse our hands and mouths with water, as well as that more familiar notion of religious tithing. The process which we watched a few times before trying ourselves was to throw some coins into a money box, clap our hands twice to get the gods’ attention, and then bow and pray. Not sure we ever got it quite right.  I think we quit trying eventually.

Kamakura

Luckily the family had Monday off work/school as well for Golden Week, so we decided to brave the potential crowds and head to Kamakura, site of the Great Buddha. It’s the second largest bronze image in Japan (the first of which is in Nara, see below). Compared to Nara, it seemed bigger or maybe just more grand, probably because it is in the open air, not housed in a temple (apparently it used to be but a tidal wave destroyed the temple).

Before we got to the Big Buddha, we embarked on a hike, which was a nice walk in the woods, albeit hilly, for most of us except Kevin, who offered (and we didn’t refuse) to carry Stephen.  Kevin ended up being Stephen’s favorite, which was lucky for us (and our backs and legs)! Mid-hike, we stopped for a snack where the boys got to smash some dishes and we had our first "viewing" of Mt. Fuji. 

Can't you see Fuji?

Post-Buddha, we tried out a make-your-own okonomiyaki (cabbage/egg pancakes) restaurant which coincidentally ended up being in our guidebook. Our first taste had both Chad and I (but not Stephen) impressed that something made of essentially cabbage, egg, flour and Chinese yam could taste so good. Perhaps it was the tangy okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise that accompanied it, but it was delicious. Anyway it was lucky for us that Stephanie had previously taken a cooking class with her mom and was willing to cook it for us again!

Stephen helping make okonomiyaki, pantless of course!

Tsukiji/Tokyo Giants

A full day on Monday meant that we were going to sleep in on Tuesday. Nope, that’s not what happened. We woke up before 3am to be at the Tsukiji fish market at 4:30am to view the tuna auction. Amazingly, at 3:15am, there are cabs in this very residential neighborhood – no having to call ahead for a car or anything! I didn’t believe Stephanie when she said there’d be cabs, but there was! We stood for an hour and a half waiting to enter the auction where we got to see lines of flash frozen tuna waiting to be auctioned off to restaurants and retailers. Some of the auctioneers were more animated than others. Our visit was a brief 25 minutes. We really weren’t tourists at this market, just observers, which was very clear going back and forth from the waiting area to the auction area when we had to dodge giant trucks and forklifts. Everyone truly just went about their business. The attorney in me was aghast. Anyway, Tsukiji market at 4:30am meant a sushi breakfast at 6am. Not sure that could ever be routine – I don’t even know if it’s typical in the Japanese culture. But it was pretty fresh and yummy.

Sushi at 6

I love markets and a stroll through the rest of the Tsukiji market didn’t disappoint. Lots of random looking slimy things, live marine animals including giant crabs and lots of kitchen supply stands. Perhaps we spent longer strolling because we dreaded our attempt to brave the Tokyo subway system by ourselves. But the trip was successful and we made it home safely.

making our way home by ourselves

Later that night we got to go to a Tokyo Giants game. I think attending a sporting event might become a tradition for all future vacations. The Giants were playing the Osaka Tigers and, interestingly, Tigers fans were a lot more enthusiastic and loud than Giants fans.  I often found myself cheering for the Tigers to keep Stephen happy and clapping. The beer-lady vendors had kegs attached to their backs and before coming up the aisles, solemnly bowed to the crowd. We also noticed this behavior with the flight attendants on our ANA flight right before landing. The Giants lost, much to Ethan’s chagrin and our first baseball game outside the US was a success – although the search for water at the game was a fail.

beer vendor

Hakone

Thanks to Aunt Stephanie’s offer to baby-sit, Chad and I decided to embark on an overnight trip to Hakone sans Stephen. Our goal was to get into nature and to, hopefully, catch a glimpse of Fuji along the way. Well, the first goal did not exactly meet our expectations, but Fuji was a presence the entire time! We first saw the majestic mountain on the train – we all of a sudden noticed that we were in the mountains and began looking out the window more and, all of a sudden, there it was. But then it was gone and as we continued to try to see it, we eventually gave up. Then, we turned a bend and there it was again and it never left!

The fun part of Hakone is the transportation. We took a train, mountain tram, cable car, boat and then a bus back to the train station.

On our way to the guesthouse, we stopped at the Open Air Museum, an art museum housing sculptures out in the open and a pretty decent Picasso exhibit. We’re not big art museum people, but it was a beautiful setting (and beautiful weather) and we got some lovely pictures of our surroundings.

The following day, we made it to Owakudani, the “Great Boiling Valley” an area of high volcanic activity. The cable car ride up to Owakudani offered more views of Fuji. We proceeded to go the wrong way to the wrong nature trail, despite all the obvious crowds going the opposite way which resulted in a 40 minute, arduous detour. But afterwards, we surely deserved the deep fried mochi and boiled eggs that are cooked “black” in the boiling waters of Owakudani.

Lots of stairs

deep fried mochi

lucky black eggs

finally a nice pic with Fuji!

Back into the cable car and then a boat across Lake Ashi, we headed to Hakone-machi and the touristy Hakone Check Point. This guardhouse was built in 1619 to serve as a checkpoint along the Tokaido Highway which connected Tokyo with Kyoto. In feudal days, local lords had to spend alternate years in Edo (present-day Tokyo) and their wives were kept in Edo as virtual hostages to discourage the lords from planning rebellions while in their homelands. The checkpoints prevented transport of guns, spies and females trying to flee Edo. Male violators were executed while women had their heads shaven and were given away to anyone who wanted them.

We finished our trip with a walk through the Hakone Detached Palace Garden, beautiful grounds with lovely views of Fuji and a stroll to Moto-Hakone down the Cedar walkway where we ate a 7-11 lunch on the water and headed out of town on a bus.

see Fuji?

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building/Harajuku/Meiji shrine

On Friday, we made our way around Tokyo on our own. We visited the top of a federal building to get a view of the city without paying or waiting in long lines to get to the top of Tokyo Tower. We then headed to Harajuku where we enjoyed a lovely tonkatsu lunch and glimpses of Harajuku girls mid-day.

Discreetly taken pic of Harajuku girl?

Harajuku girls are somewhat perplexing to me. I had heard of them before, but wasn’t sure why they dressed up the way they did or from where they derived their fashion sense. A trip to Harajuku did not clear anything up. Wikipedia explains that “Harajuku Girls” is an English-language moniker to describe teenagers dressed in any fashion style who are in the area of Harajuku. So, I guess by that definition, I was a “Harajuku Girl” that day. But I wonder what the girls are called when they are not in Harajuku; for example, when we saw one on a bullet train on the way back from Kyoto or at the Daiei (think Target) near the house. Anyway, it was fun trying to catch a glimpse of them in Harajuku. The amount of crepes stands was also perplexing and somehow, we managed not to indulge.

Discreetly taken pic of Harajuku girl #2 on bullet train.

Around the corner from the Harajuku train station is the Meji shrine, where Stephen got to have some green tea ice cream and run around a bit. 

Meiji is a Shinto shrine, Japan’s ancient original religion. Shinto has no founder, no holy book and no concept of religious conversion. That’s my kind of religion! This shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and his Empress, who passed away in 1912 and 1914, respectively. So, this is a relatively modern shrine. According to the tourist pamphlet, Emperor Meiji took the initiative to promote friendship with other countries and introduce Western civilization and developed technology from overseas while preserving Japanese identify after a long isolation and the Tokugawa Shogunate. One thing the Emperor was known for enjoying was wine and these barrels are from Bourgogne, France to signify the hope for a long and fruitful relationship with France. He and the Empress laid the foundations of modern Japan.

Sake barrels

French wine barrels

Nara/Kyoto

One of the highlights of the trip for me was our almost 2 days in Kyoto. We juuust made it to our bullet train (3 minutes to spare) to Kyoto. Upon arrival in Kyoto and before heading out to Nara, we decided to indulge in some Papa Beards cream puffs. They were quite delicious – this is coming from someone who is not a huge fan of cream puffs in the first place (a rarity in the Narimatsu family). 

Poor Stephen was too tired to enjoy a cream puff

Nara is home to the crazy deer and the biggest bronze Buddha in the world. The kids had told us about the deer, but I don’t think we quite understood the extent of their “friendliness/aggression". There are several vendors on the sidewalks selling deer snacks and the deer have figured that out. They stand near these folks and stalk passers-by. We saw many a tourist and local alike with their hands in the air, proving to the deer that they had no snacks. Kevin’s strategy was to discreetly buy the snacks such that the deer did not know that you had them. If you didn’t do this, it was difficult to hand over the snacks to the kids without deer interfering with the transaction. It took several tries, but most of us managed to feed the deer, excluding Stephen, who was happy petting a docile deer near the shrine entrance. 

Ryan's stance - he would drop the cracker and immediately put his hands up.

Again the Buddha wasn’t as grand as the one in Kamakura, but the setting was lovely and the kids got to squeeze themselves through a small opening in one of the columns in the shrine. We saw one adult do it and that was enough to suppress any urge to try for the adults in our party.

Kyoto is much like the Japan you would dream of, rather than the modernity of Tokyo. I could walk around Kyoto for days, peeking in the different shops and vendors, sampling different kinds of mochi and taking in the shrines around every corner. 

This is how we discovered chocolate mochi. As we were searching for our guesthouse, we sampled chocolate mochi. After finding the guesthouse, being close to 5pm, Stephanie and I worried that it would close for the day and we’d have to go without. So we ran back to the store and bought a couple of boxes and proceeded to eat almost all of it that night (there were 6 of us after all ;)). The next day, we discovered the ubiquity of chocolate and other kinds of mochi. We later bought strawberry mochi and more chocolate mochi and created our own “chocolate-covered strawberry mochi!”

We ventured out that evening for a yakitori dinner (delicious, albeit pricey – all those sticks add up!) and ended the day with a search for Geisha. We were unsuccessful. Our first day in Kyoto/Nara marked the one and only rainy day we had in Japan. All other days were sunny and in the 70’s!

We met our shrine quota the following day around Kyoto. The first shrine was Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple founded in 798, though the current structure was built in 1633. There is a waterfall within the complex, from which it derives its name – Kiyomizu means “pure water.” There were lovely views of Kyoto from here, including the Kyoto Tower. 

Next, we ventured to Fushimi Inari Shrine, known to have ancient origins and famous for its thousands of torii gates. This shrine is dedicated to the Shinto god of rice. Foxes are thought to be Inari’s messengers, resulting in fox statues across the grounds. 

Upon arrival, we were treated to some sort of sword demonstration. The kids were pretty excited. Cousin photo opp #1 with the first performer. It was sad that I got so excited to see a woman perform as well. 

We hiked through the gates for awhile, but got tired pretty early and turned back. Luckily, we got to sample local inari on our way back.  

Our final destination in Kyoto was Kevin’s favorite temple – Kinkaku-ji – “Temple of the Golden Pavilion”. Kinkaku-ji is a Zen Buddhist temple dating back to 1397 and covered with pure gold leaf. The original villa was purchased by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and converted into a Zen temple by the son, according to the Shogun’s wishes. The current structure was rebuilt in 1955 after being burned down several times. I have to say it was pretty impressive, despite it’s out-of-the-way location.

Disneyland

After a breather day on Monday filled with park time and custard-filled waffles, we embarked on the kids’ one true wish during our visit – to go to Disneyland! Having not been to Disney in awhile, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but one thing I can tell you – don’t go to Disney for the food! The Mickey burgers were almost inedible, but Stephen enjoyed his Mickey nuggets and fries of course. It was one of the few non-Japanese meals we had during our trip and I certainly could’ve done without it.

But the purpose is the rides! Stephen spent some of the morning in a stroller – he was pretty cooperative, having recently been anti-stroller. We didn’t bring one along, so this was the first he’d seen of one in awhile and he was able to get a nap in in the morning 

while the kids rode Space Mountain, Monster’s Inc. and a jungle safari cruise. Ryan was not a fan of Space Mountain, which we should’ve probably foretold when he didn’t want to go on the much more childish roller coaster in Toon Town. But he got over it with some soy sauce & butter popcorn. 

The highlight of Disney for us was Stephen’s rides on the tea cups. I wasn’t sure he was ready for it, half expecting his lunch to come up, but despite Ethan’s enthusiastic spinning, Stephen loved it and could not stop giggling. And I found that if I just watched Stephen, I could keep my lunch down too! We proceeded to ride it 3 more times! 

He was also able to do Peter Pan, It’s a Small World and Dumbo. We all loved the electric parade too and did a few more rides after finally tanking and heading home. 

The kids were EXHAUSTED as were Steph, Chad and I. Ryan was passed out before we even left the train station and Ethan continued drunkenly along. Everyone was out by the time we got home. Between stations, I had Stephen on my back, Chad had Ethan and Steph had Ryan. We had to call Kevin to bring the bike to get Ethan home as none of us were in shape to piggyback Ethan home. All in all, a fun day meant for the kid in all of us!

What an amazing adventure we had and we can’t wait to spend some time with them again, hopefully stateside as Stephen will no longer be a free ride! Here are some other random thoughts from our trip that didn’t fit neatly into our narrative:

•  Fitting in, unaware: I certainly felt like a foreigner in a foreign land, but people did not see me that way and would try to speak to me in Japanese. I typically didn’t register the fact that they were even talking to me, especially if I was with Stephanie. Isn’t it obvious that she’s the one that can speak Japanese? Apparently not. At the same time, every time I saw foreigners, I was instantly attracted to them and I tried to register some kind of recognition. Much to my chagrin, it was typically not reciprocated, except when I was with Chad.
•  Clean and well staffed: Japan is very clean and very well-staffed. In DC, it’s difficult to find anyone to help you at the train station, but in Tokyo, there are staff standing at almost every door of the train making sure people get in and out efficiently and at the escalators ensuring that people walk/stand on the proper side. On that same note, everyone dresses very well and I was the worst-dressed person almost every day, not counting my travel companions, 2 of whom were men who wore shorts! Gasp – Japanese men do not wear shorts! Even people exercising at the track near the house wore full-blown track suits in 75 degree weather.
• Walkability/bikeability: I really appreciated the neighborhood’s walkability and bikeability. It made me long for a similar community…On the other hand, no one wears a bike helmet, except for kids. I can count on one hand the number of adult helmets I saw, but the number of bikers had to be in the high hundreds.
• Prevalence of toilets: My 7-month pregnant self would’ve LOVED Japan. There are toilets everywhere! Where I would normally not drink fluids starting about an hour before I have to be anywhere, here I could drink whenever and wherever I wanted and be assured a toilet, unless I was on the train. The train stations have them, parks had them, the shrines/temples had them. And not just one – there was always one around the corner. It was a revelation! Oh and how they were fancy! I really became enamored with the heated toilet seats at Kevin & Stephanie’s, but was equally amazed at all the controls on a regular public toilet – spraying, music and a flushing sound if you don’t want others to hear your business.

• Courtesy seats: At 9pm on a Tuesday night, a DC train would typically be empty. Not so in Tokyo. And people are wedded to their seats. Rarely did anyone offer their seat to one of us holding Stephen (though it did happen once or twice) and even more rarely did people offer their seats to the elderly. Those Japanese elders are quite hardy though, thank goodness!
• Last but not least, let's end with some pics of the awesomely cute boys!

Skyping

Yukata boys!

Quite the trip we had - worth every penny and vacation day! Thanks to Kevin, Stephanie, Ethan and Ryan - we highly recommend the accommodations!