Proud Mom

August 12, 2017

Tokyo, Japan

I am proud of my boys for their ability to take on this journey. I told them from the start this was not going to be a vacation. It has been an epic adventure. We have been away from home 193 days, travelled across 4 continents and through 13 countries. We have swam in 4 of the 5 oceans. We have travelled by plane, train, car, boat, subway, ferry, streetcar, bicycle, taxi, tuk tuk, bus, cable car and many miles on foot.

The longest consecutive time we stayed put was for 14 nights in the same apartment in Cape Town. After that we have constantly been on the move. We have slept in apartments, trains, a tree house, airports, tents, an SUV, a van, cottages, on planes and in houses.

Today is the last day of our trip. We plan on going to the old part of Tokyo, Nippori (also the called fabric town, but boys don't know this), and want to do a walking tour around Tokyo station to see the Imperial Palace. 

Our flight leaves Tokyo at 9:50PM. We will have a layover in Vancouver for a few hours and get to do Saturday all over again. 14 hours time change is interesting.

31 hours until we will be in Manitoba. It's going to be a long day!

Looking forward to a brown dog and a brown house.

Return to Tokyo

August 11, 2017

Kyoto to Tokyo, Japan

Riding the skinkansen is always smooth and comfortable. The hakari took us from Kyoto to Tokyo station where we needed to take the city trains to find our apartment for our last night sleeping in a bed.

Hikara 464 pulling in exactly on time at exactly the right spot on the platform in Kyoto.

We may be running out of steam, but I was not willing to stay in the apartment from when we arrived at 4:00. Having everyone hungry helped get the boys out.

I like the Japanlish we see around the country. I do well when it comes to the listening and reading comprehension. I struggle, however, with speaking and writing this language.

A walk to Shinjuku took half an hour. Too early to call it a night as much as the boys do not want to be out. Shinjuku is well lit and lively any night of the week. It feels cool tonight. I have not felt cool since the end of May.

It will be a long day tomorrow. Oya sumi nasi my boys.

Golden Temple

August 10, 2017

Kyoto, Japan

Our lazy mornings get us out the door by 11:00. The trip to the north end of the city takes up most of the early afternoon. Kinkakuji, the Golden Temple, is a beautiful Zen-Buddist temple. The 45-minute bus ride was worth it. So many Japanese maple trees. The only difference from the times I have seen it before is the number of tourists.

The boys can not understand my interest in fabric. They opted out of my shopping afternoon to cool off in the apartment.

But these Japanese indigoes are hard to leave behind. And Jack is one helluva Sherpa.

The evening is too wet and rainy to go out. Keeping everyone contained in this rabbit hutch requires two decks of cards and a crib board. 

Our tiny apartment is too cozy. Those tiny house hunters are crazy!

Kyoto

August 8, 9,  2017
Kyoto, Japan

Kyoto is the busiest center we have been to in Japan. Its busyness takes away from the quiet we have enjoyed over the past week and a half.  Being the cultural high point of the country, many people, as we did, decide to stay here the longest to take it all in. Japan has seen a growth in tourism over the past few years from 4 million to 24 million tourists/year. The Chinese, of course, are the reason for this.

Signs like this are needed to keep the tourists in check.

With the typhoon blowing its way to Tokyo we were left with a little drizzle Wednesday morning and high humidity. The real feel temperatures of in the mid 40s are draining.

We stay in the Gion district. This area is steeped with ancient culture and traditions in one area and modern glitz in another. Plenty of shrines and parks to add to it. There is a shopping arcade that lasts for many city blocks that keep us dry during the drizzle.

An aisle was dedicated to food. Dried fish are used as a base for most broths.

Some of the wares for sale in the arcade. These colourful gaita.

Kyoto being the cultural capital, we saw many people dressed in yukatas. We found out later these are tourists who rent the outfits for the day. Selfie sticks and phones help identify the Chinese in a hurry.

One of the many temples.

The walking tour of the Gion gave lots of information about the Geisha. Many years since I read Memoirs of a Geisha and things have changed since the old days. Currently there are 300 Geishas in Japan; all in Kyoto. Girls at 15 may start to train as a Maikos. They are taken into a training house and provided with board and room, education and training. They learn etiquette, how to walk, bow, and be an entertainer. If they want to continue in the profession, after age 21, they must go out on their own and build up a clientele.

The tea houses, where the geishas work, do not serve tea. To enter, at a $500 entrance fee, you must be a member. You must buy supper for $300. Expensive night out.

Not many people make it past this unassuming gate into the most expensive tea house in Japan. Only those with membership privileges.

There are so many festivals on in Kyoto during the summer. Many lantern and light displays at night. 

Jack treated us to new hats on our way to see an evening display of lights to represent the milky way.

Many city blocks displayed different lights. 

On Wednesday, I wanted to travel out to the bamboo forest. It did look like the pictures in Lonely Planet, but with many, many tourists. The heat is overwhelming, so our desire to hike along all the paths is limited.

We have found a family favourite food – katsu don. Although after eating it for 2 days, I am ready to take a break.

And I was left to enjoy the green tea ice-cream on my own.

Typhoon Noru

August 7, 2017

Kyoto, Japan

We, and Typhoon Noru arrived in Kyoto today. One of us brought high winds and plenty of rain. When we were in Hiroshima, the Canadian Passport office had emailed warning us of the typhoon and to stay tuned to alerts. Jack had been tracking it already. It started forming on July 20, classified as a level 5 and was heading for Japan. Friday it struck the south islands of Japan. Two deaths. Up until Sunday, its predicted path was up the west coast of Honshu. We were leaving the west coast for the east. It changed direction  on Sunday to follow us. Noru has lost a lot of its gusto and is now a category 1 typhoon.
Nonetheless, we were quite the sight walking the streets of Kyoto. SOAKED! No sense using an umbrella since they just crumple in the wind. The wind and rain are so warm though that it let the boys run off lots of energy on the narrow street behind our airbnb.

This is  going to be long night in such tight quarters with three boys. Again, I see we are not cut out for apartment life. The host warned us that the neighbors will call the police if we make too much noise. Not sure what classifies as too much.

This is the tightest digs we have had. One room. And the most uncomfortable beds in 6.5 months. At this price point I should not be sleeping on a box spring! Again we dream of our beds back home. The sleep countdown is on. Five nights in a bed and one night on a plane. Then our own beds!

The Largest Sand Dunes in Japan

August 6, 2017

Tottori, Japan

Not many foreigners travel out of the way and off the shinkansen line to visit Tottori. One travel blog I was reading said "It's out of the way, and really, there's not much there." That is true, but this tiny prefecture does have the largest sand dunes in Japan and I notice a difference in their attempt to market this attribute. The sand dunes were not our main reason for coming here but they deserved a visit since we were here.

The heat continues. The wind coming off the Sea of Japan feels like a hot blow drier. Sand boarding not possible in the heat, but a few runs and jumps up the dunes would do.

The Sea of Japan was the most beautiful colour of aqua and blue.

With the heat we lasted an hour and took the bus back to the city. I took a bag of sand for my collection, but I could have just taken it from the boys' shoes.

The bus ride back to town took awhile, but we got to see different parts of the city. Relying on public transportation these last two and half months have had pros and cons.

They boys stayed at the hotel and watched something on Netflix. Jack and I roamed up towards that station and watched a dance off competition. Dance groups dressed in layers of denim. Don't know how they did it without melting.

Later in the evening we all went to find something to eat. No katsu don to be found in this town. Can't read the kanji on the menus and there are no pictures or shalacked food in the windows.
Nate picked out a bento box that he is looking forward to taking to school instead of a lunch bag next year.

Our last night in Tottori. When M & D visited me in Japan we stayed in a hotel in Osaka and I took a picture of them in their yukatas sitting on the bed. It is one of my favourite pictures of them. They looked so cute. I am not sure we look as cute, but hey, not bad for a family of gaijins in yukatas sitting on tatami.

(Nate and Levi had fun with all the men's hair products in the bathroom. Lots of liquid wax in that hair! Levi has tried for a long time to get that Steven Stamkos look. I think he is getting there.)

My Town

August 5, 2017

Shikano-cho, Tottori Japan

The distance from Tottori city to my town of Shikano-cho is only 18 km. The trip using public transportation takes an hour and 20 minutes. It is off the beaten path. We took the train as far as we could, then a bus.

Small country train station in Hamamura.

The last time Jack and I came here we were driven by a friend. Now I had to remember some landmarks to get off the bus and find the parts of the town I wanted to show my boys.

The junior high school where I taught is surrounded by a moat and set against a mountain on one side and rice fields on the other. Everything in this town is more beautiful than I remember.

Shikano junior high school

Even on this hatsui day, we climbed the mountain behind the school for the view of the town and the Sea of Japan. I always liked this view.

I wanted to show the boys the house I lived in. Navigating the streets, I knew the direction, but the streets are narrow and look a lot alike. I found it though. My house looks different (a lot nicer) than when I lived in it. It was never really a house, but a shop that was converted into a living space. When I lived here everyone on the street had indoor pit toilets. Wonder if that has been upgraded. The exterior of the houses have had a face lift. No longer the low doors, pre-war wooden look. Looks very updated.

My house

I was looking for Noriko's parents who lived a few doors down from me. Every house looks different than it used to. This runner tried knocking on a few doors, but there are so many Okada's on my street it is hard to narrow down the search. We did not find the right Okada.

I showed the boys were my landlord lived. Levi pressed the door open to his shop and when we walked in the first thing Mrs. Inoue said was "Cindy-san". There was not a breath of hesitation. No one knew we were coming but it was nice to be remembered so quickly. The hospitality began at once with serving of cold green tea and rice crackers and the phone tree started to alert others that I was in town. A very warm reception.

Conversation was basic, but we did communicate.

They saw us to the bus station and as we arrived, another Mrs. Okada who was my next door neighbor, came racing up in a van to meet us.

Now the boys know why I was always told "Cindy-san, oki desu nai! (Cindy is so big!).

Klinger commented that this was one of the best days. I agree! That small town hospitality exists around the world. Luke was beaming after I translated for him that the ladies were commenting on how tall he was.

We spent the evening back in Tottori city. The city had perked up on a Saturday night. A street festival had popped up on the main street with girls dressed in yukatas, bands playing, and street food all around. Levi picked what he thought would just be fried noodles, but being in Japan, most foods come with some type of fish flavouring. These noodles were topped with tiny, dried fish. Not to  his liking. Luke ate it up for him.