Continuing from my last blog post. Although my mom had always wanted to go to Disney early, counting the delay of dressing and the fact that you had to go away from Disney to get to disney it delayed us an hour 30 minutes. Mom had said  that the reason she wanted to get us out of there early is that it was always packed. But if you got there before the ticket booths opened you could get a head start on the rides with a longer wait. That is what we tried to to but we did not make it in time. But it was no loss. Everything is Disney too. On the Disney train to the Disney places, the handles and windows were shaped like Mickey Mouse heads. When we got there we oohed and aahed over the awesome costumes and dresses we saw.

 Then we went to the Tower of Terror to get fastpasses for it. Having done that we went over to the Journey to the center of the Earth. Sadly, halfway through the wait the ride was cancelled for reasons why I myself do not know. For makeup, the staff gave us priority fastpass tickets. Then since it was raining like crazy and we did not have the foresight (another thing we did not have foresight for is the rain dose not stop the japnise from going to disnyland!) to get another umbrella when we had the chance. Because of the rain and because we were on mysterious island, witch is right next to 20,000 leagues under the sea ride. It was almost no wait and was right next to the Journey to the center of the earth ride. once we were done with 20000 leagues under the sea, We got another umbrella, now we have two disney umbrellas, one red and one blue. Then we went off to the Tower of Terror. The Tower is scary and my sister is still scared by it, two weeks after. Me too. The story is that there is a rich explorer who finds all sorts of artifacts and finally comes across the cursed idol. This was explained before the ride…in Japanese. But we sort of gathered the story from the stuff that was around us. Then the guide led us to a room where there was a stained glass window with the explorer and a few of his most treasured treasures(the idol was among these treasures) and a desk. Then the door closed and the idol began to speak in Japanese and the window flashed green and the explorere was holding the idol with a look of horror. The glass window was no longer beautiful. Another flash of green and the man went into the mansion in the window and a green light was pulsing up the side of the building. There was a flash, a scream, then silence. Then the idol grinned at us a toothy, creepy grin then vanished. Then, whimpering, and saying we did not want to go on the ride we were sheperded into an elevator thing with seats in it. The doors closed and we went backwards suddenly. Then we went up. The place we saw was a room where we saw the idol electrocute the explorer, turn towards us and grin. The lights went out but his eyes still shone like two poisonous points of green stars. Then more green stars popped up and we went up again. There was a mirror and we waved to ourselves, but then we disappeared one by one and heard a laugh again. We got the message. We were going to die. And then we plunged and we all erupted in screams. The ride went up, then plunged down, then up and down over and over. some parts I tried to steady myself and then others I gave into the terror. Soon it was over and we were miraculously alive. Now I know what falling off a mountain feels like…the Tower of Terror!

After that and a little bit of debate we made our way over to lunch. We found out that the line was at it’s longest and Mom had told us the Japanese eat always at noon it was completely crowded. We went off to eat somewhere else a litle bit after lunch. Then we went to the castle. The castle was life sized. When I was led into the arched gateway I was amazed by the courtyard.(it was just a courtyard but I was in a castle!) At first I was disappointed because there wasn’t much there until mom pointed out a sign that said Da vinci challenge. It was a kind of mystery that we had to find the clues in the castle. Through our haze of excitement we did not consider the possibility that it was all in Japanese. It was all in Japanese. Then when that sad news was borne to us, our excitedment was sucked out. But after a moment of looking for another thing to do our excitement was rekindled more than ever. Mom had seen a sign that we could explore the castle. I ran up the battlements. At the top I turned right. And waited for my mom and sister to catch up. Then we explored the rest of the castle, going over the gateway and going up a tower, explaining about arrow slits to mom and then after that finding cannons! Although not the actual thing. When you pulled the fuse it hissed a little then the hissing was replaced by a loud boom! After playing with the cannons and tyring to synchronize them all we decided to explore more of the castle. As soon turning 11 year old, I was was excited by every little thing. One of my favorite rooms in the castle was, where there was a giant solar system and you turned one of the giant wheels around it and the planet would move around the sun. Also on the ceiling was the night sky and finally on the walls were fun and quirky diagrams. A bit more of exploration yielded an alchemist’s lab with fire and a bubbling cauldron, a camera obscura, a pendulum clock, and a 3-D room. Lastly there was a boat room where you could put in 100 yen to control the boat on the small lake. Me and my sister and mom. did it for a little then we decided to go eat lunch.

For lunch, instead of the place we knew was good and becuase we are vegetarian we went to a place that had pizza. When mom sees a sign that says pizza she assumes that there is just cheese pizza. But no. The only thing that we were able to eat there was french fries. After that we decided to go to the Indiana jones ride. For soem reason the Japanese never use single rider. Luckily we do and skipped through the two hour long wait in a minute. Although the ride was a lot like the other Indiana Jones ride in california it was still fun ducking under the giant laser beams that the skull threw at you. Once we had finsihed the ride, we made our way over to the arabian castle section and did the two rides there, a two story carosuel and a sinbad boat ride. Finally when we were done with that we went over to the other side of mysterious island to get our disney themed garb. Mom got a black and gold polka dot minnie bow and a sully headband, lu got a tigger headband because tiggers are wonderful tings and a minnie mouse bow. I got a stitch hat and a pair of green alien socks.

•  Then our day was almost over. After a few nameless things we sat down at the roosevelt lounge. After that we went home. Boy were we tired and hungry. We had basically ate a Mcdonald’s lunch with frieds times 4, caeser salad times one, cheese with bread times two and little desserts times 4. Sounds like one of those Mc Pick two things. Luckily when we got home thanks to our amazing dad because we moved apartments that day and he had to bring our four heavy bags across tokyo he made us some ramen and got us some bread to eat. By that time we were ready to go to bed and start another blog post.

The end!!

-Hf

This adventure of mine starts in Vietnam. The day was bright and sunny and we were all ecstatic about going to Japan. Soon our day collapsed on itself and soon we were all grumpy, especially me. Luckily we made it home and to some where we could eat. But we grew tired because our flight was at nine pm. Mom thinks red-eyes are better for us. They are NOT! We tried to pick our restraunt but we couldn’t find anything good. We finally decided on a place called Ha!Ha! Sushi. It was very close. It was okay but it was enough. Then we hastened to the airport. While at the airport, our gate changed twice. Since she was almost delerious with lack of sleep, lulubelle ran onto the wrong end of a moving walkway. In desperation of what to do my sister and I started some minecraft. I started a secret base that looks like a hill and somme underground catacombs. Even lu was fooled trying to find the base. Soon after that, we had to board the plane. Although the plane was really nice type, a 787, we went to sleep right away. When I woke up at 3 a.m. it seemed the rest of my family was up too. Since I was up I decided to watch Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone which I think is my favorite Harry Potter movie so far. And after waiting an hour or two we finally got off! We were all excited to see Japan and its’ amazing toilets. After we,we all had to go to the bathroom, got out of the toilets we got a ride from one of those random car that drive around the airport. It was quite fun. Then we were soon out of the airport and to our house. The next few days were fun but I have something more fun to talk about in my next blog post. drumroll !!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????????????!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Continue reading →

It was time for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! I had read blogs on how to navigate the crowded park and long lines, had gotten tickets ahead of time and a pass that let us into the park earlier than others. I didn’t want to spend the extra $60 per person to get the express passes to get on rides faster, but did opt for the extra wristband for early admittance. Again, Eric opted not to come with us to Universal Studios Japan (USJ) because he didn’t want to learn about how theme park culture varies within a country. Such a xenophobe that one. 
This time, I said, I would try to fit in more. I put on a nicer outfit, blew out my hair, and wore makeup, though I drew the line at wearing high heels like many Japanese and opted for sneakers. We ambled easily to the train station as I’d made sure we left early, where I realized I had forgotten the wristbands back at the house! I ran back to the house in five minutes, leaving the kids on the train platform (totally fine, as Japan is incredibly safe and you see kids younger than mine out alone all the time), and thankfully Eric was still home and I was able to find the bands and ran back to the train station. I then realized I didn’t have my phone with me, having left it at the house when I went to get the headbands! Crap! Well, I figured, we wouldn’t take pictures but that would be okay. We got on the train and transferred at the next stop. At that second, I realized that our tickets were electronic ones and I could ONLY ACCESS THEM ON MY PHONE. I may have used some colorful language out loud here, in front of the kids. It was entirely warranted. Clearly, I had not imbibed my felix felices this morning. We all tried to use accio to bring the phone to us, alas, we were wandless and thus powerless as well.
We quickly got off the train we were on, ran to the other platform, got on the train back to our station, where I again left the kids and ran back to the Air BnB, yelling over my shoulder for them to switch platforms. Of note, I had now seen the same station master three times previously on my other station entrance and exits. He saw me enter with the kids, then run out on my own, then run back in, and now running out alone yet again, and becoming more disheveled with every passing. I’m sure I only verified whatever stereotypes he has of foreigners and created some new ones.
Sweaty, overheated, and with my hair frizzed out like an electrocuted lion, I made it back with my phone, we got on the next train, and we were off, at USJ 20 minutes later. As it turned out, we were still there in plenty of time, and I’d gotten in a workout to boot. We got into our early admission line. Thirty minutes before OUR early admission line, a DIFFERENT early admission line got in! Dammit. I hoped there weren’t enough people in it to clog up Harry Potter world. When our time was up, we ran like hell to the Harry Potter area. If you don’t get there first thing, you have to wait to get a timed ticket and it’s a lot more crowded as the day goes on. As one blog says, “run like a shark is chasing you. Do not stop. Do not wave at the friendly park workers. Run.” 
The boy took off like the proverbial bat out of hell and didn’t stop until he got to the Forbidden Journey ride, one of the most popular in the park. Given that I’d already basically sprinted a couple miles that morning, I wheezed after him and tried to keep up, not wanting to leave the girl behind either. I feebly yelled out after him to wait a few times, to no avail. He was a boy on a mission. Because of his determination, and because of the poor footwear choices of many Japanese parkgoers, we were able to walk on to the ride. When we walked out five minutes later, the wait time was two hours.

After that we headed out and could really enjoy Hogsmeade village. The boy was chosen for the wand show at Ollivander’s! The wand that chose him (which you can then buy) was unfortunately one with a hideous skull on the handle, so he didn’t want to keep it. The girl picked out a different wand for herself, and then we went about to do all the magical things in the park you can do with your wand! The girl was chosen for the “Wand Studies” show and got to show off her skills. These two shows were in dual English and Japanese, so we could really enjoy them. The rides were all in Japanese alone, which of course it’s Japan, but I was still surprised because there are so many foreign visitors to the park — Korean, Singaporean, Chinese – that I’d think there’d be more dual language. Still it was pretty fun to see Dumbledore’s picture chattering away at us in Japanese. After getting our fill of Hogsmeade, where we stayed for a full three hours, we walked out and got a timed ticket to return in the evening to see the Death Eater attacks, special for Halloween, and the castle at night. 

The rest of the park just pales in comparison, and while we enjoyed ourselves it is a true letdown after HP. Unlike Disney where each area is done up to the last detail, it was only this way in HP and the rest looked straight out of an 80’s theme park, literally. Universal Studios Florida, apparently, has relatively new rides and attractions, but here, it’s as if time just stopped. There’s still the town of Amity and the Jaws ride, which is exactly the same as it was forever, except the boat captain screams in Japanese hysterics and the Japanese riders, rather adorably, are scared (or pretend to be so) and scream at the large animatronic shark. There’s still the Backdraft show, a Terminator ride, and….a Waterworld show. I mean, really? The kids area is based on Peanuts, Hello Kitty and Sesame Street characters. I did get the kids to go on their first real roller coaster, with a 50 degree drop and going up to almost 60mph. We used the single rider line instead of wait three hours, meaning that my son was left to his own devices for his first ride of terror, because I’m a caring mom like that. The girl was at least in the same car as me. 

We went to one area which seemed like a museum of all the Hello Kitty bows. Strange enough, but then at the end there was a Japanese woman who said in a high pitched voice “Hello Kitty is so happy to meet you! You are a friend to Hello Kitty! Now let’s practice! When I say ‘hello’ you say ‘Kitty’ Okay?! Helloo…”  We all looked at each other, wondering if this was the password to escape cupcake hell, not really knowing what it has to do with being a friend to Hello Kitty. I mean, I don’t do this with my other friends. “Kitty!” We all cheered back. “Now let’s do it again!” Uh, sure. I guess we did it right because we then were led into a room to meet Hello Kitty, and have our picture taken, which of course we could then purchase if we wanted to. 

Because it’s Halloween time here, the park has zombies that come out at night and horror themed rides around the periphery, which don’t have much signage because they don’t want to scare the little kids, but the one truck with bloody handprints on it was enough for my tender hearted boy, who decided he really didn’t want to see the zombies. We saw one while we were getting back to HP land at night, and while I found it funny to watch them scaring people, the kids were utterly terrified and almost couldn’t eat their dinner! 
At night, HP land is magical, with the windows all lit up and it feels special. You walk through the Forbidden Forest to get there, and hear the trees talking to you and animal sounds as you walk along. We were able to enjoy the entry more as we weren’t racing to the ride. The Forbidden Journey only had a ten minute wait again! We hopped back on, of course! We made it out of the park safely and happy again with the memory of HP as our last one of the park. 

Overall, I’d give the Harry Potter area a 10, though I wish it was bigger. The rest gets a solid 6 except for the coasters which were fun. I’m glad we went, since I don’t know when we’ll be able to get to another HP land in the near future, and we’re all so into HP right now that it was just right, though if that’s not your draw, then I don’t know that I’d recommend it. Unless you’re SUPER into Backdraft and Waterworld. And speak Japanese to understand those shows. Then run, don’t walk there. 
-s

Little Boy is an atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and many people died of leukemia. The United States dropped the bomb to show how strong they were. The Japanese were ready to surrender when the United States dropped the bombs. They actually dropped two bombs–the Little Boy and Fat Man–in two places. Fat Man was dropped in Nagasaki and Little Boy was dropped in Hiroshima, like I said. It dropped above a bridge and a building called the Prefectural Industrial Building in Hiroshima, and it exploded 600 meters above the ground. Nowadays, it’s part of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. When the bomb dropped, every wooden house within three kilometers would be blown over. 

People had many injurues. Their skin fell off and many children died, too. About 35% of the people in Hiroshima died that day. People did survive the bomb. Leukemia is an atomic bomb disease and it is cancer. People who were pregnant would sometimes give leukemia to their babies. Please read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr. It’s about a girl who, 10 years after the bomb, gets leukemia. 
=I think the United States should have waited to see if they were going to surrender and I think they should have dropped the bomb on the Japanese army base and not on the public. 

Time for the last leg of our Japan trip. We (okay I, Bataan death marcher that I am) decided that we would stop by Himeji castle on our way to Osaka instead of staying there and instead have four nights in Osaka and take day trips from there. We had hoped to visit Mt. Koya, a peaceful mountain where you can stay at Buddhist monasteries and is supposed to be beautiful, but here was one place where our on-the-go planning didn’t work out. They need at least one week advance notice prior to arrival, so, well, this was missed. Truth be told, I think we were all getting a bit tired of sightseeing and were ready for a few slower days anyway. 
After leaving Naoshima we made our way by train to Himeji, the site of a large Samurai castle. After putting our bags in lockers we walked towards the castle site, planning on stopping at a noodle shop first, but it was closed. Now, while there are other noodle shops and such around, we’re a bit more limited in what we want to eat and like to have an English menu to choose from, which I’ll write more about later. After walking about and bickering for a while, we settled on a place that had salads and pasta and was generally underwhelming. One of the few mediocre meals we’ve had in Japan. 
Himeji castle is the largest samurai castle in Japan, built for residency but also for defense. There are hidden windows to drop rocks on your enemies from, rooms to wait in to ambush enemies and of course rooms for the ladies. I particularly loved the roof end tiles which were decorated with  family crests. The castle had been destroyed in the war but a years long restoration effort has returned it to splendor. The castle was fun to walk around, though really overcrowded. As Eric has posted, modern Japan has been unkind to his head, and ancient Japan is even worse. After a stroll through the castle and serene gardens, we headed to Osaka and found our Air BnB, a three story apartment with thankfully high doorways and ceilings! Finally!  

We woke late the next day and just had a rest day of sorts, walking around to continue what I now think of as “Eric’s Quest for Jeans,” and again failing. As Eric said, you cannot get anywhere in Osaka without walking through a shopping mall, and I unfortunately felt like we spent more time in malls then I wanted. I was able to visit one of my favorite yarn places though, Habu yarns or Avril as they’re known here, and pick up some lovely skeins. They’re known for all sorts of unusual yarns, and browing the shop did not disapoint!

The initial plan for Monday had been to take the train to Nara, land of lovely parks and wild deer which frolic about and you can feed. In the morning, after having had coffee, the idea of taking a train to sightsee anywhere was not appealing. Add to that that the main draw in Nara is a large shrine and everyone just gave me a big stare when I mentioned it. Instead we went to the Harukas observatory, 300 meters up high. We had to go there to pick up our tickets for Universal Studios Japan (are you kidding? Of course I did! They have a Harry Potter World there!!) 

In a fun ironic twist, Eric doesn’t like heights and they make him quite vertiginous. Seriously. While the rest of us enjoyed the views of Osaka from up high, he went down to the cafe on the next level and stared at his Kindle, trying to ignore the fact that out the window was a long way down. Our next stop was the Dotonbori area of Osaka, which I liken to the Times Square of the area. Bright lights and big animatronic animals advertising restaurants, and lots of people. The only difference is that I think plenty of real Osakans head here all the time, unlike New Yorkers and Times Square. The most bizarre thing for me, however, was that there was a girl group performing at the riverwalk area – that in and of itself was fine, but across the river were grown men twirling towels around and cheering and actually weeping in joy at them. It was like the scene at an N*SYNC concert, only the performers were twenty year old girls and the screaming fans were middle aged men.  There was also a huge store called Don Quixote, that sold all sorts of random weird things, including some…questionably named men’s underwear. 

We tried to find a place to hang out and have a drink and some appetizers, but couldn’t find anything where the kids were welcome to come in with us. After some more fruitless wandering we finally just went to a soba noodle restaurant where we were warmly welcomed by the cook. They grind all their own buckwheat to make the noodles in house, and the kids got to try their hand at traditional grinding. Man, I am going to miss the food here. 

-s

Next stop on the “How America has hurt other countries” tour : Hiroshima. Without missing any trains or transporting bodily fluids, we rolled into Hiroshima,  found our apartment and after a bit of chilling headed out. It’s a small enough town that it can be entirely covered on foot. We first headed towards the castle, an old Samurai castle that has been refurbished and now has a small museum in it. There were a lot of old Samurai armor sets in there, and the most striking thing was how small they were! Some of them would have been too small for the boy, and these were the fearsome warriors of Japan! Unfortunately no pictures of the samurai allowed. 

On the fifth floor, which overlooks the city, they have those telescopes that you put 50 yen (50 cents) in to look around. The boy did this and I took a turn afterwards, able to see the atomic dome and the stadium and then HEY what’s that sign that says “CRAFT BEER” and has a lot of tents next to it? Our destination was determined. 
We walked off in the general direction of the sign, looking for the tents and found ourselves in Japanese Oktoberfest! The polka band at the front was playing the chicken dance, and little Japanese grandmas were dancing at front. There were several different German beer companies with stalls, and we settled down with a glass of beer to enjoy. 

We headed home and got dinner from a 7-11. Before you think I fed my children Funyuns and slurpees for dinner, let me say that 7-11s are a different breed here in Japan. They have actual delicious food for super cheap. We got a few onigiri (rice balls) in a few flavors, some savory snacks, some desserty snacks, and beer and sake for 2000 yen ($20). A stop at a nearby supermarket yielded some fruit and we were set for the evening. I had to wonder, why are 7-11s at home such dens of destitution and decay? Why can’t onigiri come to the US instead of those sad hotdog machines that roll overcooked hot dogs until they are entirely dessicated and could be used for building material? 
The following morning we went to the Hiroshima peace park, Atomic dome and museum. Readers, this was a sad, sad day for us all. It’s impossible not to feel the degree of devastation wrought by the bomb here. I’ve always learned that dropping the bomb was entirely unnecessary at that point in the war – the Japanese had all but capitulated – and to do so was simply brandishing our power to the Soviet Union. But what a cost, the degree of suffering of so many civilians and especially children. The intense heat rays felt for miles around were absorbed by dark colors more than light, so people who wore striped or patterned clothes had these burned into their skin. Many people simply died hours or days later of the severe burns, and even more developed cancers that killed them later. The city itself was largely levelled, except for some buildings which survived, like the Atomic Dome building, the shell of which remains as a testament to the power of the bomb. 

The kids felt this especially – how could the US do something like this to other humans? It’s one thing to know about the atomic bomb dropping as an abstraction, it’s another thing to see the destruction and the humans affected by it. They were deeply saddened by the museum and the history of it. There’s a section of the museum dedicated to Sadako, of the thousand paper cranes, and even has some of the cranes she folded herself. In the Peace Park there is a statue and around it are displays of the cranes that children from all over the world send to them in tribute to peace. They take them and recycle them into postcards, and give them to you at the end of your museum tour, asking you to spread the story of Hiroshima and the quest for a non-nuclear world so that others do not suffer the same fate. 

In the afternoon, we split up. Eric decided to stay in town and try to go for a run and I really wanted to see Miyajima island and the kids came with me. It was one of the most beautiful places I had seen in Japan, and was a nice contemplative and peaceful counterpoint to the morning.. It’s full of shrines (hence the name, which means “shrine island”) and has a forest that rises up over it all. It’s known for a massive torii gate that appears to float on water at high tide, alas we were there at low tide. 

You can take a funicular to the very top for a stunning view. I hadn’t known that the last car down was at 5:30 pm, and it was already 4 pm by the time we made it up to the cable car station. Well, we were there, right? The kids committed to walking down (estimated time, one hour) and so we bought a one way ticket up. It was so pretty, all of it. The views, the forest, even the shrines which were peaceful and contemplative without all the people crowding around them. Not wanting to be up there in the dark as the sun would set soon, we couldn’t lollygag as we liked and headed down. 

We started our hike down the mountain, and it ws so beautiful and green, the most nature we had seen in weeks. I relaxed in anticipation of a serene hour down the mountain. Just then, we saw these signs warning us of the deadly japanese vipers on the mountain. Umm…would have been nice if someone had warned us of these BEFORE we decided to take the walk down. The girl began whimpering. I did that thing where I know I have to hold it together as the only responsible adult around even though I’m actually terrified too, and said, “It’ll be fine! It’s just like hiking at home and the signs warn of rattlesnakes and we never see any!” Shortly thereafter a SNAKE ACTUALLY SLITHERED ACROSS OUR PATH. It was a slender thing, and stayed out of the way and was probably not the deadly viper. You wouldn’t have known it by the way that I screamed, though, all pretense of calm adult gone. 

The rest of the way down, the girl paused at every step to check for snakes first. There were a LOT of steps and what was initially a very peaceful and pleasant hike became one with potential terror lurking under every step. No further snake sightings were to be had, thankfully, we did manage to enjoy the hike and we made it back onto the ferry and home, meeting up with Eric for some conveyer belt sushi, our Japanese comfort food.  

-s

The time had come for the boy’s birthday, and Eric had found a Ninja training store. After another relaxed morning, we headed out for the Dojo. Upon arriving, we changed into our Ninja outfits and began training. We learned of Ninja meditation, trick walls in Ninja houses, how to walk silently like a Ninja (watch out! I’m behind you!) even in the dark. The real fun, though, was trying out all the Ninja weapons. The grass cutter, sword work, dagger. Grand finale was the shuriken and blowgun. The lesson ended with the kids begging and begging for me to buy them a real metal shuriken. I may have given in, because, hey, there may be some adults too who want to practice their skills.I break the Ninja code of secrecy to bring you these photos. 



 

We then went to Gion, or the geisha area, with my only goal to see a geisha and walk about the scenic neighborhood. At this point, though, Eric had gotten into a snit about something and he was hungry (probably someone yelled at him or stepped on his toes and he’s perpetually annoyed in Japan because he has to duck his head everywhere) and then the kids were sniping and our time in Gion became a scuttle through the streets to get back home. No geisha were spotted during this walk and we all ended up annoyed by the end of it. On the plus side, the Kyrgystani man sitting next to us at the okonomiyaki place we ate at heard us talking about Harry Potter and told us there was a Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Osaka. He also told us he was a Slytherin, so we weren’t sure whether to believe him or not. This was before Eric took the sorting quiz and was sorted into Slytherin himself. Figures. 

I wish I could tell you that we didn’t get into a big fight that night, but that would be a lie. In the end, though, all was worked out and I think maybe it was just the inevitable explosion after so much close togetherness for so many weeks on end. I felt like afterwards the air was clearer and I think we all felt a bit lighter to tell you the truth.
Except I still didn’t get to see a geisha. 

-s

We got to the train station in Oiso, made our way to Odakaya to get on the Shinkansen, or bullet train, to Kyoto. Our train was to leave at 12:08. At 12:00 a train pulled into the station. Eric had just gone to the bathroom and was jogging back so as not to miss the train. We got onto our reserved car and found our seats, only to find people sitting in two out of our four reserved seats. I didn’t quite understand, so I pulled out my ticket to show to the man sitting in one and he pulled his out, and they both showed 16c! He then noticed that while I was to be in seat 16c on the Hikari Shinkansen, he was correctly sitting in seat 16c on the Tokkaido express train. I looked back at Eric, waiting in the aisle and said hurriedly, “Wrong train! Wrong train! Get off!” With our backpacks on in the narrow train aisle, the kids started shuffling backwards and Eric hustled back to the door only to have it close in his face and the train start moving. Oh crap oh crap oh crap. (note: In real life, I did not say “crap” but I am editing because this is a family blog) We were on the wrong bullet train. 
For those of you who don’t know, the shinkansen in Japan are the super fast, 200 miles an hour trains that get you from one city to another. It’s not like you can just get off at the next stop and switch like the NYC subway. We all just stared at each other, not sure what to do, and hoping that the next stop wasn’t Hokkaido, the untamed wilderness island of the North. Eric said the incredibly helpful comment, “I was wondering why we got on that train anyway since it seemed like it was a little early for it.” See? Wasn’t that some masterful insight? I was soooo appreciative of his hindsight and wisdom.
We waited for the conductor for a few stops, then the boy noticed that there was a sign indicating the crew was in car 8 so Eric went down to chat with them. While he was gone, I saw our train, the Hikari, zoom past on the adjacent track. Well, at least we were sort of going the right direction, but there was no chance of catching our original train. 
Eric got transfer instructions from the conductor, and we were able to board a different train a few stops later and get seats in the unreserved compartment. The conductor came by to check our tickets which were for the original train, and I said “wrong train at Odakaya,” and he smiled at me like “ah, silly foreigner.” We pulled into Kyoto just a half hour later than we originally would have so it wasn’t that bad after all. 
As we boarded the local train to get to our place, I remembered something and said to Eric “Hey, you nearly left the whiskey bottle behind! You’re lucky I packed it!” We’d bought a small bottle of Japanese whiskey in Tokyo and had used it for some nightcaps. It’s tasty stuff. He looked at me and just stared. “Where did you put that bottle?” He asked. “In my backpack!” I chirped, “I had thought we could have a bit on the train but with all the craziness I forgot.” “Sujata,” he said slowly, “I used that bottle to pee in at the last place because of the crazy stairs.” “You mean,” I replied, “I just carried a bottle of pee in my bag from Oiso to Kyoto.” “Yup,” Eric said, beginning to crack up. At least I didn’t pour us a glass on the train, I suppose. Sigh.

-s

One experience I really wanted in Tokyo was to go to a high end sushi restaurant. Here’s one thing I should have booked in advance, but it all worked out for the best. I was able to book lunch at Matsue sushi in Ebisu, and the boy and I went off. Eric and the girl, who don’t really eat fish at all, made their own plans to go play video games. We sat down and ordered the Omekase, in which the chef serves you whatever he wants. Watching him work was masterful. He would take a piece of fish which had been prepped and expertly deboned by his assistants, and then using only a large knife would slice through it at such a precise angle that it cut away perfectly from the skin. Starting with a cooked marinated tuna and salad appetizer, we moved onto the main courses. We had tuna, rockfish, octopus, scallop, squid, yellowtail, halibut, sardine, uni sashimi and suhi, then tamago (egg) and miso soup course, then finished with a tuna roll. Everything was incredible, with the exception of the octopus and squid which I just don’t care for. Cephalopods…shudder. Two hours later we emerged, bellies full. Well, mine was full. The boy asked for food about an hour later. I wasn’t hungry until the next day. I’ve had other sushi since then here in Japan, and the flavor and texture just don’t compare. Sigh, I’ve been totally spoiled.

We met up with the non sushi eaters and headed to the Mori Art Museum, but not before doing a little denim shopping. Japan is known for high quality denim, and, well, I could use a new pair of jeans. We found the Kapital stores in Ebisu, which are like little wonderlands of denim and clothing, stocked in a mishmash way so you feel as if you’ve entered a cave of fashion wonders in a land of wabi-sabi. The wall of jeans was in an old wood cabinet, and above us were hanging scarves, to the left a row of funky jackets. I may have bought a pair of high waisted jeans because it made me feel like a 70s fashion model when I tried them on. Eric also looked, but unfortunately everything came to his ankles. I tried to convince him that he’d look hip in capris, but he didn’t bite.
The Mori is a modern art museum that is supposed to have a cool collection. We headed to Roppongi Hills and made our way there. We walked in and I was initially disappointed – it looked tiny and as if it didn’t have many exhibits. I soon was amazed by what I saw. The entire exhibit was looking at how the view of the cosmos was represented in art. From early mandalas depicting the four gods and earth at the middle, to the modern space program and a symphony based on that, the exhibit was stunning. I loved how they used art as a lens for science, so often are the two seen as wholly separate disciplines that have little to do with one another. There were original first editions of The Origin of Species, books written by Copernicus and Da Vinci! You couldn’t take pictures in most of the museum, unfortunately. The last piece was an installation where you went into a dark room and light swirled around and about you, turning in a way that you felt as if you were spinning through the universe in a wormhole.

 

-s

As an American, it is strange to be out of the country on September 11. At least in Japan, it’s just another day here. I didn’t see any mention of it on the papers as far as I could tell, and the only way that I knew of the date was through my Facebook feed where people were posting memories. Of course, it’s the same in America for events that happened in other countries – our collective consciousness of an event is generally limited to those which affected us directly. 
Onto the day – the plan had been to go to the Harajuku area, walk around the Meiji shrine and gardens, see if we could see some funky dressed people, and perhaps rockabilly Japanese men dancing in Yoyogi park. A friend of ours had mentioned that Japanese baseball games are quite fun and there was a game that evening, so that was a possibility too. 
The Meiji shrine is in the Harajuku area and has an imperial garden around it, lovely for a walk. The shrine itself is an active Shinto shrine and many Japanese people were buying blessings to be given, charms for various purposes. There was a wedding coming through too! I didn’t feel bad taking pictures because every single Japanese person was doing the same. Man, I wonder what kind of high society you have to be to get married at the Meiji Shrine. You’re not allowed to take pictures of the shrine itself, and people stand in front of it, ringing the bells and praying by bowing twice, clapping their hands together, praying, then repeating. Below is a picture of a wall of wishes that people leave to be blessed at the shrine. 


Lunch ended up being at a small curry shop – I’d heard about japanese curry, but truth be told it didn’t taste all that different to me from regular Indian curry, so perhaps we need to try it again. 

We walked by the baseball stadium and got tickets for that evening’s game! Outfield, home team of course – the Tokyo Yakult Swallows! I mean, I’ve always been a HUGE Swallows fan. A little walk through the tony area of Harajuku and a stop at a big toystore called Kiddyland. The entire top floor is Hello Kitty swag, and the girl was silent for a few moments upon walking up. There’s some new bizarre Hello Kitty character that looks like an unhappy crumpled fried egg. There’s a TON of gear for this creature – I can’t tell if Sanrio is trying to push it or if it’s genuinely popular. She walked away with a rather nice hello kitty charm for her bracelet, after I convinced her that getting a 2 foot tall Hello Kitty dressed in kimono would not be practical for our trip.  

We got to the famous street in Harajuku to see all the girls dressed up for the weekend, and found it full of…..tourists. Mostly poorly dressed tourists at that, or other normally dressed Japanese women in what seems to be the common Tokyo uniform of wide leg cropped pants, slightly oversized T-shirt, and short bright bobby socks worn with sandals. Trying to get through the street was reminiscent of watching nature videos of salmon swimming upstream.

 We gave up and headed back to the stadium. Eric writes about the game in great detail here – I’ll add on that I had a lot of fun. The energy at the games is so different, and you ACTUALLY WATCH THE GAME. Every US game I’ve been to, I’m usually just drinking a beer and chatting with a friend and I only look up after the crowd starts cheering to say, “What? Did something happen?” I am not alone in this, I know. 

That evening we went to a different, higher quality conveyor belt sushi. No screens this time, you order from an actual person. Much tastier and about the quality of sushi I feel like I get from the nice sushi place at home, but for a lot less – $70 total for the entire family. I ordered a tuna wasabi roll, and the waitress said “very spicy!” “Sure!” I said, ” I like spicy!” It arrived and I popped one in my mouth. A little hot, I thought to myself. The next second my nose and entire sinus passages were filled with a hot fire. My eyes began to water and I started coughing and waving my hands frantically in front of my face, as if I could waft away the feeling. I lunged for my sake and took a gulp. The tuna wasabi roll is tuna with actual wasabi plant in it, the size of a small chunk of cucumber. Holy god. The thing with wasabi spicy is that once it works its way through your entire body, it’s gone! Not like chili spice which keeps your tongue onfire for ages after. I kept eating them and repeating the above. The boy, seeing me, decided he had to try one. Here’s the result:    

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–s