Holiday Hiatus

Sigh...

It's that time of year and I'm way behind in everything... absolutely everything!

After returning from Japan and having almost no time to work on our photobook, we (along with my brother and sister-in-law) took mom to Maui for a short vacation.

Mom loved it although some of the climbs were a bit taxing for her.

Here are photos of us on top of Haleakala and under the giant banyan tree in Lahaina.

Mom just loved the feeling of being above the clouds on Maui's tallest volcano.

Once we returned, our Japan photobook had to be put on the backburners so I could put together the Maui photobook for mom.

She loves looking at all her travel books and reliving her fun experiences.

We've also been swamped with our doctors visits, my physical therapy (yup, still working on that arm), and so on and so forth.

Now the holidays have jumped up and crashed down on us. There's just too much to do.

It all boils down to my having to do another blog hiatus. I used to be able to handle everything, but not anymore. I guess I must just be slowing down.

I'll be back soon. I have a lot of lovely photos from Maui to share with you.

But for now... have a wonderful holiday everybody, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, Kwanzaa or Boxing Day. It's all beautiful and it's all about love.

Until next time... aloha.

Gigantic Moth

The other day, we saw this super gigantic moth attached to the screen of our kitchen window.

We figured it would fly away on its own so we left it alone.  We left to go shopping and do some other errands. When we returned, it was still there so I had to take a photo. It was between 3-4 inches long.

Does anybody know what kind of moth it is?

Happy Thanksgiving 2018!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!  From our house to yours, we wish you happiness and health throughout the year.

I am so very thankful to have you all as part of my cyber family. You add such joy to my life.

Today, I'm just looking back at a past Thanksgiving and remembering our happy times.

And now our children have children of their own and are celebrating the holiday a continent away.

I'm feeling a little teary, but truly thankful for all the wonderful years we've had and the fun times we look forward to having.

Hmmm.... I'm wondering if Tiffany was looking to see if her brother was getting a bigger piece of pie than hers since he's obviously gotten the turkey leg.

Yes, they were happy times indeed.

Japan Day 12: Returning to Hawaii

I was happy to see that soft boiled egg I'd gotten to like so much at the morning breakfast buffet.

It was a lovely breakast.

The last several times that we've been on trips, my weak stomach has revolted on the last day.

Could it be the stress of getting organized for boarding the plane?

Could it be that all the excitement just got to be too much for me?

I don't know.

I'm glad I brought my Imodium. I'd passed one dose on to a fellow traveler earlier in the trip.

Our bags and boxes were packed and I'd checked off my list so I knew exactly what we'd bought and for whom.

All the omiyage (gifts) my aunt had given us in Sendai were packed to deliver to relatives in Hawaii.

I spent some of the morning resting while my stomach settled. Art went off on his own before coming back to take me out to get some lunch. He deliberated quite a while before settling on the middle plate. I decided to just have a banana and a bun with a Coke.

Those young boys are students carrying their school bags. I'm always amazed to see children walking about everywhere and even boarding trains on their own.

It was time to leave. Our boxes and suitcases were not very heavy so we weren't concerned. Would you believe one of the best sushi plates we had while in Japan was at the airport? It was recommended by tour friends and lived up to their praise.

At the JAL gate before boarding the plane to take us back to Hawaii, there were a lot of hugs, wistful smiles and promises of emails between tour mates. We were all sad to have to say goodbye to each other.

It was great to be home. Mom was eager to hear how it all went and we promised her a happy trip in April. We'll be traveling through Tokyo, Sendai and Yokohama on our own and hope we can remember some of what we learned on this trip.

Japan Day 11: Yokohama

We were given the option to get a Japanese set breakfast menu or the regular Japanese/Western buffet breakfast at the Hotel Metropolitan Sendai.

We opted for the Japanese set menu.

From the entire tour group, only six of us chose the Japanese set menu and didn't regret it. We were shown to a private room where we were served elegantly and serenely.



Now came the fun part of the travel day. We were going to ride the shinkansen to Utsunomiya.

Our tour leader, John took us to the train station where we boarded the very comfortable shinkansen (bullet train). This reminded me of the days when I used to take my 1st graders on field trips. I did not envy John his job of making sure he didn't lose any of us.

Even without teru teru bozu, the skies were clear and sunny.

Our Yokohama bus met us at Utsunomiya and drove us to Aeon Mall Sano Shintoshi.

Yes, it's true.

More shopping.

I got the final things I came to buy... sort of.

There's the lingerie bags that loved ones asked for.

I also got some Frixion pens. These are fun to use because they are erasable. Perfect for mom who often asks me for white out.

Lunch was on our own. I finally tried the McDonalds ebi fillet burger.  Ebi is shrimp. It was OK. In Japan, when you buy a small drink, it is very small!

We drove on to our Yokohama Bay Sheraton Hotel.

The underground shopping and dining area was huge and daunting. Like lunch, dinner was at our own expense. Thank goodness, John walked us around the massive maze of department stores, grocery stores, restaurants, pharmacies, etc. When he pointed out a tonkatsu place that he said was one of his favorites, a bunch of us pealed off the group and had our dinner there. It was terrific and the servers were absolutely wonderful. They were cheerful, kind and very patient.

Despite the fact that you do not tip in Japan, Art insisted and gave our fellow a tip just because he was so wonderful.

Tomorrow would be our day of departure and it was sad to think of saying good bye to John as well as all our tour mates. It's funny how you can become friends in such a short time.

Japan Day 10: Sendai

The Hotel Onikoube Resort Park had a European atmosphere.

Breakfast was lovely and our blue bags were loaded onto the bus for our trip to Sendai.

The bus ride to Sendai with shopping along the way was... I think maybe 2-3 hours long. I can't remember.

Tour guide Yoko told us that there are 3,085 onsens in Japan. Japan is situated in a volcanic zone on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Hokkaido has the most with 247 onsens. Okinawa has the least with just 4.

We arrived in time for a beautiful lunch at Grill Tamaya in Matsushima.

Matsushima is ranked as one of Japan's three most scenic views with its 260 pine covered islands. It was hit by the 2011 earthquake, but escaped major damage because of its protected location in the bay.

Overcast skies unfortunately covered the area, and we hoped the rain would hold off.

It did.

There is a famous haiku that is supposed to have been written by Basho where he just couldn't find words to describe Matsushima's beauty.

Matsushima ya

Aa matsushima ya

Matsushima ya

Matsushima!

Matsushima!

Oh! Matsushima!

Zuiganji is a famous, important zen temple. Since my grandfather was a zen priest in Sendai, I was brought here every time I went to Japan.

We saw that a lot of the cedar trees leading to the temple had died from the salt water that had soaked the grounds during the 2011 tsunami.

Shoes had to be removed before entering the temple. We couldn't take photos inside the temple, but could take the outside gardens.

We did see a wedding taking place which was pretty wonderful to see.

My granddaughter had asked if I could buy her an education omamori (charm) as a blessing for her studies in middle school.

Since we hadn't been to any temples, I wasn't able to get one for her earlier. It was a relief to finally be able to grant this request.

And how perfect that it would be at a temple affiliated to her great, great grandfather's temple in Sendai.

We then walked across the street to the Godaido. The Godaido is a Buddhist worship hall built in 1604.

From the Godaido, we could see beautiful blue skies over Matsushima's bay.

Another fun thing that my daughter asked me to find was an eyeless Daruma.

A Daruma doll (達磨 daruma) is a hollow, round, Japanese traditional doll modeled after Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen tradition of Buddhism.                                                                                                --Wikipedia 

The fun thing to do is to color in one eye while making a wish.  When the goal had been reached or fulfilled, you would color in the other eye.

I wonder what KC and Tiffany would be wishing for. I was just feeling satisfied that I'd gotten the two things they'd asked for. It did take a lot of searching throughout the trip.

Our next stop was to see the statue of Date, Masamune (Date is pronounced dah-tay). This is another place that we are always taken to whenever we go to Sendai.

That eagle once stood on top of the pedestal, but toppled down during the 2011 earthquake.

Since I'm feeling nostalgic, I looked back 48 years ago to my first trip to Japan when I stayed with my grandparents at their Sendai temple. My grandmother took me to Matsushima where we had our photo taken with a tour group. You can see Godaido Hall in the background. And there I am in front of the Date, Masamune statue though my grandmother cut off poor Date.

The photo on the right shows me, my daughter and son with my grandmother and aunt in 1996. That was a very special time.

When our tour group reached our hotel in Sendai, I was surprised to see my aunt sitting there alone waiting for us. She looked so happy, healthy and beautiful, I wished my mother was also there to see her youngest sister for herself. Auntie told me she and the rest of the family were thrilled with the gifts from Hawaii that we'd sent at the start of the tour. I gave her the Aomori apples we'd picked. She thought that was rather funny.

That evening we were each again given another 2500 yen to spend. The area was so big that even with the map, it was hard to make a decision on where to eat.

We tried this ramen shop where you placed your order on a machine. Even with photos, it was hard to determine what would be good.

And no, it wasn't very good at all.

Ah well...

We had fun walking around Sendai city and yes... doing a little shopping at Daiso, a dollar store.

The Hotel Metropolitan Sendai was very lovely, but we'd be leaving the following day for Yokohama.

Japan Day 9: Akita

It was 3:40 in the morning and I woke up to trembling. Art was in the bathroom which might be another reason I got up. Maybe. Whatever the reason, I woke up to definitely feeling the earth move. Checking online, we saw that the epicenter of the earthquake was in Ichinoseki in the Miyagi Prefecture. Art fell right back asleep. I stayed awake feeling mild aftershocks. Art thinks I imagined it. He did say he saw water sloshing in the bathroom.

I asked tour friends if anybody had felt the earthquake.

Incredibly, the earthquake woke very few people. Sigh...

I wish I could be a sound sleeper.

Our first stop was Yokote's Furusato Village. I thought it was going to be an actual village, but it turned out to be a huge shopping area for more omiyage (gifts).

We bought some Inaniwa udon noodles for Art's sister and our children.

Tour guide Yoko told us that Japan's 3 most famous noodles are:

Inaniwa
Sanuki
Gumaken's Mizusawa

Then there was lunch at the Ogachi Restaurant in Uzawa City. Notice that the shape of the roof is like the headwear of Japanese women in days of old.

Art says my posts are going to make people think all we did was eat on this trip.

Well, I did gain a couple of pounds.

This was one of my favorite lunches. I loved the udon noodles and broth. Yum! Unlike other udon noodles I've had which were thicker and rounder, Inaniwa udon noodles are flatter and silkier.

Oyako donburi is a chicken and egg omelet over rice. It was awesome, but too much for me to finish. Oya means parent (chicken), ko means child (egg).

An hour after lunch we were at Naruko Gorge to admire more of the gorgeous fall colors. We first enjoyed the view from the bridge.

And then we walked to the other side to see the bridge where we'd taken a whole lot of photos.

We stopped at the Kokeshi Doll Museum next.

We weren't allowed to take photos, but we saw a craftsman making the beautiful wooden dolls. He carved the dolls in such a way that when you moved her head, it would squeak.

The museum displayed antique dolls exactly like those my grandmother gave my daughter, Tiffany over 20 years ago when we took the kids to meet her in Sendai.

A very sumptuous dinner with Wagyu beef awaited us that evening. We would be cooking our own food which was fun but required some concentration on my part.

This would be our last onsen night and I enjoyed soaking in the pleasure of the last few days of our tour with several other tour lady friends.

Japan Day 8: Namahage Museum, Akita

We were going to the Kanto Festival Museum to see displays of the lanterns featured in one of the three biggest summer festivals in the Tohoku region.

We could imagine how difficult it would be to balance these poles holding dozens of lighted lanterns even if the wind is light.

The lantern festival began in the Edo period about 270 years ago. and is held between August 3rd-6th. It started as a way to show the strength of the participants, but grew to focus on balance and agility as well.

There are four sizes of poles:
Kindergarten to 1st grade: 10 pounds and holds 24 lanterns
5th through 6th grades: 30 pounds and holds 24 lanterns (Hmmm... What about the 2nd to 4th?)
Jr. High: 60 pounds and holds 46 lanterns
Adult: 100 pounds and holds 46 lanterns, but with real candles

Children train to do this from the time they are 4-5 years of age. I obviously have never been trained and could barely balance the  lanterns on my hand, let alone on my head or leg or shoulder or back or whatever.

We stopped at Senshu Park where once Kubota castle built in 1602 stood.

It was now a place of respite and children in caps designating their age or grade walked holding hands on the beautiful grounds.

Lunch was at a yaki niku (grill) restaurant called Sutamina Taro which is a successful chain in Japan. OK... I know, I know I shouldn't be eating so many desserts, but the all-you-can-eat ice cream and sherbet bar was just much too good to pass up.

The Akita Brewery was our next place of interest. It was certainly a lot of fun to taste all the different sakes. Mom would have loved this. We bought a bottle of amazake which is a non-alcoholic or low alcoholic drink made from fermented rice that we knew mom would love.

And yes, she was thrilled! We let her have the entire bottle which she happily enjoyed for several days.

The Namahage Museum in Oga was one of the most interesting places we've visited in Japan. One of our tour friends tried on the entire costume for us. If I were a kid, I'd be terrified.

Namahage (生剥) in traditional Japanese folklore is a demon like being, portrayed by men wearing hefty ogre masks and traditional straw capes (mino) during a New Year's ritual of the Oga Peninsula area of Akita Prefecture in northern Honshū, Japan.

The frightfully dressed men, armed with deba knives (albeit wooden fakes or made of papier-mâché) and toting a teoke (手桶, "hand pail" made of wood), march in pairs or threes going door-to-door making rounds of people's homes, admonishing children who may be guilty of laziness or bad behavior, yelling phrases like "Are there any crybabies around?" (泣く子はいねがぁ Nakuko wa inee gā?) or "Are naughty kids around?" (悪い子はいねえか Waruiko wa inee ka?) in the pronunciation and accent of the local dialect.                                                                                                --Wikipedia

The museum displayed various namahage costumes worn at New Years by the men who were chosen to wear them.

A video showed just how terrified children were to see them.

I can just imagine how much they repented their sins of the previous year.

Still... many of the tour members wondered if all this could cause nightmares or damage sensitive children.

We later saw a demonstration which rather reinforced our misgivings.

I asked mom about this and she said she was terrified as a child too. I wondered why she was terrified since she and her sisters have all told me what a super good, super obedient, super wonderful child she was.

The older fellow here was pretending to recount what the year was like.

The namahage is supposed to be noting the shortcomings of people in the village from this Book of Deeds.

We passed alongside the Sea of Japan on the way to our hotel.

We stopped at the Akita City Port Tower Selion where we could see the cruise ship Asuka 2 docked from the 100 meter (328.084 feet) observation deck.

Each tour member was then given 2500 yen (about $25) to buy our dinner. We went to a department store basement and bought a quick meal.

Since I've tried my best to be a good girl this year, I didn't dream of namahages that night.

Japan Day 7: Aomori

It was forecasted to rain on this apple picking day and Teru Teru Bozu's magic may not have worked.

We started our morning with a lovely breakfast.

Tohoku Travel makes sure that everybody rotates seats throughout the trip. It was our turn to be at the very front of the bus.

Ummm... It was definitely raining.

Oh my! We got to see John up close. Our first stop was the Nenputa Museum. If you look closely, you'll see that Art volunteered to try doing the taiko drum.

The Nenputa Festival is held between August 1st-7th in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture.

Giant floats parade through the streets during the festival.

We got to hear a master shamisen musician named Sadao Kawamura.

Outside the museum was this garden and a huge stone lantern that reminded us of our small one at home.

A short half hour drive took us to the apple farm. The rain had stopped! Teru Teru Bozu was doing his job after all.

These huge apples from Aomori are called Jonah. The Aomori area produces over 50% of the apples from Japan. There are over 1,000 varieties of apples which is rather mind boggling since we tend to just buy Fuji in Hawaii.

The huge Jonah apples were tart, sweet and crunchy. They were so big and heavy that we never ate the four that we picked because we were always too full from dinner. We ended up giving them all to my aunt when she met us in Sendai at our hotel.

As we left the apple farm the owners happily waved goodbye.

And then just down the road, it began to rain. Thank you, Teru Teru Bozu.

The trunks of the cedar trees along the roadside were amazingly straight.

I know it seems like we were always eating, but it was fun to try the delicacies in different areas of Japan.

Here in the Akita region, their specialty was kiritanpo.

Kiritanpo (きりたんぽ) is a Japanese dish particularly in Akita Prefecture. Freshly cooked rice is pounded until somewhat mashed, then formed into cylinders around Japanese cedar skewers, and toasted over an open hearth. It can then be served with sweet miso or used as dumplings in soups.                  -Wikipedia

Unfortunately, that was a whole lot of carbs for me, so I could only sample a couple of them. The broth was very delicious.

The area is also known for their Hinai chicken. Sigh... I wish my taste buds were in better condition. I'm sure it lived up to its reputation.

While on the bus, we were shown the movie Hachiko: A Dog's Story with Richard Gere.

It's a tear jerker.

Hachi is the Akita dog who waited for his master, professor Ueno at the Shibuya train station for 9 years after Ueno died of a cardiac arrest while at work.

Even though I've seen the movie twice, I still couldn't help crying again. John went quickly down the bus aisle passing out tissues to all of us.

We stopped at the Akita train station to take photos and to visit with another beautiful Akita dog.

This region is full of gifts bearing the Akita likeness. I was sorely tempted.

The Taiko (drum) Museum was our next stop. I'm standing in front of the largest taiko drums in the world. There were 147 drums from 40 countries displayed. We tried drumming on several of the drums. I'm afraid I don't have much rhythm.

We were now at the Akita View Hotel and had to pack for another blue bag two night stay because our suitcases would be sent on to Yokohama.

Our evening was spent in a party room at the hotel where we were once again served very fancy dishes. The flat, silky udon noodles were awesome! They are famous in the Akita region and called Inaniwa udon.

We would have only a few more days of our tour so John, Yoko and Mr. N (our very strong and efficient baggage handler) sang and did a judo demonstration. Watching the power and concentration of Mr. N was pretty darn amazing. John and Yoko made us all smile and sing along.

Many of us were feeling a bit melancholy since we'd gotten to know each other and enjoy our time together.

Soon, it would all be a happy memory.