6/25/2015 Shinkansen, Nagano

Up with the birds to make the bullet train out of Tokyo.  The kids slept in their clothes.  We had said that they could sleep again on the first train, but no such luck - the commuters were already in full force.

Here is our first Shinkansen:

Alec took pictures of all of them - I didn't bother after the first.

Breakfast on the train:

The good thing about the really fast train is that you get there FAST!

Nagano - the Olympic city.

We dropped our stuff at our hotel, which was connected to the station and took a bus into the mountains to a ninja training school.  The road actually did a full 360 corkscrew.

The first ninja school was aimed at kids.  There were 6 activities that we had to pay for and very elaborate climbing structures that were just part of the admission.

The Ninja house was a series of puzzles that had to be solved to get through it.  (Walls that swung or slid, stairs that pulled down or collapsed because they weren't really stairs, etc.)

Throwing stars and blow darts.

Climbing:

Even daddy got into the game.

There was one part on water that we didn't let the kids do.  We saw too many others that had fallen in and we didn't have a change of clothes. (It was drizzling and the people in the gift store decided we needed umbrellas, so they gave us some that had been left behind.)

For lunch we had hot soba and tempora.

The food was delicious, but we were in a real tatami room and I can no longer kneel or sit cross legged for any length of time. They noticed my problem and brought a little stool.

In the afternoon we took a cab to another ninja place that was aimed more for adults.  There was a museum with both ninja equipment and old kinds of things.

Would you believe - flip flop ice skates:

We all did the ninja house here.  Alec was really good at it - he notices construction details with seams in the wrong places and has seen movies with some of the things.  (Like the floor cooking box that had to slide to the side to expose the stairs). 

In one room a deaf couple were panicking.  They had tried all the doors and kept being dumped back into the same room.  We did the maze and then Alec pushed the whole wall out of the way.  The deaf people stuck to us like glue after that.

Took the bus back and checked in.  Since we were cold from being in the rainy woods, we went to a public bath.  The boys went in one side and the girls the other.  First you soap, shampoo, and rinse well.  Then you soak in various pools of different temperatures.  The outside one was fun because it rained on us.  We could go under an overhang or stay in the rain.  

Feeling extremely clean and warm, we walked next door to a sukiyaki restaurant.

Rare roast beef to munch on while waiting for the rest to cook.

The ingredients 

Cooking 

You whip the egg and then dip the cooked meat in it.

Back at the hotel we were very comfortable in two rooms. Alec and Jef took the small one and the kids and I were in the large one.

6/24/2015. Yokohama

Today was just about eating and shopping.  We are going on a trip - so needed to do laundry and pack.

In Japan there are really neat tiles in the sidewalk that have some meaning to the city or place.

 

We ate at a fried sticks place.  These are whole fish.

After shopping we met Yong for dinner at a local pancake restaurant.

Branwen made Octopus balls.  (Except she made them with little hot dogs.)

You pour batter into round molds, Let them cook, Add the filling, pour in more batter, and then use a pointy stick to turn them over.

Calder mixed the ingredients for the pancakes.  We had 2 kinds.  

We also had Yakisoba, which I have made at home since our first trip to Japan when Alec was 10.

Alec and I had beer.

6/23/2015 Ueno zoo, Tonkin

Because the fish market was closed, we slept in and had a relaxing day in Tokyo.  Breakfast at the club was normal American, but quite inexpensive, considering.  

Leaving our stuff at the club, we spent the day at the zoo.  They have 2 pandas and all the other normal stuff.  Calder was happy to see the red pandas - his new favorite.  There were several types of hedgehogs - my favorite.

For dinner we went to Tonki.  This is Alec and Jef's favorite pork cutlet restaurant.  (In Japan restaurants specialize.  So everyone is going to have the same thing.  You all have to agree before choosing a restaurant.)

When you walk in the door, you say how many cutlets your party is going to have.  Then you wait for seats to be available.  

The cutlets are breaded:

Put in the fryer:

Cut carefully:

This cutie is the cutter:

And served:

You can ask for more cabbage.  (You can in America also.)

After dinner we went back to the American club.  Our guest membership was still active.  Everyone else went swimming.  I sat and knitted.

We headed back home tired but happy.

6/22/2015 Dad, castle, Kamaboko, American club

UThe kids were soooo happy.  Daddy arrived right when they woke up.

Now we just need to keep him awake till bedtime.

We did a walk around Odawara castle.  (I say this so casually - it involved a walk to the train and several switches.)

We met up with Caitlin, Kyle and their mom.  She had arranged another neat do it yourself factory tour. This one was to make Kamaboko.  For those who don't know - this is the semi circle with pink rim that is often found in bowls of stuff.

These were professionally made.  Ours weren't fancy - in fact they looked gray.

Demoing technique.

We also made some on sticks that were grilled that we could eat right away.  The logs we shipped home.

We spent the night at the American Club, so that we could get up before dawn to go to the fish market.  (Turned out it was closed, so we slept in.)

Branwen's friend Naomi and her dad joined us for dinner and some playtime in the gym.

We had the "Fitness Room ".

Our special squirt water and blow your butt dry toilet also opened the lid every time you walked into the room.

6/21/2015 Schools, looong walk

Yong had made an appointment for us to visit the local public school.  Jef had been making noises about actually sending them to school for a week, but it was going to be too hard to arrange.

The principal gave us a little tour of the 3rd and 6th grades.  Basically, it was a school.  Quite drab, there wasn't much on the walls, desks lined up by twos. Kids well behaved, but little whispers, nudges, etc.

Jef read some essays about the children's day that Branwen's age group had done and said B's class had done better, which surprised us.

Then we crossed the road to St. Maur's where Yong works.  It is a private school where English is the primary language.  Much more lively looking classrooms.

We said goodbye and walked through parks along the Yokohama waterfront.

Another bride

This is for Alexa.  The woman held the pose forever.

We stopped at Pompador for a very late lunch, went to a Manga store (I carry my knitting so I can amuse myself during this stuff.) and Yong picked us up.

6/20/2015 Sunday, American Club

Sunday was a day of rest for me.  I really needed it.  Jef and the kids met friends at an inside amusement park.  (Because it was going to be a rainy day.). Yong and I went to a super market, bought sandwiches for lunch, and napped in the afternoon.

We all met up at the American Club.  Uncle Chi-Heng is a member and really, really, really wanted us to see it.  It was Fathers' Day, so we had the buffet in the family section.

The boys played basketball in the gym and then joined the girls bowling.

Chi-Heng drove us home.

6/19/2015 Costco, sushi lunch

After the shrine we went to Costco.  Since it was still Friday in L.A., this counts as my weekly visit.  Most of Costco is the same except for: 

The signs

 Tasting alcoholic beverages 

She was pouring 3 kinds, but notice the sign.

And some of the local favorites:

Then we all went lunch at a conveyor belt sushi place.

First we met the tuna:

Then we watched it being cut up.  They had little raffles for certain sections. We gamed the system, so one of us would win.  

3 pieces from different parts of the fish:

Each plate was color coded - when we were finished, the waitress totaled up all the colors:

ALL of that only came to $77.

After lunch we shopped for some clothes for Jef and the kids.  I wandered the mall just looking.  Yong took the kids home while Jef and I continued a marathon day.  We walked to another shopping center to pick up pencils engraved with the kids Japanese names.  Then we took a train to a 4 BUILDING craft store.  We started on the 6th floor of the one that interested us most and worked our way down.

When we reached the bottom, I threw in the towel.  We still had to take the train home.  We opted for a taxi from the station.  It was about 9 pm when we finally collapsed at home.  All in all, we had been going for 13 hours.

6/19/2015 Family shrine

Our first duty on Saturday was to pay our respects at the Chinese Temple where the family graves are located.  This is there first visit since Jef's grandmother died.

We stopped at the florist where Yong has been buying her flowers for 40 years.  The proprietor is 90.  Branwen told the lady how much I liked her shop.

At the grave the kids filled buckets with water to pour over the stones.

Then they went to the temple with Yong and put incense sticks at important places and at memorials of the 1928 earthquake victims.

The inside of the temple is always incredibly smoky because of all the burning incense, which makes this sign so funny.

Back at the family site they put the flowers in the little vases and put 3 incense sticks at a time in front of each stone.  The remaining were put at all of the "neighbors ".