Family Trip to Japan: Day 4 Monday

Got up early to catch a ferry to Mie but we missed it by 2 minutes. We had a hard time getting out the door because we couldn't find Mark's jacket. Missing the ferry ended up working out because we stopped at a beach called Koijigahama. The waves were huge, the hugest I've ever seen, and we hiked in a little path to a lighthouse. At a market by the beach, there was the hugest oyster I've ever seen and some cooked clams and pineapple on a stick. Then we are shaved ice with condensed milk and strawberry jam. By then it was time to catch the ferry boat.  It was a fantastic little side tour.

This stone monument is a war memorial.

We ate raw oysters and cooked clams. The clams were better. :)

Juliet said it was cold and windy outside. I stayed inside! :)

The ferry had a carpeted area that required one to remove their shoes before we could sit or lie down. I rested and felt the boat sway. 

After 50 minutes on the ferry, we disembarked and found a kaiten sushi place for lunch. A conveyor belt brings little plates of sushi around. There was also a touch screen menu and we could order custom dishes, that were then brought on a separate belt. We had a great time ordering items and have them brought to our table by the belt. Coolest.sushi.ever. Mark wasn't impressed, he had a hamburger.

After lunch we drove to Ise, which had an old Japanese village and Shinto temple. There were vendors selling Japanese snacks and trinkets. We purchased a Christmas ornament to commemorate our family trip to Japan. 

The architecture is very similar to America except for the roof tiles. They were uniquely Japanese.

We drove to Kyoto and checked into an AirBNB. It was this little house that looked very old school Japanese style. Shota said it reminded him of his grandma's house.

Modern toilets of course.

Just behind our AirBNB was this Japanese cemetery.

We ate dinner at a Yaki niku place where they bring a bbq grill to your table and raw meats and veggies and then you grill it yourself. We had cow tongue, lots of beef, and assorted beef innerds. We had onions, potatoes, hard squash, corn and a bunch of cabbage. It was delicious but the innerds were not my favorite. 

After we walked through Kyoto a little but mostly just went back to the airbnb house to bathe the littles and get ready for bed. 

Shota, Merril and I stayed up and chatted and laughed. It was the first night I didn't feel was wasted by 8:30 p.m.

Family Trip to Japan: Day 3 Sunday

We got up and went to church and took Shota and Aya's family with us. The ward we went to in Toyohashi was half Japanese and half Brazilian. There were people translating Portuguese into Japanese and vice versa. Merril knew the bishop, Brother Ishi, because they served in the same Sapporo mission but were never companions. Brother Ishi recognized Merril and they chatted and the bishop remarked that it's a small world. We stayed for primary and Mikayla and Mark both attracted a teacher to translate. I stayed with Mark because he was a little nervous. We sang the primary song "Saturday" and talked about all the things we do on Saturday to prepare for the Sabbath. Jack made a friend, a young man who was 14, the bishop's son, also Brother Ishi. He knew a lot of English and was excited to practice. Jack helped pass the sacrament. We took pictures together after church. 

After we went to this mall to take prurikura pictures. We also went MEGA which is kinda like Wamart but was bigger and crazier. Aya bought things for dinner and I bought some Japanese snacks and rice seasoning furikake, which I've come to like. 

After church we went back to Shota's house to change and we stopped by the store for rice balls. My favorite was rice with soy sauce, edamame. We ate them in the car on the way to a strawberry farm. You paid a flat fee and could eat as many strawberries as you wanted in an hour. They gave us a little tray with sweetened condensed milk. I ate way too many strawberries. 

We were having a chill day, hanging out.

Every spare moment at Shota's house was spent playing Mario Cart.

After we went to this mall to take prurikura pictures. We went MEGA which is kinda like Wamart but was bigger and crazier. Aya bought things for dinner and I bought some Japanese snacks and rice seasoning furikake, which I've come to like. 

Everything is very fishy. Lots of fish to buy and lots of seaweed. I thought I really liked Japanese food but I may just like Japanese/American food. 

Family Trip to Japan: Day 2 Saturday

We got up and went to McDonalds for breakfast because the kids didn't want any rice or fish for breakfast. We got mcmuffins and pancakes. 

We drove to the beach and could see Mt. Fuji. The beach area was called Miho No Matsu Bara, it translates beach with pine trees. The sand on the beach was dark grey and had tons of smooth river rocks. We walked on a trail through the pine tree. I went to the bathroom at the beach and the toilet seat had a warmer. It was the best, especially because it was cold outside. 

We drove to another viewpoint to see Mt. Fuji. Shota told us that it had just snowed on Mt. Fuji. There hadn't been snow on Mt. Fuji for weeks and he said that it looked great for us!

We drove through the country and saw rice paddies and plum tree blossoms and mandarin orange trees, with oranges on them. In the country was a cave full of stalagmites and one of the tallest underground waterfalls in Japan. It was 30 meters or about 100 feet. The cave was called Ryugashi-do. 

We drove to a fish market and had sushi. There were all sorts of fresh and dried seafood. We had ice cream to finish. I had milk ice cream, which looked like vanilla but it didn't have vanilla flavor. 

These fish on a stick were a trip.

Then we drove though the forest to Shota's house by Toyohashi. The littles were excited to get to Shota's house. His house was brand new, they'd only lived in a few months. It was small but modern and nice. We walked to a park by Ren and Gunji's house and the kids played.

Then we went to dinner with a bunch of people who were friends with Shota and Merril. The restaurant required that we take it shoes off . We sat at these floor tables and underneath we're warming mats for our feet. They just kept bringing food. Mikayla, Mark, Jack and Julie we're still feeling pretty jet lagged and after we got some food in them they started getting really sleepy. Aya gave me and the 4 younger kids a ride home so I could put them to bed. Then she went back to the restaurant. 

Family Trip to Japan: Day 1

Shota and Aya Watabe invited us to come to visit them in Japan. Our flight was delayed, so we are waiting at the airport. We drove all night from our house to the L.A. airport.

We're on the plane and waiting to take off!

Mikayla looks excited!

Goodbye California. On to the Land of the Rising Sun.

We got our food! Juliet said it was kind of weird and gross. The airline was Japanese, and so was the food.

We finally landed after a 10 1/2 hour flight. Everyone did excellent on the plane! The beautiful Tokyo sunset.

Shota picked us up in an Astro Van. We were all so tired from the plane ride, and we all passed out in the back.

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This is Tokyo Tower. It is a replica of the Eiffel Tower.

We checked into our hotel, and went to bed. Merril and Shota went out to dinner after we got there.

Rhino Rally 2019...

Merril and Ryan road dirt bikes in this year's Rhino Rally and it was super muddy. 

It must be harder than it looks because Merril said guys were stuck in the mud and stopped along the course. He said he and Ryan zipped right through!

They were very dirty in the end. 

Their reward was winning 3rd place in their division.