Family Trip to Japan: Day 7 Thursday

 Time to go home! We took one last picture with everyone!

Then we road the train to the airport. We were supposed to get on the express but ended up getting on the wrong train. It still went to the airport but made a bunch of stops. We were fine, plenty of time.

Loaded up and off we went.

The flight went smoothly. We ate and watched movies and slept. Back in the US, we went through immigration and a machine took our photos. Mark and Merril's were the absolute best.

Merril left us with the luggage to go get the car and we got flagged by a Immigration Dog and had to go in a separate and much slower line. I was given a banana on the flight and put it in my backpack. I'm not supposed to bring fresh fruit into America. That was silly of me, if I had left it on the plane, I would've been fine. We finally got through and met up with Merril. Someone had keyed out car while it was in the parking garage and that was a bit of a bummer. Oh well.

First matter of business when back in the US, CHEESEBURGERS!!!!

Observations about Japan: Vending machines are EVERYWHERE! Cold drinks and hot drinks could be had on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere because there would be a vending machine. CC Lemon was our favorite drink, a lot like Sprite. I got a few hot chocolates. It came in an aluminum can, but warm. I don't like true Japanese food as much as I like Japanese/American food. It's very fishy. Toilet seat technology is far superior in Japan than in America. Seriously America, get with it! I want a heated toilet seat! Everyone was super polite to us. I loved the bowing and the way they indicate direction with an open palm, Vanna White style. Fantastic adventure. Shota was an amazing tour guide!

Family Trip to Japan: Day 6 Wednesday

We kind of had a chill day. We went to Gunji's preschool and played with the Japanese children. The kids wear a uniform, the yellow smock, and had to take off their shoes inside and wear slipper-type inside shoes. We played for about an hour. Right as we were about to leave I stopped and said, "I didn't get a picture!" I pulled out my phone for a selfie and all the kids crowded around without even being asked. They were the cutest!

We went back to Shota and Aya's house and played Mario Cart with Gunji. We ordered pizza for lunch and Merril and Shota left to show him where he worked. After lunch, we drove into Toyohashi city center to ride the Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train) to Nagoya.

It was super fast! Bucket list item for me!

In Nagoya, we rode the subway to a Buddhist temple, Oosukan nome. Jack chased the pigeons.  We went to a 300 yen shop. Then we rode the subway to the regular train back to Toyohashi.

Engrish is the best! These were bags at the 300 yen shop.

Bullet train ticket.

In Toyohashi, we went to a 100 yen shop and bought little presents and snacks to bring home. I bought a few more melamine bowls and Maxine bought some chopsticks. Then we went to an all you can eat Shabu Shabu place for dinner. I ate so much. Once Mikayla was full, she was out!

Then we came back to Shota's house and put the little kids to bed and went with Shota and Aya to a karaoke bar. The place was empty except for us so we sang song after song. Shota and Aya wouldn't sing except for We Are the World by Michael Jackson. Aya didn't know it very well and we didn't know it either. We had a good time and Merril and I felt like the sound system was pretty good.

We came back to Shota's house and Ren and Gunji we're still awake with Maxine. It was our last night in Japan!

Family Trip to Japan: Day 5 Tuesday

We woke up and toured around a Buddhist temple in Kyoto called Kiyomizu Temple. To get us excited before we left, I put a picture of a random Japanese temple on the computer screen saver. When we walked up, the kids and I were excited to actually visit the temple we'd been looking at for the past month! I didn't realize this is where we were going on this day!

We walked around the old part of town by the temple and bought souvenirs. There were a lot of Japanese/Asian people who had rented Kimonos to walk around in. Shota said they just do it for fun, there's no real meaning to it. I felt it would be inappropriate for me to rent one, I didn't want to insult their culture. I loved watching the locals wear them though. We saw mostly women dressed up, a few men, and 1 super cute child all dressed up!

For lunch we got ramen in another part of Kyoto. Then we walked to a bamboo Forest called Arashyama.

Merril and I were in Vegas for my birthday and we happened into an art gallery with a super cool picture of this exact bamboo forest! There are lanterns placed during the evening for a festival in December and makes it look awesome! We we came to the forest, I suddenly realized that this was the exact place from the art gallery!

After we walked through the bamboo forest, Merril and Shota walked to a bridge to look at something and Maxine read enough katakana to help the rest of us order ice cream. I know she's only been taking Japanese a short time but she was great!

We drove a short distance to Kinkaku-ji, the gold temple. It was a Buddhist temple with real gold leaf on the walls and on an ornamental bird on the roof.

There were nice grounds with manicured Japanese-style trees. We lit incense at the temple and rang the gong and threw money in the box. Merril missed twice. Shota said he's never seen or heard of that happening.

Then we drove to Osaka to meet one of Merril's missionary companions, Shun, for dinner, but first we had to find Mark a slice of pizza. Shun and his family gave us a present. We ate cabbage pancake / quiches called okonomiyaki. Maxine tried to talk to Shun' daughter, Megumi. She knew as much  English as Maxine knew Japanese.

Osaka remind me of Vegas a little. Bright lights and signs.

A restaurant called Meat Jack? We better get a picture.

Shun and his family! Once Mikayla has eaten dinner, she's out like a light. We can't seem to get her to adjust to the last few hours of the day.

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.