Meg and Marvin's Visit - Part I

This week we took Marvin and Megan to visit a few places in Japan. We went to a few places we had not yet been ourselves. 

Monday we went down to Kamakura. There are some shrines and temples there and a famous Buddah statue. It was kind of a long day. It took us about 2 hours to get there and close to 3 hours to get back. Most places in Japan are relatively close (40-100) miles, but it takes FOREVER to get places because of traffic. Kamakura is only about 45 miles away, but like I said, because of traffic it took us about 3 hours to get back. Here are some pictures from Monday.

We saw this car lot which had corvettes reminding us of Kentucky and the corvette factory in Bowling Green and Mike liked the name. =)

This is a ritual the Japanese do before entering the temple/shrine area. With the cup one dips water from basin and washes the right then the left hand and then rinses his mouth and spits the water out. You do not have do it in order to view the shrines, but Mike wanted to try. We think it is OK to try even if you don't practice Shintoism.

In front of the Hachimangu shrine

These are wishes written on small boards and hung around the shrine.

Eedie was loving the birds. They came right up to us and one even landed on Megan's leg.

The Great Buddah of Kamakura

It is the 2nd tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan.

I keep trying to get Annabelle to do the peace sign. The Japanese love doing this in their pictures... when in Rome. =)

On the car ride back Annabelle's head kept bobbing forward so Marvin tied her head back with a scarf.

Family Home Evening Treats: Bean paste, bean paste and the pink one was some kind of rice dessert. =) Oh how I love American desserts. =)

Tuesday, Mike's assistant Kaorie and her mom took us to Kawagoe. Kaorie's mom is a tour guide for parts of Japan. She doesn't speak English so Kaorie translated for us. Here are some of our pictures from Kawagoe.

Eedie and Annabelle hanging out in one of the shops.

Face in a hole

In front of the display of a famous Samurai

This was at the Kawagoe Festival Museum. At the Kawagoe Festival there are about 16 floats in a parade. People in masks dance on and around the floats. The festival honors the gods. They told us one of the floats cost over 1 billion yen to make, which is 10 million US dollars.

This is a statue depicting how some of the people dress on the floats. This mask represent the fox god.

Behind one of the floats

In front of another shrine

Kaorie was showing us how to do the purification.

A view of the main street

Annabelle mingling with some of the locals

Inside one of the old Japanese homes

We thought these frog and rabbit statues were pretty funny.

This is a Jinrikisha which means "human-powered vehicle." This is were we get the word "rickshaw."

Panda bear and a semi-peace sign =)

This is a fish shaped pancake filled with custard. It was really yummy. We also got one with sweet potato filling. Apparently Kawagoe is one of the biggest sweet potato growing cities. The sweet potato pancake was interesting.

This is a "Squaty Potty." Yes, it is entirely in the ground except for the flusher. I didn't use it, but Mike did.

Wednesday and Thursday, we went down to Tokyo. We stayed overnight at "The New Sanno," a navy hotel in downtown Tokyo. Here are some pictures from Tokyo.

Annabelle mingling with some Japaneses women on the train

We ate at a ramen place near the "New Sanno" and the LDS temple. It was really good.

We went to Tokyo Tower.

Annabelle contemplating the view of city.

She wasn't scared at all!

I on the other hand was a little freaked out.

They had this little set up to take free pictures. There were even little outfits to dress up with.

These kids were so cute. Annabelle was sitting there watching them while their mom took a picture.

This was at a kid's play place inside the tower. Please note the perfected peace sign.

We have no idea what this guy was doing up in that tower.

School kids at the train station. The backpacks they are wearing are a very coveted item among the Japanese children. They are very expensive. Around $200!

We went down to Takeshita St. in Harajuku. People dress up in crazy outfits. We didn't see too many people dressed up, but when we did, they walked by too fast for us to get a good picture. But here is an example of what you might see on Takeshita St.

The next day we got breakfast at a bakery by the Temple. These were all pretty yummy. There was a type of cinnamon roll, an apple turnover, a biscuit, and a blueberry scone. The yogurt drink was especially good.

This is the park next to the temple. Such a pretty area.

Some preschool children walking across the street.

We stopped in Shibuya so Marvin and Meg could walk through the crazy intersection.

Cheryl hanging from the handle on the train. It was pretty funny.

We went to Ikebukuru, the oldest city in Tokyo. At a building called "Sunshine City" they were taping some promotion for beer. It was kind of fun to watch even though we had no idea what they were saying.

Mike thought this was a funny picture. In Japan many restaurants display their menu items in hardened plastic sculptures. Note the cups of sauce are floating in air. It was funny.

Mike wanted an "up-the-nose" shot of the Cocoon building in Shinjuku. I think he got it. =)

This was at one of our favorite restaurants so far, Sukiya. They specialize in a beef bowl with rice which is really good.

Friday, we went to a Yunessun in Hakone. It is a spa resort naturally heated water. We didn't have a waterproof camera, but here are some pictures from their website.

This was the main spa area.

This was a slide outside and yes, it was open even during the cold winter. We would hop out of the hot tub at the bottom of the slide, run to the top and slide back down to the hot tub all in temperatures in the 40's.

Another area had hot tubs with things like coffee, charcoal, and orange. This one is green tea.

 And here is red wine

Here, they let fish, which eat the dead skin off your feet, into the pool. Megan won the award for most fish! =) I think some of the Japanese were disappointed that more fish didn't come their way.

Saturday and Sunday we hung out around the base. We took Megan and Marvin to see the "Happy Honda" and the Costco. We plan on doing a couple more things this coming week including heading down to Tokyo for the Emperor's Birthday. YES! We might just be crazy! It will very crowded. The palace is only open twice a year so we figure it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.