Other Stuff We Did In japan
There's a bunch of other stuff we did in Japan, and I'm going to list it here. Because I'm writing this for me as well as you, dear reader, I'm going to list dates even though they ruin the narrative flow. I hope you don't mind :-)
18th Dec, between the trips to Hiroshima and Disneyland, we went to Asakusa and met Asahi and her new husband Daiju. We visited Senso-ji (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senso-ji), and the kids bought various souvenirs in the shops there. We had lunch with Asahi and Daiju, then went to a nearby street famed for the supply of kitchen and catering equipment, in search of a specific pan for preparing eggs in a style we particularly enjoyed during our stay in Hiroshima. The street is also famous for selling the plastic models of food which you can find in the window displays of almost all Japanese restaurants. So if you ever want a life size and somewhat life-like model of a bowl of ramen, then that's the place to go!
21st Dec, the day after returning from Disney and before heading to Hakone, we stayed local to Tamako-cho, eating in a Chinese restaurant near Seibu-yuenchi. I think the place had seen better days, although it is still priced as if it hadn't. After that Hotaka, the kids and I went for a short walk but I was totally wiped out by something or other and crashed out for 13 hours at 5pm...!
25th Dec, the day after returning from Hakone, and before departing for Oshima, we went to Tanoshi-jinja, the Shinto shrine where Seiko and I were married 20 years ago, for a blessing of Asahi's and Daiju's wedding. 20 years ago, I viewed the process as fun and interesting (although a little more coaching would have been a good thing!), but I think Daiju looked upon the trip more as a duty than anything else. I enjoyed the priest's droning chant, which is presumably in Japanese but from which I can extract exactly zero meaning except occasionally a recognisable name is mentioned. Lunch afterwards was fun. In the afternoon we tricked the kids into walking to the nearby town of Tokorozawa, initially through a park (incidentally, the only greenery left of the forest in the movie 'Totoro'), then along urban streets. We approached the town centre to the strains of 'are we nearly there yet', but they cheered up when we got to the shops.
I also note on rereading this that the 25th of Dec was Christmas day. We successfully didn't do Christmas at all. Christmas in Japan is no big thing - the shops try to market it, but Christmas eve has developed into something like valentine's day, a time for a romantic meal with your significant other, and the big family and friends get together (with exchange of gifts) is New Year. The kids bought into this quite happily, and more or less the only mention of Christmas was Akira commenting several times that she'd forgotten it was Christmas.
Dec 28th was the day we returned from Oshima, but on the way home we went to Ikebukuro for shopping at Tokyu Hands and the Pokemon store. Tokyu Hands is a chain of craft / DIY department stores in Tokyo (maybe throughout Japan, I'm not sure), while the Pokemon store is a lot like a Disney store, but with Pokemon merchandise. Akira was disappointed that there was no European version software available, but we bought a bunch of other Pokemon stuff, including a pack of playing cards from which Sophia spent ages copying pictures of Pokemon.
On the 30th (the day after the first visit to Showa Kinen Koen) we went to Shinagawa aquarium. This is not that special compared with British sea life centres, but it has a sea lion show (similar to the one at Blair Drummond) and also a dolphin show. Ignoring any animal welfare concerns regarding performing mammals these were good shows, but I can't quite ignore them and I have a slight sense of guilt. Other aquaria are available in Tokyo - providing you don't have animal welfare concerns about fish, I guess...
On New Year's Eve, most attractions were shut, but most shops were open. We walked a couple of miles to a 'recycle shop'. This is a huge second hand store - think the size of a small supermarket, and over two levels. There is a large counter at the front with people bringing in their old junk to sell, and it then gets marked up, put and shelves and moved on. It had a bit of everything; clothes, toys, games, cameras, blankets, guitars, the whole history of Japanese computer gaming from Game'n'Watch onwards, and (what we went for) suitcases. We got a pretty nice, large hard suitcase for about £40, which is not too bad.
On New Year's Day Seiko and I watched the sunrise together, then we got up and had a traditional New Year's breakfast with Seiko's parents (including beer!) and then went out to a local temple to ring the bell. We walked back home (the kids and I (including Kenta) diverted and walked down the long side of the lake). In the afternoon I borrowed the Hagiwara bicycle (a machine that has seen better days) and cycled to the Kojima store in Higashiyamamoto, where I bought a new camera for myself - a Nikon B700 if you're interested in such things. I was supposed to cycle back before dark but failed, due to being forced to stop and set up my new camera so I could photograph the sunset behind Fuji. It was a spectacular view and there were dozens of people photographing it from the dam at Seibu-yuenchi; I don't know if that was just because it was the first sunset of the new year, or because it was just such a nice one.
And just to show off my new camera, here are the moon and the top of Mt Fuji, taken handheld from the same place as the picture above. The camera's autofocus is not great in low light, but the zoom and the image stabilising are amazing.
Jan 2nd was bike day in Showa Kinen Koen, and the 3rd was the Hagiwara New Year Party day. This is a Hagiwara tradition that has been going for years (longer than I have known them). We helped get stuff ready, including harvesting vegetation from a nearby embankment to go in the salad. Akira and Sophia were part of the entertainment, performing alongside Hotaka, doing sound effects and musical accompaniment for Hotaka's rendition of 'Snow White'. Apparently at a new year party it is acceptable for the entertainment to pass round a hat, even when the entertainment is related to the host. So Akira and Sophia each earned over 4000 yen, which is roughly £25 and definitely worth having in their opinion!
On the 4th we visited Tamarokuto Science Center, which is similar in nature to Glasgow Science Centre, including having a planetarium and lots of hands on exhibits for kids. It was very well staffed too (everything in Japan is very well staffed) and the kids (and Seiko and Hotaka) were taught several new origami models. I was too busy playing with my new camera to fold.
The 5th was our last day out of the holiday... a trip to the Ghibli museum.
On the 6th we shopped. We had a list and we didn't stick to it. We went to another DIY store and Seiko bought some more woodworking tools, plus we bought another suitcase (so we could hand carry the telescope Haruyomama had given us..!) along with several kitchen accessories, blankets, foodstuffs, tea, etc etc. We went home and tried to pack it. Haruyo loaned us another couple of large bags.
On the 7th we were effectively leaving - the flight was at half past midnight, so we had nearly the full day, but wouldn't be sleeping in the house again. We played Splendor with Kenta (who has taken to the game big time), then went to a sushi restaurant in Higashimurayama for lunch which was fun, then home for another game of Splendor and to finish off the packing. Haruyomama made us a packed tea and we departed.
And just because me and my nephew Kenta were playing with the folding screen and auto smile detect feature of the new camera...
18th Dec, between the trips to Hiroshima and Disneyland, we went to Asakusa and met Asahi and her new husband Daiju. We visited Senso-ji (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senso-ji), and the kids bought various souvenirs in the shops there. We had lunch with Asahi and Daiju, then went to a nearby street famed for the supply of kitchen and catering equipment, in search of a specific pan for preparing eggs in a style we particularly enjoyed during our stay in Hiroshima. The street is also famous for selling the plastic models of food which you can find in the window displays of almost all Japanese restaurants. So if you ever want a life size and somewhat life-like model of a bowl of ramen, then that's the place to go!
21st Dec, the day after returning from Disney and before heading to Hakone, we stayed local to Tamako-cho, eating in a Chinese restaurant near Seibu-yuenchi. I think the place had seen better days, although it is still priced as if it hadn't. After that Hotaka, the kids and I went for a short walk but I was totally wiped out by something or other and crashed out for 13 hours at 5pm...!
25th Dec, the day after returning from Hakone, and before departing for Oshima, we went to Tanoshi-jinja, the Shinto shrine where Seiko and I were married 20 years ago, for a blessing of Asahi's and Daiju's wedding. 20 years ago, I viewed the process as fun and interesting (although a little more coaching would have been a good thing!), but I think Daiju looked upon the trip more as a duty than anything else. I enjoyed the priest's droning chant, which is presumably in Japanese but from which I can extract exactly zero meaning except occasionally a recognisable name is mentioned. Lunch afterwards was fun. In the afternoon we tricked the kids into walking to the nearby town of Tokorozawa, initially through a park (incidentally, the only greenery left of the forest in the movie 'Totoro'), then along urban streets. We approached the town centre to the strains of 'are we nearly there yet', but they cheered up when we got to the shops.
I also note on rereading this that the 25th of Dec was Christmas day. We successfully didn't do Christmas at all. Christmas in Japan is no big thing - the shops try to market it, but Christmas eve has developed into something like valentine's day, a time for a romantic meal with your significant other, and the big family and friends get together (with exchange of gifts) is New Year. The kids bought into this quite happily, and more or less the only mention of Christmas was Akira commenting several times that she'd forgotten it was Christmas.
Dec 28th was the day we returned from Oshima, but on the way home we went to Ikebukuro for shopping at Tokyu Hands and the Pokemon store. Tokyu Hands is a chain of craft / DIY department stores in Tokyo (maybe throughout Japan, I'm not sure), while the Pokemon store is a lot like a Disney store, but with Pokemon merchandise. Akira was disappointed that there was no European version software available, but we bought a bunch of other Pokemon stuff, including a pack of playing cards from which Sophia spent ages copying pictures of Pokemon.
On the 30th (the day after the first visit to Showa Kinen Koen) we went to Shinagawa aquarium. This is not that special compared with British sea life centres, but it has a sea lion show (similar to the one at Blair Drummond) and also a dolphin show. Ignoring any animal welfare concerns regarding performing mammals these were good shows, but I can't quite ignore them and I have a slight sense of guilt. Other aquaria are available in Tokyo - providing you don't have animal welfare concerns about fish, I guess...
On New Year's Eve, most attractions were shut, but most shops were open. We walked a couple of miles to a 'recycle shop'. This is a huge second hand store - think the size of a small supermarket, and over two levels. There is a large counter at the front with people bringing in their old junk to sell, and it then gets marked up, put and shelves and moved on. It had a bit of everything; clothes, toys, games, cameras, blankets, guitars, the whole history of Japanese computer gaming from Game'n'Watch onwards, and (what we went for) suitcases. We got a pretty nice, large hard suitcase for about £40, which is not too bad.
On New Year's Day Seiko and I watched the sunrise together, then we got up and had a traditional New Year's breakfast with Seiko's parents (including beer!) and then went out to a local temple to ring the bell. We walked back home (the kids and I (including Kenta) diverted and walked down the long side of the lake). In the afternoon I borrowed the Hagiwara bicycle (a machine that has seen better days) and cycled to the Kojima store in Higashiyamamoto, where I bought a new camera for myself - a Nikon B700 if you're interested in such things. I was supposed to cycle back before dark but failed, due to being forced to stop and set up my new camera so I could photograph the sunset behind Fuji. It was a spectacular view and there were dozens of people photographing it from the dam at Seibu-yuenchi; I don't know if that was just because it was the first sunset of the new year, or because it was just such a nice one.
And just to show off my new camera, here are the moon and the top of Mt Fuji, taken handheld from the same place as the picture above. The camera's autofocus is not great in low light, but the zoom and the image stabilising are amazing.
Jan 2nd was bike day in Showa Kinen Koen, and the 3rd was the Hagiwara New Year Party day. This is a Hagiwara tradition that has been going for years (longer than I have known them). We helped get stuff ready, including harvesting vegetation from a nearby embankment to go in the salad. Akira and Sophia were part of the entertainment, performing alongside Hotaka, doing sound effects and musical accompaniment for Hotaka's rendition of 'Snow White'. Apparently at a new year party it is acceptable for the entertainment to pass round a hat, even when the entertainment is related to the host. So Akira and Sophia each earned over 4000 yen, which is roughly £25 and definitely worth having in their opinion!
On the 4th we visited Tamarokuto Science Center, which is similar in nature to Glasgow Science Centre, including having a planetarium and lots of hands on exhibits for kids. It was very well staffed too (everything in Japan is very well staffed) and the kids (and Seiko and Hotaka) were taught several new origami models. I was too busy playing with my new camera to fold.
The 5th was our last day out of the holiday... a trip to the Ghibli museum.
On the 6th we shopped. We had a list and we didn't stick to it. We went to another DIY store and Seiko bought some more woodworking tools, plus we bought another suitcase (so we could hand carry the telescope Haruyomama had given us..!) along with several kitchen accessories, blankets, foodstuffs, tea, etc etc. We went home and tried to pack it. Haruyo loaned us another couple of large bags.
On the 7th we were effectively leaving - the flight was at half past midnight, so we had nearly the full day, but wouldn't be sleeping in the house again. We played Splendor with Kenta (who has taken to the game big time), then went to a sushi restaurant in Higashimurayama for lunch which was fun, then home for another game of Splendor and to finish off the packing. Haruyomama made us a packed tea and we departed.
And just because me and my nephew Kenta were playing with the folding screen and auto smile detect feature of the new camera...
posted by Tony @ 16:52
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