Since we live near Kamakura, that once was the capitol of Japan, it is easy and fun to go there. Diane is cleansing her hands before going into Kotokuin Temple, and the Buddha's presence. Right after this, we met Tim's boss and many co-workers enjoying Kamakura on a Sunday afternoon. January has many bright, sunny days. It's a bit cold, but the weather is so nice, and there are no mosquitoes! I believe it's amazing that this bronze buddha has survived as long as it has, and as beautifully as it has. It was cast in the 1200's. Amazing workmanship was going on here in Asia. It's about 13.35 meters high, and you can go inside. Diane, in another white trash moment, said it was interesting going into Amida Buddha's a$$, but a little claustrophobic. This is the buddha's slippers. Afterwards, we had the sweet potato (the Japanese sweet potato is a bit in the purple range, but tastes similar) ice cream. When President Obama visited Japan as a child, he came here to Kamakura. In his address to the Japanese people on his visit here last fall, he said he remembered the ice cream in Kamakura as the highlight of the trip. Diane's photo was a bit phallic, so I put my picture up here! I will sell the photo of her eating the ice cream to the highest bidder. On the way home, the sunset was beautiful over Sagami Bay. The Buddha is about 1 km inland, but it lost it's temple building over it in tsunamis in the 14th and 15th centuries.
After the snow monkeys, we drove about an hour's nap to Matsumoto Castle. This is the first castle I've seen in Japan that isn't on a hill. It's in the middle of the town! Tim got this beautiful shot. Remember that you can double-click on any picture and see it full-sized. As soon as Tim got off the bus with the good camera, I said, "Go get the perfect light shots! I'll stick with William." Notice how I take credit for letting him get this shot! :) William woke up grumpy from his nap, and so it took awhile to get inside the castle. Original and cool looking. The stairs up were steep and narrow, and hurt the knees! I guess the Japanese kneel to eat, and to shoot arrows... This is a good-luck charm up in the rafters.
At least this time, William got out of the bus. At the stop before this one (to eat), Wm was overly hungry and grumpy. In his 'frump,' he did not get off the bus with the rest of us. Tim stayed with him. We were inside, ordering our meal, and I get a phone call. It is Tim. He is on the bus, and they can't get out. Apparently, all the buttons that might have said "open door" were in Japanese. The tour guide wasn't answering her phone, and the bus drivers were having a break (there were 2 since it was such a long day). They did get out and got something to eat. Now William sometimes worries that the bus will stop, and he won't be able to get out! I guess that'll teach him not to have a frump and not exit the bus!
There's always a part towards the end of the castle tours, where they show you historical stuff. No, we don't hate UConn. Rocket? Every castle has some samurai warrior armor. Samurai's originally were really good swordsmen, who would 'call out' another samurai to fight. Eventually, samurai became a group of men who fought together in a battalion type of formation. William and I in a room facing East, a summer moon viewing room. The backside of the castle. Where's Waldo? I mean, Tim? (He's in a red coat.) Diane was enchanted that they were beginning an ice carving festival here. This was the back gate area. They had a lot of things ready for the ice sculptors to sculpt all night for a morning judging. Okay, I love that this says 'chiken.' We didn't eat dinner here, but later, at one of the many rest stops. William got off the bus, got an egg sandwich, and got back on the bus to eat it. He was going home after a L-o-n-g day.
Diane said she'd come to Japan! She kept saying, "I'm here for YOU, Caroline!" So, it was easy to please her.
So, what do you make someone do after they get off a 12-hour plane ride? Well, you show them around the first day, take them to lunch (we loved this sign near the shabu-shabu place), and then put them on a bus for 6 hours to go to Nagano, where the snow monkeys are! Sorry for the blown-out picture. The last little bit up to the area where you get out and hike in 30 minutes (it took me 45) has snow on the ground. Well, our bus didn't make it up the hill. They slid down, made another run at it, and finally had to give up and chain up. The white trash in us came out when Diane said, "Oh, Arnold would LOVE this!!!" So, we had to walk a little extra to get up to the entrance into the park. The path was icy in spots, but I never fell. You're on a path cut into the steep hillside, going through the forest. It was very beautiful. I grabbed a fallen limb on the way back down, and used it like a ski pole. It helped me not fall. Even before getting to the place the snow monkeys bathe in the water, we saw monkeys. We were told that in the 1960s, they noticed the monkeys were using some of the river water, as it was warmer than the outside temperature (which is snow!) So, some people made an onsen for the monkeys to bathe in, with the source being the natural hot springs in the area. Of course, this proved popular for the monkeys. There is a human onsen downstream (which makes me wonder about monkey poo) which, BTW, the humans were scooping to keep the area clean. I loved this shot Tim took of the mother and child grooming each other! Diane and I pose for the camera. Wish I would have had her 'groom' me! This big guy looked like the leader of this particular group of monkeys. We were told not to look at them. This was fun to watch, as William would immediately hold up a hand between him and the monkey anytime a monkey looked at him! The tour guide said there weren't many monkeys here that day. Seemed like there were plenty of tourists, anyway! No falls on our rears, a small falls, and a National Geographic moment or two. Life is good!
Monday, March 1, 2010
The Hamagin Space Science Center in southern Yokohama is a treasure. Much of it has English translations, it's easy to get to by train, it's not too pricey, and you can spend a whole day with the kids. Click here for a link to it's English site. Go into a space capsule and have your own adventure. You get to choose which adventure you go on. This one looks like a video game, although we know it's a moon mission.
Beware of aliens! This meteorite you can touch. We all loved the exhibit of lifting 1 kg. on different gravities. Meteorites are usually made of metal. Proof positive! Although it couldn't compare to the new 'roving exhibit.' The Japanese would look at what was on display....
We think this is a pretty collection of minerals right here.... Ian, a life form on planet earth!
This was a pretty cool thing to do. You tried to get your ball to get around the gravitational pull of planets (holes they'd spin around, and eventually fall into) and into another galaxy. It was pretty hard to do! Dougie was pretty much into just shooting the balls as quickly as possible. Mission Control Caroline was able to successfully do it 3 times! This was a fun little display on light and how it works. Of course you can tell William dressed himself this morning. He woke up at 5:30 excited to take the train and meet up with the Anthony's. He sat at the top of the stairs, by the entrance to our room until we woke up. Can you say EXCITED? Playing with light. Both the kids... wow, the older one shaved his mustache, and now he looks, and acts much younger! Hallie and Stefan at one of the cool light exhibits. It doesn't show with the flash. And there's the day's top attraction again.
William even used his Japanese with other kids and a few adults. He wanted to go on one of the 'rides' by himself, and did a great job of asking. We have video of it, but it's one of those we must edit, and transfer, and, and, and... my ease and joy in blogging has gotten really tough since the old camera died mid-October. Can you tell?
The Outdoor Rec Center on base puts on some fantastic trips around Japan for most any outdoor activity. Skiers are treated to many nice areas. Most are day trips, but a couple are overnight trips like the one that William and I went on last weekend to Shiga Kogen. We got up at 1:00 AM... Yes, 1:00 AM and Caroline drove us to base to check in, get William's rental gear, and then crawl onto the bus and try to get the rest of the night's sleep on the 6 hour drive. For some reason, they make rest stops every two hours... That is about the time that everyone is just drifting off to sleep! When we arrived, William and I each had an additional three or so hours of sleep and were ready to go. The weather and snow were incredible! The sun was out and the mountains were beautiful. William was excited to see that the ski school's theme was Sponge Bob. Heaven! Shiga Kogen is a collection of 27 ski areas that are all linked together and your ticket works at all of them. William and I tried out three in our area and we had plenty of choices of ski runs. They obviously don't appreciate people who go off the trail... A couple of the area were for skiers only. No snow boards. It was kind of like old times... We spent the whole day skiing then crashed for the night and then got up in the morning and got first tracks in the inch or so of new snow. It was a wonderful father/son ski vacation and we really did have a great time. We were each other's side kick... at least until we went by the rental shop where they had Sponge Bob on continuously... William even tried out a black diamond run (Something about the cousins are doing black diamond runs...). He'd really been working on turning a lot with this goal in mind. This is new since he usually prefers to just bomb straight down the hill. He seemed to be able to control his speed and really wanted to try it, so we gave it a shot. He found that there is such a thing as too steep and was happy to practice on the intermediate runs afterwards. At the end of the day when I asked him which was his favorite run... it was the black diamond!
Since we live near Kamakura, that once was the capitol of Japan, it is easy and fun to go there. Diane is cleansing her hands before going into Kotokuin Temple, and the Buddha's presence.
Right after this, we met Tim's boss and many co-workers enjoying Kamakura on a Sunday afternoon. January has many bright, sunny days. It's a bit cold, but the weather is so nice, and there are no mosquitoes!
I believe it's amazing that this bronze buddha has survived as long as it has, and as beautifully as it has. It was cast in the 1200's. Amazing workmanship was going on here in Asia.
It's about 13.35 meters high, and you can go inside. Diane, in another white trash moment, said it was interesting going into Amida Buddha's a$$, but a little claustrophobic.
This is the buddha's slippers.
Afterwards, we had the sweet potato (the Japanese sweet potato is a bit in the purple range, but tastes similar) ice cream. When President Obama visited Japan as a child, he came here to Kamakura. In his address to the Japanese people on his visit here last fall, he said he remembered the ice cream in Kamakura as the highlight of the trip. Diane's photo was a bit phallic, so I put my picture up here! I will sell the photo of her eating the ice cream to the highest bidder.
On the way home, the sunset was beautiful over Sagami Bay. The Buddha is about 1 km inland, but it lost it's temple building over it in tsunamis in the 14th and 15th centuries.
