Costco Bound

A Costco trip was needed to replenish our dried mango and syrup supplies this weekend. I decided it would be a good opportunity to snap a few shots of what we see driving locally. I didn't take our camera into the store, but frankly, it looks pretty much like any Costco you would walk into back home. They of course have products here and there specific to Japan, but for the most part, it's all Kirkland and all very much like a store in the states.

As you drive up you can clearly see that Costco is hard to miss, just like back home. 

They even have the muffins.

To park, you have to use their 4 leveled parking garage. The other funny thing is that Costco is situated next to a large outlet mall (very "Western/American" as well). There is ground parking and 2 large parking garages but you cannot park there if you are going for Costco, and that's just how it is. Nobody parks in the wrong place. Period. And all parking is paid by the customer unless you get your ticket validated at the appropriate store.

 A typical fast food restaurant. This is a ramen house. There's always pictures of the food served.

 It ain't Daryl's storage but it gets the job done. I wonder the cost to store your stuff though. This one is situated on a little corner. 

So, when driving in Japan, one MUST be ALWAYS vigilant because bicycles are everywhere. On side walks, off side walks, with traffic, against traffic . . . they are everywhere and hitting a cyclist with your car is not only dangerous but considered a very big deal legally. The car will ALWAYS be at fault, it's extremely black and white. Same goes for motorcycles, although they tend to stay on the road with the direction of traffic, but otherwise move similar to a bicycle along side and in the middle of rows cars.

 Another big difference is of course the road system. Buildings came first, streets came after. These are pretty wide streets. Most side streets are barely wide enough for one car.

The good, the bad and the ugly . . . graffiti is everywhere.

 A large road. Notice the Denny's restaurant to the right.

The menu  of course if nothing like the states for those who are curious.

 A more traditional style home that has land is growing crops.

More modern houses. I plan to get a better picture but this one will do for quick comparison. In Misawa there was a larger presence of single story homes featuring western floor plans. Here, where it is blatantly  apparent that space is much more limited, there seems to be no such thing. All housing is multi-level, and most have no yard space. Maybe a small parking space and room for flower pots. Balcony's are used to dry clothes and hang futons out in the sunshine. As you move to the cities edge the houses still are multi-level but do seem to have larger yards.

Bi Bim Bop

For our anniversary, Walter had an awesome idea: Dol sot. They are the stone bowls needed to cook a favorite dinner of ours in, bibimbop. Look it up and you'll find great recipes and tips. It's tasty, and even good for you as it's basically rice and vegetables, meat if you wish to add it. Anyways, these bowls can be pricey to purchase, especially you are paying shipping and handling because of their weight. On a tip from a friend, who also volunteered to go with us, we decided to visit the kitchen district down in Asakusa and found exactly what we wanted. A trek mind you but worth it. We've since made this meal three times. Walter took pictures of our dinner tonight, which made me laugh, and figured it would be fun to post on here. 

The preparation.

The setting.

The Ryan Kristof pickled-pig-feet-chili sauce.

(KEY ingredient)

Ready to eat but it doesn't look quite right yet . . .

Perfect. Now it looks right. Yum.

You were wondering just how hot is that bowl?

Yeah . . . so far it's probably a good thing Gabe and Genna don't totally dig it.

Two Good Finds

Well, as my family back home knows I have been on the hunt for some interesting, fun, family friendly places, especially before our little guy gets here and travel becomes a tad more complex. We hit two home runs in the last two weeks with the Tama Zoo and Enoshima Aquarium. I need help figuring out a better way to post photos since they describe our trips to both locations in better detail than anything I could write. I am getting better but I know it ain't great. So without further adieu:
One thing Walter and I keep laughing about is how traffic can take such a huge chunk of time on any trip. One might recommend just taking the train here and there . . . but even on the train, with a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and big 'ol pregnant lady, just hopping on the train to go "here and there" isn't exactly easier. So for now, we load into our rusty green monster (that seems to have developed its own new unpleasant scent), and head out. The Tama Zoo for example is I believe 11 kilometers from our house. With the red lights (not censored here), takes on average fifty minutes of driving. That's basically an hour from point A to point B. A train ride from our nearest station is a fifty minute ride, plus you would need to tack on time getting to the train station. OK, so, we drove to and from the zoo but our effort was worth it. Tama Zoo is very large, hilly, and has an awesome butterfly garden. It feels like you are walking through a beautiful English garden, filled with vibrant colors and swimming with butterflies of all shapes, colors and sizes. The kids could get nose to nose, watching the busy little creatures drink nectar from any flower of their choosing. Otherwise, while it was a very nice zoo, it reminded me a bit of Japan and Tokyo in particular. There were a lot of animals in each enclosure, much like there a lot of people living a small square foot of space where we live. With that, I put the observation out of my mind and enjoyed the day. In addition to the butterfly garden, another highlight was the lion den. A bus ride will take you through their living space. Fifteen lions (male and female) were probably living in that area. The bus also had meat hanging on small hooks on the sides of the bus to entice a willing participant to come right up to the glass window. The kids of course thought this was totally cool. Regretfully, we didn't have a camera with us to capture a shot of them "touching" the lions face as she gingerly took the meat of its hook with her tongue. Oh, and one last funny picture is of Gabe eating french fries. The food tends to be hit or miss with the kids. French fries tend to be a safe bet that bridges American and Japanese cuisine. However, one thing Gabe and usually Genna loves with fries is ketchup. Fortunately, I had brought some packets with me (saved from a previous outing), and they came in more than handy. Since there was no place however to put the ketchup, Walter came to the rescue by squirting the ketchup directly onto the fry. The end result was happy kiddos and a cute picture.


                 Yum. Ketchup. And no, I did not even bother attempting to ask for some from the cashier.

Gabe has caught onto the peace sign.

At the butterfly garden.

Here we are heading out, you can see we are coming down a decent hill and if you look into the horizon, you can see homes and buildings and such (the city beyond).

Enoshima was another fantastic find. The GPS said 49 kilometers. It was a three hour car ride; THREE hours ONE WAY. And it wasn't even crazy traffic. It wasn't even a weekend! This was our  4th of July trip, which is of course not a holiday of any sort in Japan, so it was a great way to spend a free day off. All I could keep thinking was IMAGINE coming here on a weekend or Japanese holiday. The crowds were plenty, not crazy thick or anything, but I can only imagine how crowded it can become! The aquarium was actually very nice, with a fantastic dolphin show. I have the cutest video of Genna. Her excitement literally coudln't be contained, and Walter and I loved it. Sometimes, I have determined, it's good to hear kids being loud, especially when they are just so amazed by what their eyes are seeing. 

We ended up taking a lunch break to eat at an Italian restaurant on the beach. Walter and I had a whole conversation about that in the car ride back home. Suffice it to say, we have made some interesting observations comparing our time in Misawa to our time here closer to Tokyo (supposedly a more desirable location . . . hmmmmmm). When our meals arrived, I had to take a picture of our spaghetti bolognese with a fried egg on top. I had to steal a quick photo because while the spaghetti looked appealing to Gabe, the egg did not, and Walter quickly removed it from the plate. Too funny.

After lunch, we finished up at the aquarium and then moved onto the beach. The water was very warm, and the kids had a blast. Gabe even got his shorts all wet so you know he was having a great time! Below are some areal shots. Our car was parked out on Enoshima Island, which can be seen from the right below here. 

           Here we are playing on the beach. We are playing where you see waves in the picture above.

A closer photo of the long bridge on the peninsula taken to reach the island (where we were parked).

Walter standing just as we come off the long bridge (seen above). You can see the Tori Gate and then behind that, not seen, at the top of the hill is a shrine.

 The last part of the adventure was paying our parking fee. Apparently it is important to always have 1000 yen bills because the 5000 yen bills are not accepted. Something Walter apparently knew and forgot to mention in the last couple of purchases on the way to the car! That's tip one. Tip two is that when you want to get home, eating in the car is the way to go, and McDonalds fortunately is highly prevalent here in southern Japan to help accomplish this task. I think we passed one about every 10 kilometers (how I wish they were Starbucks instead!) I ate at McDonalds once in Misawa, and again on this trip. Tip number three is that there isn't always an English menu available, so be ready to play some form of sherades and smile a lot while ordering. We got home with time to spare by an hour. So we did a quick bath, some chill time, and then a short bike ride out to see the fire works show on base. Hope you all had a great 4th of July celebration too!

May

I've been told I'm not the best blogger, I won't deny it. Truth is we haven't been up to all that much until recently. Last week we took the kids to meet Mickey Mouse for the first time at Tokyo Disneyland. Walter and I are both from California and have family who even lives in Anaheim, but our kids first trip to the land where magic and make believe can't be beat, was in Tokyo, Japan. Too funny! They had a great time and so did we. The icing on the cake of course was meeting Mickey. Genna even gave him a kiss. For those who might wonder if there's a big difference, I'd have to say there really isn't too much. We picked the right time to go and this was absolutely key. The crowds were small, lines were short, and we were able to see pretty much everything we wanted to. Gabe even got to ride Thunder Mountain, one of my favorites! When I think about it, food options were probably the most significant difference. The sit down restaurants all have set menu choices and were priced around twenty five dollars per adult, and fifteen dollars a child Gabe's age. The less expensive restaurants, while Walter and I would have enjoyed them, did not appeal to Gabe and Genna yet, or one and not the other. The favorite option seemed to be french fries. Not even the Mickey Mouse shaped pizza won our kids over. Truly though, one doesn't visit Disneyland for food alone, and a great time was had by all! 

In other news, we took a trip down to the Asakusa area today with friends, who helped Walter and I purchase dol sot bowls in this kitchen district. After that, we had lunch, Starbucks, at the Skytree mall, an adventure in itself. Our friend told us parking is really tight, only spaces for one hundred cars, so we were lucky being able to park there. We had lunch at Starbucks because honestly, it looked to be an hour wait for every restaurant there. There were plenty of people but we all agreed nothing compared to what a sunny day would have looked like. Thus, we were quite thankful for the rain and a smaller sea of people to maneuver through. It was pretty amazing to look up at this tower, have to stretch your neck all the way back, and realize you weren't even able to see halfway up the structure. It reminded me of hiking Mt. Fuji; everyone kept thinking the top was in sight but it actually never was until you were basically there. 

Everything else is going well. We've got a little mover on the way for sure, I think Grayson is just excited to get here and play with Gabe and Genna. Otherwise, can't promise when I'll update again. I'm just not cut out for daily blogging I guess. Love to everyone!

Go Viking

One thing we have been looking forward to is finding one of our favorite types of restaurants in Misawa - a Viking restaurant. Well, we found one. The term "viking" refers to "all you can eat" here in Japan. They are typically buffet style but some with a little twist. For all we know, they are all like this now. Anyhow, we didn't know really what to expect except that on the windows, their pictures said "order and self." Well, both are true. Only problem we quickly discovered is that the ordering is all done on a touch pad screen at your table - and not in English. With a little help from one of the managers (we think) who explained the way the restaurant worked in English to us, we figured out enough to certainly get our fill. Especially of the dessert items. Oh, and the neat part is, which was slightly stressful with kids (and hot) is that you cook your meat and veggies on a little grill in the center of your table. This is what we thought the "self" part referred to, but it wasn't. I think the the "self" referred to the buffet and the "order" referred to the touch pad screen. This was the only disappointing part. I remember a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. This restaurant lacked that, plus you had to order them from the kitchen. Which, if there more available we wouldn't know, due to the language barrier. We might go back or we might try another one elsewhere, but either way, Gabe said he had a fun time. Who wouldn't when mom and dad let you eat ice cream and a doughnut in one sitting!

Happy Easter

Well, we had quite a week leading up to Easter Sunday, and the big day itself took us on a driving adventure all its own. After a week of potty training, Friday a friend took us to a really cool park, named the Robinson Cruso Park. It is a kid sized obstacle course that goes up and down a big hill. It's a workout on its own, but equally a lot of fun. Especially the bamboo slide that even I went on. It was the smoothest slide I have ever been on. Gabe also started riding his big bike. This totally made Walter's day. He practiced all week long so he was ready for his debut bike ride around the flight line Saturday morning. It was a tough ride, as the head wind was blowing strong and relentless, but he did great. Walter strapped the kids' bikes to the back of the kid seat with a bungee cord, so once Gabe was tired he just hopped on the back of Walter's bike and enjoyed the ride home. Genna officially potty trained. Thanks to a friend we acquired a pretty pink princess toilet and she loves it. Thankfully she will go on a big toilet if we are away from home, but it if we are home, only her princess toilet will do. Regardless, the girl is good to go and we are so proud of her! So fun. Saturday turned out to be the big bike riding morning. We went to an "egg grab" - an Easter egg hunt, but you know how fast kids can be at grabbing "hidden" eggs - on the other side of base. Once home we found they base had opened the street next to us to the local community so people could see the cherry blossom trees in full bloom. The fire station had a fire truck out and bounce house, so Walter took the kids out there, and of course they loved it. Sunday proved to be the real adventure. We had a GPS mis-hap and ended up and hour and a half away from our desired location, literally facing an open field, in the middle of no where. We had absolutely no idea where we were. Thankfully a friend picked up her phone and gave us her coordinates, and we ended up making it to our location, and had a great afternoon. The kids favorite part I do believe were the little animals they got to hold. The drive home was a quick 45 minutes as opposed to the THREE HOUR drive that morning! HA! That's one notable difference! We definitely felt like in Misawa, up north, we could drive places and eventually we'd figure out where we were. Here, there are so many buildings and little streets, and it all looks the same - it is so confusing! You know how in the states when you go from city to city, no matter the size, there seems to be a less dense space between the two places? Here that is not the case. Because the houses and factories and apartments and businesses and restaurants . . . etc. . . . are so intermixed, it all looks the same and there are no "breaks" or less dense space. Plus, the Japanese written language is so different, reading is not an option, especially from the drivers seat! A perfect recipe for getting easily lost - and the perfect excuse for a "car picnic." We now call edemame "magic beans" - thank you Puss-n-Boots! That said, we really did have a fun weekend and the weather on Sunday couldn't have been more perfect.

Well, sayonara folks.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Easter!

Some Family Fun Time

Well, so far some of our favorite things to do honestly are just normal family stuff. The plum blossoms are starting to bloom, my neighbor's tree has pretty white blossoms all over it now. The cherry blossoms on base haven't bloomed yet but off base you can spot a smattering of trees with delicate pink and yellow blossoms here and there. The yellow blossom trees are really pretty because the trunks are kind of twisty and look as if they've been rubbed with an antique finish. We spent all last weekend working on our box gardens. We have zucchini, peppers, basil, tomatoes and strawberries. Our neighbors came over to help and the kids of course had a lot of fun playing in the dirt. Yesterday we tried out "Costco in Japan." What an odd experience to be someplace so familiar but not anywhere near home. It is literally exactly like Costco in the states. A few extra food items you wouldn't find stateside, but everything else is the same. They even had maple syrup, in large containers! I guess an interesting twist on the norm would be their ready to cook meals. For example, Costco pizza, Japanese style, with shrimp and corn on top. Also, they had really yummy looking options like bulgogi, the Korean style beef that is delicious. And of course, in true Costco efficiency, despite the crowd, the lines moved fast and quick. One thing that always gets me is how cashiers accept and count cash here. Their movements are exactly the same whether you are at a convenient store, a grocery store, a mall, or a crowded place like Costco. They snap the bills you hand them before placing each one in the register drawer. They snap the bills between their fingers as they count each one back to you, and display the money in their hand so it's clear that the amount is exact and correct. Your items, be it food or material items of any nature, are never tossed or slid or thunked down in your bag, but handled with, what feels like extreme care and concern. We are certainly living in the land of manners . . . except when you need a seat on a crowded train, hee hee. We finished off yesterday with our "Slumber Party Saturday." We were trying to find something fun we could do weekly that could become a family tradition, and I think by accident it kind of found us. We fold out our little futon and turn on a movie, make popcorn or some fun dessert, and have a slumber party. Last night the end result was two sleeping kiddos who made it through half the movie. Their picture says it all. So today, the sun is out and , and I think Walter is going to take us to a lake he found yesterday morning on his run. Hope everyone is having a nice weekend too. Love you all!