Life in Japan

Sunset on the Kraatz Rooftop Garden

2010-10-09T03:35:00.000-07:00

Enjoying a beautiful October sunset...

Undokai

2010-09-25T03:27:00.000-07:00

This was Madeleine's last undokai (sports day) of elementary school. The weather was perfect - cool and sunny.

The sixth graders did a special performance. Maddie and her classmates had practiced for it and it was beautiful!

Edo Wonderland

2010-09-12T02:57:00.000-07:00

Maddie's birthday present was a trip to Edo Wonderland in Nikko. It's a re-creation of the Edo era of history. We were one with the ninjas.

The best part was the ninja training house.

Troy and Madeleine were great, but I couldn't even stand up in it!

Birthday Girl

2010-09-11T02:50:00.000-07:00

Maddie celebrated her 12th birthday with some school friends. They met at our house and decorated cupcakes...

Went bowling...

And karaoke!

It was a great party! Happy Birthday, Madeleine!

Oyama, again!

2010-09-05T02:37:00.000-07:00

We love exploring Mt. Oyama so much that we took our dear friends, Doug and Trish and Angelo and Leah.

Refreshments at the top:

We saw a huge dragonfly catch his dinner!

View of Sagamihara - I think I can see our house from here!

We played in the icy waterfall. It was a great way to escape the summer heat!

Nike Maddie

2010-09-02T04:26:00.000-07:00

These are some of the catalog pages that Maddie modeled for the Fall and Winter Nike collection. She did the shoot in the middle of the summer in the Tokyo humidity. It was amazing how hard the girls worked. The shot of them running down the stairs took forever! It is impossible to run down stairs while looking up, but they managed it. The photographer and crew said the two girls were the best they had ever worked with.
Please click this link for the online catalog (Maddie is on every page!):
http://www.fusen-usagi.com/nike/fw2010_girl/book_swf.html

Rudy and Deffy

2010-09-01T04:10:00.000-07:00

Madeleine is featured on the website and in-store ads for a new clothing store. There are 9 stores in Tokyo and around Japan.

We visited one of the stores and the clerks were excited to see Maddie and take her picture.

You can click these links to see her on the web site:
rudyanddeffy.jp

rudyanddeffy.jp/concept/

Wine Making at the Vineyard/Gorge Hike

2010-08-28T03:32:00.000-07:00

We had a great one-day outing to eat, pick, and stomp grapes, and hike with our wonderful friends!

Hey, you CAN stand up in the vineyard!

Maddie and Vanessa stomping grapes with Trish and Leah.

Doug and Troy giving it a try.

Troy and Angelo taste the wine.

Watching out for bears!

Leah and Angelo

2010-08-18T03:28:00.000-07:00

Leah is a new Speech-Language Pathologist hired this year who we were lucky to get to sponsor. After lots of email communications and an event-packed summer, including a wedding, graduation, and international move, Leah and Angelo arrived at Narita. We were so happy to meet them in person! From the airport we took them on a driving tour through Tokyo and Yokohama (only getting lost once ... Oops!) and then to dinner at a favorite sushi-go-round restaurant. It's amazing how they look so fresh!

Welcome to Japan! We are so happy you are here!

Mt. Takao Beer Mount

2010-08-13T03:22:00.000-07:00

To get a break from the summer heat, we headed to Mt. Takao with the Mizushima's. The were lots of shops along the way. Maddie had some delicious shaved ice.
Hidemi explained the Tengu to Troy.
The Beer Mount is very popular, and we managed to get in after a wait. It was well worth it, though - a bountiful buffet of all you can eat and all the beer you can drink!
We moved to another seating area to enjoy the view.
Masako and Vanessa had after dinner cocktails of lychee liquor.
Riding back down on the cable car:

We love Beer Mount! We'll be back next year!

Kamakura

2010-08-08T03:49:00.000-07:00

Since we moved back to Japan, Troy and I have made several visits to Kamakura. It's a must-see for our guests who have come to visit. However, Maddie has not gone because she has been in school each time. Ironically, she was probably in school studying her social studies, which includes Japanese history, and she was probably studying the Kamakura period. Here's a page I copied out of her social studies notebook:Kamakura is the name of the time period 900 years ago and the city which was the center of power. It was the country's first era of military history. The most famous attraction is the statue of Buddha. A 15th century tsunami destroyed the temple that used to house the giant statue.

We left Kamakura on the Enoden electric railway. It's great because it travels down the middle of some streets. The cars on the road have to move over!
We ended the day at Enoshima, a beautiful island on the coast. We explored the cliffs along the shore.

Bon Odori

2010-08-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

A highlight of summers in Japan is the numerous festivals, especially Bon Odori. Bon dancing is traditional Japanese folk dance - sort of Japanese-style line dancing. The popular garment to wear during festivals this time of year is yukata - a little like kimono, but made of light cotton. Maddie and I got help to get into our yukatas. It's a little complicated.

Maddie and friends:
It was a beautiful summer evening ending with a spectacular fireworks show.
Maddie with the dance instructors:

Oyama!

2010-08-05T01:12:00.000-07:00

Since we arrived in Sagamihara, Vanessa has wanted to explore the mountains, especially to escape the summer heat. We finally did it. Vanessa researched maps and satellite images and came up with a route to take us to Mount Oyama. This is the tallest of the small chain of mountains that we get to view from our terrace.

We drove about an hour and came to where the road ends and becomes a walkway up the mountain. We parked the car and began strolling and exploring.
We saw a temple tucked away off the main path and went to check it out. We found these old statues interesting because they replaced the fallen heads with regular rocks.

We kept climbing and found some shops filled with everything you could want. We stopped for coffee and the very nice hostess gave us some tea (since Maddie wasn't drinking coffee) and also some local treats. She was very kind and generous!
We walked on up and past the shops and came to the cable car. It was about US $10 for a roundtrip ticket.

We got to the top where there is a big beautiful temple. We were surprised to see the bear sign!

After checking out the beautiful temple we saw a sign that said there is a trail up to the peak of the mountain where there is another small temple. The sign described about a 90 minute hike. We had not planned on a serious hike and didn't have any water or anything but we figured we could handle a small hike like that. The first thing we came to was a very steep set of stairs.
At the top of those stairs, the paved pathway ended and it became a trail of rocks. It was very hot and muggy but quite a pretty hike.

As we kept climbing the trail was a mix of big rocks, gravel, and sometimes some wooden steps. It was quite steep and was more difficult than we expected. We were all soaked in sweat but kept going.
Along the way there were these little statues tucked away in tree trunks and bamboo. After 90 minutes came and went we were starting to get discouraged but Madeleine got a second wind, took the lead and inspired us to make it to the top!
Thankfully there was a small cafe at the summit and we were able to get some very yummy ramen soup and soba noodles. They also had some fresh cucumbers in cold water served with fresh miso paste. Delicious! The ice cold beer was pretty good too. It was a drastic temperature difference at the top. There was a cloud sitting on top of the peak which made it quite chilly - a nice change from the summer heat below.

We had a very nice, relaxing time exploring the area at the peak but after a while we were getting cold so we headed back down the path we climbed up. It was a lot faster going down! We stopped for ice cream in some shops outside the temple.

It was another great summer day in Japan.

More Wedding Pictures and Celebrations

2010-08-03T00:42:00.000-07:00

These are some of the pictures we took at the wedding. I liked this one of the Mizushima family being photographed by the photographer and some of the other attendees. The formal kimonos were beautiful.
This was the ceremony in the shrine. The guests were seated in two rows on each side.
The building is over 300 years old. The ceiling was spectacular.
The place settings were beautiful, and there was an amazing number of courses - more than I could count. We drank the sake out of the wooden box.
Troy with Hidemi and his brother:
On the weekend after the wedding we had a lovely family gathering at the Mizushima's to reminisce and spend more time with the beautiful Yoko and her wonderful fiancé, Omar, who live in Florida.

Ushio and Fumi cutting the cake:
Hidemi's dessert from the sweet shop:
The wedding reception sign was made in the fashion of a 60's album cover. Fumi wore her mother's vintage dress and gloves in the photo.

Wedding!

2010-08-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

On June 6, 2010, the beautiful Fumi joined the wonderful Mizushima family in a wedding at the Nezu shrine in Tokyo. The ceremony was traditional, and we were honored to be guests at this amazing event. The Nezu shrine was established more than 1900 years ago and was one of only three shrines to survive the WWIII bombings. The structures were built in 1705.
The procession into the sanctuary of the shrine:
The ceremony included many traditional rituals, including tasting sake.

The bride and groom arriving at the reception.

Troy made the speech on behalf of the guests.

The food and drinks were amazing and so meticulously and beautifully presented in traditional Japanese style!

Ushio and Fumi at the after-wedding party:
The official wedding portrait:

Teshikaga, Hokkaido

2010-07-06T17:18:00.000-07:00

I spent a week visiting and helping my friend Kazushi Kimura at his property in Hokkaido. He is building a cabin and guest house on some land he owns in Teshikaga, which is about an hour and a half drive north of Kushiro. I flew into Kushiro airport and Kazushi picked me up in his truck.

It was an amazing experience spending the week with him. We didn't get to do as much work as we wanted because it rained quite a bit. However, that meant we got to do some sightseeing. We first went to his place and got settled. I slept in a great tent we put up. It was very comfortable and the weather was cool. He has already done quite a bit of building but a lot of it is temporary while he builds the main house and storage. One of the first things he built was the bath, or onsen. His property sits on top of a natural hot spring so he gets all the scalding hot water he wants. The water is so hot it actually has to cool down before you can use it. Below is the onsen hut and bathroom.
This is inside the onsen hut. You basically wash up outside of the tub and then have a good soak. It was a great nightly ritual.
Our daily life was a little like camping. We didn't have a proper kitchen and did most of our cooking over a fire from a little grill. All of our vegetable for salads and meals came directly from local gardens. We didn't need to buy many groceries! Here is Kazushi roasting fresh coffee beans.
We did manage to set some foundation pilings for one of his buildings and also create some storage for some of his doors and windows that will be used on the main house. We also doubled the size of his garden, did some concrete work and moved a bunch of heavy beams in preparation for construction. We did some traveling too. We drove over the mountains to his parent's house in Ashoro. On the way, we stopped at an Ainu village. The Ainu people inhabited Hokkaido before the Japanese arrived.

This is a picture from Teshikaga. I liked that the town was full of folk art. This town hosts large flocks of whooping cranes, called tsuru. I actually got to see a live one in a field! (I also saw a fox, eagle and lots of deer.)
We also visited some of his friends. One of them built this "eco-friendly" house. It was very big and quite beautiful. Everything was built by hand. It even has grass growing on the roof!
Everyone has a garden. Another friend of his has a large garden full of fruits and vegetables. Here is a shot of some lettuce and basil. Everything there was so delicious that I might have a chance of becoming a vegetarian if I lived there. (OK, not likely if someone brings around some bacon....)
Wherever we went there were breathtaking views. The camera doesn't do it justice since you can't breath the fresh air and feel the cool breezes.

We stopped at an ice cream shop by the side of the road.
Not far from Kazushi's house is an area where the hot water is bubbling up at the surface.
There was someone there steaming eggs in one of the hot vents. I bought some and they were good!

Another place not too far from his place is a beautiful lake that stays warm from the hot springs.
If you dig in the sand, the water that fills the hole is warm! There were families enjoying the warm sand and water.
It was a great trip. I hope I can go next year and will definitely take Vanessa and Madeleine once the house is completed. Oh, by the way, everywhere I went I ran into Leonardo DiCaprio. He is advertising tires and all the gas stations had his picture. I thought it was kind of funny.

Ryugu Spa in Chiba

2010-07-04T18:07:00.000-07:00

Back on May 9th we celebrated Mother's Day by taking Vanessa to a spa. It was in Chiba, near Tokyo and was right next to the bay. It had an indoor area and an outdoor area. Many of the outdoor heated pools had "flavors" like green tea, wine, coffee, etc, They also offered massages, which Vanessa took advantage of while we were there. We also enjoyed another part of the spa where you go naked (males and females separated of course.) In that area they had special bath tubs made of pure silver and gold. It was quite luxurious but sorry, no photos. It was a very nice day!

Cinco de Mayo...

2010-07-03T19:46:00.000-07:00

...Japanese style.

(Even More) Maddie at Work

2010-07-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

This was Madeleine's first job, but we just now got copies of the catalog. She was photographed in over 40 leotards for Sasaki, the premier gymnastics outfitter in Japan, and apparently famous world-wide. Here are a couple of pages:

(More) Maddie at Work

2010-06-30T03:48:00.000-07:00

Madeleine also did a job for a not-yet-released product that we are bound by contract not to mention (yet). She had a lot of fun on this one. Here is her made-for-TV family. Don't they look happy together?Maddie and Troy in the dressing room:

Maddie on Fuji TV

2010-06-26T17:35:00.000-07:00

This is the link to the promo for the show:

http://wwwz.fujitv.co.jp/risounohoshi/index.html

Maddie on Fuji TV

2010-06-26T17:04:00.000-07:00

Maddie just finished shooting 25 episodes of a short (6 minute) program about the history of cars for a major Japanese TV network. She's the narrator on the show that airs every Sunday night for six months, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz. She really got the star treatment with her name on the dressing room door, makeup and wardrobe ladies who tended to her every need, and treats delivered to her by the producer and sponsors. On her part, she was a real professional even under the pressure of being a novice and the sole performer in a big studio with about 20 people working on the shoots. She worked long hours and completely impressed everyone with her maturity and her ability to memorize her lines on the spot and take direction in Japanese (no translator was present). At the end of the last day of filming she was thanked with a huge applause by the crew and everyone involved. I took some pictures of her at work in the studio and on the monitor outside the sound stage. (Click on pictures to enlarge.)

Sagami River Kite Festival

2010-05-05T03:14:00.000-07:00

Maddie, Troy, and Maddie's friend, Manami, had a great time at the kite festival this year. There was just enough wind to get the kites up.

Cherry Trees in Bloom

2010-04-04T03:11:00.000-07:00

April is the month for cherry trees in the Tokyo area. They were beautiful again this year.

Christopher and Caitlyn at the Hot Spa Resort: Dr. Fish

2010-03-21T23:11:00.000-07:00

Everyone got their feet nibbled and had a nice day in the hot baths.

Christopher and Caitlyn's Trip to Japan

2010-03-21T22:14:00.000-07:00

My brother, Christopher, and our niece, Caitlyn, came to visit in honor of Caitlyn's 16th birthday. It was nice spending time with family. We met them inside the airport with a sign, birthday hat, and balloons, and drove them home in style in a rental (party) van adorned with streamers.

We spend two days in Fussa and the night at Yokota Air Base, where we used to live. This is the hospital where Caitlyn was born at Yokota.

Caitlyn's preschool in Fussa:

And our favorite place: Showa Park!

Beautiful spring flowers:

The famous Hachiko statue in Shibuya, Tokyo:

Delicious okonomiyaki:

We held a "C" theme party, with Christopher and Caitlyn the guests of honor. With old friends Hidemi and Masako:

A green tea set for Caitlyn's birthday:

Nagano City

2010-02-22T17:27:00.000-08:00

The three of us joined a large group of Camp Zama Girl Scouts and their families on a trip to Nagano City to visit with a sister troop. We had a great time and the Nagano troop were wonderful hosts. After a few hours driving, we arrived and they took us immediately to the Big Wave. This was the ice skating venue for the Nagano Olympics in 1998 (the year Maddie was born.) They had a regular rink in the middle and also opened up the speed skating area around the perimeter. It was really cool for Maddie to be able to skate on that fast ice! Vanessa and I decided to visit the 1998 Olympics Museum rather than skate. We enjoyed remembering the highlights of the Olympics that took place while we lived in Japan 12 years ago.

Vanessa and Yuri at the main entrance to the Big Wave.

There was a small museum with many items from the '98 games.

Vanessa in front of the mascots from the Olympics.

After a few hours of skating we checked in to our hotels. The hotels were actually traditional Japanese inns called Ryokans. They had tatami mat floors and we slept on futon mattresses on the tatami. They were really nice and comfortable! After we got settled in we were escorted to a meeting hall where the girls were taught how to make soba noodles from a master chef.

Maddie did a great job cutting the noodles. They were very straight!

After a delicious pot-luck dinner including the freshly made soba noodles we headed back to our Ryokan for a much needed rest. The next morning after breakfast we headed to the nearby temple. This temple is a National Treasure of Japan.

It is believed that if you rub this statue where you are having problems, you will be healed.

The Dalai Lama will be coming to speak at this temple in the summer. We may come back!

This was a chef making noodles in the window of a nearby restaurant.

After a wonderful day, we thanked our hosts and got back in our vans and headed home. Another great trip. We think we will go back in the summer and visit the ninja village somewhere in the mountains around Nagano City.

Tokyo Snow

2010-02-03T17:50:00.000-08:00

Jelly Bean and I were out for our usual nightly walk and it started snowing on us! It snowed all night but it wasn't enough to close the schools. Madeleine got up early and played in the snow before school so she got to enjoy it a little bit. She said there were lots of snowball fights at school. It was a nice view from our terrace.

Picking Strawberries

2010-01-31T17:24:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we went to strawberry lover's paradise in Kunozan in Shizuoka prefecture. This is a 5 mile long area along the Suruga Bay coastline that is full of strawberry farms. Now, I have a confession to make: I'm not that crazy about strawberries. They are usually too tart for my taste and I have to add cream or sugar. Not this time! We stopped at one of the farms and they took us to the rows of greenhouses to pick the strawberries. These were the best ever and were unbelievably sweet. I can't fully convey how truly delicious they were but I will tell you that I ate 27 of them. Vanessa ate 30 and Maddie ate 32. They grew along these rock walls and hung down just begging to be picked and eaten. There was one lady in our group that ate 72! These farms are amazing and sit along the hillsides along the coastline. We spent about an hour at the farms and wanted to eat more strawberries but were just too full.

Next we headed over to a nearby hot springs spa. This one was interesting because it was built on model the Edo period in Japan. Upon arrival we were given yukatas (cotton kimonos) to wear. You could walk around in them in the little Edo style village. We hit the baths first and then had a nice lunch. After lunch we went to a nice museum.

Lunch at a ramen noodle restaurant.

We made friends with the ramen chef. He was really nice and kept giving Vanessa free green tea. I had to pay for my Kirin beer.

Maddie loves ramen!

(Maddie took some shots. I liked the composition of this one.)

Time to head back home. What a yummy and fun day.

Shiga Kogen Again

2010-01-18T16:31:00.000-08:00

On MLK weekend this year we, once again, joined the Kanto ski club for the annual trip to Shiga Kogen in Nagano. We had so much fun last year we decided to make this trip a family tradition. We got on the bus and departed Camp Zama at 2am. As the bus pulled out, we got a report that in the past 48 hours they had received over a meter (about 3 feet) of snow and it was still snowing! This was on top of a three meter base so we knew we were in for some good skiing. We arrived at the hotel about 8am and checked in. After a nice breakfast we hit the slopes right outside the hotel. Maddie picked it up right away and we had a good day. It snowed all day but it was a soft snow and no winds. It was a great day skiing with lots of powder. I don't think we took any pictures that day. The next day we decided to visit the snow monkeys (Japanese Macaque) in the area. We had to take a couple of local buses and then walk about 2 km but it was well worth it. It is a beautiful area in the mountains with a hot spring pool for the monkeys. The monkeys come down out of the mountain tops and spend the day in the hot water. You can walk right up to them and they don't seem to mind. It was really amazing to be there and hang out with them. The walk to and from the park was really nice too. The last day of the trip was clear and sunny and we hit the slopes early. We were the first ones down the slope we chose near the hotel. It was another great day and Madeleine really improved her skiing. We ventured over to another mountain and had great fun. Vanessa kept skiing backwards down the slope so she could watch Madeleine! In the afternoon we headed in, packed up, checked out and got back on the bus at 3pm for the ride home. We are already looking forward to it next year!

This is the view out of our room. This was the first morning when we checked in.

After about a half kilometer walk from the bus stop we arrived at the entrance to the trail that leads you to the park.

This is the start of the walk back out of the park.

There was a nice little shrine along the way.

Morning of the last day. We had the mountain to ourselves!

We took a break and Maddie played in the snow. She dug an ice cave and could crawl in it. She had so much fun!

Vanessa and Madeleine taking the conveyer belt up the hill to go back to the other slope. Very convenient! What a great trip.

New Year's

2010-01-02T23:50:00.000-08:00

We celebrated New Year's Eve by visiting our favorite onsen with our good friends. Then we met up on New Year's Day to eat and drink and ring in the new year with a walk to visit a local shrine, as is the Japanese tradition. I bought a ceramic bell in the shape of a tiger - we have a collection of the Chinese horoscope animals for each New Year we've been in Japan. Here are the girlfriends at the shrine: Sake barrels and origami cranes:

On our walk along the Sagamihara river:

The next day we rode bikes to Sagamihara Park where Maddie and Troy practiced badminton:

Winter Illumination

2009-12-30T14:31:00.000-08:00

Krispy Kreme

2009-12-29T20:14:00.000-08:00

After being too sick to get out of the house for 5 days, Maddie was finally feeling better. The reward: hot, sweet goodness. There always seems to be a snaking line outside the store, but the employees bring out trays of hot glazed donuts to the waiting patrons. It is so worth it! We sat in window seats overlooking the holiday shoppers and tourists in Shinjuku.

Harajuku

2009-12-29T02:21:00.000-08:00

After our fill of donuts we headed over to Harajuku to Kiddy Land, a famous toy store. We searched the 6 stories of toys looking for a diabolo for Maddie. We didn't find the diabolo, but we had fun seeing all the treasures!

Next door to Kiddy Land is Shakey's pizza. Troy swears it's exactly like the ones from his childhood.

Except for the Japanese beer and tuna, corn, and mayonnaise pizza.

We sat in the window with a view of the lights on the street below.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T19:37:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun in Tokyo last year we planned to do the same this year - Krispy Kreme Donuts with a view of the lights in Shinjuku - but Maddie woke up on Christmas Eve morning with a temperature of 102F. She missed her last day of school for the term, and we put our plans on hold. We did enjoy a quiet Christmas with our little family, Santa's visit, and phone calls full of good cheer to family in Texas. Merry Christmas!

Kotatsu

2009-12-21T19:20:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the first day of winter we purchased a blanket for our kotatsu table. It fits between the frame and the tabletop and holds in the heat from the heater which is built into the frame in the middle of the table. We spend most of our time at home seated around it with the blanket pulled over our laps. The coziness has to be experienced to be believed. Maddie tends to get sucked under by the warmth. Here she is working on her homework. Jelly Bean loves it too - it's dark with the quiet hum of the fan to lull him to sleep. Actually we are all prone to naps underneath.

Kawazu River in Izu Peninsula

2009-12-08T18:02:00.000-08:00

The weekend after the Hakone trip we hopped back on the bus for a trip to Izu Peninsula. This was a hiking trip along the Nanataru hiking trail that follows the Kawazu river. It was an early start with a long bus ride but well worth it. After driving up a mountain, we got out and began hiking down a beautiful trail.

I was fascinated by trees that were growing on rocks.

Maddie brought a friend on the trip. The fall colors were brilliant.

This area is famous for growing wasabi. This is the green spicy radish they serve with sushi. The Japanese put it in all kinds of food from crackers to ice cream. (We tried the ice cream. It was very strange and delicious but we couldn't finish it.) This picture above shows how they grow the wasabi. The water from the river is flowing down these terraces where the wasabi is growing.

Still walking on the trail! This was a rustic wooden bridge over the river.

This was one of the seven waterfalls we walked past on the hike. This was one of the higher ones.

This bridge was swaying quite a bit as we walked on it. Fun and scary at the same time!

The rock formations were very interesting here. They were almost tubular, five sided formations. It is hard to describe and the pictures don't do it justice but we thought they were cool looking.

Click on the picture to see it full size.

At the bottom of the trail there was a rest area with some shops and a nice lady to join you in a picture

This was a basket and a small shrine along the river. You could make a wish and throw a rock into the basket. We threw several rocks and Maddie was the only one to get the rock in the basket!

Maddie made a couple of new friends! She asked them for directions to a nice restaurant but they were too shy to respond.

After the hike we went to a hot springs place called Amagi-so. This place is situated along a cliffside and has 28 kinds of hot baths. At the bottom is the Oho taru (waterfall.) The water was icy cold in the river but oh so hot in the baths.

Vanessa and Maddie decided to get in the cold water after soaking in the hot baths. The water was so cold it took your breath away! I thought they were crazy to get in it.

They encouraged me to get in so I manned up and gave it a try.

I ended up swimming out to the waterfall. My body adjusted to the cold for a while but then my muscles began to freeze up and ache. I couldn't swim all the way to where the water was falling because the current was too strong. The hot baths felt amazing after being in the icy water.

After the hot baths we had a quick lunch and got back on the bus. We had to run to the bus and were a little late but we were not the last ones. On the way back we drove along the coastline of Izu Peninsula and it was spectacular scenery. We stopped at a roadside rest stop. The rest stops in Japan are pretty amazing. They usually have restaurants and shops in them. This one was really cool and had a great view of the ocean.

Vanessa enjoyed the hot water where you could soak your feet!

There were a couple of places for dogs to run around too. They had obstacle courses and things for the dogs to play on. Too bad Jelly Bean couldn't join us for this trip! We decided we would return to Izu Peninsula some time on our own so we can have more time to check out all the sites. Thanks for reading our blog and we wish you all the best!

Hakone

2009-12-08T17:30:00.000-08:00

Recently we took a trip to the Hakone area. This area is famous for hot springs and mountains. Maddie took a friend with us. It was a beautiful day!

We had beautiful views of Mt. Fuji everywhere we went. Fuji-san was looking quite majestic.

After several hours on the bus, our first stop was the hot springs. All over the mountain steam was billowing out of the ground. It was quite sulphorous and there were signs warning you not to stay too long because of possible poisonous gas. The views were great but it was quite stinky! This area is also famous for "black eggs." They cook the eggs in the hot spring water which somehow makes the outside of the shell black. The eggs were delicious but they just tasted like boiled eggs. Thank goodness they didn't taste like the area smelled!

We left the springs and got on a big gondola to take us down the mountain. There was a sign advising us that these gondolas have a Guiness World Record for most passengers.

As we headed down the mountain to Lake Ashi, we saw these amazing ships. We would soon be taking a ride in one of them.

Maddie and her friend Manami enjoyed playing around the lake's edge while we waited to board the ship.

It was a little cool and breezy on the ship. Madeleine took her hat off and her hair went flying!

The shop docked and we found ourselves in a quaint little lakeside town. They had a restored "checkpoint" area from the Edo period. They used to check your identification papers if you were traveling in this area back then. We had a nice noodle lunch at a lakeside restaurant and spotted the big swans on the lake.

Maddie, Minami and Vanessa took one out for a spin. They told me I was too big for them!

We hopped back on the bus and they took us to the Hakone shrine. The foliage was beautiful.

Entrance to the shrine.

There was a second shrine inside the bigger shrine. We think it was for children and it had this really interesting dragon fountain to wash your hands before entering. This water was drinkable!

Stairs to nowhere.

We left the shrine and went behind it in this area where there were no tourists and found these small shrines. It was enchanting not only because of the old shrines but because it was dark and deserted.

Vanessa looking lovely. After the shrine we got back on the bus and headed home. It really was a beautiful day!

Mikan Picking

2009-11-15T23:47:00.000-08:00

Maddie joined her sister Japanese Girl Scout troop on Sunday for an outting to pick mikan, tangerines similar to Clementines. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a view of Mt. Fuji from the train on the way to the mountain range that we can see from our house. It was a 20 minute walk from the train station up steep inclines to get to the orchard perched on the mountain side. Maddie ate all she could of the sweet mikan and brought a bag home to share with Troy (who couldn't attend due to a prior engagement appearing in a Sapporo beer commercial with three very famous Japanese men).

Weather news

2009-11-03T01:01:00.000-08:00

We've had a mild fall until yesterday when there was a nice chill in the air. Then, last night, the wind howled all night, and we woke up to see traces of the first snow fall in our mountains. You can click on the picture below to enlarge.

Halloween

2009-11-03T00:33:00.000-08:00

It was another fun Halloween in Sagamihara. Maddie was a "spider witch."

Yunessun

2009-10-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we went to a hot springs amusement park and spa resort called Yunessun. It was an amazing place with many different kinds of hot baths. After entering you go into a locker room and change into your bathing suit, then head out to the pools and baths. They have an unbelieveable variety: red wine, coffee, sake, green tea, charcoal and even a Dead Sea bath. Here is a link to the official site with all the information about it. Check it out: http://www.yunessun.com/english/yunessun.html

Here's Maddie in the pumpkin flavored bath in her funny witch hat.

Here we are in the Dr. Fish bath. They have hundreds of little fish that eat the dead skin off your feet and legs. This picture was taken when we first put our feet in so you don't see many fish. A few minutes later our feet were covered in them! It was quite tickly and interesting for sure. Maddie liked this bath alot. She also enjoyed the heated outdoor water slide even though it was a cold, drizzly day. What a great place! Come visit us and we'll take you there.

Harajuku

2009-10-15T17:54:00.001-07:00

On Columbus Day (Physical Education Day in Japan) we all had the day off so we decided to go to Harajuku. It is famous in Japan because young people like to dress up in crazy fashions and try to get noticed. Many famous designers have been known to walk around and find inspiration. It is a really interesting place to go and people watch. There is also a great shrine there, the Meiji shrine.

After exiting the train station we headed up a street where they sell clothes. They also have places to eat and Madeleine picked up a sweet crepe. It was pretty crowded as is typical on the weekends.

We had enough of the crowds and decided to go to the shrine. Here is Maddie at the torii gate to the shrine.

Maddie looking very cute in front of the shrine. There were quite a few weddings happening that day so we got to see the amazing wedding parties and the brides in their white wedding kimonos and hoods. Sorry, no pictures of the brides.

After the shrine we were ready to get back out on the streets. We headed to a nearby park but got sidetracked by crowds of people heading across the street. It turned out there was a concert being held at the Yoyogi stadium across the street. A Japanese boy band called Sid was performing later that night and the young people were gathering. One of the fashions was what I called "Little Bo Peep" but they have another name for it (I don't remember it.) They were very elaborate costumes and Maddie stopped counting the number of girls dressed this way after 100.

We didn't get enough pictures of them so I grabbed the ones above from the world wide internets. I think we actually saw this girl!

After that we headed over to the park. They had a big rose garden with lots of varieties. Here is Madeleine in front of the yellow roses.

Vanessa amidst the Princess Diana roses (I think.)

We stopped for a rest at the fountains before heading back on the trains to our home in the suburbs. Another grand day in Tokyo! Thanks for reading our blog!!

Digging Sweet Potatoes

2009-10-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

Vanessa and Madeleine joined the Camp Zama Girl Scouts one Sunday to go digging for sweet potatoes. They are different from the ones we have in the States but just as delicious. There is a little truck that drives around our neighborhood selling roasted ones in the evenings this time of year.

Maddie and the other Scouts digging away.

Vanessa dug up a few too!

Just part of Maddie's haul. (We took them home and cooked them up. Sweet and delicious!)

After the digging, they had lunch. They set up a bamboo trough and ran water through it. Then they dropped noodles at the top and they flowed down the bamboo with the water. You have to be quick with your chopsticks if you want to eat! At the end of the bamboo there is a basket that catches the noodles. The girls report they had a very good time!

Typhoon

2009-10-15T17:28:00.001-07:00

A typhoon came through our area the other day. They closed the base and schools as a precaution. We had some winds about 40mph and some rain but it was over in about two hours and the sun came out. It ended up being a beautiful day so we went shopping.
Maddie couldn't resist stepping out in the wind for a few minutes.

Even Jelly Bean came out to see what was going on. Maddie had to hold on tight so he didn't blow away!

After the storm blew past, we had a nice view of the mountains from our rooftop garden.

Orienteering

2009-10-15T17:03:00.001-07:00

In early October we went with a group of Camp Zama Girl and Boy Scouts to join a Japanese group of Scouts to do some orienteering. We grouped into teams (we were the white team) and were then given instructions, a compass and map. They staggered the teams' starts and we headed out into a very large park. We were looking for little signs tucked back in the woods.

Vanessa and I are ready to go!

We were the only team with a baby and stroller. It made it a little challenging when we decided to go "off road" for a short cut that wasn't so short.

Maddie helped one of the little girls in our group.

We finished the orienteering at a place in the park where they have a little dairy. They gave us some of the milk from these cows and it was incredibly delicious. We ended up buying more to take home with us along with some smoked cheese. It was the best smoked cheese I have ever had!

Maddie enjoyed the big hill next to where we had our picnic lunch. In addition to the wonderful milk, the group that held the event provided a McDonald's lunch of fish filets and McHot Dogs.

In another area of the park they had some rides for the kids. Vanessa rode the giant panda.

And Maddie rode the race/bumper cars. We all had a really good time. Orienteering is fun!

More Undokai Pictures

2009-10-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

Undokai 2009

2009-10-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of Japanese school is the annual Undokai, or Sports Day, and it was a beautiful day for Sagamidai Elementary's Undokai this year. The picture below is Maddie about to win her 100m event. Maddie served tea to the old people.

In almost all of the events, the emphasis is on working together in team cooperation rather than individual achievement. In this one, three students carry the hat-wearing children onto the field in an attempt to capture as many of the other teams' caps as possible while trying to keep their team's caps from being captured. Maddie was on yellow team this year. Her teacher is in the yellow shirt.

Here they are on the field. (You can click to enlarge.)

Performing the Happiness Dance:

Madeleine's Birthday

2009-10-01T13:51:00.000-07:00

Yes, she's now a "tween"! Opening presents:

The party was a camping theme - we set up a big tent on our rooftop garden, and the girls spent the night outside. The weather was perfect - very mild. They built a fire and roasted marshmallows and in the morning enjoyed a big breakfast with classical music playing. They didn't have to rough it, though, we brought out the big TV for Wii (Active Outdoor Challenge) and a movie at bedtime.

Maddie's new ring from Nana:

Cello

2009-10-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

Maddie practiced diligently over the summer in Texas and played her pieces beautifully for the recital when we arrived back in Japan. She played her (now famous) Yellow Rose variation and Bach Concerto for Violins with some of the other students (see below for video). It was amazing to us that the group only had one rehersal before the concert.

Madeleine at the civic hall and the sign for the event:

Maddie's Cello Recital in Yokohama

2009-09-28T13:48:00.000-07:00

Summer Trip to Texas 2009

2009-09-07T18:11:00.000-07:00

We had a great trip to Texas. It was fun and productive! When we arrived at Smith Point, we were surprised to find that Jennifer and Fred Anderson had arranged to have our house painted! They did a great job and we were very appreciative.

After the above picture was taken, our friend Ben installed some solar screens for us. He brought them from San Antonio and installed them himself. We sure have some great friends!

Fred and some of the local girls.

Maddie enjoyed the rebuilt pier. The community worked hard to repair the pier and added walklights and pier lights on the T-head. We had some great fishing on that pier!

We took a trip to Lou's hog lease property and his land in Livingston. We had a great time and of course Lou cooked up some amazing treats. The grilled shrimp wrapped in jalapenos, cheese, onion and bacon were a big hit. Maddie liked riding (and driving) on the four wheeler. We got to swim in a new spring fed pond. That felt great on a hot Texas day!

Maddie and her friends at the mall in Katy.

While the girls were in the big city, we had Guys Week at Smith Point. Mark, Hidemi and I enjoyed fishing and various other activites. It wasn't all play and no work though. Thanks guys for all of the work you did on the house!

While Troy drove the boys back to the airport, Vanessa, Maddie and the Cunningham family went to the beach at High Island. Hurricane Ike blew away the sand dunes but the beach is still pretty nice.

We enjoyed many sunsets on the pier. We enjoyed this one with our friends Rex, Liz and Christina.

Maddie's cousins, Kyle and Carson visited and went crabbing.

Alvie and Cindy Kraatz, along with Bert, Kyle and Carson Kraatz came to visit one weekend. I don't have pictures somehow, but we had a great time. We got some oysters (about 200 of them) from a friend who got them out of the bay that morning. We also had some shrimp and fresh cut potatoes. We fried them up and had a grand feast!

Another weekend we got some fresh gulf blue crab, about 30 lbs worth, and boiled them up. Lou does most of the cooking and does a great job. They were good and spicy. Our other neighbors, the Allison clan, also had a big crab and shrimp boil one weekend. Another time I went out on a shrimp boat and brought back 25 lbs that we cooked up for friends and family. We ate a lot of seafood this summer!

Lou built a new deck on the south side of his house. We gave him a hand with the construction. He built this whole deck with a roof and stairs in two and a half days!

Our last sunset in Smith Point. We were very happy to get our house rebuilt and back in order. Our thanks to everyone who helped us. We love Smith Point and the truly wonderful residents of that community.

We stopped in Katy on our way back to Denton. Mom cooked up a Thanksgiving dinner! She also surprised me with a birthday party. Thanks Mom!

Bea and the grandkids.

Jelly Bean had a great time at Smith Point. He ran around loose all day playing with the other dogs. Here he is chilling out on the drive back to Denton.

In Denton with the Vann clan.

The beautiful Vann manor was painted this summer. The painters worked hard all summer and it looks like new!

We had breakfast the day before we left with Don, Dolores, Kate and Frank. (Frank is quite the fisherman. He caught a load of fish at Smith Point when they came to visit.)

We had a 6am flight out of DFW and connected in SFO. It was a long flight back to Japan but no problems. On a final note, we are sorry if we didn't get to see everybody we wanted to visit with this trip. Some people came to see us but we didn't get to spend as much time as we wanted. (I'm talking about you Schumann family.) It was a crazy, busy trip and even with 6 weeks there wasn't enought time to do everything we wanted to do. But don't worry, we will see you on our next trip for sure!

Next on the agenda

2009-07-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I think we got most of the activity of the past month posted. There's nothing like a deadline to increase the motivation to get caught up. The date is near for our journey back to Texas. We'll arrive at DFW on July 11, spend a few days in Denton, then head to Smith Point. We look forward to seeing everyone again. You have an open invitation to meet us there!

Love,

V, T, M, and JB

BTW - The video below looks awkward, but just hit the play button and it works. :)

Allen's visit

2009-07-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

Tokyo Tower

2009-07-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

We were lucky to have such a clear day, as it is the middle of rainy season, and we could even see Mt. Fuji in the distance!

Jackson and Madeleine

"Look down" window

Views from the top

Viewing from the cafe

Japanese school girls

Maddie and Jack squeezed into one of the kiddie rides

Sagamidai Shogakko

2009-07-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

We took Dave, Joan, and Jack on an outing to visit Maddie at school. (Thanks, Joan, for taking all the great photos!)

Here is Maddie working outside with her teacher and class on tidying up the school grounds.

We've always found this fascinating - it's the school's self-defense security system for intruders. And here is Maddie's Japanese teacher demonstrating its use on Troy:

Maddie's classroom. I'm pointing out her Kanji work sample below:

Maddie's desk

Maddie reading from her journal with Shea sensei

Students heading to the pool for swimming practice

At recess the students have their choice of playing on stilts or unicycle!

Company

2009-07-09T00:05:00.000-07:00

We hosted our dear friends' visit to Japan in June in celebration of their 25th wedding anniversary. We enjoyed showing Dave, Joan, and Jack around and reveled in their company and especially in Jack's enthusiasm. We were on the go for 2 weeks, and it was hard to choose which to post from the hundreds of photos taken. All had a great (yet exhausting) time. Here are a few photos:

Jack's first onigiri (seaweed-wrapped rice treat) on the train.

Samarai Jack at Odawara Castle

Dave and Joan enjoying the irises and hydrangea

Jack and Maddie in the plastic food store in the restaurant supply district in Tokyo

A street festival in Tokyo

Hydrangea on the greenbelt near our home

Our picnic at the Sagamihara park (and more hydrangea)

Troy ruining the romantic anniversary pic (don't worry, we took another)

Sushi-go-round!

McDonalds and our favorite - Shaka-shaka Chicken

And that was only the first three days...

Breakin' the Law, Breakin' the Law

2009-07-07T04:03:00.001-07:00

A new experience to add to our list of Japanese adventures - traffic ticket! Troy only commited a minor infraction - changing lanes crossing the solid yellow line - now we know you're not allowed to do that. However, the policeman was so polite, and it was worth the price of the ticket (Y6000) to get these priceless photos. The nice policeman was happy to pose for a photo, and even offered to let me take one of him in front of his motorcycle. His parting words: "safety drive!" with a big smile on his face.

If you look closely (click to enlarge), you can see Dave and Joan's smiling faces in the car.

New Digs - Kraatz Palace

2009-07-07T01:25:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since our last posting, but we have been so busy. We moved to our new place on June 1st, and hustled to get everything in order so we could host a visit by our wonderful friends, Joan, Dave, and Jack, from Austin. Our new Kraatz Palace is a penthouse apartment overlooking the city. We have the 4th floor with 3 bedrooms and the whole top (5th) floor which includes living areas, a roomy kitchen, and the best feature: a large roof-top garden area. We also love the traditional Japanese-style tatami (straw floor) room. Here are some pictures:

Tatami Room

Mountian view from the roof-top garden

Joan and Jelly Bean enjoying morning coffee

Lobby entrance and our parking area downstairs

Rice Planting

2009-05-30T22:41:00.000-07:00

Well, it is rice planting season so we thought we would join in. Today we went to a small co-op with a couple of rice fields (tanbo) and learned how to plant rice the old fashioned way. The first thing we did was pull up the rice seedlings from a nearby field. That was backbreaking work in itself. Then we took them over to the planting field. Here it is before the planting:

Then we began the actual planting. You would take three or four seedlings and put them in the wet mud in rows about 6 inches apart. The mud was very thick and mushy! Here is Madeleine just getting started:

Vanessa and I also planted three rows each to the left of Maddie. It was hard because you had to bend over for each planting and also walk in the muck. A few people fell down and got covered in mud because you have to kind of wallow around to get yourself back up. After an hour or so the first field was planted.
Maddie surveys her work:
Hard working rice planters:
Taking a break by a creek:
Lunch was called so we headed over to a nearby spring and washed up. While we worked, some Japanese ladies had prepared two big pots of Japanese curry over open fires. We had a picnic style lunch. It was delicious!

Maddie with some of the other kids:

We were pretty tired out and our backs ached but we had a lot of fun and learned a good deal about rice planting! Perhaps we will go back at harvest time and give that a try.

Ueno Zoo

2009-05-10T17:54:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, May 9th we woke up to a beautiful day. We didn't have any plans so we decided to head into Tokyo. We wanted to show Madeleine how to take the fancy train to Shinjuku. Let me explain. There are several types of trains that take you to Shinjuku station in Tokyo. There is a local train that stops at every station. Then there are semi-express and express trains that get you there faster with fewer stops. These trains are usually very crowded and you are lucky if you can get a seat. It takes about 30 minutes on the express train and longer on the local. BUT, a couple of stops down the line from our station, you can catch a train that has reserved seats. They call it the "Romance" train. This is the more traditional train that you might be used to taking. It is an additional charge to the ticket you buy to Shinjuku. It is great because you can sit together in comfort (airline style seats) and they even have a refreshment cart and attendant that goes up and down the aisle. There are bathrooms and plenty of room for baggage. Like I said earlier, it is the fancy train! So anyway, we took the Romance train to Shinjuku. Once there we looked at the stops along the Yamanote line. This is a train line that goes in a big loop around the city. Vanessa spotted Ueno and we remembered there is a big park there, Ueno Park. It is similiar to Central Park in New York since it is big and in the center of Tokyo. Soon after we arrived at the park we had a picnic lunch under some big trees. After that we started exploring. There was a lot of activity with street performers, booths selling pottery and lots of food and drink. We came to a big open area and standing in the middle of it was a man with a sign that read "Free Hugs" Vanessa didn't hesitate and with a big smile went right over and got a hug. We all got hugs! We only saw one other guy getting a hug but we hoped he gave away a bunch of them.

Shortly afterward we came to the Ueno Zoo. We weren't planning on going to the zoo but it looked like fun so off we went. Just past the entrance gate they had the carp flying in the breeze.

Maddie loves elephants. She thinks they are cool. We agree. There was a young one entertaining the crowd that Maddie really liked.

They also had Japanese snow monkeys! There were several babies running around getting into mischief. We stayed and watched them for a long time.

Maddie monkeying around at the gorilla exhibit. I don't know who that mysterious character with the sunglasses is next to her.

The seals were lively and quite vocal. This one hopped up on the rock just as we were walking up to the railing! (It was a sunny day as you can tell from Maddie's squinting.)

We were getting a little tired so we decided to head back home. On the way out, Maddie decided to hop up on the elephant. We've got to get this girl to Africa. She's a natural!

We took the Romance train back home. Once again, another fun day in Tokyo! We hope you have a nice day too.

Children's Day and Kite Festival

2009-05-10T17:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, Ok, I know it has been a while since our last posting. I guess we got caught up in every day living and didn't do anything too exciting. But that all changed last week with the Japanese holidays called Golden Week. It is basically 4 national holidays all strung together and most people have the week off of work and school. One of those days is called Children's Day. On this day everyone hangs fabric carp from a line or pole. I'm not sure of the history for this. At Sagamigara river (check out the earlier blog on this river) they celebrate Children's Day with a kite festival. We went a couple of days before the festival to check out how the kite's were coming along. They build these huge kites out of bamboo and rope ahead of time and then cover them with decorated paper on the day they fly them. Here's a picture of Madeleine standing in front of one of frames:

Pretty big kite! They also built some kind of traditional straw hut. Vanessa and Maddie were ready to move in!

At the river, they strung some large carp across the expanse. These things were very large and with the strong winds looked beautiful flying in the sky.

After checking out the scene, we took a walk around the area. Along the river they have many rice fields mixed in amongst the houses. They have irrigation systems all around. We came across a monument of some sort with an old concrete pipe. It looked like a good opportunity for a photo of our beautiful Maddie!

On the day of the festival our friends who live right next to the river had a little party. Unfortunately, it was a rainy day with no wind. We still had a good time eating and visiting with our friends. Maddie and I got there early and walked around the festival while it was only sprinkling. We saw some of the kites up in the air. Since there was no wind, the people who built them would grab the long ropes and take off running to get them to fly. The kites looked great! But when the runners ran out of running room the kites would fall to the ground. Some of the people had to scatter as they came down! Our friends told us they saw a group fly their kite by pulling it with a truck. Here is one in the air:

We came to the main area of the festival where they had some kites on display. They looked great with the paper on them. There were some costumed ladies doing a synchronized dance to traditional music when we arrived. Maddie really enjoyed their dancing!

This is the one that Maddie was standing in front of in the first picture at top:

We had a good time. This happened to be May 5th. So we also had to celebrate Cinco de Mayo! We had some margaritas at our friend's house and then later that night we all went hunting for a mexican restaurant. Since it was a holiday, many restaurants were closed. Luckily for us, mexican food is popular in the area. After two failed attempts, we found one open and had a very good dinner. Sorry, no photos of that. Thanks for reading and Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

Sakura Movie

2009-04-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

We made a 6+ minute film of the cherry trees in Sagamihara. It is posted on YouTube. If you search for /sakura movie 0001/ you can find it. Or you can watch it here:

Sakura!

2009-04-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

It's Cherry Blossom (Sakura) time in Japan. It's a beautiful time to be here. Everyone is in good spirits and the gorgeous blooming trees are everywhere you look. Some are already starting to drop their blossoms and it is like gently falling snow (without the cold). It is a favorite pastime of the Japanese to take time to have a picnic under the blooming cherry trees. Last weekend we went to Showa park to view all of the flowers and trees.

Then the next day there was a cherry blossom festival at Camp Zama. It was open to the public so it got very crowded!

We had some yakitori (grilled meat on a stick) and enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells of the festival.
The next day we hosted a barbeque at our house in Sagamihara. We invited the Mizushimas, the Kimuras, our neighbors the Owens and Donovans. It was a beautiful day so after stuffing ourselves with beef sausage, shrimp, pork tenderloin, pork ribs, smoked chicken, garlic cheese biscuits, green beans, pea salad, fruit salad, white chocolate chip cookies, caramel cheesecake, plenty of cold beer, margaritas and more, we decided to take a walk.
These are some of the trees at the elementary school.

This is our favorite tree. It is in the middle of a field near the elementary school. We like to picnic here when it is warm.

Maddie on her way to school. She is now in the 5th grade! Below is a very short video we took of the walk to the gate with Madeleine this morning.

Wish you were all here to experience it with us! Love to all.

Rebuilding Smith Point

2009-04-07T17:31:00.001-07:00

On my way back from Cozumel I stopped in at Smith Point. We had some work done on the house and I wanted to check it out. The contractor, Justin Weitekemp, was a disappointment. If anybody in Chambers County is reading this blog, don't use him for any repairs! The good news is that we have a place to come back to that is liveable and we can complete the restoration this summer. A huge thanks to our friends Lou, Ben, Bill, Ralph, James, and of course Fred and Jen for all of their generosity and help. You guys are great!!

New tile in upstairs bathroom.

New flooring upstairs.

Downstairs bathroom renovation. Still needs paint!

Exterior walls rebuilt. We will fill these large windows with screening this summer.

Looks like the big tree in our backyard is going to make it!

Happy Birthday Patricia!

2009-04-07T17:13:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago I flew to Cozumel to see the Carrillo family and celebrate Patricia's 50th birthday party. It was a special time and great to see the ever-growing Cozumel family. My friends Charlie, Chip and Chris (and family) also flew in for the festivities. It was a great week and we celebrated in style at Patricia's new house. The kids hired a mariachi band and we all danced and toasted the birthday girl. Patty, Angela, William and Monsie were all on hand for the big party. We laughed, we cried (tears of joy) and just had a grand time. I got to meet many of the extended family which was very nice. I also got to spend some time with Big William which was great. It was wonderful to see the whole family doing so well. We love you Carrillo family! I took lots of pictures but did not get permission to post pictures of anyone so for now I will just post some of the nature pics. Enjoy!

Maddie's name is still on the rafters at Paradise Cafe.
View from the cafe where we ate breakfast every morning.
View from the top of the lighthouse at Punta Sur.
Beach at Punta Sur.
Pelican on sea wall in town.

Yoshino Baigo Plum Tree Festival

2009-03-15T04:49:00.000-07:00

Today we decided to head out to see our old stomping grounds and take in the beautiful site of blooming plum trees. We got up and had breakfast at our local Skylark restaurant (Vanessa and I had the "American" breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, toast and salad while Maddie had the Japanese breakfast of steamed white rice, dried seaweed, grilled salmon, pickled cabbage, and miso soup.) Afterwards, we drove to Yokota Air Base in Fussa. It was only about an hour drive. Yokota has changed a lot since we were there and it was fun to see the base where we used to work. After an hour or so around the base we headed out the gate on foot to the Fussa train station. Along the way we took a slight detour and walked by the first apartment we lived in back in '94. It was so small! We took the train West, past Ome to Hinatawada station. That is the location of the Yoshino Baigo annual Plum Tree Festival. It is actually a residential area but many of the homes have plum orchards in their yards. The whole town is a mixture of decorative plum trees and actual fruiting plum trees. Both are beautiful and fragrant. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government's tourism web site says there are about 25,000 plum trees of up to 120 varieties in this area! We had a very nice time walking around the streets, climbing a hill to a shrine with a fantastic view and enjoying the festive mood of the crowds of people. After a couple of hours we, along with seemingly thousands of others, took the train back to Fussa. We stopped in a Starbucks to fortify ourselves for the short walk back to the base. After a bit of shopping on base we drove back home. There was more traffic going back home so it took us a couple of hours. Jelly Bean was glad to see us! It was another glorious day in Japan.

This is the view of Mt. Fuji from Yokota Air Base.
Vanessa and Madeleine enjoying some festival treats.
The hills were covered in blooms!
Madeleine only added to the natural beauty.
Vanessa took a close up of one of the blooms. If only you could smell the perfume-like scent!
This was Maddie's favorite tree. It was in someone's yard.
This is an orchard we passed on our way back to the train station.
This is the Tama river we crossed to and from the train station.

Happy Birthday Jelly Bean

2009-03-14T01:47:00.000-07:00

March 13th was Jelly Bean's 2nd birthday! We celebrated on Saturday since I had to go to school on Friday. On Saturday morning it was rainy but that did not stop us. We put Jelly in his coat and went in the car. We went to a park called Sagamihara Park and walked around. He had a blast. We walked around a fountain but there was a sign that said "No Dogs" so we kept going. We came to a lake and he chased a duck. He really liked running through the puddles in the rain. I climbed up a giant tree house but he couldn't go with me. The rain stopped so we went to an outdoor cafe where there was a spot where we could tie Jelly up next to our table. We ate ramen (a kind of noodle soup) and ice cream. Then we walked through some pretty gardens. The flowers are just starting to bloom. On our way back to our car we met a giant, white dog. He was really big and friendly and drooly! I liked him. So did Jelly. Next we headed home. Later we had a little birthday party. We sang Happy Birthday to him and then he ate his filet mignon doggy food cake. Then he licked the plate and got every little bit. Mommy said we could put the plate back in the cabinet, ha ha. I think he had a great birthday. Sorry, but we forgot the camera so no pictures.

Having a great time in Japan,

Maddie

Snow on Girl's Day

2009-03-03T03:36:00.001-08:00

Today is Girl's Day in Japan. Maddie received some sweet treats from her teachers and a gift from us. But the nicest gift came from Mother Nature in the form of snow! It started snowing about 530p tonight (while Maddie was with her Japanese tutor) and is still snowing three hours later. It should snow until about 1am or so and then the forecast calls for rain. We are hoping it doesn't rain so the snow is still there when we wake up.

This was Jelly Bean's first time in snow. He loved it! He was running around at high speeds stopping only to lick it up from time to time. We recently took him to the groomer for his first haircut since coming to Japan. He looks handsome, doesn't he?

Maddie made some yard sculptures. She stayed out playing until bedtime!

Traditional Japanese Buildings in Noborito

2009-03-03T03:14:00.000-08:00

Not long ago we spent the day with our friends, Kazushi and Mieko Kimura. We met at a park in the area of Noborito, only about a 20 minute train ride. The park is home to many traditional homes and buildings from all over Japan. They have restored them to their original condition. It was educational to see how these buildings were constructed, mostly without nails. We had a great time touring the park and then had a wonderful lunch at a nearby museum cafe.

In one of the buildings (an old inn for horse traders) the man shown above created a scale model of a typical fire place in this type of building. He asked Maddie to help him assemble it for display.
This building has an interesting roof. The wooden shingles are held down by logs cut if half and rocks!

We really liked the massive thatch roofing.
Vanessa grinding rice for a particular kind of grilled rice. They would grind it using these stone grinders, then cook it and put it on sticks. Then the rice sticks would be placed in the ashes around a fire for grilling. Sounds delicious to us!
There were many volunteers who practice the crafts of the time period. These artisans were making shoes, slippers, boots and other items from straw and grass. I tried to buy some but they were not for sale. We met some of them and they are very dedicated to keeping the old traditions alive.

Maddie's Speech at School

2009-03-02T02:53:00.000-08:00

Today the parents were invited to the classroom at Maddie's Japanese elementary school. All of the students prepared speeches about what they would like to do when they grow up. Madeleine gave a short speech about being a veterinarian and liking animals. We are very proud of her! Her teacher said that her pronunciation was very good. Way to go Maddie!

(Sorry about the low quality but we filmed it with our regular camera, not the video camera. Turn the sound up!)

Sumo!

2009-02-23T02:37:00.001-08:00

About a week ago we had the opportunity to see a sumo tournament. Normally a "basho" or tournament is a 15 day event but this was a special kind of single elimination tournament in one afternoon. We took the train and got to the stadium about 2pm. There were a few wrestlers taking pictures out front but we hesitated to ask them for a picture and missed our chance. We took this picture instead:

We took our seats just in time to see some of the sumo wrestlers going against some children. The children looked tiny next to the wrestlers and were very entertaining. Maddie really got a kick out of it. Next there were some comic wrestlers who came out and did a funny routine.
Afterwards the real tournament began. The league is made up of two main groups, East and West. Each group comes out and lines up in a circle around the floor as their names are announced. We like seeing their fancy cloths.
Next, the Yokozuna (Grand Champion) comes out and does a ceremonial type demonstration to show his power.

Before the actual wrestling began Troy ran out and got some goodies for everybody. Yakitori (chicken on a stick), a bento box (boxed lunch with rice, seafood, salads and other yummy stuff) and beer.
We got to see all of our favorite wrestlers. The one below is huge. His name translates to Mountain Mountain (I think). The single elimination was great because we got to see our favorites over and over again as they won. Unfortunately, our most favorite, Baruto, lost his first match.
We had a really good time. Sumo is an amazing sport. All of these guys can do the splits! They are incredibly strong and nimble. In Japan, these athletes are treated like rock stars. We love sumo!

Hokkaido in Winter

2009-02-18T17:52:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone! A couple of weeks ago we took a trip to the northern island of Japan called Hokkaido. It was home to the Ainu people and the Japanese have been there about 150 years. The biggest city is Sapporo and they have a huge Snow Festival every year. We joined a ski tour with the intention to ski a few days and sight see a fee days but Vanessa's injured foot kept her from skiing. (It's healing slowly but there is definite improvement after a few visits to the acupuncturist.)

We left our home about 4am and joined the others on the tour for a bus trip to Haneda airport. We caught the 7am flight on All Nippon airways. Our plane was the Pokeman plane. The interior had Pokemon characters on the seats and dishes, and the outside of the plane was painted with Pokemon characters!

Upon arrival in Chitose, we separated into two groups: one went skiing immediately and the other went sightseeing. Vanessa, Madeleine and I went with the sightseeing group. Our first stop was the old Sapporo brewery. It is now a shopping area but they still have the old buildings.
Here I am standing under the old smoke stack. I could almost smell the hops! Next we went to the Ishiwa Chocolate Factory. This was an incredible, magical place. They had a lot of china and other things to look at but it was a working factory so we got to see them making chocolate cookies.
The girls enjoyed some hot chocolate. Madeleine said it may be the best ever.
There was plenty of snow outside of the chocolate factory. Are we still in Japan?
We loved the quirky architecture of the factory. Click the photo to get a good look at the guys in the background holding up the tower. We had a really good time seeing Sapporo. We also went to the Hokkaido museum where we learned all about the Ainu people and the history of the huge island.

We then headed to our hotel, the Keio Plaza in the center of Sapporo. It was a very nice hotel and included a huge breakfast buffet every morning. They had both Japanese breakfast food and Western food. Vanessa was very adventurous and even tried the salted fish guts over steamed white rice. She said it was pretty good!

The next day after breakfast we got on a bus and headed to the ski resort Rusutsu. Vanessa stayed in the lobby and got a great seat in a coffee shop with a huge picture window. Maddie and I skied. It was snowing pretty heavily and sometimes it was hard to see. We had a great time and Madeleine picked up her skiing right where she left off. She didn't have any trouble navigating the mountain just behind the resort.
Maddie and a friend collapsed after a few ski runs.
Troy coming back from the slopes. The snow stuck to my face. My beard isn't quite that white yet! Vanessa didn't recognize me at first when I walked in the door.
The next day we went to the town of Otaru. This is a picturesque port city. We went to an indoor ice house (complete with slide), had a very nice sushi dinner, visited a glass making factory, music box museum and store, and a kaleidoscope store. Maddie made her own kaleidoscope! We also had some ice cream. We loved the milk and ice cream in Hokkaido. They are famous for happy cows. The dairy was so extremely rich and milky we couldn't help ourselves and enjoyed it often. Toward the end of the day we went to a small museum dedicated to the city. Outside of the museum they had built a small hill so kids could try out the old sleds and snow rickshaws. (OK, kids of all ages....) Finally, we found a small, local restaurant. There were only about 8 seats in the whole place. The owner was a young chef who worked in a large hotel. He cooked some of the most delicious pasta we have ever had. I even tried some of the local Otaru wine. We took the train back to Sapporo since the tour bus had left hours earlier. We loved Otaru!

The next day we went to the ski resort in Kiroro. Since Vanessa couldn't ski, we decided to play in the snow. They had this kids area that had a slope for sledding, an intertube slide and other play areas. The first thing Maddie did was take a ride on an inflated boat that was pulled around a course by a snow mobile. Then we all went sledding and had a really good time. Then we discovered the tube slide. I think this was Maddie's favorite. The adults tired out but Maddie and a friend kept at it.
It was snowing pretty heavily but that only made it more fun.
Maddie and her friend played in the snow. They made a snow fort and cached snow balls. I went to check on them and got bombarded!
It was finally time to go so the girls reluctantly came back. We had a nice lunch in the resort lobby and then we headed over to the onsen (Japanese baths.) Vanessa and Madeleine went to the women's side and I went alone to the men's. We often go to the onsen but there is something special about going when it is snowing. The baths were great. They had several inside but the real treat was the one outside. I went to the sauna and stayed as long as I could stand it. After stepping out of the sauna I went to the outside pool. The pool was really beautiful and made from rocks. There were large rocks along the perimeter and the floor had smaller ones. In the center was a cluster of rocks with a fountain of hot water issuing from the center. Half of the pool was covered and half was open. Along the edge of the outside part the snow was piled six or seven feet high. The view beyond the bath was the side of the snow covered mountain and trees. I stood at the edge of the pool and used a small bucket to rinse myself. Then I eased into the pool. The water was nice and hot! After acclimating to the hot water I went over to the uncovered area. The snowfall was heavy. My skin was steaming up and melting the snow as it landed on my skin. After a very relaxing soak, I climbed up on one of the rocks and sat there letting the snow fall on me. It was incredible!

That night the entire tour group went out to dinner. It was at the old Sapporo brewery and it was a kind of all you can eat deal where you cook your food at the table. We had all you could eat and drink (including cold beer) for 90 minutes. It was a smoky, boisterous time that we really enjoyed. (By the way, when we first arrived, they had plastic bags at the table. Before the cooking began, everyone put their coats and hats in the bags so they didn't get smoky and smell of cooked meat and vegetables.) It was really fun cooking at the table and several times during the meal we all did the wave from one end of the room to the other.
The restaurant (and the style of cooking) was called Ghengis Khan.

After the dinner, the bus dropped us off at the park in Sapporo where the Snow festival is held. The festival had not started yet but most of the large sculptures were completed.
The park is a long narrow one with the tower at one end. We started there and walked the length of it. There were countless snow sculptures along the way. Some were the size of a typical statue and others were larger than a house.

This one above was really big. It was amazingly detailed. To understand the size of it, I am standing near it and looking up at it. It was at least the size of a two story house, if not bigger!

The next day, which was our last, we went to the Winter Sports Museum. It is a very fun, interactive museum on the grounds of the ski jump site of the Sapporo Winter Olympics back in 1972.
Madeleine did great on the ski jump simulator. She jumped a lot farther than I did!
The beautiful Vanessa and Madeleine at the bottom of the ski jump.

We took a ski lift up to the top of the ski jump. It was really beautiful up there. It had snowed every day we were there except this last day. The clear skies gave us a beautiful view from the top!

An amazing view from the top of the ski jump. What courage it must take to jump off of this thing!
Later that day we went to lunch in another area of Sapporo. Here I am in front of the beer and whiskey signs. (Of course!) They also had some ice sculpures. Click on the photo below and check out the fish and crab embedded in the ice.
After lunch we went back to the hotel and caught the busses back to the airport in Chitose and flew back to Tokyo. It was a really great trip.

Skiing in Shiga Kogen

2009-01-21T20:09:00.001-08:00

Last weekend we celebrated MLK weekend by taking our first ski trip since arriving back in Japan. We went to the Nagano area, which was the location of the 1998 winter Olympics. The resort we stayed at is called Shiga Kogen. It is a huge area with many, many ski runs. We left our house Friday night (Saturday morning) at 1am and joined the Kanto Ski Club on a bus. After driving all night we arrived at our hotel at 730am and checked into our room. It was a Japanese style hotel so our room was tatami mat with futons on the floor. There was a small bathroom with a toilet. There was not a shower or bathtub in the room but there was an onsen (Japanese hot bath) on the lobby floor. The view outside the window was beautiful. The hotel was in the heart of the Shiga Kogen area and we could walk to the ski lifts. After checking into our room we had breakfast in the hotel. The breakfast was great with a mix of western style (eggs, sausage, hash browns) and Japanese (miso soup, rice, smoked fish, seaweed, natto beans) so there was something for everyone. Our hotel was right on the mountain and we were able to take a short walk to the ski lifts. The mountain directly behind us had green (beginner) slopes so we went directly to it. This was Madeleine's first time to ski so Vanessa and I did our best to teach her how to snow plow. She did great. After spending all morning teaching Madeleine we were all exhausted so we went back to the hotel for lunch. We had ramen noodles which are great on a cold day! After lunch we went back out and explored the area around the hotel. We had a fun time playing in the snow. The weather was great the whole time we were there. Lots of snow on the ground and it snowed every day so we had lots of fresh powder. After a wonderful dinner, we slept well that night. The next day we headed back out after breakfast. Madeleine showed great improvement so we tackled another mountain. She was a little intimidated by some of the steep slopes but by the end of the day she was starting to turn pretty well and we all had fun. We did what we called "family ski time" where we held hands with Maddie in the middle and skied together. We had a few "family falls" but overall did some pretty good skiing. The last day, we stayed on the mountain behind our hotel. Madeleine was really skiing well at this point and was pretty much on her own. At the top of the lift, the run is fairly steep but Maddie decided she would go it alone. She headed down the hill and got going very fast. She ended up turning but was going so fast she got scared and couldn't slow down. She managed to turn uphill and head to a snow bank where she finally fell down. It freaked her out a little but I'm proud to say that she "got back on the horse" and it wasn't long before she was back in fine form. We went up and down that mountain more times that I can remember! In the afternoon we loaded up our gear, checked out of the hotel and got back on the bus. We returned home about 10pm. Upon reflection, Vanessa and I got our snow legs back after a ten year hiatus of skiing and Madeleine learned how to ski so it was a really great trip. We loved the snow and look forward to our next ski trip at the end of the month. Enjoy the pictures!

View from our hotel room.

A particularly "fun" wipeout.

Maddie throwing a snowball....

and the end result!

Snow bunnies!

Maddie found a deep snowdrift!

Maddie in action. 2014 Olympics????

Maddie is looking good on the slopes!

Happy New Year (of the Cow or Ox)

2009-01-20T17:57:00.000-08:00

Happy 2009 Everyone!
I'm a little late in writing this but we hope everyone had a great New Year celebration. We went to a New Year's party at a friend's house off base. They recently moved into a Japanese style home right along the Sagamigawa river. It was a small gathering but very nice with lots of food and drink. We counted down the year and celebrated with a kiss at midnight. Maddie stayed up for the first time to celebrate with us! Then, we bundled up (it was very cold) and walked to a nearby shrine. It was a beautiful one on top of a little hill. We walked up the steps to the shrine and said a prayer for the coming year and rang a large bell. Then we were given some hot, sweet sake called amazake that is almost like a thin gruel. (That doesn't sound very appetizing but I don't know another way of describing it. It is a sweet drink and very good on a cold night!) We purchased a ceremonial arrow but I haven't researched what the significance is yet. We stayed at our friend's house that night. I woke up before sunrise and sat at the window. The sun came up and highlighted the nearby mountains. It was a beautiful way to start the year. The next weekend we went back to our friend's house to put our daruma in the fire. I'll explain. The Japanese have a red, paper mache figure that has large, empty spots for the eyes, called a Daruma. Every year, you make a wish, set a goal, etc. and color in one of the eyes. Then, during the year if your wish, goal, etc. comes true, you color in the other eye. During the new year time, they have these bon fires and you throw the Daruma into the fire. The whole process then starts again. We took our Daruma to one of these fires and Maddie threw it in. Our wish had been that our family stay healthy!

This fire had been much bigger when it was first started but we were a little late in getting there. The people gathered around were drinking sake and roasting mochi. (More on Mochi later in the blog.)

Later that day we went to Camp Zama where Madeleine and Vanessa participated in Kakizome. This is the tradition of writing calligraphy at the beginning of the year. Maddie had also done this when she first went back to school. The Japanese calligraphy teacher (sensei) was very impressed with Madeleine's skill, especially when she wrote the one she had memorized from school. They put it on a special kind of paper for her and Vanessa hung it in our house. In the picture above, Madeleine and Vanessa are writing the kanji for "lucky" and later wrote "power."

The next day we were in a nearby area called Machida. We like to go there for shopping, eating and walking around. We stumbled upon a crowd of people listening to drummers and making mochi. Mochi is basically steamed white rice that is pounded until it is a sticky consistancy. You can then add different ingredients to it for flavoring. It takes a lot of pounding using a large wooden mallet and wooden bowl. One person swings the mallet and the other reaches in and moves the rice around so that it all gets evenly pounded. It is quite dangerous for the one moving the rice! They saw Madeleine in the crowd and invited her up to take a few swings. She said the mallet was pretty heavy.

Afterwards, they gave us some of the finished product. Madeleine likes the plain mochi the best but Vanessa and I enjoyed it with the sweet red beans and salty soy flour. I guess that's it for now. Again, Happy New Year to all!

Happy Christmas Time

2009-01-07T02:21:00.000-08:00

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! The picture above was taken just outside our front door on Christmas Eve. It was amazing! We heard some Christmas music down the street along with lots of flashing lights so we went out to investigate. After a little while it made its way to our house and stopped. It was a big beautiful fire truck! A man came up to Madeleine and asked if she lived at a certain house. It wasn't our number so she told him no. Then we told him our house number and he checked a long list. Then he looked up and smiled and said, "Is your name Madeleine?" Madeleine's face lit up and she started laughing. Then he told her to go to her house because Santa was on his way to meet her. Sure enough, just a few minutes later Santa Claus came to the house bearing a gift. Madeleine was excited (and a little stunned) and gave Santa a hug and bid him goodnight. When she opened the gift a few minutes later she was surprised again because the package contained something she had really wanted. Wow!

We had a quiet Christmas morning. We enjoyed opening all of the gifts from family and friends. Thanks everyone! Later that day we had a Christmas dinner with some friendly neighbors. They are from Texarkana and cooked up a truly wonderful spread. It was just like home in Texas. We ate way too much (just like in Texas) and waddled home late in the afternoon. We had a really nice day spent with each other enjoying the spirit of the season.
On Saturday, Dec. 27th we headed out to Yokohama. We were invited to that area to have dinner with some old friends, Morik and Miki and their daughter Rio. Morik was a student of mine in 1994/5. I looked them up when we got settled in only to find out they were preparing for a move from Tokyo to Abu Dhabi. Anyway, we decided to go a few hours early and see the sites of the port town of Yokohama. We first went to a park by the water. It was a nice park with sculptures and water features. We walked along the shoreline and then headed over to a place called CosmoWorld.
One of the attractions in CosmoWorld is a giant ferris wheel. I believe it is about the size of The Eye in London. We got on as the sun was beginning to set.
To our surprise, Mt. Fuji sneaked out from between the skyscrapers.
After having a good time at CosmoWorld, we headed back toward the train station. We took the picture above of the ferris wheel in the background to show the beautiful lights. They were constantly changing colors and patterns. It was great because of the huge scale. We snacked on some yummy sweet treats shaped like little teddy bears and continued to the station.
Vanessa and Madeleine under the arch of love. We made our way to the station where we were meeting our friends. From there we all walked over to China Town. It is pretty similiar to the one in San Francisco. Huge ornate gates at all of the entrances. The area was very lively and full of lights and street hawkers. Morik and Miki brought their two year old daughter, Rio. She was very cute and outgoing. It was our first time to meet her and soon became friends. She was born in Rio de Janiero. We walked to our restaurant which was a very large, beautiful building with lots of marble and ornate wooden carvings. Morik had reserved a special room for us. It was at the top of a gorgeous marble stairway. We had a delicious multi-course meal (I lost count after 10) and a few chinese beers. It was great visiting them and they invited us to Abu Dhabi anytime during the four years they will be there. We might just go!
A few days later we took the train to Odawara. This city is on Sagami Bay and is famous for the Odawara Castle. (From the brochure: It was the stronghold of various daimyo during the Muromachi period of Japanese History. From 1495 onward, five generations of the Late Hojo clan held the castle. Odawara Castle had very strong defenses, because it was situated on a hill, surrounded by moats with water on the low side, and dry ditches on the hill side, with banks, walls and cliffs located all around the castle, enabled defenders to repel attacks.)

It is a very nice place to visit on a day trip. We enjoyed the views from the upper floors. We had a picnic on the grounds. They also have some animals on the grounds. Maddie really liked the Japanese Macaque monkeys (also called snow monkeys.) These are the same type that like to sit in the hot springs during winter. Here is a link for more info or simply Google them: http://www.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/frameset.html Click on the word LIVECAM and you may catch them in action.

She also liked the Indian elephant. She was about 65 years old and was very friendly. She would come out of her little house and lift one of her front legs for the crowd. Later, we got to see them feed her. She like cabbage the best. Maddie really enjoyed spending time with her.
From the castle, we watched the sun set behind the mountains and then made our way back home. Another fine day in Japan.

Christmas Illuminations

2008-12-26T14:13:00.000-08:00

On Sunday before Christmas we headed into downtown Tokyo to see the Christmas illuminations. We got to Shinjuku before the lights came on, so we joined the long line of doughnut lovers at Krispy Kreme. The sign said it would be a 40 minute wait, but we joined the queue anyway and were soon greeted by a tray of hot glazed doughnuts right from the fryer being passed out to the waiting patrons. It only took about 15 minutes to get inside, where we ordered a selection of doughnuts and hot coffee. We sat outside as the sun set and the lights came on.
The Takashimaya department store decorated to the theme of a Christmas circus.

Thousands of lights illuminated the southern terrace of Shinjuku.

To end the evening's adventure, we headed to Shibuya and the large intersection in front of the station which is heavily decorated by neon advertisements and giant video screens and gets crossed by amazingly large crowds of pedestrians each time the traffic light turns green.
Maddie says, "We had tons of fun!"