Thanksgiving in Japan

For our first major holiday in Japan, we special ordered a delicious Butterball turkey and invited some fellow Americans over for dinner. Aaron had to work on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, so we had our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday night. Everything turned out beautifully in our little tiny oven! We had friends from MI, KY, and us from AZ, so a total of 7 for dinner. We enjoyed a traditional dinner and time with friends! And, everyone was sure to enjoy some drinks.

Kelso also thoroughly enjoyed himself, as everyone petted him and he loves having guests. Here is our family Turkey Day shot!

Halloween in Japan

On November 1, we hosted a wonderful, if slightly belated, Halloween party at our townhouse. It was a great time, and we crammed a lot of people from all over the world into our little living room!

The highlight of the evening was the homemade Hello Kitty pinata! Our friend Lisa was the chief architect on this project, and I have to say, we're waiting to get back to the USA and just ordering a pinata for any future parties!



We were impressed with the wide array of costumes that made an appearance and creative displays such as the photo opp we call Pouring the Beer. Thanks to Lisa and Trisha for the photos!

The Aunties trip to Nihon!

On October 22, my aunts, Mary Lou and Joani, arrived for a 10 day visit! We had a fantastic time and it felt great to get hugs from family. Their first full day in Japan, we visited the city of Seto for pottery shopping and a Japanese curry lunch.

Then we began our tourist fun on Thursday.

We visited Nagoya-jo, which is a reconstructed castle with a museum inside.

Also home to the golden dolphins that are the symbol of the Aichi prefecture (Nagoya and Toyota City are part of the prefecture).

Friday we headed to Kyoto, which was our first shinkansen (bullet train) trip. Our first stop was the Heian Shrine, which is the most famous Shinto shrine in Kyoto.

Saturday morning we had breakfast and then started shopping on Shinkyogoku, a shopping arcade full of every kind of store.

Aaron arrived and we all headed to Nijo-jo, a beautiful castle, to see how the shoguns lived.

The views and gardens here were beautiful too, and the Ninomaru Palace was a great glimpse at life during the shogun era.

Saturday night we headed out to Ponto cho, a cobbled tiny street home to lots of restaurants, bars, etc. and backing to the river.

We enjoyed a teppanyaki dinner. The chefs here don't throw the food around like they do at Benihana at home though!

Sunday we visited Kiyomizu-dera, a famous temple. It was raining, but it was still beautiful.

Then we visited my favorite place of the whole trip, Sanjusangendo Hall. Inside are 1001 wooden statues of the thousand-handed Kannon. Ok, they really have 40 arms, but it was stunning. No photos allowed though!

Monday we headed towards Hakone, which is a very beautiful and scenic area of Japan. We stayed at the Fujiya Hotel, the first western hotel here, dined in their beautiful dining room, and tested out the onsen.

Tuesday morning we began the trek through the Hakone area, which is the draw for all the tourists. The first stop on the railway was the Hakone Open Air Museum, featuring outdoor exhibits, a Picasso exhibit, and a foot onsen to enjoy.

In Hakone we traveled via railway, switchback railway, cablecar, ropeway, and boat. Here we are in the ropeway, praying no doors come open!

The views here were breathtaking and it was a beautiful day. Hard to believe you're in Japan, home to so many people, when there is all this open space to enjoy!

Then we headed to Tokyo. Our first full day in Tokyo we headed to Asakusa. Outside a temple, there is Nakamise Dori, home to shopping since the 17th century and a great place for souvenirs.

Lively Nakamise Dori leads up to the beautiful temple, Senso-ji.

Then we took a Sumida River Cruise, checking out 12 bridges along the way, skyscrapers, and other fun.

The cruise dropped us off at the Hama Rikyu Garden, a 300 year old former falconry and duck hunting area for the shogun. It was beautiful and interesting to see the old garden surrounded by new skyscrapers.

Then for our final dinner, we headed out for yakiniku (Korean BBQ that is very popular here) in Toyota City!

Thanks for a wonderful time Joani & ML! We loved seeing you and it was a blast!

Trip to Okinawa

Aaron and I flew to Okinawa this past Saturday, for our postponed anniversary trip. We landed amidst quite a storm, after we circled for an extra half hour (during which I could have used a tranquilizer). We finally arrived at the Marriott Okinawa Resort & Spa, and were in heaven with this view from our room. We were treated like royalty at the resort, customer service here is amazing!

Our first night in Okinawa, we went to the Howdy BBQ restaurant and enjoyed local Okinawan pork and listened to live music. Most of the songs were in English, so we had a great time.

I was looking forward to this trip very much, as my grandpa had told me that Okinawa was a beautiful place so I wanted to see where he had been.

Aaron and I were great tourists and explored the Memorial Peace Park and Museum:

Himeyuri Monument, and downtown Nago on our first day. After all this, we enjoyed happy hour in the lounge and then had a delicious Chinese dinner. Yes, I know we're in Japan, but I love Chinese. And, we tried the local drink of awamori, but 1 sip was all I could do. Aaron said it best "I think we flew here on this fuel".

Then on Monday, I think Grandpa Al intervened so that we could have a beautiful, sunny day on the beach instead of the forecast rain! We spent the morning at Kariyushi beach, with Aaron working on his tan and me napping under the umbrella. Then we headed off for more tourist fun. I was insistent on going to the Nago Pineapple Park, which was a huge tourist trap, but I just wanted to buy some pineapple wine!

We also visited some interesting subtropical gardens, and apparently we were the first visitors in quite some time!

To wrap up the tourist circuit, we visited Manzamo,a beautiful place made from fossilized coral that looks out over the East China Sea.

For our last night in Okinawa, we ventured out for some local food and tried a local dish made from goya (bitter melon), spam, and eggs. Spam is incredibly popular in Okinawa! Then we went to the spa and enjoyed very hot hot tubs, a cold plunge pool, and the sauna. We wish vacations lasted forever!

Our 2nd Anniversary

On Sept. 2, Aaron and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary! We had to postpone our planned trip to Okinawa, due to torrential rain, but Kelso was pretty thrilled that he didn't have to go to the kennel. He did have to wear his raincoat though. We will head to Okinawa at the end of the month and are praying for nice weather and no typhoons!

We celebrated with a very delicious dinner. Kobe-niku wa oishii desu, aka Kobe beef is delicious! If you've ever gone out with me, I love the self portrait. So, here is a self-portrait of us outside the restaurant.

Here is a picture of my beautiful Kobe

tenderloin steak and vegetables. Presentation is very important here, the eggplant was carved to look like a leaf!

Osaka Weekend

Aaron and I headed to Osaka the weekend of Aug. 23rd to meet up with my Uncle Joe! He was the first family member we have seen in Japan. Osaka, the largest city outside Tokyo/ Yokohama, is home to a very big aquarium (shown on the left), so we met up there to begin our Osaka adventure.

Highlights of the aquarium are the whale shark and the Japanese spider crabs. The spider crabs live in the ocean depths and look sort of like outer space oddities.

There were several different types of animals, everything from a tree sloth to an iguana, to my personal favorite, the sunfish.

Then we hunted around for a good place for dinner, and ended up in a tiny Italian restaurant with Japanese chefs who cooked the food right there at the counter. The last stop for the night was literally called The Beer Restaurant!

On Sunday morning, Aaron and I headed to the Umeda Sky Building, one of the top architectural sites in Osaka and also a controversial building. I guess you either hate it or you love it. We loved it. To the left is the view from the connection between the 2 towers, as we're standing on the ground.

After riding a glass elevator to the 35th floor, you take a 5 story escalator that is a glass tunnel. Pretty cool views!

Here is the view of some of the Osaka skyline. Other interesting sightings included tennis courts on the top of a building and a large swimming pool on a rooftop. You can see all the Osaka pictures by clicking on our Shutterfly link on this blog.