Oh, Japan

One of the best parts of living in Japan (okay, this might just be a minor perk, but still fun) is all the signs that you see... Here are a few of my favorites. (You'll be able to read them better if you click on them).

This very touching poem was posted in the window of a Pachinko in Tokyo.

Subway sign in Tokyo.

Umm... I think this is an instructional sign demonstrating the proper use of a western style toilet. This was in one of the bathrooms in Sapporo.

This is in the Olympic Ski Jump Stadium in Sapporo. I think what they might have been trying to say was "Slippery when wet"...??

Smoking is a lot more common (and acceptable) in Japan than it is in the States... and it's no wonder. Who wouldn't want to smoke if smoking made you look like this guy!? ;)

And, yes, that is a cigarette vending machine.

This pretty much sums it up... I think they overestimate my "understanding".

Nebuta Festival

Last Saturday in Aomori was the Nebuta Festival. Since our guys are in Alaska right now training, a bunch of the 13th girls got together and took a bus to Aomori for the day. There was festival food, a parade and nighttime fireworks all as part of the festival.

The actual festival went on for a week, but we went on the last day. Usually the Nebuta parade is at night, and all the floats are lit up. On the final day of the festival, they have the parade during the day. Then at night they send the floats out on the water and shoot off fireworks.

We claimed our spot on the parade route early, so we were right up front. We were also in the sun, so we were glad we had our umbrellas for shade! It was probably the warmest Saturday yet this summer.

The parade is coming!!!

I enjoyed the parade (all two hours of it), but I don't think anybody enjoyed the parade as much as this little girl!

The Nebuta floats are all pushed manually. There's one single wheel in the center to support the weight, but it's up to these guys to make anything happen. It was sooo hot! I felt bad for these guys!

Nebuta floats... the frame is made of wire, and they are covered with paper. At night, they light them up from the inside.

That night we went down to the waterfront to claim our spot for the fireworks. There was a huge selection of festival food (YUM!), and a TON of people just spread out on blankets and tarps waiting for sundown.

They had a few of the floats set up so you could go take pictures and see them up close.

Me and a few of the girls... Standard Japanese pose:)

The fireworks went on for two hours! (Nobody does fireworks like the Japanese!) Toward the end they lit up some of the floats and sent them out on the water. It was hard to see from our perspective since the festival food stands were in our way. Maybe next year we'll have to get one of the reserved seats right up front!

Here are a couple videos of the parade. Sorry about the poor quality... I was just using my regular camera to shoot the video.

Kyoto

Kyoto is the former imperial capital of Japan, and is well known for it's historic cultural attractions. It's been on my list of places to see ever since I found out we were going to be moving to Japan.

Some friends from our old church in Ohio, the Leckliders, used to live in Japan and now return there every couple of years for missions. This year they spent a couple days in Kyoto and invited me to join them. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. Chris had just left for about a month for Red Flag in Alaska so I grabbed a new friend whose husband was also in Alaska and we took a train to Kyoto.

There is a Shinkansen (bullet train) that runs between Hachinohe (near where we live) and Tokyo, and then another one that runs from Tokyo to Kyoto. Thanks to the Shinkansen, we were able to cover the 1,100km pretty quickly; it took about 6 hours.

This is the Kyoto train station which also serves as the jumping off point for almost all of the city buses, and taxis, and the city subways. We stayed in a hotel off the south side of the station, so it was very easy to get around the city.

Another perk of staying close to the station is all the great restaurants and shopping that are available. This was the Berry Cafe. One of the perks of traveling with a girlfriend instead of your husband is having someone with you who is equally eager to try all of the amazing dessert options... I'm fairly sure we didn't let a day go by without getting some sort of incredible dessert to end the evening.

It tasted even better than it looks:).

This is Kiyomizudera. We didn't spend much time exploring the temple area... I'll have to do that next time I'm back.

Water for purification.

It sets on a hill overlooking Kyoto... and the streets leading back down to the city are full of little shops and restaurants.

Street leading up to Kiyomizudera.

Next stop, Heian Shrine.

Water purification area.

For lunch on the first day we went to a Japanese restaurant for tempura soba. The soba (noodles) gave us a bit of trouble, to be honest. I think I had a cramp in my hand by the time I finished using the chopsticks! Maybe I need to get ahold of the chopsticks with the loops for your fingers, the ones they use for little kids to teach them how to use chopsticks:).

I LOVE tempura. They had seaweed, mushroom, pumpkin slices, squash, and shrimp all fried in the tempura batter. The seaweed was actually pretty delicious, but I think my favorite was the pumpkin.... Ok, my favorite was definitely the pumpkin. Sweet, crunchy, deliciousness.

This is probably the most famous site in Kyoto. It's called Kinkakuji (the Golden Pavilion). It's a pretty neat area to walk around, but you can't actually enter the pavilion. Bummer.

This was the tea house in the gardens of Kinkakuji. Denia and I stopped here to get a green tea and cake set.

This is Japanese green tea. It is nothing like the green tea that you brew from tea leaves. It's made from a powder and quite bitter. The cake is very sweet, and reminded me of a mild sugar cube. We were instructed to take a tiny bite of cake and then a sip of the tea. The bitter and sweet flavors compliment each other well. It's hard to see, but that is Kinkakuji depicted on my cake. How cute:).

The next day we took a train south of Kyoto about 30 minutes, to Nara. Nara was the capital of Japan before Kyoto. In fact, this year Nara celebrates it's 1300th anniversary as the previous capital of Japan. That's right... 13ooth. So back in the year 710 Nara was the capital of Japan.
These deer roam free all over Nara and are considered special messengers of the gods. Note that I said they roam free... not wild. They are about as tame as house cats and only move away from you when they realize that you did not purchase any deer cookies for them.

The deer here keep their spots through adulthood.

This is Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall). It's the largest wooden structure in the world. You can see how massive it is when you look at how small the people are in the entrance of the temple.

Inside Daibutsuden is the largest bronze Buddha statue. It's about 50ft tall. The nostril on this Buddha is big enough for a person to squeeze through...

How do I know how big the nostril is? Well, they have a pillar with a hole in it the size of the Buddha's nostril. Supposedly if you can fit through it, you will be blessed with enlightenment in the next life. This guy got a little stuck at first.

Later that day we went to the bamboo groves in Arashiyama. It's a beautiful place to walk around, but bring your bug spray. I think the mosquitoes like all the "international fare" that comes through Kyoto. If you're feeling tired of walking, you can pay one of these guys to take you around.

The final day of our visit we went to Nijo-jo.

This is the view of Nijo-jo from the subway station.

The gardens of Nijo castle are beautiful, and I'm sure this place is packed during the spring and fall.

This is the view of Ninomaru palace, inside the castle grounds, where the shogun resided. The coolest feature (in my opinion) was the nightingale floors of Ninomaru palace. These floors were constructed so that they squeak like Nightingales when walked on. This prevented unwelcome visitors, like ninjas, from sneaking up on the shogun. The squeaking sound was less like a squeak, and more like a light, airy sound. It reminded me of wind chimes, and at first it was difficult to associate the sound I was hearing with my own footsteps. (Sorry that there are no pictures from inside, photography was forbidden.)

After the Nijo Castle, we visited the Costume Museum. The museum was pretty small, but they had a side room where they would help you dress in kimono and take pictures.

They only had two layers of kimono for us to wear, but even so it was incredibly warm. I didn't want to wear it for over 10 minutes, and that was in the air conditioning! I don't know how those women used to wear so many layers during the summer heat!

Our final stop on the last day we were in Kyoto was Gion. Gion is known as the geisha district of Kyoto. Even though there are very few geishas left in Japan, if you're lucky, you might spot one in Gion.

We were lucky.