End of Summer

So here we are at the end of another week! It was a busy one for us, full of work and surprises. We'll get to it all in good time. This past Sunday, we headed to Oasis 21, which is this: http://www.sakaepark.co.jp/en/... place. The oval-ish thing pictured below is the "spaceship - aqua," in official terminology. Yes, official. This unimpressive shot doesn't tell the full story. The inner part of the "oval" (not the outer area) is a clear pool of water. You can go upstairs (free) on the elevator or by stairs, and have a great elevated view of the Sakae area shoppers and commuters. The pool of water acts to not only look cool, but block the sun and keep the areas below cooler. 

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I obviously stole this next image from the website for those who don't want to click the link. It's a really cool space, because we were able to arrive at below basement level (via subway), come up a level or so, and be right among the shops and restaurants on the lowest level. There was also some anime/manga exhibition tent that was packed in the center area. I have no idea what it was all about, but it was very popular with the teens through twenty+ somethings. Then we walked up a curved ramp (still under the cover of the "spaceship" which was good, since it was raining, AND we hd Sydney in a stroller), to the field of green area. We hopped on the elevator, and were up top. 

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Here's a shot of the view from the spaceship down on the field of green. It's a misleading photo, because it looks like the city is car-less, but the field is actually raised above street level. Very clean, green, yet Japanese-futuristic. I'd expect no less!

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Here's another shot from our rainy/cloudy time up top. This is the Nagoya TV Tower. I believe the square bit in the middle is a restaurant? You can take an elevator up there and have a better view, but I'm sure they charge for it. 

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Here's a view from the spaceship again, down on the street below. Notice the abundance of cars. Wait, I mean bicycles. 

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More of the green space below and people with umbrellas. I wanted to take a shot of these uniformed school girls that walked below, but decided it was too creep-like. While you don't have to worry about getting shot in Japan, there seems to be an abundance of train gropers - so much so, that they have women-only train cars on some trains. This is facing legal challenges, but apparently it's a problem. 

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So afterward, I took the stairs down from the top with the boys. Angela waited for the elevator with Sydney. The boys and I thought it was funny to look up and see the bottoms of feet on the platform outside the elevator. I believe Angela and Sydney (4-wheeled stroller) are the bottom right of the photo. 

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Below is a photo of the stairs from the basement exhibition level up to the feet by the elevator. Even the staircase looked cool. Other than that, we just browsed around, and stopped to get shaved ice that the kids really loved in a nice little restaurant/bakery. 

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This is a random night shot from our street. I've been in the habit of walking to the grocery store after the kids are in bed to grab last minute items for their bento box lunches. Since Angela both works full-time AND is already hard at work on her Master's in Physiology through Case Western Reserve, I am the part-timer/housekeeper/lunch maker/chauffeur (by bicycle & foot), etc.. It's really calming to make this extremely short walk, especially at night. We've recently stumbled upon a parking lot on the next block that all the stray cats hang out in. There were seriously about ten cats when I walked the boys home once, just hanging out - peacefully! Pictures of that to come... 

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Of course, no week is complete without a visit to our (and the kids') favorite, Nan Master! There were no bug invasions this time. Sydney is also completely in love with curry. COMPLETELY.

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I made the mistake of playing with the kids at the playground this week. Yes, the mistake. We have been avoiding it a bit since about two weeks after we moved in, because the mosquitos are ridiculous. I would like to go on record that in the US, mosquitos are usually dumb and buzz your ear, and make a scene, so you have plenty of time to slap them. Here, they are straight to the point. I can actually stand still for a minute and just look down at my legs, and they would just appear out of nowhere. Even when I am that vigilant, I still end up with 5+ bites the next day. And regret!

So, we stopped except for a short (20 min) play time. Well, poor Seth got a bite above his right eye, which became nearly completely swollen shut when he woke up. the next day. I took him to the doctor, which was overall a pretty good experience. Actually, one of our coworkers wrote a short note explaining what happened in Japanese. I stumbled through the mostly-English doctor form, and then through a bad game of charades (my bad) with the doctor, who explained how to give Seth the medicine. But then, the staff was nice enough to call over to the school we work at to give the instructions and advice to someone who would actually understand. Here's Seth later on, after his eye was doing much better.
Poor guy!

Oh, did I mention since we're "forced" to have this "terrible" National Health Insurance thing, that the visit was free? And the medicine, free? Yes. We just pay our monthly premium. Definitely beats Seth's last visit for a consultation in the US, where the doctor looked at him (for advice on his underbite), said "We don't work on kids this young, come back in a year", then was nice enough to send us bills totaling $400. For... great advice to return in a year and then she'd maybe have something useful to offer us then? Like another, larger bill? Mind you, I thankfully had the better of two insurance plans through my employer. Oh, wait, but the insurance company didn't cover it? God bless America. Really. We certainly need all the help we can get.

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So I'm sure some people have wondered what the grocery stores are like. Well, after the produce section which actually is first (like back in the US), there's a lot of fish/ocean things. I myself have been too lost on each visit to properly document the amazing finds that people here wouldn't offer a second glance. I will let this speak for itself (apologies I couldn't rotate the image).

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And............a pricier option. Pass.

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Wisconsinites! You won't feel so far from home if you're ever in Nagoya, and shop here at our neighborhood Yamanaka. They have four or five different varieties of Johnsonville Brats. For real. The are indeed the same, US-made ones you will find in your Pick N Save or Piggly Wiggly. This was especially surprising, given that there are NOT cases loaded with sausages or other US-made meats. In fact, the vast majority of the seafood/chicken/beef is all store-packaged, so I believe they process it all. You won't find case upon case of Tyson/Perdue shipped from who knows where, packaged whenever.

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Except for THIS back label!

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I was walking the kids home from school one day, and couldn't help but notice this awesome garden. The owner used old cds, and shiny vinyl (or maybe... a Laserdisc????? Remember those?) to scare crows, I believe.

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I couldn't help but snap a photo of this. I have no idea what it is, except maybe some sort of deodorizer, since it was in the cleaning/deodorizer section. But that advertising?? Oh my...

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I let the kids get ice cream cones for the long, hot walk back to our apartment after running errands after school. This girl.... A beautiful disaster!! Luckily she likes to take showers now, which is right where she went as soon as we got home!

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Today (Saturday - 30th) Angela showed me the way to Noah's school. Starting next week, he'll be going to a different branch of the school since he'll be six in September. Straight across from the school is a rice paddy. So serene. 

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Soon after that, we pedaled our way to the big park near our house,Shōnai Ryokuchi Kōen. I stumbled upon this fountain one day, and let Seth and Sydney play in it. We were headed to a playground at the park, but instead stopped here. The fountain is a large circle, with a "moat" of water surrounding it. There's a large circle sprayer in the middle (with a metal grate over it, so you can stand on top of them), and maybe five or six smaller circles equal distance around the main circle (but inside the moat). They alternately spray a fine mist, then suddenly a big stream of water up to five or so feet in the air. Obviously, the kids loved it! They made friends with two other brothers, and were splashing each other and jumping around having a blast. Sydney mostly played around in the moat this time around, picking up leaves. Here's Seth and Noah (no idea how it looks like they're alone - there were probably fifteen other kids at least!).

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Here's a closeup of the boys getting wet. Noah actually requested to put his shirt back on, to mimic another kid who would...(see next):

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Do this:

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Various kids.

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Well, that wraps up our week. Tomorrow Angela will basically lock herself up somewhere to cram through a bunch of school work, and I'll try to keep my sanity and entertain all three beasts! Unfortunately, our lovely lower-80's sunny day today looks like it will give way to gray/rain/storms which we've been seeing too much of! Thankfully, we are located about halfway between the ocean and the mountains, so events like the recent mudslides in Hiroshima are not of a worry to us personally. Only earthquakes, which we, also thankfully, haven't experienced! Come Monday, we begin the regular school year, which is both exciting and terrifying! The boys will be in their required school uniforms, which is going to definitely be photographed!! Until next time...

Inuyama Castle

So to wrap up last week (belatedly), we headed on a short train ride to Inuyama. It's on the same train line as ours, and only took about thirty minutes to the north towards the mountains (and it was still relatively cheap!). There's apparently a bunch of attractions that we might visit later - a monkey park, Little World (an international-themed park), and various shrines. We chose a single destination since we have some short-legged family members: Inuyama Castle. It had been raining and/or cloudy much of last week, and Friday was no exception. And it was hot. The lowest temp we saw last week might have been 80 Fahrenheit, and that was in the middle of the night. Heat index temp was more like 95, and I think it may have gone above 100 at least one of those days. It's humid here. As we experienced when we visited Kyoto back in 2006 and 2007, you don't know what it's like to sweat until you're here. To all those back in the U.S. enjoying the mid 70's…. Well, this is a family blog.


The train ride was the most scenic we've enjoyed since arriving here. Inuyama is sort of this outcropping of Nagoya, and really is like a suburb of it. But we did see some small farm fields and rice paddies. Also, much like our neighborhood, most of the buildings are at most a few stories high - no skyscrapers or anything.

The stop we got off at is right before a bridge over the river. A quick walk across the street, and we were on a nice walkway above the river. It wasn't crowded at all over here, probably due to several factors: it was hot, it was a weekday, and it was a Friday before the Obon celebrations (or some were currently ongoing during this time).

Here's a nice (but cloudy) view to the west along the river:

A little further down the walkway, a shot of the buildings across the river, and the mountains behind them in the distance:

Our destination was Inuyama Castle, which is perched up on that hill even higher above the river.

Here's a signpost along the way, where the walkway turns inland to curve up behind the castle.

Right about this point, there's a small waterfall that runs down into the main river pictured before this. Here's Sydney admiring it:

As this path turned inland, the stream running alongside us was very beautiful. It was really wooded to our right next to the stream, and the air cooled just ever so slightly.

After what seemed like an eternity, we had to climb up and around a bend where suddenly there was a rush of people and cars. Apparently we took some secret long back way, and most people walk up through the town via another train station, or park nearby at the base of the castle. Whatever the case, suddenly there were people. I had thought maybe we were lucky and it wouldn't be crowded, but I was wrong! Here's a quick shot looking back after walking through some torii gates.

Sydney was in a stroller, which wasn't too much fun pushing up the hill. The path was concrete and stone, and not terrible if you were on two feet - but four small wheels? Not so much. But we persevered, and I ended up carrying the whole stroller most of the way to avoid giving Sydney whiplash. The boys made it up on "drink machine power" (aka - there was a "drink machine" at the bottom full of fruit drinks (most aren't 100% juice, just as in the U.S.). The sugar and cool drinks definitely helped them make it up. Then we got into a line that snaked around and inside. Here's Seth and Sydney on the final staircase into the castle:

A view looking up just as we were about to take off our shoes (yes, even at ancient tourist attractions) and enter:

Now, I wish I had taken a picture of the "stairs." In the U.S., you become accustomed to tourist-friendly things like big stairs, hand rails, and elevators. Even if it means defacing the place you are about to visit (like carving huge chunks out of natural stone walls or cutting down trees, etc..). Well, this is Japan. You can't climb a ladder? Stay downstairs! This reminded me of when we visited Tokyo and met my mother's Japanese aunt, who was somewhere in her late 70's or 80's at the time. We walked all over Tokyo, up and down stairs, and she kept right up with us youngins. Amazing. There were plenty of people in that same age demographic, and they had no trouble (or didn't let it show). There was one really steep ladder/stair to get up to the second floor. Nice, this must lead us to the staircase, right?

Nope.

Got in line for another nearly vertical ascent to the third floor. With three children, mind you. The boys did pretty well, even though the steps were a big step up for them. We got to the third floor. Done, right? Now we get to see that amazing view from the top outside balcony that we noticed from downstairs?

Nope.

Angela decided she didn't want to have any more fun with ladder-stairs, so she stayed with Sydney on the third floor. I started up to the next floor with the boys, hoping I didn't have to climb a rope ladder or anything. The next ascent wasn't too bad, and it was followed by yet another, small ascent.

Finally!

So the best part of this experience is that downstairs when you take off your shoes, they have people passing out plastic bags. You put your shoes in them as you step onto the wooden floor, and carry your shoes with you. Up. And up. Etc… But my main point is that there were at least 2 or 3 workers handing out bags and flattening the returned ones into a pile as people returned and put their shoes on. On these multiple, dangerous climbing apparati, how many helpful workers were there?

Zero.

But at the top, they had a helpful fellow directing the traffic out one side of the top floor, and another making sure you didn't circle around for a second helping of the view. Enough rambling. Here's a shot of the boys looking out toward the river side, facing roughly west:

Another:

A closer look at the roof, railing, and walking area up top:

"Boys, line up and smile real quick so we don't hold up the hundred of people behind us!"
This is the best one from the pictures I quick-snapped before I angered anyone, with the mountains to the north.

A view back east towards the bridge:

Back safely on the ground. Noah decided to wanted to take over photography with our point and shoot. All my pictures were taken mainly with my iPhone.

A picture of a picture:

Sydney pondering the meaning of life. Or wondering why we haven't eaten lunch and it was nearly 3pm.

Some nice lanterns back near the roadway where it was busy.

I just thought this little road looked nice and peaceful. You wouldn't know it connected right into the main road at the foot of the castle grounds area where the traffic was crazy.

We considered eating somewhere near the castle, but despite the late time, everywhere was packed. Not to mention, we didn't see any English menus (this doesn't always deter us, but when you're hot, sweaty, and have three hungry kids…). We decided to head back near the train station because Angela had seen some signs for Swan's Cafe, which was advertised in English. The real reason (partly), though, was because there had been a few rumbles of thunder and the sky was looking slightly MORE… ominous. You could actually see the rain coming down across the river onto the mountains. And Angela, for those who know her - secret fact: she is terrified of being outside during storms. We lived in Boston in 2002, and I used to always walk her home from work, and one day it started to thunder and lightning right after we got outside. That girl bolted all the way until she was home! So below is a shot heading back towards the bridge/train area:

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the cafe! It was nice, I'll even use the word cute. It was like a house, with the living room converted into a cafe area, complete with a piano and strange deer art "statue." Actually, it probably was a house before. The kitchen was right there next to the cafe area, and everything was quirky-artsy, and the staff was really nice. Luckily, the staff spoke some English too since the menu was completely in Japanese. The food and drinks were great, a little pricey, but we'd definitely go back.

So…. fast forward to this week. Work and school! I'll probably only be posting weekly at most, and will update Facebook to alert people to when I've actually written something. We won't be having any major trips or anything due to cost, although we're hoping to plan a quick weekend trip this fall to Kyoto. We'll see…

Here's Sydney, fully enjoying Domino's pizza this past week:

Here's a photo I've been meaning to take since we arrived. We walk right past a Toyota dealer on the way to school each day, and this Toyota NOAH (yes, NOAH) has been taunting me daily. I finally snapped a quick photo of Noah and NOAH, but the logo is a little hard to see on the shiny silver background with the reflection. Sadness.

That's our week! Well, two weeks wrapped up, I guess. Angela starts her master's program online through Case Western Reserve in the next week or so, so we'll be even more hectic and busy. I'll also take over the after school advanced English classes for the 6 - 8 year olds (I think this is the age group). Busy!

Out & About

Another "compilation" entry of several days mashed into one blog! We've been enjoying having this week off together as a family during "Obon." It's a vacation week (for us) where people return to their ancestral homes to pay respects to their deceased relatives and visit with family. We used this opportunity to go out around town and explore on the cheap and without the crowds. The weekends around here are insane - a city with a population of nearly 2.5 million enjoys relaxing after the work week, and anywhere to shop or eat is beyond packed (think Friday night anywhere in Wisconsin times a few thousand). Here we are (below) in the elevator to the subway. I picked this glamorous shot to highlight Noah's vampire tooth gap that just cracks me up, as both this front teeth are currently missing. I think Sydney was yelling something. 

Earlier in the week we headed down to the Port of Nagoya Aquarium. This was our biggest journey yet, since we had to take the subway, transfer to another line, and walk a little bit. It's still been ridiculously hot (for us) hovering pretty steady around 90 Fahrenheit, with lots to humidity. I never paid attention to those "heat index" parts of the forecast, which estimate the actual temperature "feel" including the humidity. Now, I do. If you look it up, that has been closer to 95-100. Here are the boys with awesome faces in front of a ship in the bay before we headed into the aquarium: (keeping it classy)

The aquarium was pretty cool, if a bit crowded. We managed to squeeze in so the kids got good views of most of the exhibits. This was one of the small (can't remember which) whale tanks, with all three kids in one silhouette shot:

Here's Sydney using a magnifying glass to look at some coral:

The jellyfish area. Probably my personal favorite because of the ambient lighting/atmosphere. The room is darkened, and the different types of jellyfish were housed in different tanks with different (and sometimes changing) light color schemes.

A closer look:

We only stayed about 1.5 hours or so in the aquarium because it started to get crazy busy after lunch time (tour groups, etc). Just outside the building, there was a bridge that went over the harbor, and you could follow it to this ship, which is a Japanese Antarctic explorer ship. It was not stroller-friendly, so I took the boys inside.

The downstairs wasn't too interesting. There were some "open" rooms with plastic windows over the doorways and mannequins posed as if they were working onboard. The boys enjoyed the kitchen/mess area, because you could walk right up to the counter, and I pretended I was asking them for food… It's fun to mess with them, but Noah called me out that they weren't real… Here he is up top steering the ship:

After our quick tour we needed a pick-me-up. So Angela, Noah, and (sleeping) Sydney went to "Cat Cafe" for ice cream smoothies. Apparently though, there were no cats at this place - it was in name only. I went into this building that had a bunch of lunch restaurants (including Red Lobster, which had a huge line) for ice cream cones for me and Seth. They're only $1, same as back in CT (although in WI $1 will get you a dipped cone). Afterward, since the other 3/5 of our family were waiting for their desserts, Seth and I explored the upstairs arcade.

The next day we went to Nitori, which is sort of like Japanese IKEA. We meant to go here much closer to our arrival, but had just been too busy. It was great to see what they have, and we grabbed some small stuff, and took notes of what to order later to be shipped. This photo was a cool looking bridge that we walked under. The photo does it no justice!

We passed by this truly amazing find just up the street from Nitori. McDonald's DELIVERY. McDelivery. For real. I swear this isn't photoshopped! You order, they deliver. They also use similar motorbikes for delivering the mail, Domino's Pizza, and several other places we've seen. This location also had the TRUE McCafe, where you could actually sit at the bar while they made your coffee beverage. The normal McDonald's counter was in a different part of the restaurant. We also passed another foreigner family of five who were eating here. It was good to know we weren't the only ones lame enough to eat McD's in a foreign country. But when you've got three kids, sometimes you just have to, so that you can eat a meal in peace without "But I don't wike noodles!!" (Seth). Also, for the record, the food here is much better. I think that like in Europe, there are tighter regulations on some ingredients, so things that are okay in the U.S. aren't allowed here. I can't speak to any specifics in regards to McDonald's, but I can tell you that it does taste better. In the U.S. I felt sick after eating here, which we rarely ever did - but didn't here in Japan. Also, the staff is way more friendly, they had a guy walking around passing out balloons to the kids while we ate… just better.

Here's a closer shot of the amazing sign:

Here's Sydney clutching "My Dog" as she says, which was her big purchase at Nitori. She loves this thing, and sleeps next to it every night now.

The balloons survived the train ride back to our station! But then we had "ninja balloon fights" as the boys called them. Here's a quick shot before they all got popped:

The next day we had gone down to grab our bikes and I saw this guy on our neighbor's bike. You never know what bug awaits you down on the street or in the alley where our bikes are stored. I don't know what this is, sort of looks like a praying mantis but isn't like the ones in the U.S. Grasshopper? I've also seen leaf-bugs (they probably have some official name, but they're the ones that just look like a leaf), and the rhinoceros beetle of course! What's next?

We stopped by our favorite place to eat, Nan Master. Sydney loved the soup (in a rare moment of peace here). Unfortunately, I had a bug encounter here. I felt something on my back, just thought it was sweat. Then I felt something on my leg… Swatted it away. But then it was back a second later. Well, I think it was a cockroach. Yuck. It ran by the table next to us, where I could finally see it, and the people there called the waiter out, who grabbed it in a towel and ran away. Yuck. I don't get that phased by bugs, but it was gross to think it had been crawling on me while we ate. Now we're a little scarred, and probably won't go back to Nan Master for a week or two (or we'll check under the table first!).

We headed out for a nighttime adventure the other night to Osu Kannon. We'd seen pictures before of it  - there is a temple, and its surrounded by a covered shopping "arcade" that stretches on and on in different directions. Tons of small shops selling everything from thrift clothes to musical instruments, and of course - tons of different small restaurants. We got here late, as Sydney had napped earlier, so we braved this "late" adventure around 7pm. Most of the shops were closed except for the food, but we were just sightseeing anyways. Here's the temple at night, with all the lanterns:

Here's the entry to the shopping area:

Another shot inside. It's a cool design because you'd feel like you're inside a mall, but suddenly you'd come upon a intersection (as in, cars), and have to wait for the walk signal (and grab the kids so they didn't run across!). Also, I enjoyed being out at night in this area because we finally saw the "alt-Japanese". Typically, everyone around during the day is dressed modestly, with no crazy hair or tattoos. But here at night, I saw a mowhawk, many different dyed hair colors (pink and blue, etc), punk-rock looking kids with tattoos (which are still probably not considered acceptable by most, you definitely don't seen many people flaunting them). It was cool to see that these people exist - and that not everyone in Japan in a office-dress salaryman.

On Thursday we headed to Sakae to see a Cat Cafe. You pay money to sit in a room with cats. Some places offer free drinks while you're there (this one did, as Angela found out), and other charge extra. Seriously. This place was small, and up on the 4th floor of this small building. And it was packed. Angela and the boys waited 2 hours to get inside, and spent 30 min with the cats. I love cats, but this was an insane concept for me. Angela did it for the boys. I left after about 45 min with Sydney, and hit up Starbucks. I meant to get an iced coffee, but they hand you menus when you walk in, and the top item was a Matcha Brown Frappuccino. I have pretty much sworn off Fraps since I worked at Sbux (and they were free, plus they're as bad as eating a Big Mac calorie/fat-wise practically), but I couldn't pass this up! I got a Venti (which in Japan is a Grande size). Sydney got an Iced Short Chai (which was actually a iced short size, for all my sbux readers). Here she is, enjoying it:

Here's a photo of Sydney waiting with me for the boys and Mama to come downstairs from the Cat Cafe: