Adventures in Mainland: Part 2, Kyoto

Sorry for the delay in posting. I've been meaning to write a long, detailed description of our trip, but with the holiday shuffle taking precedence over anything else in life, the blog has fallen off the radar. Well, I'm on vacation now and back to blogging. Keep checking in....I've got a lot of posting coming up! Now, back to our trip.....

Our second day in mainland Japan brought us to historic Kyoto, which was once the capital of Japan and is northeast of Osaka. Once we dropped off our bags at our hotel, we stopped at a local cafe to grab a snack and make our plans.

Mmmm...iced coffee and banana bread squares...yum!

We decided to take the train to Fushimi Inari Taisha (you'll find out what that is in a minute).

As soon as we excited the train, we immediately noticed the foxes everywhere...hmmmm...

...and the beautiful foliage!!

And foliage means, photo time!

On the way to Fushimi Inari Taisha we stopped for a bite to eat and browse the shops.

I loved these colored pencil chopsticks.

Foxes or cats? I don't know...

As I passed a typical shop, something caught my eye...

...fox-shaped goodies.

At last we made it to the entrance to the shrine, where we encountered more fox renderings. Apparently, foxes are regarded as messengers of the gods. So, that's what all the foxes are about.

Here are hundreds of prayers and wishes tied to a wire near the shrine.

The main entrance to Fushimi Inari Taisha. This shrine is dedicated to the god shinto god Inari, the god of rice, sake, and prosperity. This shrine has around 40,000 torii gates that were donated by worshipers.

Names of those who donated a torii to the shrine are inscribed along the way.

Team Juloa!

More wishes/prayers are inscribed on decorated fox plaques.

Little toriis stacked up - cute!

Later, we walked off the beaten path to capture some foliage pictures and explore. Apparently, Sara and I found something really funny during a photo shoot.

Loved this tree. The branches remind me of veins.

We stumbled upon these small fox statues.

Next, we rode a bus to an area called "Philosopher's Walk." This walk is lined with gorgeous trees, little shops and restaurants, and a small canal. It was absolutely beautiful. I couldn't resist taking hundreds of pictures. It made me miss the foliage of New England (*sniff*).

We decided that someday we HAVE to own a Japanese maple. They are so vibrant in the fall. We love the red!

Me and Sara. We both carried our camera backpacks everywhere so it was only appropriate to get them in the picture too!

We bought some of these beautiful silk scarves sold at one of the carts along the way.

Here's our group: Gabe, Sara, and Team Juloa.

I love this picture of Noa and Gabe looking around.

We had done a lot of walking that day, so by the end of the trek, Noa and I were feeling a bit silly, as you can see here.

Later, we headed to the Gion district for dinner. The Gion district is known for it's temples and Geisha (known as "Geiko") sightings. We didn't see any, but had fun walking around the busy streets and exploring.

Having fun in the taxi!

The next morning, we woke early to see the famous Kyoto Golden Temple called Kinkaku-ji, meaning temple of the Golden Pavilion. The temple was built in 1397 and was originally built as a retirement villa and eventually was converted into a temple. The grounds are stunning in the fall. Although the temple is not large, the gold color is vibrant and colors the landscape among the rich reds, oranges, and greens of the trees. We took our family Christmas picture right in front of it. I think it came out nicely.

Here are some pictures of the beautiful landscaping and surrounding grounds.

From there we took a train to Nara. Stay tuned (and seriously, the next entry will come a lot quicker this time!).

Adventures in Mainland: Part 1, Osaka

We are currently in our last year of living in Okinawa and we have several trips that we'd still like to accomplish in our short time left here (a bucket list of sorts). One of those trips happened this past holiday weekend. We took a four-day trip with our friends, Sara and Gabe, to mainland that took us through parts of Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and Hiroshima. These next few blog entries will give highlights of this whirlwind trip.

We left Thursday morning (Thanksgiving!). Our itinerary started us off on a morning flight, but due to overbooking we ended up spending most of the morning in the airport (good times...yeah....). Anyway, we finally got on a plane and headed to Osaka! After arriving, we hoped on a bus that took us into the city right to our hotel. This ended up being a great way to get an overview of the outskirts of Osaka.

Look! I spotted Ikea!

Entering the city...

After getting to the hotel, the first order of business was to get to BIC camera - a huge conglomerate of camera products and accessories. The easy-to-navigate subway system made it easy to find.

Unfortunately, they didn't have what I was looking for - so we hit the streets to find a place to eat dinner. There were plenty of sights along the way, especially since we were in an area known for food.

Bicycles were everywhere!

I loved the outside of the restaurants, especially this one with the fish...

...and this one with the moving crab. Okay, actually the moving eyes freaked me out.

And finally, we found it! Mmmm....Okonomiyaki! Osaka is apparently famous for creating this yummy Japanese food item that is often referred to as a "Japanese pancake." We've had them before in Okinawa, but they tasted much different than the Osaka version.

The boys ordered it regular style, with cabbage, meat, and fish flakes on top. Sara and I preferred to try the version made with green onion instead of cabbage (and minus the fish flakes).

The boys' okonomiyaki:

Ours (oops, forgot to take the picture until after we started eating!):

It was so yummy!

Our traveling buddies: Sara and Gabe

After our delicious dinner, we walked around and took in the sights. It was so fun to explore a new city. Check out the fancy sewer covers (yeah, I take pictures of sewer covers - call me crazy).

I affectionately named this "poop sushi" after spotting it in a restaurant window. It did not look appealing.

Sara and Gabe pose with the giant raccoon guy.

We eventually found an arcade and the boys got to playing a Japanese guitar game.

Meanwhile, Sara and I took pictures in a funky photo booth.

On the way home, I fell in love with this subway mural. Isn't it fun?!

And then, back to the hotel.

Next up: Kyoto!

Surprise!

Noa's last birthday gift arrived on Thursday....Mike! Mike flew in to surprise Noa as a belated birthday gift. Noa came home unsuspectingly on Thursday from work. It was a typical day and we were planning on working out when he got home. He came in, handed me the mail, and briefly glanced around the apartment (it was pretty clean mid-week and I think he was impressed). It was then that he saw Mike sitting in our armchair and Noa simply collapsed to the floor. He couldn't believe it.

It was the best! Noa is still on cloud 9 having his BFF around. They are planning on golfing, although the weather seems to not want to cooperate. Still, Noa is walking around with a big smile on his face. I think he still can't believe it.

More Halloween Costumes

Sara took a lot of photos at the Halloween party, so I can't take any credit for these photos, but here are some of the great costumes from the party and I couldn't resist sharing!

Christa and Adam dipict Reno 911 characters. He won the costume contest for the venue.

Sara, with he lab-researcher-getting-attacked-by-rats costume (so cool and yet so disturbing since there was blood involved) and hubby Gabe as the Grim Sweeper (you can't see, but he's even wearing bunny slippers).

Noa, AKA the Chick Magnet hanging out with Kenny as Clyde. Amanda was dressed as Bonnie (not pictured).

Allen and Mary Ann as Bleeker and Juno. Cute, eh?

Good times!

Halloween Weekend

It's been a busy holiday weekend in Okinawa. The festivities started on Friday with our annual Storybook Parade at school. The Sure Start (preschool) and Kindergarten students and teachers dressed up as a favorite storybook character. This year my costume was the peddler from Caps for Sale (which was written in 1940!!). Some of my students were wondering how I grew a mustache. Guess I should have gone to that wax appointment after all....

As you can see, I have way too much fun at these school events.

Friday night we went to a Halloween-style karaoke event for the Japanese medical interns at Noa's hospital. They didn't disappoint with their enthusiasm. The interns were great - sang just as loud with us on the American songs and sang some Japanese tunes for the crowd. Oh, and their costumes were fun - they definitely embraced the idea of dressing up. Check out their fun costume ideas:

Saturday morning, Noa joined his Ultimate Frisbee buddies for a tournament on one of the local bases. Every Sunday he plays with these guys and every once and awhile a tournament comes along for them to participate in. This time, they nailed the first place spot! Nice work, guys.

Halloween night brought us to a local venue on base where some friends were hosting a Halloween party. It was a blast and I'll have more pictures to post later, but for now, here's a glimpse of some of the costume creativity. Now, I owe all the creative thanks to my sister who inspired both of our costumes: Noa was a "chick magnet" and I am dressed as Bjork. We're with our friends Tom and Tesha who are sunburned tourists. Tom was even sporting the socks with sandals look - it was classic!

Lastly on Sunday we said tearful good-byes to our beloved Pastor Dunn and his wife Connie. After serving our church here for 12 years, they have been called to ministry in a church in Sydney, Australia. It was an extremely moving and memorable service and although we'll miss them greatly, we are excited for the new things to come for our church.