Wade Family in Japan - Summer 2017

Rainy morning, so not much on the agenda. We took the train to Kichijoji again and got lunch (omuraisu - rice covered by egg and served with savory sauce) and then did a little shopping. Amy got soothing cream for her mosquito bites, we got a Japanese card game whose instructions I spent the evening trying to translate (finally got it), and we checked out a couple pet stores to say "awwwwwwww" at the puppies, kittens, ferrets, owls, falcon, meerkats, parrots, etc. Kichijoji has a cat cafe and an owl cafe where you pay large sums of money for the experience of buying overpriced drinks and pastries while sitting near cats/owls. I'm glad the girls were content with the free version in the pet stores. It's supposed to get hot over the next few days. I sweat all the time in the humidity even at lower temps, so it should be interesting. ゲームを翻訳してから、頭が痛い。

Already Day 10 -- CRAZY! Right now we have feelings depending on the day, kid, and even time of day, ranging from settled contentment and enjoyment of our surroundings to homesickness and just wanting to be surrounded by the familiar things of home. Traveling with four kids is interesting..... it's a challenge to have a day when everyone feels good or an activity that everyone wants to do, and everything takes a lot longer than when traveling alone or with a school trip. The kids have overall been great, though, very helpful and game to try new things. I hope they continue to settle in and feel normal here. Today Amy and Meg weren't feeling great - they seem to have a little virus - and Isa has been dying to go swimming, but the beach is a little too far away and the local pool didn't seem too exciting, so Ang, Isa, Lila, and I took a train up to Ome, about 45 minutes from here. We passed through Fussa station on the way which is across the street from the hospital wher...

Because we're just down the road from this university, we decided to check out their science museum. It was free and you get what you pay for.... there was a small temporary exhibit on robotic assists for human disabilities, but several of the interactive exhibits weren't working. The permanent exhibit was about silk production and that was fairly cool with some Ukiyo-e woodblock prints about silk cultivation and some old looms and spinning machines. The kids were pretty tired and grumpy today so we made it a quick visit and let them relax a bit.'' I made Katsudon for dinner and it turned out pretty well... the tonkatsu were perfect, but the egg, etc mixture was good but not great. I'll try again. We'd like to get out to Hakone to hopefully get a glimpse of Mt. Fuji and some other cool areas, but the weather is sketchy and changes rapidly, so we're trying to time it right. Maybe tomorrow??? 晴れたらいいのにナ。。。。。。

It was cool today but the forecast said no rain, so we headed out for Inokashira Park, near Kichijoji Station. The park is home to a small zoo and nature park. On the way from the station, we walked through the touristy stalls of souvenirs and eyed some crepes that we might need to eat for lunch, and then entered the park, only a short walk from the station. In just a few steps, the urban jungle disappears and large trees and the sound of water in the lake and fountains takes over. We walked down some steps and first saw a hand-sized black butterfly, then walked across the bridge to the zoo which is split into to sections divided by a road. First we saw the birds and fish including cool green pigeons. The other half of the zoo is where it got exciting, though, as we walked through the gate and realized we had two minutes before the end of the morning session of the GUINEA PIG PETTING ZOO!!!!!!!! The girls got their cute fix, and we decided that we could make a fortun...

It was fun to take Ang and Megan to Yodobashi Camera, which is 8 floors of Japanese-style high-tech and toys. The other girls opted for a quiet day at home, but the three of us hopped a train to Kichijoji after rush hour was over. The store is a sensory overload with music and video games blaring from all sides, but there's some pretty cool stuff to see, including a $1200 rice cooker. Not sure why it's so expensive -- maybe it cleans the kitchen or turns rice into gold???? I'm not a gadget/gear hound at all, but browsing the floors of Yodobashi is pretty fun. I imagine a tech guy would be in heaven. Meg enjoyed having us to herself for a couple hours and learned how to buy train tickets and navigate the stations a bit. We got lunch at a Chinese restaurant on the 8th floor and Megan is being way more brave with new foods here than she is at home. I guess there's hope for her yet. On the way home, we checked out some shops along Harmonica Yokocho, a warren of narr...

Today brought back all sorts of memories. We took a train to Kichijoji and found the ward pretty easily. The building is a lot bigger than any church I was in in Kyushu many years ago, but the architecture is similar and the kindness of the people there was very familiar. I was pretty worried that I wouldn't be able to follow the speakers and lessons, but the vocabulary and such came back pretty quickly. It was fun to have several conversations with members who have kids in Utah or who have visited before. The girls seemed to have a good experience too, despite some initial worries about not knowing anyone or understanding Japanese. I'm proud of them for being brave. We also met a bunch of missionaries, including a senior couple from Cincinnati. It would be pretty interesting to come back and do that someday. They work in the office, but I'm not sure exactly what that means. I was reminded about why missionaries learn Japanese so quickly... I had more conversations in ...

We're not far from Koganei Park, which is home to an interesting open-air museum of the evolving architecture of the Tokyo area. It was hot again today and we walked a lot, but I loved hearing the girls get into history and architecture. The buildings in the park have been moved from various locations around the region, and you walk from house to house - traveling from era to era. As you enter each building, you take off your shoes and leave them on the shelf in the entryway (or carry them in plastic bags through the house if the shelves are full.)   The first house was the home of a government minister in the 1920s who was assassinated in the 2/26 incident - an attempted military coup. He was killed in a second floor bedroom. Japanese people have always loved their baths, or o-furo, and this one is a good example of a cast-iron o-furo. You fill it with water and then light a fire under it that vents outside. A high incentive not to put too much wood on the fire. ...

Slept in a bit - but Isa and Lila still woke up before 5:00. After a morning of cleaning and relaxing, we went out in the heat of the day to Nogawa Park, about a 15 minute walk. We saw lots of birds, played on the zip-line and various playgrounds, and had a nice time. It always fascinates me to see cultural differences even in something as simple as a public park. The way back was uphill in the muggy air, but we got ice-cream, then decided to be lazy and order pizza for dinner. ちょっと疲れた。

We had free train tickets for one more day (thanks Waterford trip!) so we took a day trip. The weather was cool and cloudy -- a great day to be outside. We got a bit of a late start, though, and hit the peak of rush-hour on the train toward Shinjuku. The girls got to feel what it's like to have more people than you think is possible on your train car... only to watch more get on at each station until you are pretty sure you could just pick up your feet and they would carry you off the train. See if you can find Angela, Meg, Isa, and Lila in this pic. We took another train away from Tokyo and the crowd thinned out and we eventually made it to North-Kamakura station. Kamakura was the capital of Japan about 800 years ago and still has several important historical and religious sites and lots of visitors. Despite many school trips to Japan over the last 15 years, I haven't been to Kamakura since I was a wee lad of 2. We started up a steep mountain path. And saw turt...

Today we recovered... Ang, Meg, Isa, and Lila recovered from their travel day and jet lag, Amy and I recovered from the busy pace of the school trip. Of course the girls were wide awake before 4:00 am, and were in a state of semi-consciousness for much of the day, so it was nice to not have any agenda. Conveniently, it decided to rain and blow hard most of the day so we didn't really want to be walking around outside anyway. At times it reminded me of a few typhoons I've been near in the south. Our host, Chieko Serizawa, came over in the afternoon to answer questions and show us around the neighborhood in her car. She is remarkably kind and not only brought us food to cook for dinner, but stayed to help cook it! And while cooking she kept apologizing that she was imposing on our family time -- even though we are in her home and she was cooking dinner for us -- that she bought! It makes me wonder about the limits of the hospitality I show others. She also brought out some ...

I plan to write a bit about each day we're together in Japan this summer, mostly as a way to organize my thoughts and have a journal to look back at. I'll include some pics and Angela and the girls may add things here and there as well. Feel free to read if you like -- Blogger will only give me the set-up page in Japanese, so I will do my best to figure it out... not sure what it will look like to others. My big hopes for this summer experience: 1. Show my family around this place I love (and teach them some Japanese). 2. Experience together a small taste of what it means to live abroad. Our first 4 weeks are deliberately free of hectic travel so we can settle in and just be here together. 3. Rely on each other in a way that's difficult in the busyness of the normal life routine. We got the Waterford Japan trippers to Narita Airport and watched them pass through the security checkpoint and then Amy and I went downstairs to meet Angela and the other girls. It was a re...