Day 25 - Bullet Train to Kyoto

We've left Tokyo after 24 days - I've never been there for that long before. It was a good start to the trip and we made some great memories. The kids have been pretty great overall, but one drawback to starting the trip like we did is that now that we're getting to what I think is the really good stuff, they're a bit tired and homesick. What they really want is to see their dogs.

It'll be really interesting to see how they rally now that we're traveling more. It will definitely be important to build in down-time and to try not to see every temple in Kyoto.

We dropped bags at our apartment in Otsu, a few minutes east of Kyoto on the shores of Lake Biwa. We'll explore Otsu and Biwako tomorrow, but this afternoon we had to kill several hours before we could fully check in so we took the train to Nara to see the Daibutsu (big Buddha statue) at Todaiji. The kids really loved the tame deer that are everywhere and had fun feeding them deer biscuits and taking tons of pics. They also enjoyed Todaiji, especially squeezing through the hole in the pillar said to be the size of the statue's nostril - passing through guarantees one's enlightenment someday..

We finally returned home and settled in. The apartment is nice but not as nice as our Tokyo lodgings and that might take some getting used to for the girls. One day at a time.

Ang tried to lock the front door and ended up pushing the wrong lever and briefly locking us in, but I think we figured it out and don't have to stay inside forever.

明日、 琵琶湖を見るのを楽しみにしています。

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Day 45 - All the way home

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Well, we did it! 45 days in Japan with a family of 6 light-backpacking travelers. The weather has been good (but hot), none of us got sick (except some pesky light rashes - I blame the humidity), and the memories will last forever. I am so grateful for Angela and the hard work she has done to make sure we had what we needed for the trip - people all over Japan have commented on how lightly we traveled for a large family (of girls), but we had everything we needed. It was a great way to experience the reality that we can live happily with far less than we have. I am also grateful for the girls who have been amazing travelers. I hope they see the value in what we've done now, and I am very confident they will see it as they grow up. It's been a blast to share Japan with them. I'm grateful for all the people we met on our way. To the Serizawa's for their generosity and kindness to us at the beginning of the trip (and to the Stouts for helping set it up), to my old...
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Day 39 - To Kumamoto

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We took a train to Kumamoto at midday - the Shinkansen makes it so much faster to travel around Kyushu than it was when I was here before. Ang got a pick with her new boyfriends... a boy band that has done a lot PR for trains around this part of Japan that i recovering from a major earthquake last year. We got lunch before boarding a trolley for the trip through downtown to our apartment. The apartment is a really interesting place. I think it used to be an office in a building that has apartments on the upper floors and businesses on the bottom. They have done a really nice job making a cool living space that is plenty big enough for all of us. It's clearly our favorite Airbnb so far on this trip. The kids especially love the "yoga hammock." Walking around the shotengai - shopping streets - has brought back a million memories both of my missionary and student time in Kumamoto, and we took a bus to Kumamoto University, where the memories really hit me like a ton...
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Day 38 - Omuta Memories

After a slow morning in the apartment, Isa decided to have her 1-on-2 date with the parents and we headed south about an hour to Omuta, the first area from my mission. Predictably, it was crazy hot and humid, but we had a nice lunch at a small restaurant near the station and then walked to the church which is on the second floor of a commercial building near the station. No one was there, but lots of memories flooded back from my first days and weeks in Japan in 1988. I remember feeling out of my comfort zone as everything was so new, but also feeling safe because of the kindness of those around me. We then walked to my old apartment which is still there and still looks just as shabby as it did almost 30 years ago... not worse, just the same. We stopped at a 7-11 for ice cream and drinks and then headed back to the station and home to Fukuoka. This evening we went back to Canal City. Ang, Amy, and I got street vendor Hakata Ramen which was good, but a little anticlimactic, and then...
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