Kanazawa 2

Matt pretending to be a samurai in the Samurai District (a little dorky, ok! but I made him do it...)

Matt came with me to my ikebana lesson this week and with Jane, Jess and Jane's teacher all taking lessons that night, it was a full house! This is me, Matt, Jane's teacher, Jess and Honda Sensei.

Big Trees Roots at Kenrokuen

Matt and the oldest fountain in Japan

Kenrokuen Garden

Kanazawa

Garden at Oyama Shring

Oyama Shrine

Oyama Shrine

Me and the Statue of Lord Maeda

Lots of carp

Tokyo 2

Matt loved curry rice so we ate it a lot.


At Meiji Jingu Shrine

Meiji Jingu

I am a Taurus and stubbornly decided that I would, under no circumstances, stand next to this sign as Matt wanted me to. However, I did finally give in (I am on the cusp of Aries) but made an indignant face in retaliation.

Tokyo

Fountains outside of the Imperial Palace

Matt and Me

Tokyo Tower

Some huskies in front of the Tokyo Tower. Since I am now a Northeastern 'husky' I suppose I should start getting used to their mascot!

I bought these sunglasses in Osaka and, while I feel a little silly wearing them, I also love them. And I like making Matt wear them, even though they look even more silly on him :)

Kobe

Azaleas in Kobe

Flower Festival

Sometimes Japan seems so efficient and sometimes I just wander around wondering why. For example, why are there THREE gardens using SCISSORS to cut the grass and prune the gardens? I mean, I am sure it is work that requires precision but I think this might be taking that a little too far.

Matt and the okonomiyaki

Me and the yakisoba

Since Kobe is only about 30 minutes and $4 away from Osaka, we decided to go there for the day on Monday. Kobe was in the middle of a flower festival and there were lots of impressive pictures made of flower petals throughout the streets. We wandered around, including unintentionally hiking about 45 minutes into the mountains above Kobe (no pictures of that though- I looked too sweaty in the pictures for it to be blog-worthy). Kobe has the second largest Chinatown in Japan and we ate a delicious Chinese set lunch there. The weather was gorgeous and the azalea bushes were out in full force.

That afternoon we headed back to Osaka and then to Dotonburi, the party district of Osaka. Matt experienced his first cook-your-own okonomiyaki and I enjoyed some delicious yakisoba (my very favorite Japanese food!).

Osaka at Night

Sunset over Osaka

Skyline View

Matt in the tunnel

Matt made me pose inside of this heart at the Floating Garden and this Japanese woman commented (in Japanese), "Doesn't she know that she is alone in a heart???" to her friend thinking that I did not understand. I did and I gave her a dirty look. I love it when that happens.

We headed to the Floating Garden in Osaka to see the sunset. You have to take this elevator up a million stories and then take this escalator through a tunnel to get to the top but the view was amazing. Matt and I are unclear why the building is called the Floating Garden though- there was no garden and it certainly was not floating. But it was still a lovely night. After the garden, we headed over to the big ferris wheel next to Umeda Station. However, the pictures were not that impressive.

Osaka, Day One

Big Man, Small Sandwich

Grilled Corn in front of Osaka Castle

Matt and Me

Matt had his first experience with fried octopus balls, takoyaki

Osaka Castle

Our first full day in Osaka was BEAUTIFUL. I had worn my winter coat from Kanazawa to Osaka and by the time I got there, I was in skirts and t shirts. First we headed to Osaka Castle. Matt experienced his first takoyaki (fried balls of dough with octopus in it). It is wildly popular here and, while I do not like it at all, Matt loved it! I had some great corn right off of a grill outside of the castle.

Osaka

Matt and Me, first night in Osaka

A great Engrish sign
On April 28 I picked Matt up from Kansai Airport and we went out to explore Osaka. We had a lovely dinner of conveyor belt sushi and walked around the area around our hotel.

Hold on!

Dear Faithful Readers of my blog (who I did not realize existed until I did not post for 2 weeks and got nasty emails and comments),

It has been an exciting two weeks and I have many pictures to post and stories to tell. Matt has been visiting from Boston since April 28 and he is here for a few more days so be patient. Here are some highlights:

* Matt now thinks I am fluent in Japanese. (He is wrong.)
* I ate pig cheek and cow tongue, by accident.
* I had a four year old shriek (and I do mean SHRIEK), "Ahhhh foreigner!!! Look Mom!!! They are foreigners!!!! AHHHH!!!" (in Japanese) at the Osaka Castle.
* A Japanese junior high school boy's baseball team cat called Matt ("You are HANSAMU!").
* A Japanese man stole 200 yen from me (about $1.80)!

:)

Birthday lunch!

Jane & Zach and Jess & Phill were nice enough to take me to a fantastic restaurant called "Bleeker Street" for my birthday lunch. The food was delicious- we had a set menu that had about a million courses. We had a salad, veggie cream soup, fish in a wine miso sauce (pictured above), a delicious beef filet, sushi, coffee and spinach ice cream and sesame pudding for dessert. It was one of the few times in Japan I have been stuffed after leaving a restaurant. The chef lived in New York for many years and Jane has been to the restaurant many times so he came out with each course to talk with us and tell us what we were eating. It was the perfect end to a perfect birthday.

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday was my birthday and my friends here threw me a birthday party. It was really touching to see everyone who came to the party (some came from out of town, others came with knee injuries even!) and my friends did such a great job with all of the details that made it so so special. Amanda hosted the party at her apartment and it was decorated with streamers and balloons. There was lots of food and drink and they even got me a cake (with chocolate chips and white icing!) and a crown to wear. It was perfect.

Honestly, I was shocked at how much work my friends here had put into the party and making my birthday special. I never expected to find such nice people here and make such good friends in such a short amount of time. It was certainly one of the very nicest birthdays I have ever had.

The family comes to town....

Dad, Cindy (my stepmother) and Jackie (my step sister) left this morning after a week of sightseeing with me in Japan. We started in Kyoto and did all of the highlights- Kiyomizudera, Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillion), Heian Shrine, Fushimi Inari, shopping, eating, etc, etc. Then they came to Kanazawa for a few days and we went to Kenrokuen garden, the Ninja Temple, did some gold leafing and ate lots of conveyor belt sushi.

Round One

Jackie, Dan and I went to Round One on Friday which is a huge game complex in Kanazawa. We bowled, rode the mechanical bull, played soccer, roller bladed and Jackie kicked Dan's butt at air hockey. :-)

Family