A little more balloon festival, Ushiku Daibutsu, two seat monkey.

Monday was a holiday for the children from school. Unfortunately I still had to work, but in the day Kate and the children went back to the balloon festival for the final day. The weather was much nicer then the previous night, no rain and warmer. During the event you could pay $10 for adults and $5 for children to ride up in a balloon. They were tethered so you wouldn't float away, but still get the experience of flying. Kate decided they shouldn't pass up the opportunity and so they did it.

Here is Colleen on the ground before lift off.

And Liam up in the air.

On Saturday we were able to attend a Japanese play for free at the Takanezawa community center. It was interesting to see how much I could understand as the play progressed. I would estimate it at 20%-25%. The conversation during a play can be so fast when you are listening in another language.

Recently I have been eating dinner at work and usually eat with 2 other Japanese associates. During dinner conversation I learned about a huge Buddha statue about 1 1/2 hours from Utsunomiya. It is called Ushiku Daibutsu. I looked up a little information on the statue and it seemed interesting so Kate and I decided to make the trip on Sunday to go and see it. The statue is really easy to see even from a great distance. Kate snapped the picture below from the car window as we drove toward it.

As we got closer the sheer size of the statue became more evident. It towered over everything in the area.

I liked this picture of the statue and old style farm house. The reason the coloring is different than the others is because we actually took this one on the way home and the sun was well on its way down.

Now for some facts:

When the statue was completed in 1993 it was the tallest statue in the world coming in at 120 meters (394 ft) and weighing about 4003 tons. To help with the size image, the Statue of Liberty is 46 meters (statue only) and 93 including the base.

And for those of you from Monroe Ohio, the statue there that has been dubbed "touchdown Jesus" comes in at a mere 19 meters, as sourced from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_statues_by_height.

and just so no one thinks the nickname for that statue was my idea I have attached the Wikipedia link...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Touchdown_jesus.jpg

Currently, according to Wikipedia, there are two statues in the world that are taller, another Buddha in China built in 2002 and one in Myanmar built in 2008. Here is the plaque the statue was awarded for achieving the tallest statue in the world. According to Guinness World Records it is still the tallest. I think that Guinness has not yet confirmed the height of the other two so at least for now, we can say it holds the Guinness World record for tallest statue.

The statue really is impressive. Once you get close it is really hard to understand just how big it is because there is nothing around to give it a good reference of size.

I laid on the ground to get this picture of Kate, the children, and the statue.

Inside there is a museum showing how the statue was created and giving information on Buddhism. You can also take an elevator 85 meters up and look out the windows overlooking the garden area. The 3 slots in the picture below about upper chest level is the observation area.

There is a garden area on the grounds around the statue as well as a pond stocked with koi. This picture shows a little of the garden area. Now there are no flowers in bloom, but we could see pictures taken in the spring and it looks very nice.

This picture is from the observation level looking back over the entrance.

Inside the museum area there were many interesting pictures taken during the construction, most were presented in black and white and looked very old. Only the crane in the pictures reminds you that it is from 1993.

These models give an idea of the structure required to keep the statue standing. Looks like an amazing amount of work went in to making this statue a reality.

Here Kate and the children are standing in front of a replica of one of the fingers (I think finger, not toe). Gives a little idea of the size. It would be no problem to crawl through the nostril of this Buddha as we did in Nara for enlightenment, that Buddha could be held in the hand of this one.

After finishing our tour of the statue we exited from the back of the statue and stumbled on to a petting zoo containing various animals. One of the areas was filled with rabbits. If you want to feed the rabbits it is requested that you wear gloves (provided) to prevent from getting nibbled on.

It reminded us a little of our experience at Nara only these were rabbits instead of dear so they were not so intimidating. If they saw you had food they would run up to you and beg, but no pushing or biting to get your attention.

Another area contained squirrels. I was told that there were squirrels in Japan, but actually I have never seen any before, even when we have gone to parks. Here it was requested to put on oven mitts if you wanted to feed them. It is hard to tell from the picture below, but they don't look exactly the same as the squirrels in the states. I guess because they evolved on a smaller land mass, half way around the world, they evolved just a slightly differently.

We also had the opportunity to watch another monkey show. We made it through half before we got too cold and decided that we had our fill and could move on. This monkey was using two poles as stilts and walking around the stage.

On the way home we stopped at a small ramen shop to get some dinner. I like spicy ramen and it is typically what I order. In Japan there are two ways that spicy is indicated. 辛い and スパイーシ. The first is karai and the second is spicy in katakana. I was in a bit of a hurry to order so when I saw スーパじゃーんぼ I jumped to spicy and ordered it. That is actually Super Jumbo in katakana. Liam's bowl in the picture below is a standard adult bowl of ramen, which is actually typically plenty for one person. My super jumbo is the one next to his.

In the beginning I could laugh about the size. I figured we saw the 120 meter Buddha I should eat 120 oz of ramen to celebrate.

About 2/3rd of the way through it wasn't as funny for me. I only pressed on because before ordering I complained to the children about ordering a meal that they couldn't possibly finish and asked them to consider their appetite before ordering. I figured I should practice what I preach. In the end I was able to finish it, but it was not at all enjoyable.

I can't take credit for this find. My friend Maeshima saw this while on a business trip. In Japan adults use mini-bikes as transportation. Since the traffic is generally pretty thick it can be faster than driving to many places. He found this stretched Honda Monkey. It has two seats for a couple to use for a night on the town. I only have one word for this.....superawesomatastic..

Have a good week...

Tsukuba bike ride, Anman and Nikuman making, Hot Air Balloon Festival.

Kate went to the community center with our neighbor Yagishita san to make Anman and Nikuman this past week. Anman and Nikuman are two types of dumpling, Anman has bean on the inside and Nikuman has meat. After the dumplings are stuffed they are steamed to perfection and then eaten. These dumblings are somewhat doughy and not at all like gyoza. The picture below was taken during the preparation, you can see the steamers on the left.

Here they are ready for eating..

For school Colleen grew her own popcorn. Recently we received her corn from the school. She first removed the kernels from the cob and then she was able to pop it last week. This is the bag of corn she got from the cobs.

And the finished product, you can't tell in the picture but it was really tiny pieces of corn. The school has a garden and the children have been able to learn about growing various vegetables. I think it is good for them to understand were there food comes from.

Although I have cut way down on my bike riding I am still riding to work almost every day. This past weekend I was able to go for a ride to Tsukuba with some friends from work. They have determined that I like hill climbing so a trip to the mountains was in order. Maeshima san, Sasaki san, Hakamata san, Ubukata san, and Ohishi san were all able to get up early enough to make the trek. Ubukata san made the plans for the trip and scheduled for us to depart at 6:30am. His reasoning was that the restaurant we would eat at would become busy so we should arrive there by 11:00. I don't know the exact temperature, but I can say that it was really cold at that time of the morning..

We rode a short ways (1 hr) and met up with Sasaki san along the route. I was fairly comfortable, but I had about 4 layers of clothing on. Sasaki san rode up with no hat, and no gloves. Only a newspaper stuffed under his jersey to block the wind and keep him warm. No way I could have done that... As we rode our destination quickly became evident. We could see the mountain looming off in the distance. You can see it in the below picture.

Just at the base we turned onto a very narrow road and around the next corner it immediately went upward. This climb is about 4 times the length of the hardest climb in the Japan Cup race. The grade is also more challenging. Some sections went to 20%. I was able to snag this picture at a short stop along the route. From left to right is: Maeshima san, Hakamata san, Ohishi san, and Ubukata san.

The view from the top was amazing. We stopped to take in the sights for a little while. The wind was ice cold and was really blowing hard over the top. I was glad to have all the layers of clothing with me to stay warm.

Here is a picture of me to show I was actually on the ride as well.

We laid the bikes down on some astro turf at the top. It is there because this location is used by hang gliders as a launch site. We didn't see any hang gliders on this day, but off in the distance we saw a huge paraglider floating in the wind.

Hakamata san had a tripod in his pocket and was able to set his camera up in the street at the top to take this photo, since he used the timer everyone made it in the picture.

I snagged this picture of my bike beside a Tori gate close to Tsukuba mountain.

We went down the mountain a short way and finally arrived at the restaurant. It was a very small restaurant. It could have easily been mistaken for someone's home. Had I gone on my own I would not have thought to stop there. We piled all the bikes along the side and went in.

Once inside I was greeted with an all Kanji menu. I could only pick out a couple of things, so I just asked for everyone's recommendation. They recommended a dish that included a variety of beef components.

It was a Yaki Niku restaurant so you cook your own food at the table on a small grill. Below pictured with Sasaki san is some of my food cooking on the grill.

Ubukata san, Maeshima san, and Hakamata san grilled at the table next to us. That only left about 3 other tables in the restaurant. It was a good thing we arrived early as Ubukata san recommended as by the time we left there were people waiting outside to come in and eat.

It was a great ride with everyone and the weather, for this time of year, could not have been much better. Before we separated paths to go home I heard talk of plans to ride the most challenging road in Tochigi. I am hoping it is a little warmer when we take up that challenge.

On the way home I crossed paths with the Yaki imo truck, so I was able to pick up a couple to take home to the family to enjoy. The children had heard the truck earlier but it didn't pass in front of our home so they were happy I was able to catch him.

This week in Utsunomiya there is a hot air balloon festival. One of the activities includes a night show with the balloons. That show was tonight. Kate and I decided to take the children to go and see it. It was only about 20 minutes from our home. We typed the phone number into the navigation in the car and headed off. When we arrived at the navi's destination there was nothing there. Turns out it was on the other side of the road, so after a brief bit of confusion we found it. At night the balloons are really beautiful when the flames are fired up.

With nothing but darkness around the flames are quite bright.

The children's favorite was this Asimo balloon. Asimo's upper body sticks out of the front of the balloon and his feet stick out the back.

While I shot some pictures Kate was able to film a couple of short videos. The first one shows what it is like when they light all the balloons up at the same time.

The second was taken while the balloons were being lit to Michael Jackson's "I'm bad" song.

I think they cut it a little short as it started to rain pretty hard at one point during the show. I am glad we were able to make it out, it was fun to watch. Kate and the children are talking about going and watching a little of the balloon competition tomorrow. They don't have school tomorrow so if the weather is nice I think they will go.

Have a good week...

Paper making at Karasuyama, Miso making, Sake juice box..

This weeks entry is brought to you by Katie.....

A few weeks ago we were invited to a Japanese paper making factory by our good friends the Shionome sans. It was a fun filled day....I had no idea we would have so many wonderful experiences that day. Both of their girls are in Liam and Colleen's class. They love to spend time over there playing whenever they can.

First we had to mix the material well....it was really goopy and fun to play in....it had an antiseptic property to it and smelled "sterile" to me.

We were able to pick out the decorations we wanted to put on our paper.

Next we had to immerse the frame into the material several times in a special direction to capture the paper material in the liquid.

After a few times we places our decorations where we wanted them in the frame.

Then we gently removed them as instructed.

After we left, they put them out to dry....We were able to make 2 decorated post cards and a plain post card....beautiful. Two days later we received them.

The finished product......

Next we went to an old Shrine in the same area....it was back in the woods and beautiful.

Next we went to Shionome san's parents home......I believe it is just shy of 100 years old. This was the entrance....it was impressive. Shionome san told me we would barbeque afterwards but I thought it would be at a restaurant and was thrilled to be able to go to their family's house for the barbeque. They were all so kind and generous to invite us. It was the first time we were able to go into a older Japanese home and my first Japanese barbeque. It was delicious!

Part of their Japanese garden.....

This was the next door neighbor's well....the kid's thought it was really cool.

Here is Liam enjoying Shionome san and Mirica chan's company....

Some of the many delicious vegetables.....

The kids played both inside and out...in this picture they are playing a Japanese game that is the same game I grew up playing in the U.S.. We called it " Red Light Green Light". I'll have to ask the Liam and Colleen the name of the game later...

Next we went to the school that Shionome san went to...It is now closed but was really cool to see....there were some HUGE spiders there. I wish I had some pictures. To finish the day off we went to the paper shop and purchased some beautiful items. It was one of the most memorable days here in Japan....We are lucky they have invited us back so Larry can share the experience with us.

This week Yagishita san invited me to make miso! I had a great time with everyone....it was a lot of fun.

We put all of the ingredients in and mixed them together thoroughly in a certain order of course....bean paste, some type of rice yeast, protein powder first and then prune extract with some water I believe. It was great on my hands....they are still soft. :)

First, mixing the paste, the yeast and protein powder.

Then with the prune extract...

Next we had to make balls with the mixture...We had to get all of the air out by batting it in our hands. We pushed the balls into the container being careful not to have air in the container. We completed the process by pouring prune extract over the product and then saran wrap over that.....now we wait for 3 months. Then enjoy.

Last night I was able to go out with some of my friends here in Japan. They are all neighbors here. I had the best time....friends and food were both great. It's amazing how you can still communicate not speaking the same language thoroughly. Their English was much better than my Japanese. My cheeks were hurting from laughing so hard. At the end of the night someone realized that the time was after midnight and apparently we were suppose to be long gone....oops :)

Today is the day the kids and I arrived last year....it has flown by. It will be hard to leave when the time comes. I don't have any pictures but I want to mention that last week I was able to go to my first onsen (hot spring) with June san and loved it....this week she showed me how to make Okonomiyaki... it was delicious! June san and I will have a new adventure this week.

Nobuko san :) The dish in front of us is called Nabe...it is a very popular Japanese dish. It seems to be a perfect dish for the winter.

Mayumi san and Sachiyo san :) This pizza crust was made from soba flour. Soba flour is used to make the soba noodle...it was really good.

We heard about the Sake (rice wine) drink box from Annie, but had never seen them until last week. We picked this one up at the local Lawson convenient store. You definitely don't want to get this one mixed and put it in the children's lunch box. An interesting concept....

That finishes this post.....have a good week.