Fuji, Ushiku Daibutsu, etc.

Every time we have had visitors in the past I have always asked if there was something they wanted to see or do while on their visit. My parents were no exception. They did not immediately answer, but after a few days they decided that they would like to see Mt Fuji. I explained that now was rainy season in Japan, and that it was no problem to go, but that we may not be able to see anything. They agreed to take the risk, so on Friday we headed back to Gotenba to stay at the hotel/cottage in the mountain side. During the drive the rain and wind gradually picked up to the point that the car was blowing around on the road. We arrived at the hotel and checked in to get the cabin keys. When I was parking the car I saw the biggest frog I have seen in my life. It was sitting in the middle of the road to the cabin. I had to get out of the car to move it before I could park. You can see it in the picture below..

All night the wind and rain was furious. I actually had trouble sleeping because it was so loud. It was similar to when we have had typhoons hit our home in Tochigi. In the morning we got up and looked out the windows to see if we could see Fuji or not. It was so foggy that we couldn't see anything farther than a few hundred feet.

Since we couldn't see anything I decided we should drive to Owakudani first. That is the place with the black eggs that are supposed to extend your life. I figured that may give a little time for the fog to burn off and then maybe we would have a shot at seeing Fuji. The drive there was a bit challenging as it was difficult to see the road. We walked the trail to the black eggs. It was not scenic at all as we couldn't really see anything. It was not raining, but there was so much moisture in the air that we all got wet.

I was able to grab a picture of one of the workers dipping the eggs in the boiling goo to cook them.

Kate peeling her egg, and Erin having a fun time in the outdoors.

Grandma and grandpa peeling their eggs to eat them.

The cables for the ropeway that brings fresh eggs up and sends cooked eggs down disappeared into the fog. I said it reminded me of a Steven King movie. I could imagine the cables creaking as the basket slowly approached its destination and finally arriving out of the fog carrying some kind of horrific payload.

I had planned a couple of other stops in this area, but each one involved seeing mount fuji. Example: A five story pagoda..... with Mt Fuji in the background, or a Tori gate..... with Mt Fuji in the background. You get the point. Since we could not see our hands in front of our face, let alone Fuji, I decided we should drive to Gogome (5th station of Fuji) and see if we could get above the clouds to see something. As we drove toward Fuji the clouds got a little thinner and we could see a hint of brightness from the sun. All of the sudden the clouds shifted a little and we could catch a glimpse of Fuji.

As we got closer to the North side of Fuji the clouds cleared even more and we could actually see the entire mountain. The clouds were covering the south side, but the north side was completely clear.

We could see the mountain the entire drive up to the 5th station. That is the highest you can go by car up the mountain. At the fifth station we decided we should all eat the Fuji Melon pastries and with 7 people that was almost an entire tray.

We spent a few hours at the top looking at the shops and hanging out. It was dinner time and everyone was hungry. I decided to take everyone to a restaurant that Maeshima san took me to when we did the Fuji bike race a few weeks back. As we drove away from Fuji the clouds moved back in and it didn't take long for them to block the view again. We didn't see it the rest of the day, or the next day as we packed up and headed home.

The restaurant is at the base of the mountain. This area (Yamanashi) is known for a type of noodle called Houtou. The noodles are so thick they almost remind me of dumplings and this restaurant was very good the last time I ate here. The other interesting point is that the restaurant is one huge room with many tables filling the space. You are seated upon availability and so it is possible to be seated with strangers if there is room at their table. In our case we filled a table on our own and so we were seated by ourselves.

These tables had a cut out in the floor for your feet, so everyone was happy they could stretch their legs.

On the menu there were a variety of options to eat including: bear, turtle, duck, etc.. The bear was about $40 a bowl and so I decided not to try it. Instead I went with the cheaper spicy pork.

We were only able to stay in the cabin one night as it was booked the second so we stayed in the hotel area the second night. A first sighting for me was the toilet with the artificial flush sound to cover any unwanted noises. Kate said they are common in women's rest rooms, but I have never seen it before. The button has a musical note, but when you push it it makes a fake toilet flush sound. It had volume control as well as a flashing light that warned it was about to stop.

That night Kate, Grandma, and myself went to the Onsen (hot spring). We have taken others to the foot Onsen, but Grandma was our first guest to try the full Onsen experience. I think she was able to enjoy the experience and I give her credit for being willing to give it a try.

In the morning the kids went swimming in the pool while the adults gave the massage chairs a work out. We didn't leave them unattended, we took shifts watching them.

I think everyone but Erin enjoyed the chairs, and most everyone did two 15 min shifts on them.

On the way home I decided to take the family to the Ushiku daibutsu. It is the tallest statue in the world and I thought they would enjoy it.

We were able to talk the grandparents into a photo board picture in front of the statue. Mom even tried to match that hand gesture of the statue.

Since we had been here before we did not pay the extra to go inside. When grandma and grandpa went in we explored the gardens outside. we found a shallow pond filled with koi that would beach themselves to beg for food.

We also went back to the petting zoo to feed the variety of animals. Kate fed this rabbit a carrot.

Two minutes later it was in a food coma and laid there like it was dead. We looked back a few minutes later and it looked a little more alive, so I imaging it was just tired.

Of course we also stopped to feed the squirrels as well.

On the way home I stopped in front of the farmhouse we took a picture from in the fall to get another picture. I still like this view with the Buddha in the background.

The grandparents have already headed back to the US. From now we have a few weeks to spend with Erin before she returns as well.

Have a good week.

Nikko , Utsunomiya, and more..

Colleen lost one of her upper baby teeth. The Tooth Fairy left a note telling her to do with the tooth as the Japanese children do, so in the morning we took the food storage tray out of the house and she threw her tooth under the house. Colleen was happy that she could do that and still get a little money from the Fairy as well..

Saturday morning, we got up early loaded in the car and headed to the mountains for a scenic drive. On the way we spotted this awesometastic purple van on the side of the road. We had to stop for a couple of quick pictures with the children.

We took the long way to tour the mountains around Nikko and stopped along the river at one of our favorite spots to stretch our legs. Liam always likes relaxing on the rocks at the river, the rest of us explored a little and used the non working restroom on the side of the road before continuing on.

Our next stop was the giant metal tori gate on the way to the Tengo temple in the mountains. Kate bought a drink, opened it, and then Liam told her it was a jelly drink and that she should have shaken it. I didn't even read it, I assumed that Liam had actually read it and so I told Kate she should plug the hole with her finger and shake it. She did and it immediately started spraying all over. Turns out, Liam only saw the pictures of ice on the side and assumed it was a jelly drink, it was not, it was carbonated grape drink..

I had Grandma and Grandpa stand near the gate to show the actual size, without any reference it is difficult to tell the actual size.

At the Tengu temple we went to the garden to walk around. I bought 7 bags of fish food. Grandpa wondered why so many until we started feeding the fish and were swarmed by the giant koi mob.

Next was Irohazaka. We have been up this road a number of times but never done the ropeway to the observation area. We decided it was a good time to check it out and so we all purchased tickets and boarded the car to the top.

At the top, the view was great. We could see the lake as well as Kegon falls. I actually liked this view better than the view of the falls up close because we could see everything together, it was very scenic.

After eating near the lake, we drove up to the foot Onsen to relax for a little while and give the grandparents the Onsen lite experience.

To go home, we continued on along a number of narrow winding roads. We were pretty lucky in that nobody got car sick on the drive. I think it helped a little that we had a number of monkey sightings to keep everyones spirits up. Actually we saw more monkeys on this drive than ever.

All day Saturday, we spent on the scenic drive, so on Sunday we drove the pay route back to visit the temples. We have been to the all the temples before so we picked our favorite ones to visit. Still one of my favorite is the 5 story pagoda and it is in one of the free areas.

We were able to see all the major temples. By the time we had seen them all I think the Grandparents were tired of walking up huge stone steps as there are hundreds of them.

Everyone at the top for a photo op.

While visiting one of the temples, we had the opportunity to watch a Japanese wedding. I can't imaging how much it must have cost to have a wedding at the temples of Nikko. Kate and Grandma really got into it and stood to watch the whole thing, the rest of us got tired and waited off to the side. I have been told that the white hat on the woman is to cover her horns before the wedding. (I am not making that up.)

Here is one of the temple guardians. Definitely looks mean. If I came upon this years ago I most likely would have turned around.

For lunch, we went to a smaller restaurant in Nikko. We passed on a restaurant that was empty in favor of a smaller busy restaurant as we have learned that typically means it is better. Before going in, we checked out the plastic food in front to make sure everyone could pick something and then went in.

It was a traditional style restaurant and so Erin and the grandparents got to experience sitting on the floor to eat. It went pretty well until they tried to stand up after eating. That took a little extra time..

Our final stop was at our favorite shop in Nikko. As always they were very friendly, in fact the owner had a bag of cycling clothing for me, as from our previous trip he heard I liked to ride bicycles. We visited a bit and picked out a few souvenirs. While visiting, the grandparents were given the dragon head and a Samurai sword to pose for a picture.

On Tuesday while I was at work, Kate, Erin, Grandma, and Grandpa went for a walk. While on the walk Kate was looking for her phone in her purse and her keys fell out and right down the drain in the side walk. I don't think you could do that even if you tried. Unfortunately, the key ring had both the car key and house key on it and so they were stuck until the keys could be retrieved. While Kate ran to buy a coat hanger from the 100 yen store, grandpa found an old broken umbrella.

He pulled one of the wires off and bent it into a hook, then used that to fish the keys out of the hole. If you don't know what a Japanese drain looks like you can see it in the picture below. It really is pretty small.

Kate was super happy that grandpa was able to retrieve the keys and that meant that they could also get back into the house.

On Wednesday, I loaded everyone into the train to go down to Utsunomiya. This gave everyone a chance to ride the train and to see the compressed tour of Utsunomiya all on the same trip.

First stop was the Soy Sauce house. Years ago, soy sauce was produced and sold at this location. During World War II the business sustained too much damage to survive but this home remained a residence until about 10 years ago. Now it is a historical site.

It was an interesting tour to see such a traditional home. The previous owners were quite wealthy and the home was made from huge beams.

There is also a great garden in the courtyard. The thing I like about it is that you are in the middle of the city, but the way it is constructed gives you the feeling of privacy.

Next on the tour was the temple in Utsunomiya. This one is somehow associated with the ones in Nikko and has similar architecture as well as a ton of stone steps..

Erin posed at the top with some of the tori gates.

From there we walked past the giant camphor tree in the city. I didn't take any pictures as it is huge and difficult to find a place to take a photo. Then on to the Ohya stone church in middle of the city.

To finish off the walking tour we stopped at the Utsunomiya castle. By the time we got back everyone was tired of walking, it was like 200 hundred miles or something..

Thursday Kate took everyone to Mashiko while I was at work. They got the opportunity to do some shopping and exploring around the town. Grandpa was a little intimidated of the tanooki's giant unit and would not pose for a picture with him.

Grandma has grown fond of all the Japanese gardening ladies and while shopping in Mashiko they found a store with gardening hats. They all posed for a picture wearing the hats, I didn't see any when I got home so it looks like nobody purchased one.

They did have a container full of grasshoppers for me to try. So far I have been the only one willing to eat them, but I think Kate is going to try one. I can't say they are good, but they are also not terrible. What I can say is that I would not push anyone out of line to buy a package of them.

Friday I was able to take the day off work and so we went to the remaining Utsunomiya locations that we had not yet been. First stop was to the mountain temple that I ride up for training now and then. I was able to get Grandma in this picture board at the top.

Next was the Ohya stone goddess of compassion.

Then to the Buddhist temple with the oldest markings of Buddha in Japan. No pictures of the actual markings as you are not allowed to take them, but I did get the grandparents in the garden.

Then to the stone mine. It was a muggy day outside and so we all welcomed the cool temperatures of the caves. I was able to get a couple of pictures to come out. It is always tough as the lighting is not good.

Final stop on the tour was Kazaan. In Japanese, Kazaan (火山) actually means volcano. This is one of our favorite ramen shops. The bowls are made of stone and heated over a fire. After the bowl is brought to the table the liquid is poured in and it immediately boils. A placemat is held in front to prevent getting splashed and burnt by the boiling liquid. It is fun and tasty at the same time.

That is all for this post, have a good week.