Last year in July we posted a picture and comment about children's beer. While at the store the last week, Liam saw some and so we had to buy it. The link is from one of the commercials for this product.
For fun we poured out one real beer (on the right) and the children's stuff (on the left)
It looks about like the real stuff. It is actually some kind of apple cider. Liam let me try a sip of it. The flavor is good and sweet. It is marketed as a drink that children can give cheers with along side the adults. I am not sure of the message it sends to children, but Liam did enjoy drinking it.
Kate has gone to a few international cooking classes recently to learn how to make different types of food. In this class she made soft tacos. Everything was made by hand including the soft shells. I can attest to their tastiness as I was locked out of the house and had to go to the class to get a house key. When I arrived with the children we were all invited in and got the chance to sample a bit of everything.
Our community rice field is progressing well. While Kate was at the cooking class the children and I went to the rice field for weeding. I did not read the pamphlet close enough and we were not really prepared well. We were supposed to wear boots, long pants, long sleeves, and gloves. We showed up in shorts, short sleeves, sandals and crocks. I thought the weeding was on the outside of the field, but it was on the inside. I had the children walk the perimeter and weed, I took my shoes off and went in. It was not much fun trekking through the muck and rice with all the bugs, but I did make it through the event with only minor scrapes.
Won't be long now and we will be cutting the rice for harvest.
After weeding the field we headed to a soy farm for edamame. We did this last year as well, so I was actually prepared for this one. An area was set aside for us to pick from. We were told to pull the entire plant and take them with us.
While the children pulled the plants, I picked the beans off and put them in a bag. When the children were finished pulling they helped. It was nice to go home with beans only and not a bunch of stalks like last year.
Since the children were out of school we had the Nakamichi children over to spend the night. We met them while they were living in America. Masa did gymnastics with Liam. Now they are back in Japan and only live about 40 minutes away. Masa kun and Yuta kun were able to enjoy playing with Liam and Colleen. Kate tried to stick as close to American meals as she could for them.
Also Makiko san and Tora kun came over for the day to hang out.
They were able to have a great day hanging out and playing at the park.
Everyone tried out the zip line including the moms...
Finally, at my welcome party almost two years ago, the topic of climbing Mt. Fuji came up. A couple of other associates said they wanted to do it as well. From that point on we made an agreement that we would do it together. Unfortunately last year during the climbing season Obayashi san became very sick. He was out of work for about a month and was in a hospital in Kobe. As a result we could not go last year. When Liam showed interest in going I felt we should do it separately and at that time I was not sure Obayashi san and Sagawa san were still planning to go. Well they were, and this past weekend was the last that Fuji is open for climbing. As a result together we left work at 5:15 pm and drove straight to Fuji. When I went with Liam we climbed a northern route, this time we decided to try the souther route. Again I carried my GPS to track the route.
When we arrived the parking lot was already full. We were told if I could drive over the curb and park in the last remaining grass spot we could stay there, otherwise we had to drive about 2 kilometers back down the hill and park there. Well, I was able to get over the curb and park... It was a little unnerving as the front wheels were just shy of a drop off, but we made it. I originally wanted to start by 10 pm, we were off by 10:45.
The weather was perfect. There were a few clouds but no rain. The view was beautiful as we climbed. The moon was bright and so were the city lights below.
This course was shorter than the one that Liam and I climbed, but it was also steeper. Both Obayashi san and Sagawa san help up well until about the 9th station. That is when Sagawa san started to show signs of fatigue.
Like Liam, Sagawa san also crashed between the ninth and tenth station. He laid down on the rocks and looked dead. Since he is an adult, Obayashi san and I poked fun at him and before long we were on our way again.
Since we got a late start we regularly monitored the time to make sure we were on pace. In the end we arrived at the top at 4:04 am. Typical sunrise is 4:30 am so we had plenty of time to walk to the east side of the mountain and pick a spot to wait.
While waiting we got some of our snacks out to re-charge. Sagawa san purchased some chips at the bottom of the mountain. Due to the difference in air pressure at the top they looked like a balloon when he pulled them out of his pack.
There was a small ridge of clouds where the sun was rising, and so it took more time than last to actually see the sunrise. From the top we could see the curvature of the earth. Because Fuji is so much taller than everything around it feels like you are on the top of the world.
It was well worth the wait as it was beautiful. We almost got two sunrises, one at the bottom of the clouds and one above them.
After the sunrise we decided to walk around the crater to check out as much as we could before descending. On that walk we got to see Fuji's shadow cast on the ground below. I told Obayashi and Sagawa that I could see my own shadow at the top. I don't think they believed me. See for yourself....
We also stopped at the highest point on the mountain and consequently the highest point in Japan.
The view from there was incredible. I don't know where Utsunomiya is in relation from here, but it is possible to see Fuji from Utsunomiya so I am sure the other way is possible as well.
After our lap around the crater we headed back down toward the clouds.
We were all tired after the descent. This route uses the same route to climb as well as descend. That created a number of challenges and human traffic jams to deal with. This route was also pretty steep so that added to the challenge.
When we walked back to the car we found that someone had parked beside us, we thought our spot was the last remaining, and it should have been. This gentleman found out the hard way that although he could get into the spot he could not get out. There is a sharp drop at the front tire and he was stuck. Obayashi, Sagawa, and I decided to help push while the owner drove. We were able to get him out. He was so thankful he gave us a bunch of drinks to take home with us, I was just glad we could get him out. It looked a little scary as if the tires started to slip he would have been in for a terrible ride. Kind of reminded me of Gatlenburg years ago when someone almost drove off the edge of the road and we stopped to get them out.
That is all for this post, have a great week..
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