Christmas in Japan

After traveling in WA and OR in late Nov. and early Dec., we decided to celebrate Christmas at home this year. It was nice to start some of our own traditions for Christmas. Unfortunately, we didn't get our act together in time to get a Christmas tree. Luckily Ian is still young enough that he doesn't know what he's missing.

I found out this year that the Japanese celebrate Christmas by ordering KFC for Christmas day. Apparently you need to get there early on Christmas Eve to make sure you can get your order. Or, even better, a lot of people reserve their buckets o' chicken in advance. Oh my. Colonel Sanders has done a mighty fine advertising campaign in this country. We bypassed KFC and made Swedish meatballs and prime rib for our Christmas Eve and Christmas day meals this year.

We decided to spread the gift opening over 3 days. Here is Ian digging into his first Christmas gift:

He was so excited to ride his riding toy. In fact, he loaded all of his stuffed animals on the toy for a ride.

Then, he took it a step further. He tried to tie one of his pull toys onto the back of his riding toy.

Ian also received a MD kit for Christmas this year. (with the hopes that he'll freak out a little less the next time we see the MD)

I'm not sure if this will transfer to MD appointments, but he's enjoying giving check ups to all his stuffed animals in the meantime.

Take me out to the ball game

Just after Ian started walking we introduced him to his first taste of baseball. It was love at first sight...or at least giggling at first sight. After 2.5 months, I've finally got around to posting this video. Ian will thank us for this early introduction when he becomes a major league player in 20 years.

I'll let the video do the talking...

It's finally mikan season!

Last year we arrived at the mid-tail end of mikan season. Mikan are essentially satsuma oranges/tangerines...but even better. This year we went mikan picking with friends.

They have a special type of scissor that allows you to easily cut the stem.


The trees are pretty much our height, so it made for easy picking.

It also made it easy for Ian to walk underneath. I had to do a lot of ducking to keep up with him. Of course, he had a tendency to go for the moldy mikan on the ground.

Here is Ryan proudly displaying his basket (along with Tim smiling for the picture). We had a contest to see who could pick the smallest mikan. (typically the smallest mikan taste the best) Ryan was in first place for a while, but by the end of the day he dropped down to 3rd. There was also a contest to see how many mikan you could eat that day. I think Ryan's boss ate somwhere in the range of 12-15. That's dedication.



We came home with a lot of mikan...which is a little tricky when we're heading to the US in 1.5 weeks. You really can never have enough mikan, though, so we'll be fine.

Sankeien

Last weekend we checked out a park near Yokohama. (about a 25-30 min. drive from us) It definitely reminded us of Kyoto. We didn't quite time it right for the fall colors (we're just starting to see leaves turn), but it was still beautiful.

Here we're either people or fish watching. Between the koi in the pond and the people walking across the bridge there was never a dull moment.



You can see a ton of maples in the background. We'll have to visit again in about a month.

The park has a pagoda and 10-15 buildings that have been restored. Many of the buildings have been moved from other places (Kyoto, etc.) to be displayed in the park. Most of the buildings have a thatched roof.


Of course we needed a picture on the red bridge.


Ryan tried to pose Ian by this old fence door...and apparently this is what Ian thought about posing.


Ian was pretty much moving non-stop.

In one part of the park they had a flower display. Here is a man dead-heading with a pair of chopsticks.



I believe they're mostly chrysanthemums?


This is one of those places that you can go year-round and be guaranteed to see something new. (i.e. fall colors, flower displays, cherry blossoms, iris, etc.)

Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year. We went to parties on Fri. and Sat. nights, so we had plenty of time to celebrate. We did skip the actual trick or treating on base since Ian is still too young for candy and I have no self control with sweets.

Ian actually had two costumes this year. I wasn't sure if we'd get his Turkish costume in time, so we also had a back up.

Here are our 1950s costumes:


1.5 hours before our first Halloween party, Ryan still did not have his costume ready. He went to the local Japanese Goodwill to find a leather jacket a la Fonzie. He came home with a leather jacket a la Bill Cosby. It looked like it was straight out of the 1980s. I thought he was joking, but no, this was the jacket he picked out. Apparently he didn't watch enough Happy Days in his childhood. So...45 minutes before the party we made another trip to the Goodwill and found this jean jacket that actually fit. Whew!


Ian was practicing his "I'm too cool" look all night. It's hard to tell from the picture, but we had his hair slicked to the side. His comb-over hair worked perfect for the 1950s style.



Yes, my hot pink skirt had an actual poodle on it.


For party number two, Ian sported his Turkish costume. It came with a hat, but the hat was off within 5 seconds of putting it on. Ryan somehow managed to catch him right before he took it off:


Ian loved the costume, though. Who wouldn't when you look this good?


At the parties there were a lot of great costumes. Here are a couple of my favorites:


The Anthony family went as characters from Peter Pan. Hallie made all the costumes. Brilliant! (the Crocodile is also an Ian - he's 3 months younger than our Ian)

The Putaansuus went as Minions from the movie "Despicable Me." I haven't seen the movie yet, but the costumes are impressive.

Hike on Miura Peninsula

Today we hiked with Ryan's boss and his wife to the highest point on the Miura Peninsula. (the peninsula we live on) It was a gorgeous fall day and a beautiful hike.

The hike started out at a creek and was lined with bamboo.




Although it looks like Ian wasn't having a fun time in this picture, he actually did great and was singing or talking for most of the hike. Isn't his hair sweet?


There was a tower at the top with 360 degree views. Beautiful!


...and even better...there was a cat at the top to chase. Did I mention that you can also drive to the top and there's a vending machine and a place to get coffee? Luckily it's a beautiful route otherwise I would have been annoyed.

Crawling vs. walking

Last Friday Ian spotted another little girl at the park. It turns out that she is only 1 month older than Ian. He started off walking towards her, but then realized that crawling was much faster. So, while she was walking her dog around the park Ian crawled after her. Ian has yet to learn that crawling is not too impressive to the ladies.


However, Ian quickly found a new love...the sandbox.

In fact, when she came over to join him he started walking away. This is Ian's new way of walking - hands in the air.

Day Hike to Mt. Kuratake

A week and a half ago I went hiking West of Tokyo with a couple of Ryan's coworkers. All three of us were supposed to go, but Ian started getting sick the day before the hike. While Ryan stayed at home cuddling our feverish boy (thanks, Ryan!), I headed out into the country. It was about a 2.5 hour train ride from our house. The best part about the hike was that it was a loop. We started at one train station and ended at another.

Here is a torii gate near the entrance of the hike:



This is the view from the top. It was a gorgeous day and so nice to see some views. On clear days you can see Fuji at the top. Surprise, surprise...she alluded me this time. (it's actually pretty hard to see Fuji, especially this time of year) I guess that's reason to return.



There were about 15-20 people at the top. If you look closely, you'll see that this guy actually brought his cook stove with him in his day pack. He used it to make cup 0' noodles. I couldn't believe he trekked up with his cook stove in his day pack...all for noodles! The Japanese do love their gear.




It was great to get a taste for the hillside. Now I'm working on finding a time for us to head to the Japanese Alps.

Day at the Beach

Earlier this month we finally made our way down to the end of our peninsula for a day at the beach. (about a 25-45 min. drive depending on traffic) In July and August the beaches are crowded during official beach season. They actually set up temporary buildings right on the beach that serve food. Depending on the location, some beaches have quite the scene of young, good looking people dancing to music.

When Japanese people go to the beach they bring everything but the kitchen sink. Most families will have a tent to provide shade from the sun, a large vinyl sheet to sit on, their own BBQ, and a cooler to store food and drinks. When we went to the beach we brought an umbrella (for shade), towels, and a bucket and rake for Ian. We have a lot to learn from the Japanese.

We made our trip after the official beach season, so it was definitely more low key.

Here Ian and Ryan are checking out the waves:



As they got closer to the water Ian wasn't so sure he wanted to actually get in the water.


He was much more content to play in the sand. (and reach for the camera with his sand-filled hands)

Mommy Juice

Earlier this year Ryan and I had a wine and cheese party. One of our friends brought the following to the party:






That's right, it's wine in a juice box container. Now I can send Ian to play in the park while I relax on a bench and sip some of my 'Mommy Juice Box.' Or, better yet, I can give this to Ian on an upcoming flight to help relax him to sleep and no one will know the difference. Brilliant! I must admit I haven't actually tried it yet. It's hard to imagine that wine in a juice box could actually taste good. ...but I like the possibility.

Ian's Walker

Ian is 15.5 months old right now and is still not walking. I'm thankful that he wasn't walking for our recent flights to/from Minnesota, but since we don't have any flights in the near future now is a prime time for him to start. ...except for the fact that he really isn't interested in walking. He'd prefer to climb up stairs and furniture rather than walk.

So, we decided to get him a walker to give him a little encouragement. We found this 'Kata Kata' walker at a used clothing/goods store for 200 yen. (about $2.50) Perfect! Ian loves it. I'm not sure that this will get him any closer to walking on his own, but who cares. He'll walk when he is ready. For now, he can enjoy using his walker to get him where he needs to go.


The walker came with 3 dogs that move up and down as Ian pushes the walker, but 2 of the dogs tend to fall off all the time. So, he spends most of his time taking the blue dog for a stroll.

Natsu-Matsuri

The day after we arrived home I stopped by our local French bakery. I always chat a bit with the woman behind the counter. (although with her limited English and my limited Japanese it's usually a short conversation) She told me about a festival that was happening that weekend. Based on our conversation I knew it was taking place between 2-3 on Sunday and it was located at our grocery store, Seiyu.

So, I showed up to the grocery store just before 2 and observed the celebration. According to our Japanese instructor, the Japanese have a lot of Natsu-matsuri (Summer Festivals) in August. Each community has their own festival. During the day, they carry the Mikoshi (a portable shrine) in the neighborhood and in the evening they have Bon-odori (Bon dancing) in the park. Mikoshi parades are held to pray for the good health of the people who live in the neighborhood.

This picture below shows people carrying a Mikoshi. They were dancing and chanting in place.



Here are a couple close ups of one of the Mikoshi:




This festival also had floats with drummers and flutes. Here are some boys drumming (I somehow managed to take the picture right as they were in the middle of the strokes, I guess, as it looks like they're not doing anything):


After the festival was over the floats were carried back to the neighborhoods. This man below helped to direct traffic:

A pose like this is definitely meant to stop traffic!

...and it only gets better...


I ran into Ryan's boss at the festival and he said he's seen this man at numerous celebrations. I think he relishes his role of jester for the day.

Here are a couple short videos of the day. Let me know if they don't work.