I Think I'm Going Japanese-a

Greetings from Japan!!!!

I arrived at Narita Airport in Japan on Thursday night at 6PM. My parents had landed a few hours before me, from their flight from SFO, and were waiting for me in the arrival area. After talking to my sister on Wednesday morning, I had this feeling she would be there also. Unfortunatly she recently got laid off from her job, but I thought that might mean she would be able to tag along when my parents came to visit. She had said some fishy things when I talked to her....like mentioning a vacation she was going on and then seemingly covering up quickly with a clever story and also asking if "we" would eat at the restaurants in Tianjin that Per and I frequent. But alas, when I walked out of the arrival gate it was only Allen and Lena. I was of course SO excited to see them, but how could I have been so wrong about my feeling Diana would also be coming? I began to tell my mom about my feeling that Diana would come and all the reasons why...when...TADA! Diana appeared behind me!!!! What a wonderful surprise!!!!! And what a GREAT start to our wonderful Japan/China trip!

We headed to our hotel in Shinigawa, I LOVE traveling with the parents because we are staying in an AMAZING place, and decided that despite their serious desire to sleep, the desire to eat was greater. We went ot a Japanese "pub" in our building. They had an interstingly translated English menu, and to your delight (?) a very interesting appetizer which only my dad ate.

Dad eating some sea snails:

Mom, Diana and I:

With our first meal complete, and very successful, we headed home for some rest in our gorgeous hotel room.

In the morning we had a few hours to do some tourist-ing before my dad's collegue and his wife, who live and work in Japan, were going to pick us up to travel to another city. We decided that visting a shrine and the near by Harajuku shopping district would be a great afternoon trip.

We headed by train north-west to the Meiji Jingu shrine. We were very lucky here because not only was it a gorgeous place, but they were also having an ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement) display, some traditional weddings, and an adorable family taking pictures in traditional clothing.

The two cutest little kids!

After the shrine, we headed into a really cool part of Harajuku called Takeshita Street. If you have heard of Gwen Stefani, you know that she is really into "Harajuku girls". For the most party, these girls dress really extreme. Think tutus and knee highs and crazy hair.

Some school girls shopping on Takeshita Street:

In addition to the extreme shopping was some more ordinary stores, including H&M which I will have to go back and visit before I leave Japan! :)

We headed back to the hotel to meet with Raiko and Koichi (sorry if I miss-spelled their names) and drove to Hakone for the next two nights.

The place we stayed at in Hakone was a traditional Japanese style home with a hot bath area as well. When we arrived we took a look at our rooms and then went to have our first really traditional Japanese dinner. Really traditional Japanese food is SO far from anything we eat in the United States. The people that find sushi otlandish would be SHOCKED to see what you can be served at a traditional meal in Japan. They eat A LOT of fish, all parts of it and in all forms. They eat them whole, they eat their livers, they eat their bones...I don't think they waste anything. They also love tofu in all its shapes and forms, sweet potatos in every way imaginable, and miso soup in different ways.

The first thing we were served (clockwise and starting with the seperate bowl): cream cheese with a sweet sauce and gold flakes, mackerel sushi (very fishy taste), a ball of sweet potato (I do not love sweet potato), pickeled ginger stick, and eggplant.

The meal was REALLY long, with tons fo food, and more and more strange things to eat. I can totally understand how if you grew up eating that food you would love it, but for a westerner like me (and my family) it was difficult to eat two nights in a row and for two breakfasts (which I will discuss later). But it was a GREAT experience, and I'm really happy we had the chance to eat foods like this. It was a true Japanese experience that most poeple don't get to have when they visit Japan as tourists.

The room we stayed in was like a traditional Japanese house, a roukan. We slept on tatami mats on the floor! Because the place was near a hot spring, they also had a public bath, which Diana and I went to the first night there. They gave us traditional looking robes to wear in our room and up to the baths!

Diana and I in our robes (probably doing something "sacrilegious"):


Mom and Dad in their robes:


The following morning we wole up and prepared for a day of sightseeing with a traditional Japanese breakfast....a lot like dinner.

Breakfast: tofu with onions and soy sauce, white rice, pickeled re-hydrated radish, fish, sweet potato with something else in it, seaweed paper, egg and tofu block, miso soup, other pickeled type veggies, tea, salty/sweet plums, candied mini fish, and wasabi/soy milk paste.

No bacon and eggs at this place! Egg McMuffin please?!

We headed up the mountain in a gondola to see the hot springs and the amazing view. We had a slight glimpse of Mt. Fuji this day also, but it was hard to see.
At the hot springs, you could buy an egg boiled in hot spring water which turned the egg black. Eating one of these eggs adds seven days to your life, I opted to NOT eat the egg, forgo the extra seven days, and instead take a picture of the "Black Egg Hello Kitty":

We also visited a Japanese art museum, which mostly had some old ceramics. It also had a really pretty garden.
Me being a nerd in the garden:

After the museum, we ate pork sandies and headed home, rested a few hours, and ate our second traditional Japanese meal...it was the same types of foods as the day before...strange.
That night we decided to have some fun in our room. After being inspired by my bug like shape underneath the covers the night before, the family took individual photos being insects/turtle people.

My personal fav, mama turtle:

The next morning we woke up early, had a final Japanese breakfast, and headed back to Tokyo. On the way we stopped at a French glass museum with glass pieces from Lalique. Nice but...French glass in Japan?
We also saw Mt. Fuji. The snow probably ended up there the night before. The mountain was huge and very ominous, but a great sight to see!
We settled back into our hotel in Tokyo where we will stay for another three nights. Diana and I skipped adult dinner with my parents and Raiko and Koichi to eat some interesting Japanese/Asian delights from a deli nearby. Really yummy!

Family Henderson/Bocskai in Japan!!!!

Really looking forward to some bacon and toast and cheese and potatos for breakfast tomorrow!!!!!