All Tokyo Posts Are UP!

Yes, that's right--all entries about Tokyo have been typed up and posted! For your convenience, here's a quick link and list:

Day One: Arrival
Day Two: Oedo Flea Market and Akihabara
Day Three: Tsukiji, Tokyo Imperial Palace, and Shibuya
Day Four: Harajuki
Day Five: Kamakura
Day Six: Ghibli Museum and Sensoji
Day Seven: Museum Madness

In other news today, I hung out with my host family today. For lunch, Okaasan made squid ink pasta. And we played around making balloons and then we went out to an onsen. So much fun!

First you make pasta, then you add squid ink

And then your teeth get all black!

Otousan was the master of making balloons!

And when the balloons popped, some of them were big enough for Hina to wear as a hat!

Photo Dump!

So, during the time period of B.C. (Broken Camera, and we're still in this era!), I used the camera attached to my phone to take some pictures. Of course, these pictures were stuck on my phone until I had the time to email them to my computer.

So, without further ado, please take a look at some of the adventures I went on with Okaasan!

First off, on November 26, Okaasan and I went to a nearish shrine that was famous for...healing cancer, I believe? Famous for cancer? I can't remember exactly what Okaasan told me, and I didn't quite understand it all when she told me. Anyways, here are some shots from the shrine. What I remember standing out the most to me was the turtle garden, filled with turtles.

The Main Entrance

The Shrine Bells--first you make a donation, then you ring the bell by shaking the rope, then you pray

It's the turtle garden!

The turtle garden is also a shrine to a Water God!

Then I got the opportunity to go to Osaka-jou (also known as Osaka Castle). I think Okaasan just wanted to drive (she likes driving around), because the park was absolutely too far to walk in the time limit I had, but I managed to take some far off pictures of the castle as well lots of pictures of the gorgeous leaves.

The building rising in the background is Osaka-jou

The ginko trees (called inchou in Japanese) were a delicious buttery yellow golden color that was a feast for the eyes

The setting sun highlighted the autumn leaves in a perfectly lovely way, I think

The colors were gorgeous. Some of the colors were highlighted by being taken though my rose-tinted glasses.

Sorry these are late, but I finally had time to load them all up! And can you believe that the Osaka-jou pictures are from December 4th?!

Kansai region...your seasons amaze this Wisconsinite.

Kyoto and Machi!

So, Machi and I made a return trip to Kyoto so she could see the shrine we went to in the daylight!

Of course, we also went shopping!

We walked around the shopping district of Gion where we perused through many different shops, including a musical store! I got some cute magnets that are shaped like traditional Japanese confectioneries (called wagashi).

Top: Ichigo Daifuku, letter thingie, Namagashi Bottom: Almond Jelly, Mochi Usagi, Sakura Mochi

I also got some magnets of my favorite character from the movie, My Neighbor Totoro (seen pictured on the back of a candy tin).

And I also found this awesome button: what's best about it is that the turtle is the Beloit College mascot and the colors are as well!

Then we headed back to Yasaka-jinja where we took a look at the amazing architecture (there are photos in the previous posts, so I don't feel bad for not taking more) and had fun buying daruma. Since the New Year celebrations last for six days, there was still a matsuri going on with lots and lots of stalls. That's where we bought our daruma.

But what are daruma, you ask. Daruma are only the most fun things ever. Religions mix and meld in Japan, which is why you can find dolls of the Buddhist monk Daruma at a Shinto shrine. Daruma was a very devout monk who meditated for so long that his arms and legs withered and fell off.

 

Today, daruma dolls are used to signify accomplishing a goal--when you have a goal, you color in one eye and when you complete it, you color in the other eye. Why do you do this? Because daruma dolls can never fall over~!

It can never fall over~! That's what the daruma is all about!

There will be more posts this week! I swear it!

Cranes, Kittens, and Turtles, Oh My!

So, at the Center, each year we have a pair of cranes who raise chicks near the pond. And this year, we also found a snapping turtle--the largest ever seen here! And in addition, cute kitten pictures! I also came up with a new logo for this site...perhaps my paltry web design skills can help me apply this to the actual blog formatting!

So, first we take a look at the cranes, both parents and their baby.

You can tell a baby Sandhill crane from its parents by its sandy plumage (see above) and the absence of the red head patch.

And next comes the snapping turtle. She weighed around 20 pounds! That's extremely big for a turtle. The naturalists at the Center think she was coming inland to lay her eggs. What a terrible idea! At the time, we were under construction.

 Doesn't she look like some prehistoric dinosaur or something? It's amazing how little has changed this millions of years for reptiles.

Next come my adorable kittens! This batch is from my current favorite cat, Puma. Her kittens include Dante (black), Wispy (black and white), and Lieutenant Cupcake Sprinkles (fluffy, white, and grey).

Here's Wispy on the wall.

And a close-up!

 Here's Wispy and Dante on the wall.

And here's Lt. Cupcake. Now there's a funny story about a name. Originally we thought that Cupcake was a girl, hence the name. And it fit well, very well for him. And then we found out Cupcake's gender. Rather than waste a perfectly good name, I decided to tack a "Lt." in front of in, in honor of Lt. Cupcake from the Star Trek 2009 movie. Rather than being impressed by my naming creativity, my family deemed me a nerd. I feel that I must concur wholeheartedly. And I love Star Trek. :D

More entries and pictures to come, hopefully sooner rather than later!