Purikura

Karlee and I promised ourselves that we would take photos in a purikura booth before she headed back to Canada. These photo booths can be found in malls and shopping centers all over Japan and can do more than just take your picture. They usually make your eyes look bigger, your skin and hair lighter, and make your complexion look fantastic. There are different levels of enhancement, with some making you look like an anime character and some that are not far from normal. You can also embellish your photos with little stars, sparkles, and cute phrases.


We decided to go for the booth with the most outrageous photos pictured on them. In the mall that we went to, there was even a nook where you could do your make up and hair. No, I did not bring the hair curler with me. They had curlers and straighteners for people to use. It costs 450 yen (about 6$ Canadian) for one photo session which takes about 6 photos and prints you off a few sheets of photo stickers. If I had access to purikura when I was 14, I would have whittled all my allowance away.


Here is a selection of the fantastic shots that we took:

Sweet Sorrow

We said a sad farewell to Karlee yesterday. She has been with us for a month and a half and it has been completely wonderful. The kids absolutely love their auntie and will certainly have a lot less attention showered on them now that she is gone. I will also have to fold my own laundry and wash dishes a lot more often.

Thanks to Karlee, we have seen and done more than I thought was possible in the short amount of time I have been in Japan. She helped me adjust to life here and stave off all of those moments of loneliness and culture shock that I surely would have felt. Her energy and enthusiasm supported me in discovering the nooks and crannies of our city and trying out all the new things we found. There aren't many people that I would be happy to be around day and night for seven weeks, but I didn't feel like sending her back once.

Karlee, we have all been very spoiled by your presence!

Miyajima Continued

After a quick exploratory walk around the town, we were able to find a small grocery store where we bought breakfast. We found a small shrine nearby that miraculously didn't have any deer wandering about and we ate our breakfast without being harassed.

Theo, attracting a few weird looks while finishing his breakfast

The tide was low, so after breakfast we headed over to the Itsukushima Shrine to take a closer look at the huge torii gate. There were coins placed as an offering into all of the small tidal pools surrounding the torii and imbedded into the base of the pillars. Theo was very interested in all of the little invertebrates that were in the tidal pools. There were crabs of all sizes, hermit crabs, snails, and I am sure lots of other creatures crawling around.

Dustin, the kids, and I beneath the torii at low tide

Offering money imbedded amongst the barnacles on the torii

Theo exploring the tidal flats

Karlee and William with the torii

Mid afternoon as the tide came in

After we had our fill of gawking at the shrine and torii, we found a much less crowded beach and let Theo swim and play the beach. It was a very sunny day so our skin could only handle a couple of hours on the beach before needing to seek shade.

Theo enjoyed making all sorts of jewelry out of seaweed

He also spent a good hour pretending that he was riding around on a jet ski

Theo made a birthday cake out of bits and pieces he found on the beach. Sand cake with seaweed frosting, snails, shells, glass and pine cone decorations and bamboo candles. Here he is blowing out the candles after singing "Happy Birthday" to himself.

We spent the rest of the day wandering the shopping streets and trying out various regional foods. Some local specialties that we nibbled on were salt water eel (anago) cakes, oysters, and deep fried momiji manju. Momiji manju is a specialty in Hiroshima prefecture and is a maple leaf shaped little cake filled with sweet red bean, custard, cream cheese, sweet green tea paste, chocolate, or a lot of other fillings. There were quite a few shops in Miyajima that made their manju fresh with an awesome machine. Some places even sold them battered and deep fried on a stick. It was heavenly.

The momiji manju machine in  action

Taunting William with the sweet goodness of custard filled, deep fried momiji manju

The torii at sunset

We had really wanted to hike the mountain on the island, which has bands of wild monkeys living on it, but since we decided to not spend one more sleepless night on the island, we didn't have time. We headed back to the mainland on the last ferry and had a long and tiring train ride back to Fukuyama.

Myooin Temple

The path we took beside the Ashida River

It has been almost an entire month since we have arrived in Japan, and I have been trying to keep Karlee, the kids and I fairly busy every day and weekend. I don't want Karlee to get back to Canada and feel like she spent a month and a half sitting around our apartment putting up with our kids. I have been trying to find all of the must see touristy spots that are in and around our city and plan little day trips to check them out. Because of this, I really feel like I have been on vacation for a month.

One of our little treks last week was to the Myooin Temple which is just across the Ashida River at the south end of town. There is actually a whole Shinto shrine/Buddhist temple complex in the area, so we just wandered from one to the other and enjoyed all of the beautiful buildings, cool architecture, and great statues. Here are some of the sights we saw:

The red, double peaked bridge that we crossed to the temple grounds

Once inside, we discovered the extremely friendly temple kitty. Theo showered her with all the attention she could have ever asked for.

We also found a fantastic and huge praying mantis. It was about 20 cm. long.

The small Temizu basin at the first temple

William enjoying everything from the confines of his stroller

The five storey pagoda is the fifth oldest in Japan.

The Temizu basin at the next shrine was an awesome metal dragon with water coming from its mouth.

A wider view of the last Shinto shrine that we visited. 

It was a swelteringly hot and humid day and we were all very sticky and thirsty by the time we walked back to the apartment. All in all a great day!

Up a Hidden Hill

Last week there was a day that was relatively cool, or at least below 30° C, so Karlee and I decided to go explore the larger of our neighbourhood's shrines.

There are a few small ones scattered about randomly on the sides of the roads, but this one was quite a bit bigger and more elaborate.

The tiny little shrine at the end of our street

We found it tucked away at the top of a hill covered in trees and completely invisible from the road. There are a steep set of stone steps that disappear into the trees and take you to the top of the hill.

Halfway up, Theo discovered a little path leading through the bamboos that he insisted we walk down.

Twenty mosquito bites later, we emerged from the trees at a small graveyard on the hillside.

After checking out the graveyard, we continued to the top of the steps and found the torii gate at the entrance of the shrine.

There was another set of steps beyond this with a rope stretched between pillars to symbolize a separation between the physical and spiritual world.

There were two protective lion statues placed on either side at the top of the final staircase.

The temizu basin, for purifying your hands, looked like it could use a good bit of purifying itself.

Finally, at the summit was the shrine. 

We were the only ones there for the hour that we spent looking around. This is one of the few areas that I have found grass growing, and it looked as though there were picnicking spots near the torii. I was glad to have found such a quiet and peaceful spot just minutes from our place. 

Departures and Arrivals

Karlee in the deserted Beijing airport

We landed in the tan haze of smog that enveloped Beijing last Wednesday morning tired but very ready to get off the plane. We noticed as soon as we arrived that people did not follow the same general courtesy that we were used to when it came to waiting in lines. We couldn't maneuver very fast with stroller and bags, so everybody slipped in front of us while we tried to get on an elevator to the departure gates. This happened for three elevator loads until we were the last people waiting and we finally could get on without people pushing past. I was tired and irritable and this encounter made me anything but happy to be in China at that moment.

Trying to see Beijing through the haze

The airport was huge and there was virtually no one around. It was only about 6 am, so that might have explained it, but we had to search to find anyone who could tell us where our next flight was leaving from. When we finally got there, we discovered that we were on the second floor and our gate was on the first and of course the elevator was broken. We searched around for another elevator and failed desperately at trying to ask someone where another could be found. Our plane was already boarding so we finally hauled two sleeping kids, four carry-ons and a stroller down an escalator that conveniently had a row of bars across the opening so that strollers and carts could not be brought down it. We hopped onto the shuttle bus in the last possible minute and William woke up and started to scream. Not just feed me cries, but full on tortured screams. This is about when Karlee and my resolve started to fall apart. There was no way we were going to be able to carry a sleeping Theo, a screaming baby, fold up a stroller, and carry four carry-ons up the stairs onto the plane. Lucky for us, four strangers came to our aid in our moment of need. They spoke fluent English, which was a bonus, but they folded our stroller and shouldered our carry-ons for us. We found out that they were from Hiroshima so they actually continued to help us until we arrived in Japan. We never would have made it out of China without their help.

Shortly before Theo unravelled

The shrieking William and I were making our way to our seats, which were of course at the far back of the plane. I had a large purse strapped over one shoulder and a camera bag over the other as well as a backpack on with a blanket stuffed into the front straps. As I made my way down the aisle, I was hitting each person on either side of me with my bags and assaulting their ears with baby screams. Karlee, who was walking behind me, told me later that I was also slapping everyone with my blanket which had come partially loose. I really didn't feel sorry for anyone else but Karlee and myself at that moment.

Sleeping soundly

We made a stop in Dalian, and of course were made to go through immigration and security and then get right back on the same plane. This time William was sleeping soundly and Theo was crying. As we were boarding the plane, he gripped the doorway and sobbed that he couldn't walk to his seat because he was too tired. For dramatic emphasis he sagged into a sobbing heap half in and half out of the airplane. The stewardesses just watched in disapproval as I tried to drag him down the aisle to our seats.

Two hours later we arrived in Hiroshima airport and were pleasantly surprised with its tiny size, the friendly and helpful immigration and customs officers, and best of all, Dustin, waiting for us at the end.

First glimpse of Japan

When we finally got to our apartment, it was 3 am Winnipeg time and Karlee and I had not slept for about 48 hours. We managed to all shower, change our clothes, and lay out the futons. Dustin tried to make us supper, but by the time the rice was finished he discovered us all completely asleep. Unfortunately the kids woke up at 4 am and continued to do so for almost a week, but any sleep was good at that point. We are so glad to be finally home in Japan!

The Long Road Home

We have finally arrived alive and relatively sane to Fukuyama. We have actually been here for two full days now, but the flight here was pretty grueling and combined with jet lag I was in no mood to blog about it initially.

For lack of a relevant picture: a stone Anpanman

We left from Winnipeg on Monday evening and first flew to Vancouver. This was a good flight since we were all well rested and still excited about the trip. The kids were great and I was under the delusion that maybe the whole trip would be like this. We then waited in Vancouver for 7 hours before our next flight. Since I had booked my tickets online, they weren't able to issue me a ticket for William until I showed up at the airport in Vancouver. I am not sure why booking an infant ticket is so complicated, but I stood at the Air China desk from 10:30 pm until almost 2 am while they tried to add him. I was started to get a bit anxious about our 3 am flight by this time and as soon as the ticked was booked we rushed our way through security and to our gate. This sounds much less complicated than it was, since both kids were fast asleep but needed to be taken out of the stroller and pass through the metal detector by themselves. We arrived at our gate with tired, crying kids just as they started boarding. Once on the plane Karlee and I realized how incredibly tired we were ourselves but the stewardesses felt the need to keep the lights on glaringly bright and do "helpful" little things for us every 10 minutes, like offering us drinks, more blankets for the kids, reaching across us all and shutting our window blind, and of course asking questions about the boys. By the time they turned the lights off and stopped constantly bothering us, the kids were once again awake and we didn't have the option to sleep. Theo and William good for the most part considering how long the flight was, and it was only in the last 4 hours that Theo told me he didn't really want to be on the plane anymore.

Just love this gal

At this point I need to draw attention to how truly amazing Karlee is. She didn't complain once about the terrible flight times, long waits, Theo asking questions every waking moment, heavy carry-ons and crying baby. She never took the lighter load unless forced to and was always willing to deal with my cranky kids even when I am sure she would have much rather been trying to sleep. Most amazingly, she never snapped at any of us and continued to be friendly and positive long after most people would have burst into tears or killed all three of us. We absolutely never would have made it to Japan without her.

Our adventures in China to follow...

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Since finding out where we are heading to in Japan I decided to go ahead and book plane tickets for the boys and myself. Dustin had heard that it is possible to get cheaper tickets through the travel agent who books all of the JET flights, so he popped them off an email while I did some independent investigations. The travel agent quoted us at 2,700$ to fly into Hiroshima. I am pretty proud that I managed to book them myself (through Expedia.ca) for only 1,500$.

Theo loving the airplanes

It really helps that we are flexible in our arrival date. If we were going to Tokyo orientation with Dustin, it would have doubled the cost of our tickets (on top of what even the travel agent quoted us). Just one more reason to bide our time in the 'Tob. I didn't want to remain in Manitoba too terribly long though, so our flight leaves on August 22nd. It is a very indirect flight, I am sure that this is part of the reason that it is so much cheaper, and we will be flying from Winnipeg to Vancouver, Vancouver to Beijing, Beijing to Dalian, and then finally from Dalian to Hiroshima. The layovers aren't insanely long (not like some of the 20 hour + layovers that I have had to put up with in the past) so I am sure that we will get to Japan with two tired, but at least living, children. I have heard from a frequent flier of Air China, who will be our carrier, that the breakfast and lunch they serve is creepy at best, but the supper is o.k. It is just our luck that we will be flying through breakfast and lunch hours and not during supper. I suppose Karlee and I like a bit of culinary adventure, Theo eats anything, and William has me, his portable food of choice.

I was surprised to find that we actually had to pay for William's ticket even though he will be sitting on my lap. He is only adding about 18 lbs. to the weight of the plane, and won't be eating any of their snacks or interesting meals, so I am not really sure why we should be paying. On the other hand, I found out that Theo's ticket is only 75% of the price of an adult ticket even though he gets his own seat, so I guess it all evens out in the end.


Meanwhile, Dustin won't have to share a bed with the baby and I, put up with Theo's noise and breakdowns, and my badgering. How will he survive for 3 weeks without us?