Hiroshima

On Wednesday afternoon, we hopped on the shinkansen even further south to Hiroshima. The weather was great, so we were going to walk to the Peace Park, but Adam saw the streetcars and had to ride. Once we got to the Peace Park, we enjoyed the river and the open space (open for Japan, anyway).

A nice view of the A-Bomb Dome (ruins of the former Industrial Promotion Hall, left as a visual reminder of the death and destruction caused by the atomic bomb).

The Children's Peace Memorial.

The memorial is surrounded by paper cranes made and sent to Hiroshima from children around the world.

A view of the Memorial Cenotaph (the Museum is behind you) - you can see the Eternal Flame and then the A-Bomb Dome through the cenotaph.

The Peace Park is filled with roses sent from all over the world.

Another view of the A-Bomb Dome with the azaleas in bloom.

On our walk back to the hotel, we found a real steam engine outside the Children's Museum. You could climb in and "drive." Adam and Lottie were very excited.

For dinner, we were determined to eat okonomiyaki (a Japanese omlet of sorts - it's cabbage, meat, possibly noodles, with egg, all fried up on a grill, with a sauce poured on top). Okonomiyaki is a Hiroshima specialty. We found two places in the train station that served it.

It was delicious!

Fushimi-Inari Shrine

On Wednesday morning, we had some time before we caught our afternoon shinkansen, so we decided to visit Fushimi-Inari Shrine. None of us had been there before, but it's one of the few places in Kyoto that they actually shot "Memoirs of a Geisha." We saw a monk before even heading in.

People used to come to pray for success in farming, but now come to pray for business success and prosperity. We saw a lot of business cards left at the shrines. Fushimi-Inari Shrine was was founded in 711 and is dedicated to the goddess of rice (rice was collected as taxes during the shogun era). The 4km (2 1/2-mile) pathway behind the shrine is lined with more than 10,000 red torii, which are all donated. There were also a bunch of stone foxes, which are considered messengers of the gods.

This was the second set of torii (gates), which were so close together, they form a tunnel.

Most shrines in Japan sell wooden placards, upon which you can write your wish. The placards here were foxes with blank faces, which you could decorate.

More torii.

After getting not even halfway, we hit a pond. Adam was very interested in the koi and turtles.

More wish-writing placards, shaped like torii. We enjoyed the shrine - I can see why they chose to film a movie here. After enjoying a nice hike through the gates (although we didn't make it more than halfway), we headed back for our shinkansen to Hiroshima.
Picture from "Memoirs of a Geisha."

Kyoto

On May 5, we took another shinkansen to Kyoto. After dropping off our bags, we took the (crowded, because of Golden Week) bus to Ginkakuji, the Golden Pavilion. It's covered in six layers of gold leaf and surrounded by gardens.
The irises were in bloom - beautiful.

You could buy candles and charms to cure almost anything.

Mom grabbed a free sample of some tea. Turns out it was sakura (cherry blossom tea) with real gold leaf in it. That sounded good in theory, but the Japanese add SALT to it. It was gross.

On our way to Kinkakuji, the Silver Pavilion, we saw some cute carnation "dogs" that the Japanese sell for Mother's Day.

Kinkakuji is an exact, but smaller replica of the Gold Pavilion, in wood. It's famous for its zen garden, one of the three most beautiful in Japan. The Japanese are fond of naming the top three of most anything. This cone is supposed to represent Mount Fuji.

The azaleas at Kinkakuji were great.

The view of the zen garden from the mountain. The Silver Pavilion is on the left.

Then we headed to Kiyomizu Temple. This is Jishu Shrine, home to the god of love.

View of Kiyomizu Temple. It was a cloudy day, but we managed to avoid most of the rain. We ate dinner at McDonald's (Adam's decision), then crashed for the night.

Shin Yokohama

We left for our trip to Kyoto from Shin-Yokohama station - the closest shinkansen stop to our house. Adam has always had a great time running around in this area of the station before we go up to the platform to board the train. Lottie now gets her chance too.

Zama Giant Kite Festival

On Monday, May 4, we went to the Zama

Giant Kite Festival. We took the bus (first time in this area for that), and met up with our sweet Japanese teacher. We got off at the kite museum, and looked at the kite from last year. Yes, it is huge. They are 13 meters square across and weigh 900 kg. They make a new kite every year!

There were also kites from around the world displayed on the second floor.
We had a nice walk through the rice fields until we got to the river. They had a smaller kite as well as the large kite. There were actually three cities having kite festivals all right next to each other. Apparently, it's a competition to get your kite up first, then to see who can keep their kite up the longest.

Families had big tents set up to spend the day. This family had a great setup - tent, long tables, and padded mats to sit on.

Before they launched the kite, you could get your picture taken in front of it. Lottie was, of course, asleep.

Since it was almost Boys' Day (May 5), they had a huge string of carp (koi).

Once Lottie woke up, she enjoyed all the people and the taiko drumming.

We got there in plenty of time to set up some blankets and pick out some yummy food. I especially liked the mini potatoes grilled up with lots of butter and served with extra butter and some corn. I'm not sure why I needed the corn, but it was good! The kite wranglers then started to launch the kite. The first time didn't work, but the second time did.

The giant kite in the air.

Misawa, Day Four

On Sunday, we took a quick trip out to the Tonami Clan Memorial Tourist Village. It's a park, historic farm, and museum, all in one. We let the kids run around and enjoyed the flowers. The daffodils were in full bloom!

Grandpa and Adam loved driving the go cart. Adam especially liked to go fast.

After we had already bought the ticket to ride the pony, they informed us that Adam was too small to ride the pony. This, after the go cart operators were perfectly willing to let the two year old drive the go cart by himself. Oh well. We managed to talk them into letting him sit on the pony to have his picture taken.

Lottie enjoyed the playground.

There was a lone cherry tree, but it was beautiful. Guess the snow hadn't killed all the blossoms.

Adam and Lottie had to sit on the horse statues before we left. Then we had to run back to Outdoor Rec to return our van before heading back to Tokyo on the train. It was fun to see where the grandparents had lived (long, long ago, ha ha), and we were amazed that some of the buildings were still there. The grandparents agreed that Misawa is very different now (almost everything off-post had changed), but we had a great time.

Misawa, Day Three

We decided to drive to Lake Towada on Saturday, instead of going to Hirosaki for the cherry blossoms (on the assumption that the semi-freak snow storm had killed most of them). The kids did well on the drive considering that they aren't very used to long drives anymore. Everyone enjoyed the water, although it was breezy and a little cold.

We found a scenic overlook on the other side of the lake. Adam and Lottie had fun with Grandma on the platform.

See the snow on the mountain; but it was also down near the lake.

A thatched roof - used to be common out in the country. This was one of only two we saw.

Chris and Dad enjoyed a local brew at lunch.

Only in Japan would women think that heels are appropriate hiking footwear.

A waterfall in Oirase Gorge.

Adam and Grandpa climbed onto a giant rock to get this shot. Adam also collected a giant volcanic rock that I then had to carry around the rest of the trip. Thanks, Grandpa!