Hawaii

I guess we can't stay away from Hawaii for too long. Erik landed a business trip to Hawaii, so I took the opportunity to meet him there! It only took 6.5 hours from Japan (somehow the return trip took 10 hours!).


We also can't resist hiking. Yet again, I found myself hiking in a skirt. Maybe I could publish a guide to hiking in style.

Lyons Arboretum was next to the Manoa Falls trail and so we got in two hikes. All of the hiking pictures are from the arboretum...I think.

For some reason, there were roosters all over the place. The flora in Hawaii is breathtakingly beautiful. I guess that is in contrast to the fauna (sorry rooster).

Hawaii does get chilly in the winter. Rachel and I were a little braver then Stephen and Erik and managed to do a little snorkeling. Hawaii was even more enjoyable having my wittle sissy around.

Both pictures are views from our hotel rooms. The first room we had overlooked the city and the second the beach. Both were spectacular!

Kawaguchiko

Wow! Fuji is cool from our balcony, but it's even more spectacular up close. We opted to take the train there and got an all day bus pass that circled lake Kawaguchiko. It was a cold weekday, so we didn't have to fight off many tourists.

We had the option of an entire fish grilled on a stick or a hot dog for lunch. We went for the hot dog and boy was it good. I guess either way we ended up eating some internal organs.

This is mochi pounding. Erik usually doesn't like mochi so he was pleasantly surprised by how good fresh steaming hot mochi is. We accidentally fell in with a tour group and played the foreigner card to get some homemade soup as well!

Hamura Zoo

Since we had to leave our piggy behind in the U.S., you can see why we like this zoo! Thanks for taking us Sakurako, Sorae, and Willie.

Is it terrible that this picture of William makes Erik and I laugh? He's just so cute. The machine didn't have the drink he had his heart set on...can you blame him for being upset?

Just posted this one to balance out the crying picture.

I also went to the zoo with Meighan. The little boy just jumped in the picture with her.

Who can resist penguins? They're sooooo cute!

Tachikawa Park

We went and played disc golf at Tachikawa park. Erik, Marie, and I had fun despite our lack of skills.

I had fun on the white bouncy thing. I only knocked over a few small children.

After the fun at the park, we went to a ramen shop. Many shops have ticket machines outside of them. Luckily there are usually pictures to go along with all of the Japanese.

Christmas Lights in Shinjuku and Tachikawa

Had to post another cool picture of Shinjuku from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.

It's 45 stories...I think, and we've now gone 3 times. Nice views and nice price (free).

Showa Kinen Koen, a park near our home. The parks and major cities all put up lights for the winter season.

It is possible to fall asleep standing on a crowded train. I somehow don't think Marie's really asleep though.

Sea World

Although it's hard to tell from the fully zipped jacket, I'm in Florida!! My parents and I spent two days at Sea World. The high temperature was 60F (15C). Brrrrrrrrr!




These are the only good shots of sea life we managed to take. The dolphins had beautiful smiles, but just wouldn't sit still.




We ate lunch at the shark exhibit (at a restaurant). We watched sharks swimming by in a huge tank while we ate. Sharks, as the exhibit informed us, very rarely bite humans. My dad decided to beat the odds by sticking his finger in one's mouth. Ouch!

We decided to pose as penguins for this picture... Guess we need some practice.

I am wearing blue and waving, my dad is behind me, and my mom is behind the camera. We rode the roller coaster 3 times, which meant we were upside down 21 times.

My parents at the Jacksonville Landing. They're so cute!

This picture is actually at the Landing as well, but was taken prior to me heading off to Japan.

Best view of Fuji yet!

We woke up and looked out of our dining room window to see a nice clear view of Mt. Fuji totally covered in snow. Wow! So, Erik took the camera and drove to the top of the Commissary/BX for a less obstructed view.

You can really see why this is one of the world's most famous mountains.

While he was parked on the roof (and avoiding going to work), Erik also took some pictures of our fair city, Fussa. Notice Che Guevara (why?) in the first picture and a white statue of liberty (why again?) in the other. We never noticed the statue until this picture. We'll have to go out looking for it in town to see if it's connected to a business or an avid New York fan. Just goes to show you there are weird people everywhere in the world.

Our home

This is our tatami room. Truth be told, it was not this clean 5 minutes prior to me taking the picture, but this is what it looks like ideally. The phone is actually an intercom to let people in the building. Next to it is a control for our heated floors...we haven't tried this function yet. Every machine in our house has a ton of buttons, so we haven't gotten them all figured out yet.

On the table is my latest ikebana design. Our fishes, who were mentioned in an earlier blog, have all gone to meet their maker. Despite this turn of events, I ambitiously purchased 8 new fish. I love the fact that two have red noses and two have red bottoms.

This is our larger balcony. Erik bought me a greenhouse and I love it. What a wonderful husband, eh? My friend brought her children over and they helped plant beans, basil, and mint.

Erik put the pictures on the blog and for some reason had this picture first...I took the liberty of moving it a little further down the line-up. This picture wasn't the easiest to take because the room is so small. Anyway, just wanted to point out that you have two flush choices: big or small (you use your best judgement to determine which). Also, there is a bidet button, which my landlord kindly translated for us as "for sensitive place of the women," a "wash bottom" button, and a dry button. You can adjust the intensity for each button as well.

This was the only way to get the bed and the dresser in the picture. Can you find me? I'm in the picture twice! Most Japanese people sleep on the floor on a futon, so I'm a little embarrassed about our royal bed. I literally have to jump into bed each night.

Japanese bathrooms have a sink, tub, and shower. The toilet is in a separate room. Please read the following sentence with your most sarcastic voice: The washer is my favorite machine in the house. Actually, it's gotten 100 times better now that Erik and I have figured out the "child lock" function. Please don't laugh, it was really aggravating. Any time we interrupted the cycle, we couldn't get the door unlocked. And, seeing as we would start the washer and see on the display "5 hours remaining," we needed to learn how to interrupt the cycle. The machine is a washer/dryer in one, but this is a misnomer. It should be called a "washer/get my clothes hot and wetter" machine. Plus, the only way to get hot water in it is to fill the tub or sink and connect a hose. Okay, it's still way better than a washboard!

Here's the ofuro (bath). Whose toy frog and firefighter duck I wonder...? As a side note, if this picture included audio you would hear our fan that runs 24/7 (not by election). To the right of the tub, but not pictured, is a control pad. We can set the height and temperature of the water and it fills the tub automatically for us. There is an handy dandy intercom button on it to the kitchen "Eriiiiiik, I'm need more shampoo." The control pad also plays a very cute song to let you know when the tub is ready. It sounds just like "Santa Claus is coming to town."