It's Good to be Home

As Nicki mentioned previously, we were on vacation with my folks last week. They arrived in Japan on May 10 and we took off for Hiroshima and Kyoto on May 13. Apologies are due to David, who told us to let him know if we were going to make it down to Kyoto since he's there on vacation now too. Sorry we didn't get in touch or cross paths, David... between the whirlwind tours of both cities, dodging the nearly constant rainstorms, and trying to stick to Josh's somewhat tempermental nap schedule, we just ran out of time.

It's been quite a while since we've posted much of anything, so I'll try to recall back and make this one meaningful. Unfortunately, I'm very far behind on the processing of pictures, so I'll get some words out now and I'll have to add photos later as I get to them.

Golden Week

Ahh... Golden Week. Golden Week is to Japan what the week between Christmas and New Years tends to be in the United States. It's the one week a year that Japanese people have a vacation from work. In Japan, however, pretty much everyone goes on vacation during Golden Week, making the roads and rails very busy, crowded, and otherwise undesirable. The week, which typically occurs sometime around the end of April and early May, coincides with four Japanese national holidays:

• April 29: Showa no hi (Showa Day)
• May 3: Kenpo kinenbi (Constitution Day)
• May 4: Midori no hi (Greenery Day)
• May 5: Kodomo no hi (Children's Day)

I won't go into details about Golden Week, but you can run a Google search or click here for more info about the holidays and stuff that's over my head.

This past Golden Week, our family was invited by one of my Japanese coworkers, Hide-san, over to his parents' house to celebrate Kodomo no hi, or Children's Day, with his family. Since Children's Day fell on a Friday, the Kakimoto Family (Hide-san's parents) made plans to celebrate Children's Day on Saturday, May 6.

We were one of several America-jin families to be invited to the Kakimoto home for the celebration. After arriving and being introduced, we took a short stroll down to a local park, where many beautiful flowers and trees were in bloom. The kids ran around or got pulled along in one of two wagons. Afterwards, we returned to the Kakimoto home to enjoy an early dinner and to learn more about the holiday and some of the traditions involved, such as hanging carp flags outside the home as a wish for future successes of sons. Hide-san's family also had a couple of samurai dolls decorated in ornate attire on display.

We have been told that it is a very special honor to be invited into a Japanese family's home and we were indeed honored to spend the afternoon with the Kakimoto Family. Children's Day was our first opportunity to meet Hide-san's father and he treated us very kindly and told wonderful stories about his family's history.

The Arrival of Baba and Granddaddy

My parents, whose real names are Barbara and Clint, have been dubbed the honorable titles of Baba and Granddaddy for use by their grandson, Joshua. They decided to come visit us sometime after Golden Week, but before the Japanese rainy season, which usually starts around the end of May or early June. They arrived in Japan on May 10 and plan to head back to the States on May 30, which is perfectly timed so that we could celebrate my mom's birthday and Mother's Day (for Nicki and my mom) during their visit. It will also give them a perfect amount of time to adjust to the jetlag before heading back to the States and having to adjust back to eastern standard time.

Hiroshima and Kyoto Vacation

As previously mentioned, we took a trip down to Hiroshima and Kyoto with my folks from May 13 - 19. We decided to start our trip in Hiroshima and then head to Kyoto, since Hiroshima's the furthest destination from Yokosuka and we didn't want a long Shinkansen (bullet train) ride home at the end of our trip. The Shinkansen is awesome... it was our first time riding the bullet train so we got to share a cool new experience with my folks, which helped us feel more like tourists too. I'm really impressed with Japan's rail system already, but riding on the bullet trains made me realize that the States could learn a lot from the system here. We Americans rely so much on our personal vehicles to get to and fro, and it seems like the Japanese have really nailed down an efficient, punctual, and cost-effective means of getting around without the need for gasoline, which seems to be becoming more and more expensive of a commodity. But I tend to wonder if Americans would be willing to give up driving as much if such a system was set in place in the States.

We arrived in Hiroshima on the 13th in the late afternoon and checked into our hotel shortly after figuring out the local tram system from the main Hiroshima Station. We stayed at the ANA Hotel, which is conveniently located within short walking distance of several neat shops and restaurants, but also very close to Peace Memorial Park and the A-Bomb Dome, a building skeleton that remains from World War II timeframe as a symbol of the bomb's destructive power.

Hiroshima looks to be a really interesting city and I was a little bummed that we couldn't spend more time there. We focused our attention on the Peace Memorial Park area, so that we could take in as much history as possible. But the rest of the center city area was lively as well and we had limited time to check it out, but made the most of it. Having a civil/environmental engineering background, it amazed me to see how the city has been rebuilt and become so expansive since WWII. It was also amazing to see the photographs and items on display at the Peace Memorial Museum, which helped me get a better idea of how the A-bomb's release affected the lives of the people of Hiroshima and Japan as a whole. Prior to the trip, I had preconceived ideas of what to expect, but being there helped me get a better sense of what really happened on August 6, 1945 and in the years that followed. It was a very powerful and somber experience.

On a lighter note, we headed out from Hiroshima on Monday, May 15, and headed up to Kyoto. Kyoto is one of the few major historical cities of Japan that was spared from attacks during WWII and still has many temples, shrines, and historical structures that date back to Japan's period of isolation and before. Some of the most photographed spots in all of Japan are located within the Kyoto city area. I have been told that if you went to exactly one temple or shrine in Kyoto every day without going to the same one twice, it would take you nearly four and a half years to see all of them.

Unfortunately for us, we ran into a lot of rain and wind in Kyoto. We also seemed to time our visit to coincide with the field trips of every elementary, junior-high, and high school in Japan. There were thousands - if not more - of Japanese children at just about every tourist spot that we visited. We were stopped on several occasions to "interview" with some of the school children, which is actually just an opportunity for them to practice their English skills on us. Many of the children also said, "Herro" ("hello"), to us in passing - perhaps as a chance to see if we would say anything back to them. Most of the time we replied in Japanese, with a friendly "ohayo gozaimasu" or "konichiwa", depending on the time of day.

Despite the crowds and the rainstorms, we were able to visit Heian Shrine, Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion), Ryoanji and its famous rock garden, Fushimi Inari Shrine, and the Gion area, amongst several other places. My folks also made it down to Nijo Castle, which they said was very photogenic.

Our last day in Kyoto, my parents and I took a day-trip down to Nara, which is about an hour or so South of Kyoto. Nicki decided to stay behind with Josh to do some shopping, resting, and to keep Josh on his nap schedule as well as possible. Nara is very cool. It's a small town with a huge park in the middle, where quite a few temples and shrines are located, along with a huge population of deer that are considered to be messengers of the Shinto gods.

While in Nara, we stopped at Todaiji to visit one of Japan's largest Buddha statues, which is housed in the Daibutsu-den, which is the world's largest wooden structure. That's impressive, considering that the Daibutsu-den is actually just a 2/3-sized replica of the original wooden structure that was destroyed centuries ago. We also visited Kasuga Taisha shrine, which is famous for its hundreds of stone lanterns that line the path to and around the shrine grounds. We also stopped at Kofukuji temple, home of one of Japan's tallest five-storied pagodas, which is considered the symbol of Nara.

Unfortunately, our trip came to an abrupt finale on Friday, when we hopped on the Shinkansen and headed back up towards Yokosuka. We had a great time, though, and now have quite a few lasting memories and tons of pictures to share.

Not sure when I'll get around to loading all of the pictures, but keep on checking back with us and we'll keep you posted...