Veteran's Day: An Adventure in Kamakura

Let's just start by saying Josh is the angel of all angels when it comes to putting up with his parents. He's so patient but especially if we make a game of things.

Today was Veteran's Day and coincidentally the only sunny day that we had this holiday weekend so we decided to savor the day and take in the Autumn sites in Kamakura.

The night prior, Mike and I were taunted by a mosquito buzzing in our ears. The end result was me going downstairs and sleeping on the couch and Mike not being able to sleep the rest of the night. We have named the mosquitoes here "Ninja" mosquitoes because every time they are caught buzzing in our ear, we turn on the light only to find absolutely no sign of them. We've tried leaving the light on and a number of other tactics, all of which have proven in vain. The Ninja endures.

Today got off to a fairly late start due to Mike having to try and catch up on some of the sleep he had missed. We ended up getting to Kamakura station at around 1:00PM. I had done some research trying to find restaurants in the area. Not only is the Kamakura area known for it's numerous temples and shrines but also for its plentiful local organic grocers and delicious cuisine. Unfortunately, I have yet to find an English guide leaving us to our own devices.

Our plan was to go to Zuisenji Shrine located a few miles away from Kamakura station. We had never been there and the brief information we found on it was intriguing. It was founded by Zen priest Muso Kokushi, one of Japan's most famous garden designers. The temple is known for its pure Zen rock garden which was designed by Muso himself, but also for the many flowers and blooming trees found in the other parts of the temple grounds.

When we got off at Kamakura station we found a coffee shop called Rondino just outside of the Enoden Line exit. I had read online that there was an English menu and that their coffee was made the "old style" way. After really googling this for a while, it seems as though this is called the Coffee Siphon Brewing method. The taste of coffee brewed in this fashion is in my opinion the absolute best. The bitterness is gone and as one writer put it, 'the purity of flavor stands". My first time tasting coffee brewed in this fashion was at a UCC Cafe in Hiroshima and today I finally found the same taste much closer to home. Each cup is individually brewed, so if you are into drinking A LOT of coffee I recommend ordering your second cup when you receive your first cup. Boy, is it worth the wait. Rondino, in addition to serving several different brews, also serves tea, snacks and meals. There is no English ads on the outside of the shop, so just be brave enough to walk in and have a seat in the small little cafe. Westerners will be offered an English menu. The waiters are courteous and most patrons are extremely considerate. While we were there we were offered to switch with a customer for a bigger spot (to accommodate Josh) and several customers waved and "KAWAII'D" Josh.

After our detour we hiked along to the Shrine only to find no clearly marked signs pointing the way. Armed only with a poorly marked map, we realized only too late that we had made a wrong turn (Thank goodness Mike can reach hiragana!) so we turned around and headed back. Not all was lost though. Along the way we were able to take in the sites and just enjoy the weather and scenery. We hung out at Hachimangu for a while, snacked on a candied grape, took pictures and watched all the very cute boys and girls posing for their Shichi-Go-San holiday pictures. Mike even got some good sneak pics in!

Josh took some pictures of us at the train station and some koi at one of the shrines. You can check out how much better he's been progressing with his pictures under the Josh Pics section. Mike's pictures from the trip are up in the Gallery, too.

To end our day in Kamakura, we had to choose between two restaurants that I had found during my online research. A sushi-go-round and Tipitina's Mexican restaurant. I was really feeling Mexican food but as soon as we walked past the sushi joint, Josh pulled us in. Lucky for us he had. The Mexican place was closed and by the time we would have found it, we would have been completely cranky with hunger pains. This looks like it will definitely be a place to go back to in the future though. The sushi-go-round was a typical experience but because it was on the main strip it had touristy prices. The chef was a little smitten watching Josh slurp down salmon and kept on slipping him more slices on the sly and on our way out, the waitress gave him a lollipop shaped like tomago.

Today was a great Veteran's Day. Laid back and fun. I can very much relate to a comment I had several years ago from one of my posts, "Getting lost in Japan is the fun part". Today that really rung true.

Rockin' On

There are few things that get me going as good as when I'm listening to a good punk song on my iPod Nano. Particularly, Rise Against. Last night, Mike and I had a chance to see them live in concert at JPN Studio Coast in Tokyo. Our good friends Doug and Darlene watched Josh overnight (really a sleep over with his buddy Zelig) and we took the 2 hour train ride up to Odaiba to rock out to the Taste of Chaos 2007 tour.

This was my first concert in Japan. Mike has gone to several concerts since we've been here but nothing really interested me until I found out that Rise Against would be playing along with several other great punk bands. If anyone reading lives in Japan and is into punk, they should definitely save up their yen and experience a concert here. Never have I seen more considerate moshers in the pit. Having the mommy instinct, I am now too responsible to risk getting hurt and participating in the circle but it was really fun to live vicariously through all the youngin's. A great band from the UK called The Gallows was one of the opening bands and stopped their song because they thought someone might have been hurt. Come to find out, the guy had lost a contact lens. The lead singer then exclaimed,

"You've got to be f***ing kidding me! We stopped our song because of a f***ing lens?! Alright well, did you find it man? ...No? Well everyone look around and if you find them, smash 'em! Man, quit being a f***ing p***y!"

Hilarious. At one point, someone in the mosh pit lost a shoe. Folks in the pit were holding it up until the owner could be reconnected with it. Quite Japanese.

The whole night, Mike kept on looking over at me to see a smile plastered across my face. I was way too psyched to put on the punk/super cool image. We took a break outside and had some time to get drinks and buy t-shirts before going in to see the guys we were waiting for, Rise Against. They were awesome... as to be expected. I danced the whole time, and by danced, I mean jumped up and down and screamed like the white girl I am!

Now, I interlude with a proposal story. When Mike proposed to me years ago he had all of these wonderful things in his head of what he was going to say, but when it came out it went like this, "urrr, yurr really pretty" followed by "will you marry me?" on one knee and presentation of the ring. I never understood this. Now, for the most part, I'm not one to show my excitement much about things. I can usually pull of the "cool as a cucumber" image. I never quite understood the whole deer in headlights tongue tied feeling until last night.

After Rise Against's set, we stood in line to meet the band. I was so freaking nervous but Mike (with alcohol induced courage) convinced me to be the true groupie that I am and get a poster signed. I filed on down the assembly line of band members with the same wide eyed grin across my face while they signed their names on the poster. When finally I got to the lead singer and he looked at me with brief intent and said "So, what are you doing out here" I stood there absolutely stupefied. He talked to me... HE ACTUALLY TALKED TO ME! All I could do was stand there with my eyes wide open and nothing to say. Finally Mike saved me and said what he does and I was his wife and how we have a 4 year old son. He then said he had a 3 year old at home and I then said, "Wow, congratulations". WTF?! 'stupid stupid stupid!' I was ridiculously star struck. There were all these things I wanted to say to them. I wanted to ask him if his child inspires him the way that Josh inspires me everyday. I wanted to say how before I discovered their music I was unmotivated to run and work out and that they've changed my life in a big way from how I function to how I think about issues. I wanted to say how while listening to them live the drummer had reprogrammed my heartbeat, how the lyrics and raw voice of the lead singer reached into the very bottom of soul and pulled out all of what made me mad, sad and happy in the world and just displayed it out in the room and how the guitarists just brought everything together into one neat package and how every once in a while would break out with their own expressions.

The show and the night was just incredibly awesome. We met some very cool Americans from surrounding military installations in and around Tokyo and it was a fun time to just feel this bond between fans.

The whole ride up there, I kept on fretting about how I just didn't look "punk" enough but when I got there it just didn't seem to matter. I'm happy in my own skin and no longer worried about what some 19 year old kid thinks of me because I have a husband (who just happens to be my rock star) and a 4 year old that think the world of me. I was just there to rock out and have a good time. (In closing, to throw a little humor in there) The 2 gin and tonics helped loosen me up too.