Hakone Nataional Park

After a very long day of sightseeing in Kyoto, we had a much slower day touring around Hakone National Park, which usually has a very nice view of Mount Fuji. I say usually because the day we were there the conditions were, let's say, not entirely ideal.
Our first stop was a lake and a lovely boat ride:

This may or may not be where we would have seen Fuji if it were visible:

Then we took a break at a lovely shopping center in hopes of waiting out the clouds before giving up and taking a cable car ride up a mountain for what would have been another view of Fuji. Here's the cable car:

And here's the top of the mountain, which smelled a lot like Unzen:

From there we were taken to a very nice Japanese style inn, for the evening. There was an onsen (which of course I could only stare at longingly), and a steak dinner, and an evening of time to just sit back and relax. It was a good way to refresh before we headed to Tokyo.

Kyoto Highlights

From Nara, we went to Kyoto where we experienced the longest day of sightseeing of the entire trip. We arrived at the Golden Pavilion (which I've blogged about before) right when it opened at 9:00 am and didn't go back home until everything was closed around 5 or 6 in the evening. It was exhausting! And HOT!
Most of what we saw I had seen with my parents in April, but we did visit a few new places, one of which was the Heian Shrine (probably misspelled). This shrine is relatively new, and dedicated to the peace of the country in some way. It's primary draw is the extensive gardens behind the shrine. The best part of the gardens while we were there was the lily ponds:




From the Heian Shrine, we went to another Shrine known for the Tori Gate tunnel there. This shrine was featured in Memoirs of a Geisha for those of you who have seen the movie. This is a Tori Gate:


And this is what it looks like when you put thousands and thousands of them together in a row:

We wandered around there for awhile before heading to Gion Cho for lunch. For pictures of the other places we visited, see the pictures from my parents' trip this spring. Since I had a lot of pics already, I didn't go entirely camera happy this time, and I think my old ones are better.

Nara 3: The Shrine

My appologies to the scholars out there who like to know the name of everything. It really was my intention to look up the name of this shrine, but suffice it to say I didn't. Anyway, our last stop in Nara was a lovely shrine known for the thousands and thousands of lanterns there. These lanterns are, I believe, donated by various families and have been around for generations and generations in some cases. Some of them are brass lanterns like these:


Others are stone like these:


(And I had to include the deer that practically posed for me.) The area around the shrine is filled with these stone lanterns, each with a name and the year it was donated. It's a very peaceful area. Apparently, the lanterns are lit twice a year, once in February, for reasons I've forgotten, and once in August for Obon, the Japanese celebration in honor of the ancestors. I can only imagine how beautiful it would be to go and see all those lanterns lit up on a quiet evening, but I be the crowds would be insane, too, so I'm kind of glad we saw them during the day on a day when no one was around.
From Nara, we took the bus to Kyoto. More pictures to follow...

Nara 2: The Deer

Did I mention there were a lot of deer in Nara?

Deer who really liked to be fed?

Deer who got a little fiesty and started stealing anything that might resemble food if left unfed?

They were also very cute deer.

Nara 1: The Giant Budda

Normally, I would blog about a trip in day sized portions, but this trip was really quite jam-packed (I took 200+ pictures in one week!) so it makes a little more sense to cover it in smaller bits.
So, after Osaka, we took a bus to Nara, which is one of the many former capitals of Japan. This one was intended to unite a buddist version of Japan in peace. It's known as the place with all the deer to most of us now. This is because it's a park for deer, and they wander free and (relatively) tame in the area. But we'll get to that later...
First stop in Nara was the largest Budda in Japan. It's made of bronze, if I remember right, and as a result has been damaged a few times by fire (melting) and repaired. Similarly, the building that contains the budda is a reproduction of the original, which was burned down somewhere along the way. This building is only 2/3rds (or may be 1/3?) the size of the origninal because of the amount of wood it would take to build a building that big. Outside is a lantern that is also bronze and famous. Apparently, someone tried to steal it once (talk about crazy stunts to attempt) and ended up damaging it. But it's so pretty, I doubt most people would notice:

And here's the giant budda:

I know it doesn't look huge (even in real life it doesn't seem that big because of how far away you stand. But the palm that is flat and horizontal (which is sort of hidden in this picture) could hold 30 people, apparently, and the middle finger of the other hand is like 6 feet tall. So that should give you some concept of the scale.
Also famous in the building with this budda is a pillar with a hole in it. If you can pass through this hole, you're supposed to be able to attain Nirvana. Of course, several of the tinier members of our group had to try it:


And though they sometimes needed help, everyone was successful who tried. Apparently it's a little scary to look at the opening when you get down to that level.
After viewing the budda, we had a little time to commune with the deer... more on that to come...

Osaka Castle

The first stop on the grand tour of Japan I took with Zack's family was Osaka. I took the bullet train up and they flied in to the airport there. We met at the hotel and went promptly to bed. The next day, though, we visited Osaka Castle. Here it is:

It was quite a little hike from the parking lot to the castle, luckily there were lots of beautiful little gardens along the way like this one:

Like many Japanese castles, this one is 1) a rebuilt model of what the old one looked like before it burned down (this one was burned in an actual battle, as opposed to by lightning) and 2) turned into a museum where photography is generally not allowed. So the best pictures to be had were from the top:

And here's a closer picture of the outside.

Our brave tour guide did not allow a ton of time for looking around at this particular stop (probably because most of the explainations were not in English), so we mostly just ran to the top, snapped a few shots and ran back down pretty quickly and then we were off to Nara. Pictures soon to come.
In the mean time, here are some answers to baby questions from the previous post:
1) The baby will be born in Japan, at a Japanese clinic. I've heard lots of good things about the place. The baby will even have a Japanese Birth Certificate, though we really don't have all the details yet.
2) So far I'm still feeling pretty good. I've recently discovered an inablilty to eat meat, but I still get three meals a day, so I'm happy.
3) While it is our intention to bring baby home to visit eventually, we're way to early in the planning stages to have determined exactly when that will be. It will depend a great deal on what happens with our next duty station.
4) Thanks to everyone who responded!

We're baaack...

So the trip to Tokyo was fantastic, not least of all because I successfully spent four days with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law without spilling a very big secret. When we met up with Zack in Tokyo, we got to tell them together (and his Dad, over the phone) that I'm pregnant! It was a lot of fun to share. And now that the family has all been notified, I'm sharing with the world. Our first child is due on March 3rd, which is girl's day in Japan. (I know I told some people it was February, but after my doctor's appointment, they adjusted the date to match how big the baby is.) We're all super excited, of course.
The first question everyone asks is how am I feeling, and before the Tokyo trip my answer was always "Tired and hungry, but fine." I had a couple days on the trip where hungry was replaced by "unable to eat." But so far I've really been feeling pretty good. I've become a much pickier eater in the last week or so, but I'm still relatively functional. I am however, considering adding an afternoon nap to my schedule now that my family has left and I'm not a tour guide.
It was my intention to post the ultrasound pictures, but I've changed my mind for two reasons: 1) Honestly, it doesn't look like anything at all, unless you're an expert ultrasound reader. 2) We had a storm come through a few nights ago, and it knocked out the internet at my house, so I'm doing all my internet stuff (for now) at base. Yesterday was a Japanese holiday, so I couldn't do anything about it until today, and then this morning is busy, so I'll be heading over to get someone to come fix it, and hopefully I'll be back at home in a few days. Instead of an ultrasound picture, I'll post a nifty little ticker thing I stole from Riss.
So pictures of Tokyo are soon to come. And of course we'll keep you posted on the baby stuff.

One minor crisis averted...

I swear the minute Zack leaves things around here go to pieces. Or may be they don't, but I just notice the loss of someone to worry at. Either way, things have gone a little crazy here in the last week or so. For one thing, I've started a new class for my degree. It's the last one in a series that is essentially designed for us to create these things called Action Research Projects. It's what we do instead of writing a thesis. We pick a problem we notice at our work setting, research solutions, and then pick one to try out, sort of, except we're not required to actually try it out if we can't for whatever reason (in my case because I'm not teaching enough classes). Instead we make up data and go through the motions of writing the 30ish page report. At first, I thought this final class wouldn't be nearly as bad as the last one (which was a nightmare that I coincidentally went through the last time Zack left). For one thing, this time we only have one more chapter left to write, whereas last time we had four chapters to write in the same amount of time. Also, upon first glance, the teacher seemed pretty cool. Now, though, I have my doubts. We had to resubmit our first four chapters and he's torn all the other students' papers to shreds and hasn't given me any feedback at all (we're having technical difficulty). So I'm living in absolute terror of what he'll have to say.
To complicate matters further, I'll be out of town for a solid week of this class sightseeing with my in-laws. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally excited about the trip and seeing them, but it will make editing my paper a bit more complicated. Plus there's the small matter of cleaning the house and packing and all that, which brings me to the minor crisis.
It occurred to me Sunday (when the kennel is closed) that I hadn't reserved a kennel space for Dory while I'm gone (I was hoping Zack would be home) at the kennel on base. So Monday I went in to get my space, and of course they're all booked up. I should have expected this since American school is out and it's prime traveling time for Navy-folk (many of the other ships just got home, so people are going on vacation). The kennel people gave me names and numbers for three Japanese kennels and wished me luck, and I was not looking forward to calling them myself and trying to sort out the details in broken Janglish. Instead, I planned to take the numbers to my Japanese class tonight and get my tutor to translate for me.
Then on the way to class I passed a dog-related store, just like I do every week, and it occurred to me that there are also dogs in there every week, and that it's nice to know where to take the dog when you're ready to leave on vacation. So I walked in and successfully asked them if they have kennel services. (This was a major success for me.) They do, but only for small dogs (which is good since Dory's nice and small). Not only do they have the services, they cost 10ish dollars less per day than the kennel on base. All the kennel spaces were visible from the front desk, and everything looked pretty good, so I successfully booked Dory's stay at a kennel not two blocks from my house without using English or a translator. I'm very proud of myself.
So that's one issue down, two or three hundred more to sort out. I can do this...