Japan Week 52

July 26- August 1, 2010

It's been an entire year since Eric got to Japan!! I can't believe how fast it's gone! I'll be honest, this realization came with some pretty mixed emotions. My initial reaction was, Wow- I'm so glad we signed up for a second year because there is still so much more to do! But then when I see some of our friends preparing to go home and be with their family and friends a part of me thinks, Oh- that could be us. We could be headed home to be family and friends and the comforts of America... but we're not. Most of the time I'm okay with it and genuinely happy that we have the wonderful opportunity to explore more of Japan and more of Asia.

This week was a fairly normal week, aside from having family to share it with :) On Tuesday I had Taiko practice as usual, I wasn't feeling great and it was raining very hard (and I do not enjoy driving in the rain at night) and practice is about an hour away, but with the festival being only 1 week away, I couldn't skip. So, my wonderful mother-in-law rode into Goshogowara with me and then explored the mall while I had practice. I was very glad I went, especially since our float was nearly put together and I got to see what it really is like to play :) Our's is the set on the left.

Wednesday was Karen's farewell dinner, while it's hard to see her go, we had lots of fun. She invited a group of people out to dinner hoping a decent amount could come... well 30 people showed up!! Karen is certainly well loved. This is me and Karen (I'm wearing a shirt she gave me) and a fancy banner from her welcome to Japan party, It's made it full circle for her.

We didn't want to leave Glenn and Patti at home, but they didn't want to "crash" Karen's party either... so, they sat at the bar and had their own adventure. They ordered mostly by themselves via picture menu and had a pretty fantastic meal. They were sitting at the bar near the door and we were in a banquet room in the back, so several of our friends saw them in passing and they thought it was so funny because they knew who they were right away because Eric and Glenn look so much alike. One of our friends came in and said "Hey Eric, did you know that you-in-30-years is sitting at the bar?" I thought it was hilarious!

Goodbye season is a little rough. I often think of our experience here in Japan as though it's "Summer Camp" for big kids. (I say big-kids in lue of adults as I have recently decided the "adult" term isn't for me... I'm a big-kid. Maybe I'll accept adult-hood someday but for now, I'm sticking with big-kid.) I mean Eric has to go to work 5 days a week like an adult but we have a lot of play time. I remember once when my parents sent me to summer music camp at NAU and when they gave me my spending money for camp it all felt fake because I had no ties to it, I didn't earn it in any way, and they expected it to be gone when I got home anyway so I could just spend it. I have the same problem in Japan because the money feels like Monopoly money... except that we want to have a lot of it when we get home, oh yeah, and Eric earns it too. But still it looks so different and is a different size than the Dollar, it just feels fake. The way we get so close to people in such a short amount of time, because we're all away from home, also makes it feel like Summer camp. Now that some of our friends are going home and some of us are staying, and we're anxiously awaiting the new arrivals... it feels like we're camp counselors. It used to be that whenever I had a difficult "goodbye" to say to someone I was going to miss very much I would always say "see you later" and really truly make myself feel better by convincing myself that I would in-fact see them again later. But that doesn't seem to be working now. With friends moving back to China, New Zealand, the East and West coast of the States and even moving on to new parts of Japan and new countries like Taiwan, I genuinely fear that I may never see them again, and it's very very hard. It's always easier to be the leaver rather than the one who stays, at least I have my hubby :) and a few other close friends still here, and I still have Japan to explore... and there's a whole lot more to go!!

Sorry, no more sad-talk... back to the fun week we've had! The goodbyes come at a slightly funny time because with Eric's parents here we're also constantly introducing people! On Thursday night we took Glenn & Patti to our normal tutoring session with Toshiya. They were all mutually very excited to meet each other. I was a little nervous that they wouldn't be able to communicate because Glenn & Patti still speak quickly (I guess that's the New Yorkers in them) and some words still bring out that strong NY accent, but Toshiya impressed me and seemed to understand most things. We even arranged to have dinner together next week! It's so nice to know now that when we tell them we're doing something with Toshiya... they know who he is. It makes our life here seem a little less alien-like.

Friday was a nice quiet night at home, we celebrated Shabbot and I made some home-made curry and we watched a movie. I enjoyed it very much!

Saturday we set off for Aoni Onsen, a place I have been looking forward to for quite some time. In the morning we stopped by Genny's house to wish her a Happy Birthday and we took some brownies! Then we went to Inakadate village to show Glenn & Patti the famous rice art. You may remember this from last year, but the pictures in the rice are different every year, and it's just as impressive the second time around.

This is from the 6th floor of the Inakadate town office, which was built for this exact purpose!

Inakadate Rice Art 2010This is an up close picture to help you understand, each stalk of rice is hand planted according to the map. The different colors make the pictures possible.

Everyone in Aomori thinks the rice art is very amazing, but apparently the word has spread! Here is an article from the New York times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/world/asia/26japan.html?_r=1

and even better, here is a CBS video from their news coverage!

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6719123n&tag=related;photovideo

The story is pretty cool, you should watch the video.

After our stop in Inakadate we continued our drive and made our way to Aoni Onsen. It's a bit off the beaten path, purposely. Onsens are generally found wherever a natural hot spring was discovered, but quite often if they are off the path a new path is made to help you get there. Aoni Onsen however is 6km off the highway and up and into the mountain. There is one bus that helps people get there but it's still quite a trek. As they say, it keeps it special for the Onsen aficionados. Once we started the drive I wasn't too sure our little car was going to make it, but Kacey continues to prove her strength, and she made it! This picture is from the beautiful drive. Once you get there you must park in the lot up a ways from the hotel and then walk down, it certainly keeps things quiet and peaceful.

Aoni onsen is quite unique because they do not use electricity, except for a phone line. The onsen and hotel are entirely lit by oil lanterns, which quickly takes you back in time. The setting is peaceful and serene with a waterfall leading to a creek that flows through the area. The buildings were carefully placed around the creek and are tucked in the trees and really makes you feel like you are one with nature. It rained the majority of the time we were there, and sleeping with the doors and windows open next to a creek with the rain trickling down made me feel like I was camping, in a nice cozy futon :) We slept in one big room like a Japanese family. When we were ready for bed we moved this table and the cushions aside and took out the futons and made our beds. I felt like we were on a Japanese family vacation... without the Japanese family. Having no electricity meant we were early to bed and early to rise, which is always refreshing. Combined with multiple baths, I practically felt like a whole new person. Our stay in the hotel included unlimited use of the multiple onsens as well as a traditional Japanese dinner and breakfast. This is breakfast: I wasn't a huge fan of "whole-fish-on-stick" for breakfast, something about eating someone else's head still bothers me, especially at 0700. The nabe-pot soup wasn't very appealing so early either, but a bowl of rice and a few pickles... and a side trip to a conbini (like circle-k) later was plenty of breakfast for me! Patti and I enjoyed breakfast in our Yukatas... when in Rome!

Here are some other pictures from around Aoni Onsen. I enjoyed it so much and I felt like we were really experiencing Japan! I'm so glad we waited to have company to go! This is the foot bridge used to cross the creek to get from the main building to the separate baths and other family rooms. This is the view from one of the outdoor baths, a beautiful waterfall :) I could have sat there for hours if I wasn't being attacked by giant bugs! One little tid-bit I learned about Aoni Onsen that I'm quite thankful to have learned after leaving is that they apparently have a snake problem :0 Particularly in one of the baths!! Good thing we didn't encounter said problem. We did see one on the path on the way out, again I'm thankful it wasn't on the way in. So, my fellow Japanese travelers, I caution you to carry a flashlight and watch your step. Even with how terrified I am of the creatures... I think I'd go back even knowing this, yes, it was that amazing.

So after our final and wonderful soak in the hotspring and our questionable breakfast on Sunday morning, we headed out and made a stop at my favorite park, Momijiyama, in Kuroishi. We went there this past Fall with our friends to see the changing leaves and this time we took Glenn & Patti there just to enjoy the beauty of Japan.

I don't know what it is about the red bridges in parks in Japan but they get me every time!

Here are pictures of the fam enjoying the park and humoring me by posing on the red bridge.

After the park we went to Hirosaki and introduced Glenn & patti to one of our favorite restaurants- CoCo Curry House- the delicious Japanese curry I rant about all the time! They loved it too :) We had planned to go to Hirosaki Neputa afterwards to kick of the festival season but the pouring rain convinced us to do otherwise. We had a long enough weekend already and standing on the street corner in the pooring rain to look at floats covered in plastic tarps just didn't motivate us very much, so we headed home. Ending year-one in a Japanese Ryokan (Aoni Onsen) with the Malloff side of the family was a fantastic ending to this chapter of our journey.

Now to see what year 2 has in store for us!!