Off to Japan!

We started our day at 5am on our city bus to the Seoul airport. See how chipper and pleasant this little girl is? She is SUCH a good little traveler!



We flew into Hiroshima, Japan. We checked into our hotel and took a street car to the "A-dome" and Peace Park. This is the exact area that the atomic bomb went off right above. It was a very sad/quiet place and it was CRAZY to be standing on that ground. It really wasn't that long ago in the big scheme of life and being Americans, standing there, it was a weird feeling.

The area right around this building was completely destroyed, but this building stayed standing. Turns out it was the building RIGHT below where the bomb went off. They have decided to keep it exactly as it was that day.

This is the Peace Park. This is a mass tomb for lots of people who died there. It was a beautiful park and we did take pictures in front of these buildings but we are standing there in these pictures smiling and it seems odd when I look back at them.

This is a watch that they had displayed in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. On Aug. 6, 1945 the first atomic bomb destroyed Hiroshima at 8:15am. The museum was VERY interesting. I knew lots of WWII Europe history but not much Japanese. It wasn't a "we hate Americans" deal at all. They even mentioned "starting it" at Pearl Harbor. But it's bottom line message was to get rid of all nuclear weapons.


This is Ana still hanging and being sweet!

Our first Japanese meal! YUM! (Ana's about DONE!) :)

It was a very long, kinda sad way to start our Japan trip, but I think it was important to see and do!

First day in Tokyo!

We flew in from Hiroshima and got to our hotel after a long, drawn out subway, train, AND bus ride to the hotel. WHICH then we still had to walk a good 15 mins. with all our luggage! BUT we made it and an hour later our great friends the Barasch's (who are stationed in Misawa, Japan) meet us in Tokyo for our three days there! We were stationed with them during our "no children" Alaska days and now we both have sweet little girls who clicked instantly! After we got settled in the hotel we ventured out to an area called Rappongi. There was a WONDERFUL observation deck in this crazy high building in which you could see miles and miles of Tokyo....on a clear day I guess some people could even see Mt. Fuji.

The girls had so much fun together and were so good!

There was also an aquarium that we went through (no pics allowed). Then to dinner in which the boys had beers and we all played the "remember when" game and discussed our futures! FUN TIMES!

Asakusa in Tokyo

The Barasch's have a Frommer's Japan guide book which had GREAT suggestions for walking tours to do. Karen had found this information about an area called Asakusa. If anything remains of old Tokyo this is it. We spent all day in this area and it was really neat. This is Kaminarimon Gate, and entrance to a shopping area. That lantern is 220 lbs!
This is Nakamise Dori, Nakamise means "inside shops". This was a huge shopping area with stores on either side. It goes back to the 17th century and many shops are owned by the same family for generations.

At the end of that shopping area was this temple. Sensoji Temple is the oldest temple in Tokyo.

This pagoda was right next to the temple. Allie and Ana became great friends!

This was a GREAT Japanese lunch. Don't really know what we ate but it was yummy, and the atmosphere was fun...had to take our shoes off and sit on the floor!

We did a rickshaw ride! Yoshi was our guide and he spoke great English and was funny. He plays "American Football" and he likes this job because it helps him stay fit to play. I'm telling you, this man is in incredible shape to be able to do this!

I just thought it was neat to see random traditional Japanese attire within the "regular folks". Very neat area...the photos just don't do it justice!

Then we headed back to the hotel for a swim...it was a hot day!

Tokyo Disney Sea

We spent our last day in Tokyo at Disney Sea. They also have a Disneyland but Disney Sea is special to Tokyo and we figured we could do Disneyland/World in the US someday! Disney Sea revolves around the more modern Disney movies ie Little Mermaid, Aladdin to name a few. The girls are playing "choo choo" while we were all trying to figure out the game plan. Ana is SUCH a monkey...LOVES to hang on anything! This was on the "Mickey Train"!

They had the COOLEST underground Little Mermaid area! Rides, a show, food court, shopping, Aeriel's Playground, etc! We seriously could have stayed down there all day. We did for a long time because this was also the day the typhoon hit Tokyo. It wasn't too bad, but when it was raining we just played here. We had just as much fun as Ana!

Ana and Marc wild and crazy on the puffer fish ride!

Can you see Marc, Ana, Greg, and Allie?

This was while we waited for the train to Kyoto. Ana got these two souvenirs from Disney. A "Mickey train" and a "diamond Mickey". VERY typical of her interests nowadays! They kept her entertained the rest of our Japan trip. Disney was fun day for all of us! You notice that Marc did all the rides with her practially? THEN he did the big kid rides too with Greg. :)

Off to Kyoto, Japan!

We took the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto. THIS was our favorite city in the orient so far! Out of China, Korea, and Japan...Kyoto was AMAZING! It was one of the cities that wasn't bombed in WWII and from the places we have visited, was the neatest "old world" city yet. Gion is an area in Kyoto that is still an active running Geisha entertaining area. Look at those old buildings, with all the traditional lanterns and writings on the doors. Very neat!

We saw about 6 Geisha within the hour we were there. I had read the book Memoirs of a Geisha years ago and that was all I was thinking about when we'd see one hurry past us. It was just like how they explained things in the book. Very mysterious too!

Us walking around looking at the different restaurants and buildings. However, I felt like it was really inappropriate to have Ana out in this entertaining district after dark. Kinda like Vegas when the sun goes down...so we went back to our hotel for dinner.

On the way to our bus to get to the hotel we ran into random Japanese people walking around in Japanese garb so I went up to them and asked if we could take a picture with them... hee hee!

In our hotel there were 5 restaurants and Marc asked me to choose. So we had had an authentic Japanese Steakhouse meal in Tokyo and I loved it so I was excited to do it again. The menu was posted outside the door and a meal for two was $27. Let's do it!

The meal was AMAZING! It ended up being an 8 course meal and I'm thinking the entire time...WOW for $27 ya can't beat this! The chef was the best too. Ana was loving our tomatoes in one of our courses so she asked for more and we told her we didn't have anymore. Well, without us knowing he was even paying attention, let alone spoke English...he comes back with a bowl of tomatoes just for her. So sweet! THEN this shrimp is on a skewer and he puts him on the grill and Ana says, "Mommy he's movin"...sure enough that shrimp was and Ana gets upset so the chef covers him with this spatula. BUT he sure was yummy! Then the chef gets Ana a "special" bowl of ice cream to end the meal.

SO at the end of our meal, Ana asks to go potty and I take her. Marc pays the bill, we take this picture of our amazing experience and head up to our room. On the way Marc says, "So Jenna how much did you think that meal was?" WELL, I did the conversion wrong...in Korea it is $1 to 1000 Won...BUT in Japan it is $1 to 100 yen....I was off by a zero! BUT that $270 meal was GREAT!!! AND we got extra tomatoes and ice cream! Ya gotta appreciate the jeans, pony tails, and 3 yr old in a 5 star restaurant! Never was good at math...and for Marc to be that laid back about it...I thank God everyday for this man!

Last Day in Japan

We were suppose to do an entire day tour. The morning portion was great and we saw three different palaces, temples, and pagodas! We have seen quite a few now in the orient being in China and Korea...but we both agree that the ones in Kyoto were our favorites! Our favorite with our tour group was this Gold Pavilion called the Rokuon-ji Temple, built in the 1220s. (Excuse the floozy showing her bra strap please!) :) After our morning tour we ended up at this 7 story shopping center. We had lunch here and that is when I discovered that the 7th floor was a Japanese Craft center where you could make your own Japanese crafts! I asked Marc if we could cancel the second part of our tour and stay and play! So we did. :) I WAS IN HEAVEN! I TRULY have the most patient husband ever.

While Marc held Ana so she could take her nap, I made this "gold dusting" picture. (For 1.5 hrs)

I made a cherry blossom picture with the Gold Rokuon-ji Temple on it AND they helped me write STITZEL in Japanese. SOOOO cool!

That symbol on the top means "love". I had a BLAST! I could have spent all day there. There were 6 different crafts you could make. I talked with one man who had been there for 4 hours and had made 7 different things. FUN!

Then we used Barasch's rusty trusty Frommers "Japan" guide book and did a walking tour by ourselves after Banana woke up. We saw our most favorite temple ever! The Kiyomizu Temple. It was a BEAUTIFUL area that had amazing views of the city of Kyoto. This temple was built into a cliff and you just have to be in awe of the craftsmanship of people with NO MODERN TOOLS. This area with the temple and pagoda and shrines etc was all built in 798. AMAZING!

This is the view of Kyoto and that building in the upper right hand corner is the "main hall" of the temple. This was a great vacation and if you ever have the opportunity to travel to Japan, don't pass it up!!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

This is the video I was trying to post when our computer died! Then we went to Japan for a week. We now have a new computer and are back into our routine and I can start posting again! Sorry for the delay...we've missed you guys too! :) Enjoy Ana's sweet voice!