i arrive in tokyo - where everyone is welcoming the peak of springtime going on there. this is a high school baseball game going on at the riverfront park by my parents' apt.
everyone has their annual pilgrimage to the cherry blossom viewing. group photo going on here - so japaneeze.
they are pretty tho.
baseball team in training along side the river.
first trip - off to kyoto on the shinkansen with the folks.
brunch on the bullet train.
mt. fuji whizzes by.
arrive at kyoto's train station.
check into our mini-ryokan in the middle of the city - hi to ryokan shimizu
shimizu's front porch
best way to get around kyoto's sites is to buy the bus day pass for 500 yen and jump around the city. as you can see, we're not the only ones doing this...
view from bus - local flower shop in full bloom...
old school kyoto store
modernized old school kyoto
before entering a temple, we catch a glimpse of where the daimonji fire festival takes place (the bald spot in the hillside)
nature-infused gate
kinkakuji - golden shrine
another view
super old pine tree that has been shaped to look like a ship
what's down there?
walk around the lake of kinkakuji
someone has to upkeep the landscape...
straw rooftop
this trip i get really into the moss in the temple/shrine yards - it's SO green of all different shades...
public japanese-style bathroom - in case you were wondering...
lunch break at a kyoto udon restaurant
view from our table
nisshin (fish) soba....mmm
storefront
cherry blossoms again hillside
entering ryoanji - with the famous rock garden
and here is the rock garden
the characters on this water basin read "i learn only to be contented". this zen concept = learning and knowledge do not need to be for practical use/someone who learns to be contented is rich in spirit and character, but someone who is materially contented is spiritually poor if they do not learn...kinda thing.
popcorn-esque cherry blossoms
a little crutch for the tree branch to grow strong
here come a lot of cherry blossom pics...brace yourself.
blossoms at dusk
in the gion area
apparently (according to mom) a famous + exclusive place where geishas/meiko-sans are. i just like the entrance way...
maybe a meiko-san?
front gate - the curved bamboo things along the wall are apparently to avoid dogs from peeing there...?
another cool front entrance
street sign?
entryway at the restaurant we are having dinner at : mukadeya restaurant
this place specializes in obanzai (kyoto homestyle cooking) - this is 1st course full of seasonal items, including young bamboo shoots, and kyoto speciality, tofu.
namafu (tofu product) shaped like a cherry blossom + bamboo + seaweed
had a little difficulty breaking into the presentation.
meal closer - rice.
blossoms along the river by heian-jingu
private residence - loved all the natural materials they used on the exterior...
majority of day 2 was spent at getting a private tour of "shinshin-an", a formal japanese garden designed and built by matsushita founder. wasnt allowed to take any photographs there (total shame) but this is an area right around the corner from it =).
me and mom
full blooming tree
now me and dad
line of beautiful private residents. i think we are looking at the nomura residence/museum here.
snipping away at the pine/matsu tree
the folks
we find a little silk-weaving store
dude in action
spools of silk
silk thread
lunchtime! we are at kikusui, that specializes in kyoto kaiseki style foods...here we have some sesame tofu and sashimi
flawless chawan mushi (steamed egg custard) surface...
rice and miso soup
are you sick of seeing the flowers yet?
shrine entrance way
people write their wishes down (i hope to find happiness, i hope i get into university, i hope i get a hole-in-one) and put it up...
gardens of heian-jingu
cherry blossom willows and their structural help
more shots of the garden grounds
walk on water...
hi dad
"please mom, take another picture of me...please"
a little tree therapy - blanket around the tree to get rid of bugs
sakura colored "omikuji"/fortunes at the shrine
big big big big big tree
kyoto sunset
ad for a shrine - kinda stylish no?
narrow small streets in kyoto
kimono ladies with richshaws
blowfish restaurant - one victim hanging...
dinner at tousiurou - a tofu specialty restaurant - 6 courses of all tofu foods: boiled, fried, steamed, sesame-ized, roasted with miso, etc etc...
anchovy soup
another seasonal item - mini hotaru ika (aka firefly squid?)
some of the shrines have nite viewing of sakura (all lit up nicely) and this is the crazy japanese folks trying to get a good shot with their cellphone cameras
last day in kyoto - head up to arashiyama, northwest of kyoto
take a local train up
arriving at the station
walking the street - passed by a unagi/eel store - all out in the open (smelled really good tho)
on one side of the famous togetsukyo bridge in arashiyama
rickshaw rides were big in this area
arashiyama region has a few hills - some were decorated with sakura trees
warm day here - sakura in full bloom
this dude's stand had soy soft cream - SO good
walking up the hills thru a bamboo forest
first planting of ogura (red bean) ever happened here (at least thats what the sign said...)
temple front gate
you know the plastic foods at japanese restaurants? this place had them but they were like model-size mini. cute.
blooming camelias
stand straight tomoko
shrine grounds covered in moss
whoa, bamboo
just to give some scale...
sampling of the different moss types at the shrine
big big flower
big tree, little stone statue (ojizou-sama)
visiting adashino-nenbutsu-ji, where ten thousands stone statues honor anonymous spirits
back in the day, someone collected the bones of dead bodies of forgotten people (too poor to be buried, no family, etc) and wanted to give them a place to be honored together. it's quite a sight here.
they are honored once a year during a festival where people light candles and place them by their stone statues...
this was a 6-sided monument made of 6 buddha statues of the different steps to enlightenment
we sat on that red bench at this small food shop (menu had 2 items) for lunch
we get a seasonal specialty, whole bamboo shoot sushi. i had never seen or had a bamboo shoot so big and fresh. the hollow part was stuffed with bamboo rice...
our view while eating...
we visited the hyakunin ishu museum - "hyakunin" means "one hundred people" and "ishu" means "poem." this is an old traditional game played with a set of 100 cards that each have a tanka poem on them.
its a very new museum that uses these nintendo portable game displays and an interactive room - to help learn the different traditional games played with the cards and explaining the history. (i got a really bad score...)
this part was us "flying" over kyoto city
you could also use these displays and hold it up to the poems on the wall - and it will explain the meaning of the poem.
actual cards from 100s of years ago.
note to self: another use for hangers - sun dry fish...
stopped by a bic camera (big electronics chain) and noticed a large area for recycling, which i was intrigued by. you can drop off batteries, ink cartridges, toner, fluorescent lightbulbs, and old electronics here...
bye to kyoto and our ryokan
heading back to tokyo
train schedule
wait at our designated train number
...and it arrives ON THE DOT
back in tokyo - this is shibuya at a notorious 5 or 6 sided crosswalk. i stood in 1 place and took a sequence of photos. here, the light is still red.
light changes
i wish i had an aerial view...its just CRAZY tho.
my friend, miho, is getting married in tokyo! this is pre-wedding day - we are just catching up at a rooftop bar in shibuya.
amy, miho, and me
miho + shuichi's wedding day
ceremony - miho's sisters, miwa + miki, greet the guests
bride and dad and LOTS of cameras!
better picture (most of the wedding pics are thanks to yosuke who was MUCH better in capturing the good moments)
i do!
guest line-up
mimi, yosuke and their daughter, the adorable suzuko
mimi in kimono and suzu-chan
smile!
miho is a childhood friend - her wedding is like a reunion for some of us who came from the US and some friends who live in japan
center is yohei and yuko - who are up next on the wedding front!
miho, shuichi and suzu-chan (foreshadowing of when they have kids?)
with the honmas
the la~die~s
the boys
um, everyone...
lots of cameras on them...
such a good looking couple, my goodness =)
walking from the church to the reception venue with shizuka and haruko...more cherry blossoms!
aki working the guestbook area...
drumroll please - the new mr + mrs hoshizumi...
formal greeting to the guests...
the happy couple
hi miho - looking SO beautiful....
speech
cake cutting
they chose a new york cheesecake as their wedding cake since they met here
toasts galore
miho's mom created this amazing rose bouquet for the reception. she put together all these rose petals to make it look like 1 huge rose flower...!
even good food going on...
backdrop of the reception was a japanese garden...
say cheese....
now make a funny face...
yuko and yohei
miki and i present messages from friends from nyc who couldnt make it out to the wedding.
some are funny...
my turn
impromptu toasts/speeches
miho + shuichi + miwa + miki + little brother yoshito
the groom's friends do quite a presentation of song and dance...so~ this is very common at japanese weddings, i've experienced.
ok, now embarass the groom too
shuichi, miho, yuko, yohei
instead of a bouquet catch, they had us pull a ribbon from the bouquet. the one that is attached to the bouquet is the one who "catches" it...
guess which sucker was caught attached to it...yikes.
as i'm rolling my eyes, miho is trying to give me words of encouragement =)
the ones not attached =/
the bouquet i got to take (again, created by her mom) was so pretty tho!
grandiose dress...
thanks to the parents
speech by the groom
saying bye to the guests
after party up in the honeymoon suite
little bubbly
miho and her little brother~
next trip: head out to the gunma prefecture - northwest of tokyo - to go to the hot springs
gunma license plate
road trip! we stop by a rest area and i was swimming in a room of vending machines
we read about a good handmade soba place so we stop here for lunch - we sit around the fireplace
like an hour later, our food comes out. i think there was one guy rolling our soba noodles by himself...
but its super amazing and totally worth the wait. we get 3 heaps of soba (per person!) to dip into a hot duck based soup.
i loved the split bamboo bowl/plate
dad is content
so, the owner of the soba shop requests to his customers to write a poem after the meal. my mom writes a haiku about the memorable family meal.
he puts them all up in the shop! my sister, john and i wrote one too...=)
my soba shop owner
we arrive at our inn. we immediately go into a sand salt "bath" where we lie down and covered in ocean salt sand heated by the hot springs. it's supposed to help release the bad stuff in your body...i nearly burned my heels but it was quite relaxing.
dinner time (i know, we are always eating!) the mrs. of the inn explains whats on the menu
all this
digging in
there is even a masseuse during the meal...wow.
tempura of first picking of local mountain vegetables. i think this was the first time i even had a chance to eat such a variety.
post meal food coma
after a good nite's rest, we start with a grand breakfast too.
ok, we have to walk all this food off - checking out the local map
daffodils everywhere
we find a super tiny local dairy farm
we try their fresh yogurt
all done
we head over to kusatsu, which is a very famous hot spring of the area. in the town's center, there is a big hot spring.
smells REALLY bad - sulfur = rotten eggs, but its good for you!
kids around one of the cooler temperature fountains
splash party!
from the central spring, the water gets carried over...
and distributed to the multiple bathhouses in the area....
hot spring fountain
using roof tiles to create a wall of water pattern...
town center - this area is also known for skiing in the winter, hence the swiss miss look
famous poet bassho's poem engraved in a stone - as he also took retreats to this area a long time ago...
outside of restaurant featuring maiteke (a type of mountain veggie/mushroom) menu items - the brown clumps are the maiteke
we have onsen eggs - eggs that are steamed in hot spring water
also onsen dumplings - fluffy sweet pastries steamed with hot spring water - the wooden box is used to steam them...
to try out this famous kusatsu water, we visit a public bathhouse (pay per visit) called ohtaki no yu.
our lockers
womens' bath - ok, so no pics of inside the bath =)
this region has all these fresh farm goods - so we stop by a local market
freshly cut daffodils
veggies
fresh mountain vegetables
lots of strawberries
mom buys the biggest daikon radish i've ever seen.
back in tokyo, we visit tokyo midtown, a relatively new commercial, retail, cultural complex. these wood benches were so cool, unravelling from the ground.
outdoor public space...
oh how nice.
so we sat our green tea donut there =)
crosswalk to the gardens
this is "sakura cafe", a temporary cafe space open for the cherry blossom season (like 2 weeks). its an outdoor cafe where the tables and seats are shaped like blossoms.
so creative!
the signage of the cafe was made of big letters on poles posted into the grass
we head over the 21_21 Design Sight - these little vans are their shops
21_21 is an art space designed by Tadao Ando and conceptualized by designers Issey Miyake, Taku Satoh, and Naoto Fukasawa, and Noriko Kawakami.
they have 2 exhibits / year - right now is "XXI Century Man" directed by Issey Miyake. It is a show that places hope to our future and explores what today's "man" has in store for that future.
no photographs of the inside were allowed. although there were a number of artists featured, my favorite piece was by Issey Miyake himself who deconstructed Dyson vaccuum cleaners and molded them back together to create new forms to inspire a clothing collection.
checked another gallery exhibit called "ONE"
room filled with white 1s
but behind each one is a mini exhibit from a contemporary artist
walked 5 minutes to the new national art center designed by architect kisho kurokawa
huge glass panel facade
inside the museum
random, but at a supermarket, i saw these electronic price tags, which is thought was a really creative thing.
family time - my cousin yoko has a baby girl, sakura, who i got to meet for the first time.
mom and daughter
my aunt and other cousin with her kids, miyu and lisa
yoko, lisa, ma-chan, miyu, and reiko
telling secrets
the cousins...
fresh sashimi
my dad and his brother
the girls wanting to help feed their little cousin
lisa, miyu and me (i'm missing my matching striped zipup)
sakura playing with her new converse hi-tops =)
view from parents apt balcony. got to spend some amazing family, friends and travel time in japan this spring. finito~
