March 2015

March was a whirlwind of a month, full of fun times.

Hinamatsuri (Girls Day) is celebrated on March 3rd.  Emi San was so sweet and brought our little Emi Chan cupcakes to celebrate the occasion. 

This is the ad for Emily's modeling job for Nishikawa bedding.  It was used as a big feature picture on their webpage.  So cool, huh??  Naturally, a 6 month old should have a pillow, sheet, and full comforter in their crib. Right??  I guess it's normal in Japan!  The model with her, Eri Ebihara, was super sweet. 

Plum blossoms bloom in early March, just before the cherry blossoms.  I talked Karen and little Julia into taking a little road trip with me to go see lots of them.  I didn't get an exact address for the place, so we drove around forever trying to find the entrance.  Once we found it, we learned that it's on a hillside, where it was much cooler and windier than it was when we started our day.  The blossoms were really pretty, but our little gals weren't feeling it and we only stuck around for a short while.  We tried!

Bryan's parents came to visit!!  Wooo!!!  Emily finally met some family. :-)  She was very spoiled and loved them immediately.  They came for a two week visit, which allowed us time to show them around to a lot of the touristy sites, some of our favorite restaurants, every day things here in Japan, and of course relax too.

One of our first stops was Sushi-ro, the sushi-go-round restaurant down the street from us.  Joe and Sharon did a pretty good job and were proud of their eating accomplishments.  Emily is often doted over by strangers, especially older Japanese folks.  These ladies just loved her but she seemed indifferent to them. 

We took an overnight trip into Tokyo.  The top picture is taken at a small shrine just around the corner from the New Sanno hotel.  After a day of outings, we enjoyed a dip in the hotel pool.  Emily loves the water!

One of our big stops was Shinjuku, home to the busiest train station in the world.  Just a hop, skip and jump from the station is Shinjuku Gyoen National Gardens.  It's quite large with many different gardens to walk through. 

We were lucky to be there for the beginning of cherry blossom season.  Since it was early in the season, only a couple of large trees were blooming.  Emily wanted to eat them, of course.

Top left: Emily looking down on Shinjuku from the observatory at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.  Bottom left:  Emily's first ride in a taxi!  Right:  Two girls who just graduated from high school in the traditional type of dress. We were fortunate to see a lot of graduates while we were out and about.

Of course we had to go to a Baystar's game!

We had to chill at home too.  Emily enjoyed playing the keyboard with her Papa, as well as hamming it up for all of us.  Bryan and I were exhausted and found Emi San's gift to Bryan's parents to be very nice: one-time warm, scented eye masks!  They're amazing and we all agreed we slept super soundly!  (I stocked up on lots to bring home with me!)

Mt Fuji was very cooperative and photogenic during our visit to Hakone! (She often hides behind clouds and you have no idea where the giant beast is!)   We also rode the ropeway (Emily enjoyed watching the cables turn) and enjoyed black ice cream. It is black to match the black eggs that the area is famous for (boiling eggs in the sulfuric hot springs water turns the shell black) but is strawberry flavored.

We love cable car rides!  Who doesn't want cheesecake flavored Kit Kats??

We took a day trip to Kamakura.  We saw several shrines and temples, including Daibutsu, the big Buddha.  We also swung by the beach for a quick visit.

Proof we live near a Naval Air Facility.

Guys.  These are quite possibly one of my favorite foods ever: Pan fried Chinese soup dumplings.  They're just SO good. The inside is mostly pork like most dumplings, but they also contain soup broth. The outside bottom is crispy from being fried and the top is chewy.  They're thicker than other dumplings.  You have to poke a hole in the top to let steam out, then you can slurp the soup out, and then you eat the whole dumpling.  Amazing.  They are not a popular food in Japan at all.  I discovered the business while at an international food festival.  Bryan and I introduced some friends to them, who introduced them to more friends.  Now when one of us go to get some, we call several friends and see if they want some too, so we end up order 70 or so dumplings at a time.  I'm pretty sure whenever the guy see's an American woman walk through his little door, he just sees dollar signs. 

 

Thank for reading!