Adkins Update

Japanese Vacation

Todd and I were blessed to go on our first vacation since our honeymoon on March 29th through April 8th. We have friends living in Japan and had wanted to go visit but ticket prices were too expensive. Then, by God's grace in January, Todd found a great deal on TravelZoo and we had to take this once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to Japan and stay with friends.

I'm planning on giving the details for those interested, the rest of you...enjoy the pictures.

3/29/06
So we started our morning at the Washington Dulles airport greeted by a very unfriendly employee of United Airlines. We had arrived early to get our seat assignments on the flight from Chicago to Osaka. Unfortunately I had totally forgotten to change my passport to my married name so the conflicting names on it and my ticket posed a problem. All I had to do was pay the fine to change the name on my ticket, but she made the experience very unpleasant. Then they wouldn't let us get our seats, so we had to wait until we arrived in Chicago...as it turns out the Lord blessed us with a cheerful employee in Chicago who decided to bump us up to Business Class just because. Wow, what a blessing! It was amazing...we had so much room and could recline almost all the way back and could prop up our feet. I ate filet mignon for dinner, which was pretty tasty. Even though we still didn't sleep much, it was very comfortable and we felt good when we arrived.

Here are some pictures we took from the plane as we flew over Alaska. It was a perfectly clear day and it was absolutely amazing!









3/30/06
We spent our first night at a Hostel in Osaka. As you entered there was a place for you to take off your shoes and put on slippers and you put your shoes in a cubby. They are very adamant about not tracking in outside dirt. When you entered your room you were to leave your slippers outside the door and just wear socks in the room. They even had special bathroom slippers you put on in the bathroom. The rooms had bunkbeds and there were a couple showers for everyone to use. We had a good nights rest as we were pretty exhausted from traveling. The hostel was run by this cute man who made us try on Kimonos and take pictures even though we were exhausted…

03/31/06
The next day we headed to Kobe. We rode a ropeway to the top of a mountain and then hiked down. On our way up we saw a huge warthog in the hole he’d dug to rest in. As we walked down there were several signs picturing a small Japanese boy running from a warthog…not very encouraging. Luckily we weren’t attacked. :)


We found a cute spot to take some creative pictures.











There were all kinds of flowers and a couple beautiful waterfalls. It was quite a hike down.












Afterwards we checked into our hotel. These kimonos were provided at the foot of the bed for us to use as a robe so we thought we’d take a picture. We had a nice dinner down by the waterfront.









It was a great first day!



04/01/06
We jumped on a train this morning headed to Sagano to take a “romantic train ride” and then on to Nara. We walked through a huge bamboo forest and then rode the train. It was a nice ride with amazing scenery.

On a the train to Nara, Todd made a little friend. They were copying what each other did with their sunglasses and laughing. It was so cute. They switched glasses for a bit and then exchanged back. Here are the cuties...Japanese make the peace sign in pictures usually so that's what Todd is doing and his buddy is showing us how old he is.




In Nara, we explored the Todai-ji Temple, which is where you find the world's largest bronze image of the Buddha. When the monks dust him off, four of them can stand in the palm of his hand. He is 53 feet tall and was cast in the year 752! Unfortunately he's lost his head several times due to fires and earthquakes and his current head dates back to 1692.
It was incredible, and so was the structure that sheltered him. The current structure was completed in 1709 as this main hall has been rebuilt several times. As it stands today, it is only two-thirds of the original size, but is still the largest wooden building in the world.
There were also two huge golden statues on each side of the Buddha. They were statues of bosatsu, enlightened beings, and were also completed in 1709. These pictures don't do justice to the enormity of it all.

On our way back to the train station we decided to take a taxi. We told the driver we had to hurry to catch our train, so he took a short cut down all the narrow, windy, back-roads. It was fun and pretty neat because we got to see areas of the city most tourists do not see as it was more residential.

We went back to the Kyoto train station and got our luggage out of the lockers. Then we headed to our hostel of the night…Kyoto’s Cheapest Inn. Literally, that is what the place was called. It was interesting. We walked forever carrying our bags and were exhausted by the time we got there. It was a big open room full of bunkbeds, basically side by side, only separated by a piece of plywood. There were three showers and three toilets and a few sinks. It was definitely an experience none of us will forget. Luckily I used earplugs and slept fairly well, while Todd, Dan, and Christa hardly slept because all the other people in the room seemed to dig through plastic bags and move around or left their lights on through the night. (If traveling to Kyoto, I’d recommend shelling out a little more cash than we did and having a room to yourself.) :)

04/02/06
Today we traveled around Kyoto. It was a little rainy, but we were still able to see a few sights. We visited Nijo Castle which was built in the 1600’s. It was enormous. The floors squeaked as you walked around and made a sound like nightingales. It was their security system, so if someone broke in, bodyguards could hear and locate the criminal. Everywhere you went in Japan there were shrines. This bridge picture is one of the many we passed. After we had finished our sightseeing we headed to the train station to go to Utsunomyia, where the Wilson’s live. This time we rode on the Shinkansen trains which are the really fast trains. They are nicknamed "bullet trains". When they pass each other on the track it’s like a sonic boom going through the train.

Once we got to Dan and Christa’s apartment, we had dinner and relaxed while watching a movie. I was lying on the floor and felt a little vibration. I thought it was a train nearby, but Dan told us it was an earthquake…then it got a little stronger and it definitely startled me. It wasn’t a big one at all and they get them all the time. But, I guess we can now say that we’ve lived through an earthquake!

04/03/06
We took it pretty easy our first day at the apartment. It was nice to be settled where we would be spending the majority of our time. We made sandwiches and met Dan at Honda Park for lunch. Then, Christa took us by the local mall and we walked around. When we got back to the apartment, Christa pointed out that the cops were setting a trap there to pull people over. She thought it was neat that Todd and I got to see that. (more to this story tomorrow…)

She and I dropped Todd off at the apartment and then headed to the grocery store. We got everything we needed for dinner and came back to start cooking gyoza. It was very tasty and I’ve already cooked it once since Todd and I returned home. Basically, gyoza is ground pork, green onion, and cabbage chopped together and placed inside a dumpling. You dip it in soy sauce. It’s great.


Todd was obsessed with their toilet. He spent the whole week talking about how you could make one and where we could get one. It was really nice in that it had a seat warmer, which is awesome...no cold porcelin! It also had other features that almost made me jump off the seat...let's just say if you want a little spray when you're all done, you just press a button. But his favorite part was when you flushed it, the new water poured into the top through a drain and their was a faucet so you could just was you hands on top of the toilet!

04/04/06
Christa took Todd and I to a pottery town called Mashiko today. It is very well known and has a ton of shops full of pottery. We made a day of it by walking down the street looking through the shops. Todd and I found some nice pieces and bought some small dishes to use when we make gyoza. We had a really nice time.


On our way to Mashiko we not only got to see the police setting traps, we got to experience it! Christa got pulled over for speeding and had to get out of the car and get in this bus. It was a little weird, but once she understood it was only going to take 10 minutes and they weren’t hauling her off somewhere, she got in the bus. Todd snapped a picture of our criminal friend while she was getting the first ticket of her driving career. She wasn’t upset so we thanked her for the cultural experience!

04/05/06
Today was a little rainy, so we went to the Mall and shopped at Uni Qlo. It was a cute store we found that kind of reminded us of Old Navy. We found a few items we liked and came home with some Japanese t-shirts. We didn’t plan to go clothes shopping, but they had great prices.

We had our tea ceremony in the afternoon. It was my favorite experience of the trip. Dan’s Japanese teacher, Mitsuko, set it up and Christa’s teacher, Noriko came along too. They were so sweet and it was great to meet them. Noriko had made a "welcome to Japan" sign and she waved it for me when we met. We arrived at Mr. Nakagami’s, the tea master’s home and first had a special tea with a pickled cherry blossom in it. It tasted very salty. It was called sakura tea. Sakura is the term for the cherry blossoms. It was sakura season and that is why they served this tea. It is normally served at weddings and special occasions.

Then, we went into the tea ceremony room and knelt on mats. While, Mr. Nakagami made us green tea, his assistant another tea master, served us sweets on a wooden stick which were made from sweet beans. These sweets are called Okashi.

When you drink green tea, you bow to the person serving you, then bow to the cup, then turn it twice clockwise to show everyone else the beauty on the cup. After you are finished, you make a slurping sound signifying you are finished and showing that you enjoyed the tea. You turn the cup once counterclockwise and admire the artwork on the cup. Then you place it back on the ground.After we all had our sweets and tea, we got to make tea for each other and were served some other sweets.

Mr. Nakagami then offered to make us a special green tea which was an honor as it is the most formal tea…a.k.a. it’s really strong. This time we all shared the cup. You sipped and then wiped the cup and passed it on. I wasn’t a fan of green tea as it tasted too much like grass for me, but I enjoyed trying it and loved the whole experience.

After we had our tea, we asked questions and Mr. Nakagami explained the different elements of the room. He had a banner made which told the theme of our ceremony. He had been planning our ceremony for months, thinking of the theme etc. He has been doing tea ceremonies for 35years. The theme of our ceremony is translated to mean “one chance, one meeting”. Basically saying this is probably the only time we will all be together, so let’s enjoy this time and one another’s company. It was so sweet. He gave us a smaller version of the banner to take home as well as some photos of local sakura trees.

He told us how the tea ceremony began during the samurai times and normally you don’t talk during the ceremony. But, today was special as he explained all he was doing and showed us the different elements. Women weren’t allowed to be a part of the ceremony until the reformation in the 1800’s.

There was a tobacco box in the room which signified a man’s seat. Todd asked about it as he grew up helping raise tobacco. He had never seen tobacco so fine. Before we left, Mr. Nakagami gave Todd a pipe that was the style of the samurai times and a box of tobacco. Mitsuko was translating for us, and from what we understood, he smoked that pipe after WWII. We were very honored that he gave us the gifts.

After the ceremony, we headed to a sushi bar at a local mall. While we were there, Todd got a quick shot with the Colonel.
I had never had sushi and definitely don’t think I could swallow raw fish. So, I had a tuna wrap and a cucumber one. Japanese women put the whole thing in their mouth at once, which I tried, but was unsuccessful. I thought I was going to gag because there was no room left for me to chew it up! They were a little hard to eat because they were wrapped in seaweed and I wasn’t a fan of that part. But it was all about the experience. Todd enjoyed his sushi. The restaurant had a conveyer belt that dishes went around on during the busy times and you could just select what you wanted off the belt. It was fun.

04/06/06
Dan took off work for the rest of the week and we all drove to a town called Nikko today. It was up in the mountains and we saw beautiful snow caps on our way. This area was filled with giant cedar trees and the shrines were tucked back in the woods. They were very beautiful. The Tosho-gu shrine was my favorite temple that we saw in Japan. It was so colorful and elaborate. I wondered how long it must have taken to build because there was so much detail to everything. I read in our guide book that it only took two years...but that was because they used 15,000 workers! There is a carving of the three wise monkeys over a stable and we thought it was a great photo opt.

After we walked around the temples we drove up to the top of the mountain to see a beautiful waterfall and a lake surrounded by snow capped mountains. It was gorgeous. While Todd and I went to see the waterfall, Dan and Christa had a snack in a café. As they were enjoying their coffee, a little monkey came up to the door and slid it open with his paw. The workers chased him away. We couldn’t believe we missed seeing a monkey as Todd had really wanted to see one.

04/07/06
Today we headed to Tokyo. We started out at the Senso-ji Temple and walked through the "Thunder Gate" which was enormous. We walked down a street of vendors and bought a few souvenirs. Tokyo is huge, so we hopped on and off trains all day to get around. We went to an area called Odaiba for lunch that was on the waterfront. It was very pretty. There was a smaller version of the Statue of Liberty which was so random. I touched the water so I can now say I have touched 3 oceans! After lunch we headed to Harajuku, which is where you see all the teenagers dressed crazy…like baby dolls really, in fluorescent colors…very interesting. We walked through Yoyogi park which is where the Olympics were held when they were in Tokyo. Finally, we went to Shibuya just as the sun was going down. It is a very busy area very similar to New York’s Times Square. There were so many people, sounds, and lights. It was almost over-stimulating. We were there right around 6pm on a Friday night. People were crossing the street in every direction. Afterwards we got back on the train. It was the most crowded it had been. We were smashed on there like sardines. They actually have people in Japan that push others on the trains to cram everyone in there. I thought I was going to be squished off. Then, when people want to get off the train, you have to brace yourself to something if you don’t want to go with them. I was thankful to have Todd as my blocker. They gave up trying to push him out of the way. :) We came back to the Wilson’s apartment and packed up for our following day of travel.

04/08/06
Dan and Christa took us to the train station with our travel details and we said our goodbyes and hopped on the Shinkansen to go back down to Osaka. We left around 9:30am and got to Osaka that afternoon for our 5:55pm flight to Chicago. This time instead of business class we were back in the “jungle” as the stewardess in Business class had referred to coach seating on our way there. We were literally in the back of the plane and it was quite the contrast. Todd’s knees became one with the seats in front of him. We were blessed with an aisle seat though. We arrived home around 11:30pm our time on April 8th…which would have been 12:30 in the afternoon on April 9th in Japan…basically, we were traveling for more than a day!

We had a wonderful vacation and would recommend going to Japan to anyone who may be considering it. It was so neat to see a very different part of God’s creation. Thanks to those who stuck with me and made it through my Japanese Vacation journal!

posted by Todd and Amy Adkins @ 1:08 PM