cycling.monoanimal

Today we spent the morning with Kanae and adorable Riko and Rio. First Kanae brought us to the famous Giant Buddha of Kamakura – one of the only two giant Buddha statues in all Japan. I’m pretty sure there are others but, hey, an official list is an official list no matter how short. We admired his giant, thin and curly mustache, went inside the sculpture for 20yen a head and made our way back to the car to continue our Kamakura expedition.

Kanae had planned to take us to Hachimangu – a very famous shrine – but traffic proved to be rather intense for reasons we later discovered (a very important holiday for kids turning 3, 5 and 7 is coming up and families are heading to shrines in droves). So we bypassed Hachimangu for the moment and headed to a temple (whose name I for-the-life-of-me can’t remember) that is known for it’s wonderfully thick bamboo forest. I think it’s colloquially called the Bamboo Temple. And my what a thick forest of bamboo it was. Just beauitful – with a thick carpet of lush moss only broken by the occasional stepping stone. We enjoyed a bit of thick, foamy green tea (what we realized would be our last matcha) as we took in the scenery of the bamboo forest and a playful little waterfall.

For our next Kamakura location-not-be-missed, Kanae lead the way to a Zen temple nestled in a forest and carved into the stone of a mountain side. It proved a beautiful if not a bit spooky place whose scraggly, leafless trees drove home the message that fall was coming despite today’s extraordinarily warm weather.

We walked back to Kanae’s car and started the trip back to Hachimangu with hopes that the crowds had subsided or at least a parking spot would be free. No such luck. As we drove in circles, slowly, looking for a parking spot, we realized that time was getting short and Kanae, Riko and Rio would soon have to head back to Kanae’s parents home in order to get their ride to the airport. Ah, how quickly time flies. We finally found a spot and Kanae hurried us to a Thai restaurant she had mentioned earlier. Aware of the time, we all quickly ate up our respective tasty Thai dishes and rushed back through the now bustling crowds of children in kimono and parents and formal wear.

We made it back in time to Kanae’s parents, and sadly waved Kanae, Riko and Rio goodbye with hopes, no, assurances that we will see them in the States soon. It was then back to packing. Our bikes were still unwrapped and unready so we got to work; the bubble wrap, tape, bikes and bike bags all lay in wait. Kanae’s father, Meghan and I all spent the next hour with greasy hands trying to protect every protrusion and side of the bike from rough baggage handlers – all while trying to keep the bikes as small as possible. It’s quite unlikely that we’ll get away with the bike bags as regular checked luggage but if we do, it means we’ll save about 400USD in over-sized baggage charges. Please, please, please let us not incur those charges.

Bike packed, we popped them in the car, washed our hands and headed into house for our final, and always delicious, dinner prepared by Mrs.Hitomi . Tonight was chicken with broccoli and pasta followed by the again always delicious fresh sliced apple. Our final dinner in Japan and homecooked. What a treat! After dinner, we had much needed showers, ensured that our bags were, mostly, in order, grabbed Inu-chan from his new favorite napping place on the piano, and headed to bed.

It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that tomorrow night I will be back home in Washington DC. It’s not a vacation. We’re going home for good. And not only does that mean readjusting to a culture and country that I feel like I should know (but I don’t), but also means leaving Japan, a place I have grown to love and be very comfortable in during these last three years. But maybe that’s why it’s time to go. I’m not ready to get so comfortable yet – it’s important to mix things up every now and them.

So, I guess this is our last post from Japan. If you are in the US, we will no doubt see you very soon. If you are in Japan, we’ll be in touch and no doubt see you all fairly soon as well.

We got up early this morning for a quick hike before heading out for the day. Kanae lead us along roads until we reached the classic, stairs up a mountain of Japan. At the top of the stairs we found a path that wound its way along the hilltops, occasionally the foliage breaking to give way to a view of Kamakura and the ocean beyond. Kamakura rests safely between mountains and hills on one side and the ocean on the other. Mount Fuji can be seen from the top of this climb on a nice day, but sadly our view was foggy. Still we were able to enjoy the hike, passing through ancient tunnels dug through the hills, and an amazing stretch of ceder woods at the end.

After breakfast back at the house, we headed to Haneda airport to pick up our cat from Krystal and Yuya, who flew down from Hokkaido with him this morning. Happily, Kanae offered to drive us to the airport on her way to the hairdresser in Tokyo. It was a quick exchange in the airport, and with a cat in a bag we headed into Tokyo. Inu-chan (our cat’s name) was dead silent, probably on account of pure shock from his airplane experience. We had been debating between taking the train back from Tokyo – about and hour and a half ride with two train changes – or waiting for their hair appointment to end and getting a ride home with Kanae. In the end we decided the crowded subway would be worse then a couple hours alone in the car, so we wandered around the Omotesando area while Kanae and the girls got their hair done.

Christophe actually stayed in Tokyo after the rest of us headed back with the cat. He went to a concert with a buddy who we had hoped to meet up with earlier in the week but who had had the flu. I took the cat back and introduced him to Kanae’s parents home. Kanae and I set about making pizzas for dinner, and by the time the dough had finished rising Inu-chan had come out from behind the couch and was happily inspecting the room. I was amazed by how quickly he adjusted to the new space. I guess he did remember me after all, since it took him no time at all to start nuzzling me and following me around meowing (you have to take the good with the bad when it comes to cats).

It was a relaxed evening of making and eating pizzas. Kanae’s brother’s family lives on the second floor of the house so they all joined us for dinner. After dinner we all took baths one by one, and just hung around until we got tired (actually until the adults got tired, Kanae’s girls and their cousins seemed to have an endless quantity of energy!). I went to bed before Christophe got back and don’t even remember his return – I guess the day had been more tiring then I realized.

Hello all,

sadly the internet is being very weird (big surprise) and we cant seem to upload pictures (but we can write and upload posts…). Hopefully we will figure it out soon, but in the meantime please enjoy these very delayed, no picture posts – yikes, things are going downhill fast at the end here!

3 days until we are on a plane for America!

After being in and out of sleep, intermittently woken up by peoples’ arrivings and coughings and other goings ons, we finally got up at 6:45 and were out of the internet cafe by 7. We hopped on the train and were at the famous Tsukiji Fish Market no later than 7:30. Although we had been to Tsukiji once before, quite early and not all there, we were determined to do it right once before leaving for what may be a good long time. Also, since we both have been reading The Sushi Economy, we thought we should give Tsukiji a second whirl with a whole lot more understanding of what goes on there.

I’d like to go into it, but well, it’s a fish market. It has fish and lots of it. We walked around, took some pictures, and headed toward to food stand and restaurant area that we had walked through earlier in the morning to dig on some delicious fresh (VERY fresh) sea food rice bowls. I had a tuna/salmon/salmon roe bowl and Meghan had a tuna/salmon. Delighted, we thanked the restaurant owner and chef and walked around a bit more to find a sushi place that would fill our desire to get a slice of each kind of cut of tuna for comparison. We found one and treated ourselves to one piece of akami, one piece of chu-toro, and one piece of o-toro each. Very satisfied, we headed away from Tsukiji to meet the Tokyo morning in Ginza.

We milled about Ginza for a while when we realized that it was only about 9 and nothing was open. Starbucks. Macha Latte and Coffee accompanied by people watching. Once the stores began opening, we headed out and were first met by the Sony building. Strongly considering the purchase of a Sony television after getting settled in back in the States, I thought we could peruse the offerings of the Sony building. Nice, unashamed consumerism. We walked the many floors of the Sony building, played with the many toys, and feasted our eyes on massive HD televisions we could, mostly, never afford.

A bit tired, we headed from Ginza to Tokyo and grabbed the next train to Kamakura – the latest place of residence with the wonderful Hitomi Family, parents to a wonderful friend of Meghan and mine from Muroran, Kanae, who would be arriving with her two girls that evening. Arriving in Kamakura, we decided to walk back to their home (which resides down a network of twisting roads and on a hill). It took us quite a while, and we did get a bit lost, but we eventually found our way. Tired and fairly stinky after both sleeping in an internet cafe and walking all about Tokyo, we grabbed naps and showers before Kanae, Riko (7) and Rio (3) showed up.

Around 7pm a small child burst into the room – the girls had arrived. Christophe and Kanae prepared the tons of fresh sashimi that Kanae had brought down from Hokkaido, while I partook in tickle wars with the girls. Dinner was another amazing meal of fresh fresh fish and two beautiful Hokkaido Kegani (hairy crabs). It was a good day of eating.