I saw this clip on saturday night live the other day and I think that it is the funniest skit ever. First of all I love the television show The Office and two I live in Japan so it makes it even more hilarious. I just had to share this with everyone.
6/27/2008
6/23/2008
Nikko
This last weekend we had the opportunity to go to the Historical town of Nikko. Nikko is situated in the mountains about 2 hours north of Tokyo and 2 hours south of us. Nikko is considered a world heritage site and so we had to see it before we left Japan.
I am so glad we did make the drive to go see Nikko, it was absolutely beautiful. I have been to lots of famous sights in Japan and I think that this was my favorite sight by far. Nikko is surrounded by the most beautiful forests and rivers. And all the temples and shrines are surrounded by huge red wood trees with moss all over them. The stone walls around the temples and shrines are aged and blend in with the surrounding forests. Its just absolutely gorgeous. We stayed at a little b&b called the Hatori Turtle Inn. It was along the river at the end of a street. It was in a very secluded spot and they had a private onsen (naked hot tub). This was the girls favorite part. I would highly recommend staying there to anyone traveling to Nikko.
Besides the great B&B we enjoyed the hiking around the rivers and around the temples and shrines. We were told before we left on Friday that it was going to rain, but we lucked out and we had sunshine on saturday and mist on Sunday, but no rain or at least the need use an umbrella.
On Sunday we drove up the mountain to a lake town called Chuzenji. Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera died that morning and so I didn't get any pictures of our day at the lake. It is home to the beautiful waterfall called Kegon (one of the top three water falls to see in Japan). And since I didn't have my camera we paid to have our picture taken in front of the waterfall. The lake and waterfall were formed from a volcano that erupted a long time ago. This town was just as beautiful as Nikko. It was really cloudy that day, but it created a mist that lingered over the lake and made the atmosphere very peaceful. Overall it was a great two days.
The first thing we saw when we arrived in Nikko was this beautiful Japanese garden. I love the style of Japanese gardens so much. I want to create one in my backyard some day.
The girls are praying at a shinto shrine or at least pretending to pray.
This is the most colorful pagoda that I have seen in Japan. I imagine that most of them use to look this way.
Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil. You've got to love this famous Buddhist teaching. These monkey's were carved into one of the buildings at the world heritage site.
Trying to recreate the monkeys. We were missing Sophia monkey.
Its the amazingly ornate buildings like this one (which was built in about 1630) that they made Nikko into a world heritage site. Some powerful man back then had these buildings made in honor of his death before he actually died. I think that is the correct story.
We had lots of walking to do that day so Lane did a lot of this. We do have a stroller but with millions of stairs its more of a pain to bring it. And the girls love to ride on Lane's shoulders.
Lane is a good sport to carry the girls. I believe that their combined weight is about 70lbs.
As we climbed a ton of stairs to get to the last temple, Sophia kept turning around and saying ok mom take another picture. So I took advantage of that.
This is one of the many demons that guard the gates of the shrines and temples. This one didn't look so scary to me. To me he reminded me of a mad dance teacher trying to teach a cool dance move that the students where just not getting.
I am so glad we did make the drive to go see Nikko, it was absolutely beautiful. I have been to lots of famous sights in Japan and I think that this was my favorite sight by far. Nikko is surrounded by the most beautiful forests and rivers. And all the temples and shrines are surrounded by huge red wood trees with moss all over them. The stone walls around the temples and shrines are aged and blend in with the surrounding forests. Its just absolutely gorgeous. We stayed at a little b&b called the Hatori Turtle Inn. It was along the river at the end of a street. It was in a very secluded spot and they had a private onsen (naked hot tub). This was the girls favorite part. I would highly recommend staying there to anyone traveling to Nikko.
Besides the great B&B we enjoyed the hiking around the rivers and around the temples and shrines. We were told before we left on Friday that it was going to rain, but we lucked out and we had sunshine on saturday and mist on Sunday, but no rain or at least the need use an umbrella.
On Sunday we drove up the mountain to a lake town called Chuzenji. Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera died that morning and so I didn't get any pictures of our day at the lake. It is home to the beautiful waterfall called Kegon (one of the top three water falls to see in Japan). And since I didn't have my camera we paid to have our picture taken in front of the waterfall. The lake and waterfall were formed from a volcano that erupted a long time ago. This town was just as beautiful as Nikko. It was really cloudy that day, but it created a mist that lingered over the lake and made the atmosphere very peaceful. Overall it was a great two days.
The first thing we saw when we arrived in Nikko was this beautiful Japanese garden. I love the style of Japanese gardens so much. I want to create one in my backyard some day.
The girls are praying at a shinto shrine or at least pretending to pray.
This is the most colorful pagoda that I have seen in Japan. I imagine that most of them use to look this way.
Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil. You've got to love this famous Buddhist teaching. These monkey's were carved into one of the buildings at the world heritage site.
Trying to recreate the monkeys. We were missing Sophia monkey.
Its the amazingly ornate buildings like this one (which was built in about 1630) that they made Nikko into a world heritage site. Some powerful man back then had these buildings made in honor of his death before he actually died. I think that is the correct story.
We had lots of walking to do that day so Lane did a lot of this. We do have a stroller but with millions of stairs its more of a pain to bring it. And the girls love to ride on Lane's shoulders.
Lane is a good sport to carry the girls. I believe that their combined weight is about 70lbs.
As we climbed a ton of stairs to get to the last temple, Sophia kept turning around and saying ok mom take another picture. So I took advantage of that.
This is one of the many demons that guard the gates of the shrines and temples. This one didn't look so scary to me. To me he reminded me of a mad dance teacher trying to teach a cool dance move that the students where just not getting.
6/20/2008
Happy Birthday Mom!
Today is my Mom's birthday. I just wanted to wish her a happy birthday from a world away. I love you so much mom and I hope that I age as well as you have.
Here is my mom with Grace and Sophia. This was just before we came to Japan nearly two years ago.
My mom feeding my baby Sophia some yummy In-N-Out Burger fries.
My mom, Grace, Ty, and Me at my 23rd birthday. Yes we had a little mermaid cake.
Here is my mom with Grace and Sophia. This was just before we came to Japan nearly two years ago.
My mom feeding my baby Sophia some yummy In-N-Out Burger fries.
My mom, Grace, Ty, and Me at my 23rd birthday. Yes we had a little mermaid cake.
6/15/2008
Father's day!
Today is father's day and I just wanted to wish all the father's in my life a Happy Father's day.
Here is me and my Dad.
Sophia with Lane's Dad.
Here is Grace and Sophia's wonderful Dad.
We Love you three so much. Have a great day.
Here is me and my Dad.
Sophia with Lane's Dad.
Here is Grace and Sophia's wonderful Dad.
We Love you three so much. Have a great day.
Earthquake!
On Saturday morning at 8:45am we had a really big earthquake. It was a 7.2 quake with the epicenter 60 miles north of us. As most of you know Japan is home to a large percentage of the worlds earthquakes and so when the quake started to shake I didn't think anything of it. I got in the nearest doorway because I thought it would be over in a second. I was wrong.
The shaking got stronger and lasted about a minute. I got really scared as it went on. I was trying to hold on to things so they wouldn't fall over. Thankfully Lane was outside with the girls on their morning walk. While lots of stuff fell from our shelves and dishes got broken, none of us got hurt. In total this quake killed only 6 people. I say only because the 7.9 earthquake in China about a month ago killed 60,000 people. Japan is just really fortunate to be prepared for earthquakes. We have had many aftershocks since yesterday morning, but I just hope that I am more prepared this time.
The picture at top is one the roads that the earthquake demolished.
6/11/2008
Did I just see that?
I have been suffering from writers block and today a great blog idea has come to my head. Since we have been up to nothing lately I don't have any stories about my children. Today I am going to share with you things that you will commonly see in Japan that are not seen in America.
1. A child being dropped off at pre-school by a taxi. And no, the child's parents were not with them.
2. 80 year old ladies riding on scooters.
3. 90 year old Ladies riding bikes.
4. 30$ watermelons.
5. Rice fields for as far as the eye can see.
6. Vending machines every 10 yards. ( yesterday while walking with the girls we got thirsty and we kept passing vending machines with only tea and coffee. we eventually found one with juice.)
7. no garbage cans and no garbage. (we are forced to pack around our garbage until we get home.)
8. Laundry hanging outside in front of everyone's homes and apt.
9. Grocery carts the size of the hand held plastic baskets we use at the grocery stores in America (you know that baskets you use when you need only a couple of things).
10. convenient stores every 100 yards. Yes the are convenient.
whoa 11. Today the post man left his scooter(the post men drive scooters) on and unattended, with the mail box full of people's mail on the back opened while he went into the bank.
I will keep adding to this list for my own memories, but that is all I have for now.
My friend Maria added some really good ones as well.
*fresh tempura and sushi sections at all grocery stores( this section is the size of our cereal sections in America.)
*very decorative sewer covers
*people who are old wearing clothes for young people without looking absurd or the general tasteful, clean, considered fashion
*uniforms galore
*people bowing; in cars to other cars, pedestrians, shop employees....
*having to pay on each floor of a department store or each section (the department store is made up of hundreds of small individual shops.)
*daikon
*square watermelon
*everything wrapped and then wrapped in something else
*when you do see garbages there are about four of them for sorting trash: plastic bottles, burnable, glass, paper...
*little to no crime
My brother added these and he was only here for a week.
-Tons of parked and unlocked bikes
-Homeless people that are clean and organized
-Machines that lifts cars into stacked parking stalls
-Really big cell phones
-All roads are perfectly paved and painted, and many roads don't have names
-The late movie is the bargain, and it starts at 8 p.m.
-Gigantic Buddhas
-Taxis with doilies
1. A child being dropped off at pre-school by a taxi. And no, the child's parents were not with them.
2. 80 year old ladies riding on scooters.
3. 90 year old Ladies riding bikes.
4. 30$ watermelons.
5. Rice fields for as far as the eye can see.
6. Vending machines every 10 yards. ( yesterday while walking with the girls we got thirsty and we kept passing vending machines with only tea and coffee. we eventually found one with juice.)
7. no garbage cans and no garbage. (we are forced to pack around our garbage until we get home.)
8. Laundry hanging outside in front of everyone's homes and apt.
9. Grocery carts the size of the hand held plastic baskets we use at the grocery stores in America (you know that baskets you use when you need only a couple of things).
10. convenient stores every 100 yards. Yes the are convenient.
whoa 11. Today the post man left his scooter(the post men drive scooters) on and unattended, with the mail box full of people's mail on the back opened while he went into the bank.
I will keep adding to this list for my own memories, but that is all I have for now.
My friend Maria added some really good ones as well.
*fresh tempura and sushi sections at all grocery stores( this section is the size of our cereal sections in America.)
*very decorative sewer covers
*people who are old wearing clothes for young people without looking absurd or the general tasteful, clean, considered fashion
*uniforms galore
*people bowing; in cars to other cars, pedestrians, shop employees....
*having to pay on each floor of a department store or each section (the department store is made up of hundreds of small individual shops.)
*daikon
*square watermelon
*everything wrapped and then wrapped in something else
*when you do see garbages there are about four of them for sorting trash: plastic bottles, burnable, glass, paper...
*little to no crime
My brother added these and he was only here for a week.
-Tons of parked and unlocked bikes
-Homeless people that are clean and organized
-Machines that lifts cars into stacked parking stalls
-Really big cell phones
-All roads are perfectly paved and painted, and many roads don't have names
-The late movie is the bargain, and it starts at 8 p.m.
-Gigantic Buddhas
-Taxis with doilies
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