Japan 2018 - A Family Video Adventure

One of the busiest spots in Tokyo is a pedestrian crosswalk known as the Shibuya Scramble.  It has become, as well, one of the “don’t miss” sites for tourists to experience.  Our last morning in Tokyo, therefore, we took the subway over to Shibuya, stopping along the way to pick up a quick breakfast at two underground kiosks - which we then ate at the foot of the famous Hachiho statue. The statue honors a faithful dog who turned up every day to greet his returning master, even for years after his owner’s death.  Today it’s a common meeting spot in front of Shibuya station and adjacent to the scramble crossing. And so that’s how we ended it: crossing the street along with several hundreds of others, tourists, travelers and Tokyoites alike, a fitting scramble to bring our Japan travel adventures to an appropriate conclusion.

On our second day in the big city, we ventured out, first to the Shinjuku area and then on to Roppongi Hills for lunch with two of Marie’s Filipino friends, both of whom are in the diplomatic service. In the afternoon Evan took the grandkids off to Akihabara to submerge themselves in everything “geeky” - video and virtual reality games, action figures and collectibles, the latest in anime and manga.  Sarah and Marie opted for Asakusa and the shopping arcade leading up to Sensoji, Tokyo’s best known Buddhist temple.  Heidi and Lee returned to our AirBnB for an afternoon nap. We shared our last evening meal in Japan with Takuma, grandson Sean’s host brother, at a seventh floor restaurant in the VelVia Building just off the Ginza - a nabe do-it-ourselves hot pot delight thoroughly enjoyed by all. On our way back to the subway, we happened on a small display window featuring very detailed miniatures depicting recognizable scenes and props from the animated films of...

Fifty-three years ago to the day, Heidi and Lee were married at Christ Church in Bangkok by the Reverend John Ironsides.  It really took!  We came to Japan on our honeymoon, and now we find ourselves here yet again - this time with a son, daughter-in-law, great family friend, and three grandchildren in tow.  Quite amazing, especially when considering there are still another eight relations back home in the United States! The run up to our three nights in Tokyo enabled the grandparents to let the “youngsters” go off on their own.  They shopped along Takeshita-dori, stopped in at a cat cafe, subwayed out to Nakano Broadway for a bit of roller bar sushi and to take in all the local anime, manga and video game stores in the area. Heidi and Lee, meanwhile, sauntered down Kagurazaka, an upscale tree-lined street, stopping for lunch at Paul, the city’s best French bakery.  The neighborhood also houses narrow alleyways lined with exclusive restaurants, often fronte...

A bright, sunny Sunday morning turned into the highlight (!) of our last day “on the road” before reaching Tokyo.  Lee had planned a grand “circle tour” of the Hakone area from our delightful AirBnB in Ohiradai involving the local Tozan rail line, a cable car, two ropeways and a pirate ship. A bright, sunny Sunday morning turned into the highlight (!) of our last day “on the road” before reaching Tokyo.  Lee had planned a grand “circle tour” of the Hakone area from our delightful AirBnB in Ohiradai involving the local Tozan rail line, a cable car, two ropeways and a pirate ship. Our first stop was at the Hakone Open Air Museum featuring contemporary sculpture from all around the world.  The grandkids especially enjoyed the Woods of Webs, an interactive playground unlike any other,  while the adults appreciated both the sculpture and  the care with they were placed in their surroundings, giving each piece the needed “breathing room”. So far, so good....

Breakfast at Tully’s - Peace Park and Museum - lots of time on four (!) trains to commit oneself to working for world peace - a sobering day, indeed ....

Kanazawa has been linked to Tokyo by Shinkansen for only a little over three years, but the city has always drawn visitors because of its gardens, crafts and cuisine - now more than ever! We started our day-long visit with bakery goods and added coffee from a nearby 7-11 located in Kanazawa Station. Next we wandered through Kenrokuen, one of the three most famous large gardens in Japan, a quiet and peaceful stroll highlighted by a wide variety of flowering trees. We then walked around a preserved neighborhood of high-ranking samurai compounds along narrow streets lined with tile-topped clay walls.  Here we entered the Nomura House to view the family’s incredibly beautiful small garden. For lunch we once again bought ekibento to eat on the train which took us late in the afternoon to Hiroshima, our next destination. All day long we basked in bright sunshine and proclaimed every cherry tree we encountered as more stunning than the last.

Our intrepid group of travelers visited two contrasting worlds on Thursday, both within five miles of one another, one urban, the other rural. We first strolled through Takayama’s designated historic district, dominated by three streets of preserved tradional urban shop-residence facades running parallel to the adjacent river. Most of the interiors have been remodeled into contemporary shops and restaurants, making for a great interaction between commerce on the one hand and historic cityscape preservation efforts on the other.  The warm, sunny weather added to the ambiance.  Heidi even shopped a bit as we wandered about the town. In the afternoon we bused to the outskirts to Hida no Sato, a beautifully sited and arranged selection of authentic traditional residences representative of the various architectural styles of traditional Japanese rural life in the Japan Alps.  The variety is ascribed to climate variation from region to region - steeply patched roofs i...

Leaving Kyoto for Takayama on Day Three of our Japan trip, we eventually embarked on the first of the day’s new adventures: riding the Shinkansen “Bullet Train”.  Doing so involved taking the subway to Kyoto Station, traipsing to the correct side of the station, arranging assigned seats (for all three segments of our day’s journey), making our way to the correct spot on the platform, boarding the train with all our luggage within the two minutes allotted, and settling in for the initial one hour trip. Actually the first three of these tasks were so efficiently completed that we had time to spare before heading through the ticket gate.  Folks wandered off, retrieving yen from Seven Eleven ATMs; exploring nearby shops, coffee houses and restaurants in the station concourse, or just people watching.   Sarah had earlier suggested a word game — “You know you are in Japan when ...” — and, while we we waiting and watching, almost immediately a example cropped up:...

Leaving behind our exquisitely redone Kyoto AirBnB accommodations, an old urban shop-residence in the heart of the Nishijin silk-weaving district, we ventured out by train to visit both KASUGA TAISHA (a Shinto shrine surrounded by hundreds of stone lanterns) and TODAIJI (a Buddhist temple, “largest wooden building in the world”) in nearby Nara. Lots of sacred deer greeted us upon arrival, messengers of the gods and voracious munchers of thin crackers offered by visitors. At the rear of the Buddhist temple is a pillar with a hole in its base reputedly the size of the Buddha’s nostril which brings good luck and health to those who crawl through it.  Elliot, Oliver, Olivia, Sarah and Marie all managed the feat, along with lots of smaller kids.  That makes twelve Makela family members (out of fifteen) over three generations who have fulfilled this traditional expectation! After a quick lunch, we moved on to BYODOIN, perched on the edge of a beautiful pond and enhanced by lots...

Our visits today took us to SANJUSANGENDO, a twelfth century Buddhist temple, before lunch in the new food court in the lower level of the Kyoto Tower building.across from the still stunning Kyoto Station complex (which we toured earlier in the day after our morning arrival from Kansai Airport).  Two more stops - at NIJO-JO, the Tokugawa shogun’s Kyoto Palace, and the Golden Pavilion at KINKAKUJI - rounded our the day. The highlight, however, turned out to be our delicious Rolly ice cream sundaes - no doubt about it!

This time around, I decided to use my iPhone to record and edit a brief daily video of our activities during each of our eleven days here in Japan.  My first entry was shot during our three hour layover at the brand new, just recently opened, Inchon International Airport outside Seoul, South Korea. The second catches highlights of our Sunday visits to sites in nearby Osaka while Heidi and I await the late evening arrival at Kansai International Airport of the remaining six family members joining us on this adventure. The cherry blossoms were nearing their peak at Sakuranomiya, a famous riverside promenade known for its seasonal splendor, and visible, too, at Shitennoji, Japan’s oldest Buddhist temple, within the vast complex dating back to the third century.  We took the opportunity to work out the kinks in my travel smarts and managed to get all the way back “home” again with only a minor mishap or two!  ... and on a bright, sunny day to boot.  Looks like we...