Leaving Japan

We had a noon flight out of Tokyo and we decided to take the bus to Narita Airport. We considered taking the Narita Express, which is a train to the airport, but that would have meant taking a taxi to the subway, taking the subway to Tokyo Station, and then catching the Narita Express from there. With 2 large suitcases, a stroller and two boys, we punted and decided to take the bus, even though it would take longer.

Turns out the bus was a great choice and it didn't take longer to get to the airport. Maybe we just got lucky but it only took 1 1/2 hours to get to the airport and it was painless getting there. Alex and Christine got up early to help us with our luggage (they had a later flight, leaving at 4pm, mom and dad were leaving around the same time.)

It was sad to leave Japan after such an incredible trip but it was time to go. I feel so lucky that we had a nearly flawless trip, the boys had a great time, MJ didn't have a single meltdown, nobody got sick, the weather was nearly perfect, and we visited all the sights we wanted to visit.

Flying business class on the way back was really nice. MJ struggled to nap but he finally fell asleep. We arrived home before lunchtime and that gave us enough time to unpack, relax, take showers and go to the grocery store.

For good measure, I gave the entire family some melatonin before bedtime and it really helped. MJ and CJ were asleep within minutes around 8pm. Maki and I were asleep not long after. We kept taking melatonin for a few more nights and I'm convinced it helped us get over the time difference. It usually takes Maki a couple of weeks to get adjusted to the time but this time around, he was back on the schedule within a couple of days. CJ went to school on Wednesday morning and his teachers said he was just fine. Sunshine and melatonin work great together to reset your body's clock!

 Here's sleeping MJ. I got him up at the very last minute.

Saying good-bye to Alex and Christine.

Look at the different kinds of KitKat bars. We bought every kind!

Checking in at Narita. Flying ANA is really great;
they even gave us a loaner stroller!

It was nice having so much legroom. Thank you, Amex miles!

One of the meals on the flight.

CJ wanted noodles so he got a steaming bowl of udon!

Here's a cute photo of the boys, asleep on CJ's bed, our first night back.

The Final Chapter of Our Japan Trip

Okay, it's only taken me four months to finish blogging about Japan. I need to close out the trip so that I can blog about all the other things that the family is up to!



On our last full day in Japan, we visited Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. This is probably my favorite temple complex in Japan. We go there every time we visit Japan and it's always neat and interesting. On this trip, it was raining so it wasn't as much fun to wander the grounds and the gardens, but I just find it so terrific to enter the templex complex via the giant gate, go through the long corridor of food stalls and shops, bathe in the smoke close to the temple (for good luck) and then visit the actual temple.

 

 Here's the crew walking to Asakusa from the subway

 

Here's the corridor with shops and food stalls.

Here's a view of the temple gates from Sensoji Temple.

Here's a view of one of the gardens.

I guess Sensoji means so much to me because it was one of the first temples I visited with Maki after we got married and visited Japan for the first time in 2001. We also brought CJ there during his first trip, back in November 2004.

This time around, I bought a couple of woodblock print posters of the Sensoji Temple and the Kaminarimon Gate. These prints now hang proudly in our stairwell from the first floor to the second floor.

After visiting Sensoji, we had lunch at a local restaurant, then the Kato family headed back to the hotel and Alex and Christine visited the Studio Ghibli museum. We are all Miyazaki fans and Alex said the museum was incredible and worth visiting.

After naptime, for our last dinner, we went to the Ueno District and met up with Takashi, a boyhood friend of Maki's and Takashi's wife and son, Aim. We had dinner at this incredibly, fancy, sukiyaki restaurant with tatami mats, lots of courses, and incredible service. We always have dinner with Takashi when we go to Japan and it's always a treat. CJ and Aim played together and seemed to get along really well, even though CJ doesn't speak Japanese and Aim doesn't speak English. Funny how that works.

Two servers would come in periodically during the meal to cook the food and serve us.

Here's the sukiyaki, cooking away. The food was delicious!

Here's a picture of CJ's meal.

 Here's a photo of Takashi, his wife Sunao and his son Aim + Maki, MJ and CJ.

After dinner, it was back to the hotel to get the boys off to bed and then finish the night by completing our packing. I try to stay pretty organized during trips so that packing isn't a nightmare. Nevertheless, it's always work to get everything ready for the morning and then make sure we don't forget anything.

The Story of the Lost Backpack

Here's the part of Sunday that I didn't recount in the last post because it's a story in and of itself. On Sunday morning, we were rushing to get to Grandma's house. Maki wanted to get there on the early side but it turned out to be one of those mornings that got out of control. The boys got up late, it was more effort to get the boys all dressed up, yada, yada.

We rushed to the metro, quickly changed trains in Shibuya, got on the Meguro line and quickly walked to Grandma's house. When we got there, I turned to Maki and said, "I need the backpack, MJ needs a diaper change." And that's when we realized that we had left the backpack on the train.

You can only imagine how I felt. I had seen Maki hoist the backpack up to the baggage shelf on the local train to Meguro. And I even remember saying to myself, "we have to remember to grab the backpack when we get off." And then of course, we forgot the backpack.

The backpack had absolutely everything of importance to me, to us, inside: our passports, my wallet, my credit cards, my iPad 3, my iPhone 4S. Ugh. I could not even believe this had just happened.

Maki quickly told Hiroko what had happened and she called the station. For some strange reason, we knew which train we had gotten on (the Meguro train at 10:20am). The station manager promised to stop the train and check the cars. He also said they clean out the trains at the end of the line. If they found the backpack, they would call us. I was freaking out but Hiroko just patted me on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, this is Japan." What did that mean?

The ceremony started, no call. I walked outside with MJ when he got fussy and chatty, no call. As we walked around the neighborhood, I thought about what it would take to replace the passports, my ID and credit cards. Forget the electronic devices; you can always replace those. Ugh. My heart sank a hundred times.

We went to lunch, nothing. Hiroko called and the station manager said they had found nothing while searching the train.

As lunch was ending, Maki's dad told us to report the loss to the police at Shibuya station and to prepare to go to the embassy in the morning, our last day in Japan. He said he and Maki's mom would watch the kids.

We got on the train and I finally, truly realized what a "Hail Mary" is. I held hands with CJ and we prayed to Mary on the train. We prayed dozens of Hail Marys.

We changed trains at Shibuya, which is this giant station, a huge hub where lots of people change trains, and where we were directed to report the loss. We went to the Lost and Found window. Maki told the man that we had previously called, he gave the man our names and a description of the backpack. To our giant, immense surprise, the man said they had the backpack and our passports were inside.  He gave us a piece of paper that had our tracking number on it, and told us to travel to the end of the line and check with the Lost and Found. He told us it would take 40 minutes on the Express train, there was one coming in 10 minutes and to show the ticket attendant the piece of paper so we wouldn't have to pay the fare. Amazing, utterly amazing.

So we got on the train, traveled to the end of the line, got out and found the Lost and Found. The attendant went in back and appeared a few minutes later with my backpack. Everything, absolutely everything was inside: our passports, my wallet, every credit card, every last dollar and yen, my iPad 3 and my iPhone 4S. Everything had come back.

As relief washed over me and Maki (the boys were largely oblivious, thank goodness), CJ asked for some sweets. Yes, I told him, you can have whatever you want. So we bought some yummy-looking desserts and settled down to wait for the train.

By the time we got back to Shinjuku, it was nearing dinnertime. MJ had napped a little bit on the train, so at least he wasn't cranky. We called Alex and Christine. They had had a wonderful day wandering around Harajuku to see where the young hipsters hang out. We met them at Shinjuku station and had dinner at an unagi don (eel and rice) restaurant at the Keio mall.

 Here's a photo of my yummy unagi don.

 Here's the whole group, minus me, coz I'm taking the photo.

On the way back from dinner, Christine and I peeled off to get back massages. I was one big knot from the day and I needed some relaxation time. A back massage was just what I needed.

This story reminded me, once again, what a special place Japan is. Hiroko had absolutely confidence that we would find the backpack, it was just a matter of time. Everyhing in the backpack came back; there was not a single item taken. And there was a system at the metro for cataloging and tracking lost items. Amazing.

Great Grandma Kato's Death Anniversary Ceremony

The real reason behind the trip to Japan was Great Grandma Kato's death anniversary ceremony, which took place on Sunday, November 25. The family was kind enough to schedule the ceremony around our schedule so that Maki and his family (the rest of us) could attend.

Maki's grandmother, Kazuko Kato, died last December 2011, shortly before Christmas. Maki and his dad flew to Tokyo for the ceremony and cremation, while the boys and I flew as planned to San Francisco to spend the holidays with my family.

The Buddhist custom in Japan is to hold a ceremony one year after the death. The ceremony can be held before the death anniversary, but not after, which is why we flew to Japan during CJ's Thanksgiving break and not his Christmas break.

The morning of the ceremony was bright, blue and beautiful. We took the subway to Grandma's house, where the ceremony was to be held. Two of Maki's aunts still live in the house, which was divided long ago into two homes. Aunt Hiroko and Hiroko live in Grandma's side, while Aunt Keiko and her husband live in the other side.

The ceremony was presided over by a Buddhist monk, who turned out to this great, funny, jovial guy. The family and monk sat in the living room and dining room. Yoko and Keiko had created a little altar with candles and pictures of Grandma Kato.

MJ and I ended up missing the ceremony because after a few minutes, MJ got a little fussy. He wasn't crying, but he was talking a lot, commenting on the room and the dog (Hiroko's dog was in a crate in the corner), asking questions about the people, yada, yada. So MJ and I took a long walk outside, checked out the neighborhood, visited the family grave, and played outside.

Maki and CJ attended the ceremony, which apparently had a lot of chanting and incense. CJ said he didn't understand a word since it was all in Japanese but he didn't seem to mind.

After the ceremony in the house, we all went to the family grave and each family member stood in front of the grave, bowed, pinched a bit of something onto the grave (the monk had little pinch boxes filled with herbs or something), then bowed again.

Family graves in Japan are interesting. They pass on to the eldest son and his family. This grave was started by Maki's grandfather, who was the second son. Maki's grandmother is now buried there. Maki's dad and mom will be buried there. If we wish, Maki and I can be buried there, along with CJ, his future wife and oldest son, if he has one. MJ, on the other hand, as the second son, will have to start his own grave.

After the ceremony, we went to lunch at the American Restaurant, which was Grandma Kato's favorite restaurant. When she was alive, during every visit, we would have dinner with her there, with the exception of our previous visit, when she was already in the nursing home. The American Restaurant is known for their ribs and boy are they great over here!

It was our own opportunity to see all of Maki's relatives. Tak's siblings were all there and most of Maki's cousin attended as well. 

 

Here's a photo of Aunt Yoko with the Buddhist monk.

 Here's Koji with his beautiful and pregnant wife.

We sat next to three of Grandma Kato's cousins, who turned out to be really interesting. One was born in Japan, another in London.

Here's Dr. Kato with Dr. Fumihiko Inoue (Maki's cousin through Aunt Yoko) and his wife.

Here's Akabane san and Aunt Keiko.

Here's Fumihiko, Fumihiko's wife and the beautiful Hiroko. Hiroko was so kind and amazing on this trip. She traveled to Nara with us, she organized the dinner with the cousins and she helped us with the lost backpack (the topic of another blog post).

MJ was really good during lunch. He sat mostly quietly on my lap and ate everything in sight.

Here's Maki's dad with his sister Yoko.

The Soup Nazi of Tokyo or the Story of Ramen Jiro

A few weeks before we left for Tokyo, my nephew Rusty, who had just come back from Tokyo, sent me a Facebook message, saying we had to go to Ramen Jiro, which is now his favorite ramen place in Tokyo.

So when we got back to Tokyo, we decided we just had to make the pilgrimage. During dinner with the cousins, we asked the about Ramen Jiro. Hiroko was surprised that we even knew about Ramen Jiro; she said she didn't like the place. But Fumihiko and Koji both gave Ramen Jiro the thumbs up.

On Saturday morning, we arranged to have dinner with one of Maki's aunts, an aunt we were close to since both of her sons had spent summers with us to improve their English before going off to boarding school. When we told Michiko that we wanted to go to Ramen Jiro, her reaction was the same as Hiroko's: she said the food was too heavy and greasy. But her son, Takuma, said he really wanted to go.

Maki's parents decided to come to dinner with us. Maki's dad was eager to visit Ramen Jiro, but Maki's mom, being gluten-intolerant, was not.

So at 5:30pm, we met Maki's parents, Michiko and Takuma at the Meguro subway station and then trekked up and down Meguro hills for about 20 hills to get to Ramen Jiro.

Here's Tak, Linda, Michiko, Takuma and Maki at the metro station.

 

Here's a photo of the restaurant with the line of people. The restaurant is just opening up.

Ramen Jiro is a rather nondescript, almost divey, tiny restaurant. It was still closed when we got there before 6pm but there was already a line of all young men waiting to get in. I wanted to try this famous Ramen Jiro but the restaurant doesn't allow babies, so I agreed to diner with Michiko and Maki's mom.

Michiko called us into a huddle and said, "listen, there are rules at Ramen Jiro." Rules? Apparently, they are:

• There were only a few stools in the restaurant. One person comes out, another person in line goes in. No going in as a group.
• You pay outside and then order quickly once you get inside.
• You must know exactly what you want.
• You must eat fast.
• No talking.
• You must finish all of your food.
• You must wipe up the counter when you're done.
• You must bow on your way out and you must say thank you for the food in Japanese.

Armed with that knowledge, Maki, Tak, CJ, Alex, Christine and Takuma got in line and I left with the ladies. Mom, Michiko and I found a wonderful chicken bowl restaurant. The place was tiny and empty and the chef kindly made a bowl of chicken and porridge for MJ.

The moms and I had just finished our soup (we hadn't gotten our main courses yet) when Takuma called Michiko. They were done, he announced! Done? Really? They were on their way to see us at our restaurant.

Apparently, the line had moved along very quickly, the food came fast and they were done right away. But here's the funny part. Maki's dad finished in about 10 minutes, Maki in about 12 and Alex a few minutes after Maki.

But Christine and CJ were slooooowww.  Christine is a notoriously slow eater and CJ is just getting good at chopsticks. On top of that, they are both very chatty. They were also sitting next to each other, so they were doubly chatty with each other.

Apparently, after Tak, Maki and Alex left the restaurant, Christine and CJ sat there eating and talking, while the chef glared at them. After a few more minutes of just watching them eat slowly and talk, the chef yelled, "Stop talking, eat faster!" At which point, Christine and CJ gulped their food and just ran out. The soup nazi strikes again!

Even though they were practically run out of Ramen Jiro, Christine and CJ loved Ramen Jiro and of course raved and laughed about their experience to everyone else.

Maki said it wasn't the best ramen he'd ever had, it was definitely a different style of ramen, but it was worth the experience. There are Ramen Jiro restaurant all over Tokyo.

Note how Alex's back is right up to the wall.

CJ and Christine are the last of the group to finish their food. CJ did a great job with his chopsticks!

Pilgrimage to Akihabara (Electric Town) and My New Purple Sony Camera

A visit to Tokyo is never complete with a pilgrimage to Akihabara. The signs in the metro call it Electric Town. Akihabara is several square blocks of multi-story stores and buildings that sell electronics parts, phones, cameras, small appliances, games, and computers.

Maki loves coming here because there's this crazy alley filled with little shops that sells electronics parts and kits. He can find obscure cables and connectors, ham radio parts, kits he makes with CJ and his buddy Crawford, yada, yada.

I love Akihabara because here you can find cameras, video cameras and phones in all makes, models and colors. When we visited Akihabara back in 2000 (right after we got married), I picked up a purple Walkman. Sure enough, on this trip, I picked up a purple Sony point and shoot camera.

Akihabara is also full of buildings with nothing but video game consoles and arcade games across many floors. CJ went into one building with Alex. If it weren't for the smoke in the building, I think I would have lost them forever.

Here's a few of one street. Note the tall SEGA building where every floor had terminals for playing games. Crazy!

There's a lot of food in Akihabara as well.

No idea what this game was or how it worked. There was a circular screen and this guy would touch the screen as these blocks would flash on. The game was very fast-paced and he seemed to be getting perfect scores. He was moving around a lot to keep up with the game and he was wearing these gloves that I assume are the special touch screen gloves.

Check out these colorful Sony cameras. I got the purple one!

 More colorful cameras. Why don't they sell these in the US?

 Pink and gold cameras!

 Blue and red cameras!

Dinner in Shibuya

After nap time, we headed out to Shibuya, one of the hip districts in Tokyo. Shibuya is known for fashion on the streets, hip department stores, and great food. It's a favorite area for dinner and hanging out, especially among singles. Shibuya is also pretty central, so it's easy to get to.

Taking the metro to Shibuya on a Friday evening during rush hour can be quite challenging but we made it.

We met several of Maki's cousins at a beautiful restaurant (that I can't name, sorry). It was a traditional Japanese restaurant with private rooms featuring tatami mats and traditional screens. There was a little stone pathway within the restaurant leading to the private rooms. Very pretty.

We had dinner with Hiroko, Fumiko and Koji. Maki's cousin are all really accomplishes. Hiroko works for an organization that brings opera and ballet to Japan; she negotiates the contracts. Fumihiko is a successful surgeon. He says colon cancer is on the rise in Japan as the Japanese diet is becoming more Western. Koji is an ad buyer for Fendi. He's ridiculously stylish with his hair, skinny jeans, and velvet jacket. Maki was so glad to see his cousins and spend time with them, just the cousins. Maki is the oldest of all the cousins.

Check out these photos of some of the dishes we had at this restaurant. As usual, the food just kept coming and coming, all of it fresh and all of it delicious.

After dinner, we asked Koji to take us to Hachiko. Hachiko is a statue created in honor of a dog during the 1920s who became famous for continuing to come to the train station to meet his master, long after the master had died. The area where Hachiko stands is a popular meeting spot.

The Hachiko story is a popular one. For the trip, I bought the movie Hachi starring Richard Gere, which is set in America, but based on the Hachiko story. I also bought the book.

Afterward, we went back to the metro station to see the Myth of Tomorrow mural, which Fodors.com highly recommended that we see. We didn't really understand the significance of the mural but it was fun to see.