Category Archives: Uncategorized

January 1, 2025

We got a slow start this morning after last night’s late festivities. I got up earlier than most and cooked a tofu and veggie Japanese curry ahead of time for dinner. I also made a really nice mushroom and cheese omelette for Aubrey and Teva for breakfast. We had a lot of food left over from last night, so people worked their way through the leftovers. I did some reconnaissance to see what food stores were open and found a small grocery store nearby. I bought a few potatoes, some onions and some oil to make latkes to go with our curry for dinner. We finally had the facilities to make them, a store to buy the ingredients and time to actually eat them. This morning was really a catch up morning – laundry, rest and of course most people wanted to shower. We didn’t leave the house until almost 1:30.

We understood that pretty much everything is closed on New Year’s Day, so we decided to do what most people do on New Year’s: visit Meiji-jingu shrine. We knew it would be busy, but we were not expecting the sea of humanity that awaited us. As we were being herded through the shrine complex like cattle, we looked up the stats. We were shocked to find out that between Dec 31 at midnight and Jan 3, well over 3 million people will visit this shrine. Wow. There was a complex system to move all of the people through efficiently, involving signs and barriers and police officers. Absolutely mind-boggling.

The shrine was originally built in 1920 to immortalize the memory of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. The building of the shrine was a public effort with much of the labour and materials having been donated. Grounds were opened to the public in 1926. Unfortunately the original building was destroyed in the Tokyo air raids of World War II. It was then rebuilt with public fundraising efforts in 1958.

When we finally got close to the shrine we saw an enormous drum being stuck with a single strike by various people who were being supervised by one member of the staff. It seems you could pay for the privilege of being able to start the new year executing this ritual.

People basically lined up to bring offerings, buy souvenirs and charms and toss change into the shrine area itself and make a small prayer. We also saw many people leaving the shrine with ornamental arrows. I was curious as to why. Here is what I found on the Tsukublog.

“Besides its importance as a weapon, the bow and arrow has been extremely important for RITUAL PURPOSES in Japan. If you have visited a shrine at the beginning of the new year, you have probably noticed all the people buying HAMAYA ( LUCKY ARROWS- with knobby tips), which are taken home in the belief that they will bring one year of good luck…both arrows AND bows have played an important role in driving away impurities, misfortune, and evil spirits. It was in fact THE SOUNDS THEY MAKE – the twang of the bow, and the whizz of the arrow shooting through the air, that they were believed to be effective.

The Azusa Yumi (catalpa wood bow) was an essential tool in Japanese Shamanism for exorcising evil, and shooting ritual arrows was an important part of the imperial court’s New Year’s Eve purification rituals during the Heian Period- The TSUINA (which was introduced from China).”

The shrine was surrounded by a forested area with a canopy of beautiful trees, I really enjoyed walking along the paths, and even though there were throngs of people, somehow it felt less frantic because of the trees.

From the shrine, we headed for a stroll in Yoyogi park – a large park right next to the shrine. It was busy with families out for a walk, joggers, and dogs being walked in strollers. Even in these Tokyo winter conditions, many of the rose bushes in the rose garden were still blooming and fragrant in close proximity.

From the park, we went to Shibuya to try and find a grater to grate the potatoes for the latkes. What I had forgotten was that there are not really many cheese graters in Japan. I went to several stores and couldn’t find one. I settled on a peeler that had a tiny grater on the other side. It was very difficult to use, but we persevered – more on that later.

While in Shibuya we decided to pivot. Instead of going home for my homemade curry we went to a really fun conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Each person sits at a bar with an iPad. You order from the iPad and then within minutes a plate arrives at your place on one of two tracks. There was a great selection of tasty options, it came quickly, and it was very reasonably priced. Overall a great dinner choice; we will eat the curry tomorrow instead.

After dinner we went to an 8 floor Karaoke establishment. We got a small room, with unlimited hot and cold non-alcoholic drinks. We stayed for two hours and sang our hearts out whether or not we had a microphone in our hand. We all had a lot of fun.

We got back home around 10:30, had a logistics meeting and then made latkes together, while Aubrey repaired Noam’s sweatpants and three of our packs. The conditions were less than optimal: we had only a teeny tiny grater, no mixing bowls (I used the bowl from inside the rice cooker), and no baking powder or flour as a binder but we managed.

They turned out pretty well. You could say it was a Chanukah miracle that for the last night we had fresh hot latkes after we lit the candles.

We have a really early morning tomorrow and we are all going to bed too late, so I will sign off here.

In honour of Chanukah and the New Year, I will remember that it only takes a small candle to light up the dark and we should always strive to be the light.

December 31st continued…

The first thing we have to mention is that it was 28 years ago tonight that I met Aubrey, certainly a monumental anniversary. I also have to mention that we are not with Harriet and Shelly this year, and are thinking of them. They are the ones responsible for us meeting in the first place that fated night on New Year’s Eve 1997. We try to be together New Year’s whenever we are both in town, and this year, neither of us are in town.

We were excited to be in Tokyo for New Year’s Eve. I tasked the kids with figuring out where they wanted to be. After significant internet research we discovered that all of the large public New Year’s gatherings and countdown were cancelled. The government was encouraging people to stay home with their families. This may have been partly due to the cancellation of large gathering since COVID, and partly due to the problems such events cause from public drinking and rowdy crowds that can get out of control. There was even a stampede that happened in Korea in 2022 during Halloween where 159 people died and 196 others were wounded.

We were going to go back to Asakusa where there were going to be food stalls open and people visiting the Senso-Ji temple to give their New Years offerings, but Erez read on Reddit that the lines for food were over 2 hours long and the whole area was jam packed. We opted to check a restaurant close to home that was still open and looked promising. However, when we got there it was only open for reservations. After wandering the streets a little bit longer, we gave up and decided to go to several convenience stores and stock up on food and hang out at the house.

In the end, sitting around, chatting and eating and just hanging out with my family was the best option I could have asked for. We stayed up until 2am, and Noam and Teva made a TikTok dance video (hope the audio isn’t muted due to copyright). This evening I have been reflecting and counting my blessings, which are too numerous to list. I would also like to offer thanks to whomever has decided to follow us on the amazing journey.

Happy New Year Everyone! May 2025 be infinitely better than the dumpster fire of 2024.

December 31st, 2024

This was one of the day I was most looking forward to: Spending time with my Japanese Family, and introducing my kids to them.

We got there mostly without incident, although there was some running involved to catch the first train. We left a little bit late, so we arrived a little bit late – not really a problem.

Norie came and met us at the station. It was so great to see her again only a few days after we saw her in Kyoto. We walked to the shrine, and Mr. Mori came and met us. The first hug is always the best!! Once we arrived, we got to meet Mitsuka’s two daughters Tomoka and Hiroka (ages 20 and 23). They are both lovely young ladies.

The family had prepared a traditional New Years feast of Toshikoshi Soba noodles and tempura and Oden.

An explanation of the tradition of eating Soba on New Year’s from the By Food website:

“The tradition of eating soba noodles on New Year’s Eve started as early as the 13th or 14th century in Japan. However, it was not until the Edo Period—when the common class developed customary religious and superstitious rituals—that the tradition of eating toshikoshi soba become established for the Japanese people.

With the hope of good fortune in each bowl, it’s easy to imagine the custom being adopted quickly from family to family, slurping in the symbolism of soba noodles:   

• To enjoy a fulfilling, peaceful life with every slurp of the long noodles.
• To break free from the past.
• To gather strength and resilience like the tough buckwheat crop.
• To grow your fortune just as buckwheat flour was once used by goldsmiths to gather leftover gold dust.

Superstitious or not, eating toshikoshi soba on New Year’s Eve has become one of the most enduring traditions observed by the Japanese people.” The soba are served cold on a basket, and then you take a bit at a time, dip them in a small hot bowl of broth and slurp them up.”

We were so busy being in the moment, devouring the soba that I forgot to take a photo of them. Here is a photo from the internet so you have na idea of what I am talking about.

The tempura was really great, as always. I love the Moris’ tempura. The tempura choices were yam, lotus root, maitake mushrooms and chrysanthemum leaves. Delicious!!

Oden is basically an assortment of fishcakes, whole eggs, tofu, kelp, konjac cakes and daikon (Japanese radish) and sometimes other vegetables boiled in a delicious broth. It is served in a clay hot pot which retains its heat the whole time it is on the table.

We ate SO much, but Teva ate the most – we think he ate at least 9 bowls of soba noodles. The Moris got a kick out how much the kids ate.

After lunch, there were rousing games of Jenga and dominoes for the younger folks, while I was able to catch up with the Moris. They have such a warm, lovely energy, and being with them was good for my soul.

Hiromi-San’s health is much better now. She is slowly improving every day. Her smile and laugh were infectious as always. Yasuhide-San is as active as ever, still volunteering gardening and drumming and keeping himself very busy.

Basking in their warmth makes me happy. They are truly the embodiment of kindness and hospitality. The fact that they welcomed me back into their home with my large family was just amazing. I am so grateful to have them in my life.

It was with mixed feelings we headed back to Tokyo. I was so happy to see them, but am not sure when I will see them again. We will just have to make sure we keep in touch.

December 30, 2024

We checked out of our apartment at 9:30 and hiked up the hill to board the 9:45 bus to Iiyama station and then catch our bullet train.

On the bus there was a gentleman we recognized from the day before. He was wearing a shovel slung around his body like a guitar with a Fender guitar strap. He also had a tambourine on his arm and a costume hat of the blue penguin mascot from the Don Quijote store. He was sometimes playing his music out loud instead of his earphones and was rocking out, sometimes singing along with his music, deeply appreciating it. Before he boarded the bus, he was spinning around and playing his shovel like a guitar. In his backpack he had a kite, a stuffed animal, and a pair of drumsticks.

Even though Madarao is only a two hour drive from Tokyo, we were going to have another travel day due to the two hour wait between the bus and the Shinkansen. I had forgotten until we arrived at our platform the regular cars were sold out when I bought the tickets and we had to buy first class tickets. It was only $30 more per ticket, but of course when multiplied by 8…it could have been way worse.

The “green car” was lovely. There were only two seats instead of three on each side of the car, they had plush comfortable seats which reclined a decent amount, and the seats had an optional footrest. I had never travelled this way before. Apparently there is a Grand Class which is even more fancy with onboard meal service.

We arrived at Ueno station at 1:45. We had a difficult time finding vacant lockers in the station amongst several different banks of lockers. Finally we found only two small empty lockers. Erez and Noam stashed their bags and then headed to a climbing gym called Fish and Bird (Noam of course had to buy some merch).

The rest of us took our bags to something called GOO Food Hall. It was in the top floor of one of the big department stores. There were many options for food- Indian, Grill, Korean, and Japanese (omurice and curry and a few other things). I got everyone’s order and went to the central ordering counter. They gave us beepers from each of the separate kitchens preparing the food. When it was ready, our beepers went off and we collected our food. It was surprisingly good for a “food court”.

By the time we finished lunch, it was 3:30 and we would be able to check into our accommodations. It was a short trip there and the cleaner wasn’t quite done cleaning yet (so he let us in as we floundered looking for the lockbox).

After unpacking, at 5:15 we decided to walk to Nakamise-dori shopping street in Asakusa. On the way we visited Senso-ji, one of the major shrine/temples in the Greater Tokyo Area.

Then we headed to the shopping street to explore.

It turns out it was a hole in the wall bar. The walls and bar and windows were completely covered in small papers with handwritten messages and drawings with mostly crayon. It advertised itself as being completely open and inclusive of everyone – EVEN KIDS!

We then headed over to a 24hr store called Don Quijote. It was 4 jam-packed floors of everything you can think of. We were in there for a couple of hours – too much in my opinion. The experience was a sensory overload.

We definitely needed to decompress after that experience.

We set out to find food. There were so many choices. The alleys were lined with restaurants, many with plastic tents extending their seating areas. We chose a random busy Izekaya (drinking establishment that has food). We were the only foreigners in the place. They offered a lot of small plates, so we tried many things. I was able to stick to veggie and tofu dishes which made me very happy. As usual, we each had to have a drink as well.

After we closed the Izekaya down at around 10:30 we started the 30 min walk back to our house. Many of us passed out without even getting ready for bed.

Another great day!

Tomorrow I get to see my Japanese family in Kazo – I am so excited!!

December 29, 2024

We got a more reasonable start for a change, and we caught the 9:30 bus. In spite of Kerrie and Mae missing out on the tour, they decided they would go with us to the town to check it out. Almost 100% of the time we were in the Nagano prefecture area, it was snowing. Not blowing, but falling softly, and constantly. But in the morning as we walked to the bus, it was sunny yet crisp and the sky was blue. The views were breathtaking.

The Kassirers got off at the ski hill and Mae and Kerrie headed into town. It turns out no one rents goggles out, so we had to buy some. Money well spent, as it was snowing like crazy and skiing without goggles proved to be impossible. You will notice in the photo that Aubrey decided to try to ski with sunglasses at first, but halfway down the first run we bought him a pair as well at a vendor selling them at a restaurant along the hill. His glasses were so fogged up he could barely see anything (beyond the white-out blowing snow ski conditions at the top of the hill) skiing down the hill.

Aubrey on the hill

Later we met up with the boys for a great lunch at a small cafeteria style restaurant in the middle of one of the runs.

We all loved skiing and snowboarding at Nozawa Onsen Resort. The only drawback was that sometimes visibility was poor because we were skiing through a snow cloud. Otherwise the conditions were great. I have never seen so much snow.

I am going to put this video in now even though it was from Madarao resort the night before – This is a short clip of Noam going over a jump. You can see it is snowing hard, but there were times during the day at Nozawa Onsen that it was snowing much harder.

While we were skiing and snowboarding, Kerrie and Mae went to an onsen (hot spring). Mae and Kerrie said the water was so hot, it took them at least half an hour to get in. We looked it up later and the water temperature was 60 degrees Celsius!!! That was the second onsen they tried to go to because they didn’t realize you had to bring your own towel – they had to go and buy themselves towels at a convenience store first. They explored the town but there wasn’t too much to do, so after buying some convenience store food, they headed back to our apartment for some down time.

We stayed at the hill until it started to get a bit dark. We were supposed to have a comfortable 25 minute cushion in between buses. We figured it would give us time to get breakfast food and go to an ATM. Unfortunately, due to the weather, the bus took much longer and we had only 6 minutes to get from one bus to the other with all of our equipment. We frantically gathered all of our equipment while Aubrey bought our bus tickets. Once again, we found ourselves running through a station while carrying heavy things. We just made it. This time, the bus was a city bus with nowhere to put all of our ski equipment. The bus driver told us to put it on the floor.

We got home, exhausted and hungry. We had a bit of down time then we went to the onsen at a nearby hotel. the water was only 41 degrees there. They was an indoor pool, an outdoor pool, a sauna and a cold plunge pool. The outdoor pool was really neat. We got to sit outside while it snowed, in an esthetically pleasing pool with a cute little waterfall. The pool was made with large stones and there was a a statue of a laughing buddha.

After the onsen we went out to a little bar/Vietnamese restaurant that was right next to our hotel. Unfortunately because it was so late they were sold out of many things, but what they had was tasty. I left the restaurant early to figure out logistics for the next day, and missed dessert, apparently there were only two things on the menu – and neither of them tasted great, but they sure looked pretty 🙂

I had a great day, but was absolutely exhausted at the end of it. My sleep tracker told me that I had my highest heart rate dip ever while I was sleeping – which is apparently a good thing.

Tomorrow we head back to Tokyo…

December 28, 2024

We had to get up early so we could clear out, clean up and start a long travel day. We were a bit worried about Mae having to do the trip while not feeling well – in some ways she was felling better, but now her stomach was hurting and she was nauseated. To get from our house in Kyoto to our apartment in the Nagano prefecture, we had to take 2 regular trains, one bullet train, one bus and then walk. We would leave our house at 9am, and arrive by 4pm. It mostly went smoothly.

On our second train, a “special rapid express”, the man in the ticket office specifically told me that there was no reserved seating, but that we should sit in cars 9-12. We were happy to see that it was relatively empty and we could all sit together. This train ride was supposed to be 90 minutes long. At some point, maybe 30 minutes before we were to arrive at our transfer destination, a conductor came through and kicked us off the car, saying that we needed to change to cars number 1 to 4. We scurried down the platform, hoping the doors wouldn’t close before we got in. These first four cars were completely full with people and their luggage, so we had to stand for the last half hour – not the end of the world, and we did find a seat for Mae.

We had a decent cushion of time to catch our next train, but we had to spend some of it organizing a fare adjustment. There are several different train lines and companies. Usually you pay by distance travelled. This time, we entered the first station, but we took the second train with a pre-booked ticket with the same company; which means we had travelled far away but had never closed out or finished that first local train ride. To avoid paying for the second leg twice, we needed someone to adjust our fare. We then headed to the Shinkansen area, expecting to find somewhere to get food while we were waiting, but we didn’t know this area had no stores or vendors whatever – we would have had to buy food before we entered this area. However, Norie’s daughter had put together bags of Omiyage – presents of Japanese snacks for each of us, so we tucked into those.

When we got on the bullet train, I opened my computer to do my usual blogging and confirming of logistics for the next adventures, when I had a terrible realization: the amazing bus tour I had booked for Mae and Kerrie met at 9 am in Nozawa Onsen and there was no way to get them there in time. I know I had checked that there were buses to get here, and I had notes of how long it would take, but somehow, as I was finalizing details, there were no buses to be found on google maps. I struggled with it for a while, then when we arrived at our destination in Nagano prefecture. I went to talk to the information centre to see if I could book a taxi, and apparently there is a shortage of taxis and we would be out of luck.

So, I waited until we boarded the bus, and arrived at our new accommodation to try and sort out a solution. We did find a bus, which was probably one that I saw while doing our initial research, but then last night at around 10 pm we realized that it doesn’t run during the holiday season. In fact, the first day it wasn’t running was Dec 27 – one day earlier. It is a community bus and resumes Jan 5. So, I felt badly for many reasons: 1) The girls would not get to go on their tour; 2) We had this will they go-won’t they go stress all afternoon and evening. We tried very hard to find a solution, but finally had to give up; and 3) The tour was not inexpensive and we would now have to forfeit the money – I did try to cancel, but you can only cancel up to 24 hours in advance. I was kicking myself that I did not confirm these logistics earlier in the trip. It is was it is…

As we travelled along the way to Nagano, we saw the weather getting snowier and snowier out of the train window. When we arrived in Nagano prefecture we could not believe how much snow there was! 40 cm had fallen yesterday alone! The town we were staying in – Madarao – has the nickname Madapow for a reason: a lot of powder! It was quite spectacular. There don’t seem to be streets or entrances to some of the buildings, just more of pathways made through the snow.

It took a while to sort out our equipment rentals, then we set out to find some dinner before some of us went for a night ski. It was snowing profusely, and the first three restaurants were full. Erez stumbled upon a karaoke bar that was just opening up for the night. They took us in right away and got us fed fairly quickly, then we headed to the slopes for a couple of hours.

The conditions were incredible: so much powder! Kerrie decided to try skiing for only the 4th time in her life, so I stuck with her. The three boys had a great time together (Zev stayed behind with Mae), and Aubrey ended up doing his own thing mostly. The night skiing was only two runs and at most extended about one-third up the mountain. It was a great intro to the area. We then walked home, carrying our equipment and collapsed (and of course tried to sort out the bus tour mess – Erez was great – running to the hotel down the road to talk to their front desk since ours was closed). Our accommodations are good – we are in a three bedroom apartment with a combined living area/kitchenette. It is called Hotel Madarao – we are in the small “Apartments Madarao” building – there are only five in our building. It seems to be a part of a company called Oz Snow (lots of Aussies here), It seems they are a one stop ski tour operator. They organize ski trips in Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

Their website is https://ozsnowadventures.com.au/destinations/australia/

Here are a couple photos from last night

Tomorrow we try a different ski town – Nozawa Onsen.

We left the boys and Kerrie to have their own adventure and went to meet up with my Japanese sister Norie and her husband Hiroshi. We met them in the Kyoto Station (more about that magnificent building later…). After an amazing reunion hug from Norie, and meeting Hiroshi for the first time, we headed to Toji – a public temple located in the middle of the city. Notably it hosts a flea market once a month and an antique market once a month on a different weekend. It is a well used compound.

From the Visitor’s guide:

“Toji Temple (東寺, Tōji), literally ‘East Temple’, was founded at the beginning of the Heian Period just after the capital was moved to Kyoto in the late 700s. The large temple, together with its now defunct sister temple Saiji (‘West Temple’), flanked the south entrance to the city and served as the capital’s guardian temples. Toji Temple is one of Kyoto‘s many UNESCO world heritage sites.

The Kondo Hall, one of Toji’s original structures, is the temple’s main hall and largest building. Destroyed by a large fire in 1486, the building was reconstructed in the early Edo Period in a contemporary architecture style and houses Toji’s main object of worship, a wooden statue of the Yakushi Buddha, flanked by his two attendants, the Nikko and Gakko Bodhisattvas.

Just next door stands the Kodo Hall, which was added in 825 by Kobo Daishi and served as the temple’s lecture hall. It too burned down in the 1486 fire, and was subsequently rebuilt in its original architectural style. The Kodo Hall houses 19 statues imported by Kobo Daishi from China, which are arranged according to a mandala with Dainichi Buddha (Vairocana) at the center, surrounded by Buddhas, bodhisattvas and the fearful guardian kings.

Across from the Kondo and Kodo stands Toji’s five storied pagoda, which was originally erected by Kobo Daishi in 826. It stands 57 meters tall, making it the tallest wooden pagoda in Japan, and has become a symbol of both the temple and Kyoto as it can be seen from many places across the city. The ground floor of the pagoda is occasionally opened to the public and houses four smaller Buddha statues.”

For more information on this fascinating site, click here: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3919.html

We tried to hit another temple, but they had already started closing the giant ornate doors. I have forgotten the name of it now – will update when I figure it out…It had a huge moat filled with Koi fish around it. We managed to sneak a couple of photos before they close the doors. We did read that it was originally commissioned by the daughter of the founder of one of the Buddhist sects. She built it to house a portrait of her father in order for people to pay their respects and continue to study his teachings.

We were still early for our dinner reservation so we went to Starbucks to sit down and chat. Otherwise there is no permitted place to just sit down and talk! Dinner was at a restaurant in Kyoto Station. This statement does not do this experience justice. Kyoto station is a magnificent building. The front part is 11 stories high and the multitude of restaurants are on the 11th floor.

We went to a Yuba restaurant. “Yuba is tofu skin that forms on top of soy milk when it’s boiling in a shallow pan. It has wrinkles throughout its pale yellow and delicate exterior with a nice chew to it when you bite in, enveloping your mouth with a slightly sweet yet savory flavor.”

Norie ordered us a multi-course set meal which was full of new things we had never seen or tasted before (all either vegetarian, or fish)

We got home around 9, and checked in with our offspring to see what they decided to do for dinner. They chose to go to McDonalds and order everything on the menu that was unique to Japan, and then shared it all, sampling and scoring each item.

We then tried to go to bed early so we would be ready for our early morning departure and check out.

Tomorrow Nagano prefecture…

December 27, 2024

We had an early start once again because I wanted to beat the crowds and catch the beautiful morning sunlight at Kinkakuji – The Golden Pavilion. Luckily my plan was successful. We arrived soon after the temple opened and we beat the rush. I have seen this temple at least 3 or 4 times and it always takes my breath away.

From the visitor’s guide: “Kinkakuji (金閣寺, Golden Pavilion) is a Zen temple in northern Kyoto whose top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf. Formally known as Rokuonji, the temple was the retirement villa of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and according to his will it became a Zen temple of the Rinzai sect after his death in 1408. Kinkakuji was the inspiration for the similarly named Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion), built by Yoshimitsu’s grandson, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, on the other side of the city” almost a hundred years later. (Read on to see photos of that temple, we went there too).

“Kinkakuji is an impressive structure built overlooking a large pond, and is the only building left of Yoshimitsu’s former retirement complex. It has burned down numerous times throughout its history including twice during the Onin War, a civil war that destroyed much of Kyoto; and once again more recently in 1950 when it was set on fire by a fanatic monk. The present structure was rebuilt in 1955.”

After Kinkakuji we hopped on a bus to go to its counterpart- Ginkakuji, the Silver Pavillion. This Pavillion is not silver at all, but one source we read said that it was originally covered in lacquer that “shone like silver when reflecting the moonlight”.

Ginkakuji has beautiful traditional gardens surrounding it, as well as two unique zen fine sand meditation gardens.

From the visitor’s guide:

” 銀沙灘Ginsyadan

In front of the abbot’s chamber, white sand is piled up to form the stair-like Ginshadan and the truncated cone structure of the Kogetsudai. Folklore says that the Ginshadan was meant to reflect moonlight, and the Kogetsudai to appear as if it were sitting atop Higashiyama and holding the moon, but there is little evidence that these explanations actually go back to the Muromachi period and are not just recent inventions. However, these constructions are certainly fantastic and unlike anything else”.

After Ginkakuji we explored the shops around the area and found a Shabu Shabu restaurant (an item on Erez’s wish list). Shabu Shabu is a type of Japanese hot pot. Aubrey and I had the tofu set and everyone else had the full meal set including beef and tofu as well as all of the sides – Japanese pickles, vegetables, fried chicken thigh pieces, tempura and fruit.

Aubrey and I had a date with my Japanese Sister and her husband Hiroshi, so we left them to finish our itinerary. Next stop for the kids was walking the Philosopher’s Path. They stopped at a couple of temples and did their best to philosophize along the way. They also sought out more Pokemon cards. They went to enough stores to add the “Treasure Hunt” label to the last part of the itinerary.

I will bump the rest of our day with Norie and Hiroshi to the next post.

December 26, 2024

We got an early start yet again and jumped on a train for a day trip to Nara. We headed to Nara Park to first meet the deer. They are everywhere!

You can buy a package of deer cookies for 200 Yen. As soon as you have them in your hand, the deer follow you.

The deer are very well behaved, but there are many signs reminding people that they are wild animals; especially the males, who are said to be in mating season right now so “very feisty.” Every October, to protect the deer and the humans in Nara, the male deer have their antlers sawed off as part of a ceremony. As per the tradition in Japan to bow in greeting, these deer also bow (albeit as a form of head butting, thankfully without the antlers). Here is a video of Erez, Kerrie, and Noam bowing to the deer once the deer started bowing. I missed the beginning when the deer initiated, but here are the kids trying to reciprocate.

Our main objective today was to go to Todai-ji.

The largest bronze Buddha statue in the world (standing at 49 ft high and actually made from bronze and copper) is housed in the largest wooden structure in the world. It was originally built in 728 C.E. It was destroyed by fire twice and was rebuilt the second time at two thirds its original size (in width) due to insufficient funding.

One either side of the giant Buddha, there are two other very large, gold-leaf covered buddhas as well.

In the Great Hall there is a support pillar that has a hole in it which is meant to be a shortcut to enlightenment.

“Nothing more than a small, square hole in the base of one of the temple’s great wooden pillars, the so-called “nostril” is said to grant a degree of enlightenment in the next life to any worshipper who can fit through it. The magic hole takes its name from the belief that the tiny tunnel is as large as one of the nostrils on the giant Buddha statue sitting under the same roof. While no one has measured the actual size comparison between the Buddha’s nose and the hole in the column, nor can anyone verify the exact nature of the enlightenment granted by the architectural oddity, yet small-hipped visitors from around the world continue to get down on all fours to seek the wisdom of the Buddha’s nose hole.”

I had fit through this hole on three other occasions- the last one being in 2001. Four kids later, I was not sure I would be able to do it again, but I did it! Everyone in our family of course had to try and we were all successful. It was a tight squeeze though for most of us.

Nara park is home to many temples and shrines as well as a few museums. We found a great restaurant where we could eat some amazing noodle offerings in the park (both udon and soba noodles) as well as some rice bowls. They also had some excellent soft serve ice cream options. I had the yuzu flavoured ice cream 🙂

I was very happy to find a small forest path to explore, getting some quiet time away from the crowds.

Even though there were a lot of visitors, the energy in Nara was very laid back and peaceful.

We ended our time in Nara with some shopping. The kids wanted to buy some deer themed souvenirs, and there was no shortage of options to choose from. We even saw some restaurants offering deer shaped rice in a curry bowl!

Truth be told, the deer merchandising was a little out of control.

There were many interesting things we stumbled across as we were exploring. At one point I went into a McDonalds, not to eat, but to use their facilities. On the second floor, I was surprised to find a mini baby grand piano.

Here are an assortment of other points of interest:

We came home, lit the Chanukah Candles together and ate a bunch of interesting snacks. Around 8pm we went out for dinner. We couldn’t make latkes, so Aubrey and I had fried fish and the kids had Gyukatsu which is basically fried and breaded beef cutlets which they then seared on a small grill pan on the table, heated by a small fuel canister. Happy second night of Chanukah!!

After the exposure to the culture of a temple built in 1167 it was time to experience some iconic modern day Japanese culture – the Kyoto Pokémon Centre.

The kids spent over an hour and a half in the Pokémon store, which was packed with people trying to catch some exclusive merchandise only sold in the Pokemon stores in Japan.

Aubrey and I explored the shopping street and scoped out our dinner options. Shopping here is a bit of a tease for two reasons: 1) I only brought a carry on bag and I have zero room to bring anything home, although we did bring a small bag to check if necessary, but 2) I am also trying to purge things from my house, and not acquire new things. I have enjoyed window shopping though – so many cool things…

Which brings me to a highlight: introducing Mae, Noam, Zev and Teva to Kaiten Sushi (conveyor belt sushi). Noam, Zev, Teva and Mae managed to polish off an impressive 50 plates, while Aubrey, Erez, Kerrie and I only finished 36. it worked out to an average of $40/ per person and we were able to try interesting options we would never see at home. Delicious! Instead of explaining it, I will include some visuals to convey the 1000 words I could use to describe this experience.

We made it home at a reasonable hour , everyone exhausted and full of delicious sushi. We brought a mini Chanukiah with mini candles and an electric one as well. We lit candles, sang songs and then the boys played with their Pokémon cards. The perfect end to a great day. If you are reading this and celebrating- Chag Urim Sameach!