New York City, just like I pictured it....

The trip home from Japan was long and trying, but we made it and now we are back and have started the readjustment process. Slept in short bursts last night, hopefully one more day and we'll be able to function at near 100 percent.

A brief recap of the trip. All started with Japanese efficiency. The airport shuttle taxi was scheduled for 12:20. At 12:10 the driver rang the buzzer. I rushed downstairs with most of the bags and the girls and got them loaded up. At 12:17 Jana had not yet appeared and the driver had begun looking at his watch and sucking air in between his teeth. (The other passenger, meanwhile, was sound asleep!) Jana came rushing downstairs at 12:21 and we pulled away at 12:23, which is Japanese for "3 minutes late."

A calm drive to the airport followed, and we checked in with plenty of time to get some food at the wonderful food court. (Next trip, I will leave even more time at Kansai airport to sample more of the offerings!) We boarded for Korea and pushed back right on time, the flight was fine, and we landed right on time. The only hitches were that our seats were not all four together, and after picking out some wonderful sake at duty free they told us that we would not be able to take it through security re-screening in Seoul. Bummer! (So we had to settle for Korean duty-free sake, which is not the same thing.)

ANYHOO - smooth connection at Incheon, which is truly a wonderful airport. This time the kids were invited by the airport staff - yes, they approached US - invited to use the indoor playground! They played for a few minutes but they preferred the "treadmills" (moving sidewalks.)

Our flight was called, the ground staffed all bowed as they began boarding the plane, and amazingly they got everyone seated on the full size 747 in about 25 minutes and pushed back right on time.

So it is a 13.5 hour flight. Perfect for: movie, meal, movie, read a bit, sleep about 5 hours, movie, eat, movie, get ready to land, land. That was the idea anyway. Jana and Aleeza mostly kept that schedule, I substituted another movie for sleeping.

We flew into the airspace over New York City right on time. Then things started going wrong. We circled for about half an hour. As we did, they kept bringing the plane down lower and lower, so the air was bumpier and bumpier. It was a roller coaster with turns and bumps and speeding up and slowing down. Poor Jana had her head between her legs much of this time. Eventually we came down for a rough but successful landing. The airplane taxied and came to a stop some distance from the terminal. An announcement was made that there was congestion on the ground and we would have to hold for a few minutes. That situation continued for about another half an hour. So, our on-time arrival was now almost an hour late!

Eventually we docked and everyone stood up and got their bags, and then we stood in the aisle for another fifteen minutes before we could move. We could see through the windows that it was pouring rain, really a heavy downpour. As we exited, we saw that they had been unable to seal the jetway to the aircraft, so there was basically a waterfall that you had to walk through to get off the plane. The flight attendants were standing there with umbrellas and a plastic sheet, but it was not really working and meanwhile they were all getting soaked. We scrambled out without much damage, but it was quite a scene.

Walking through the corridor to immigration, we could see that the rain was causing major problems all over. Water was shooting up from drains at ground level. Baggage handlers were huddled and trying to cope with this. Indoors, there were puddles everywhere and the staff were placing buckets all around, but it was totally inadequate and there were slippery areas all around.

Meanwhile, the airport porters were sitting around napping and looking at their watches. The Port Authority Police were standing around eating donuts (seriously!) and talking. While waiting for our bags, I tried to find a restroom, and was told that they were all closed due to flooding. ALL OF THE BATHROOMS! Welcome to New York!

Eventually our damp and bruised bags came down the chute, and we headed for the doors. The main doors from the customs area were blocked off for unknown reasons, and we were all funneled into a narrow corridor, through doors held open with security tape. The police were present in large numbers, sitting around talking. Nobody helped as several people with big bags struggled to get through the narrow corridor. Eventually we emerged into the din of the main building - this was it, we had arrived to zero signage or other indication that we were no longer in the customs area. Weird.

My brother was there to meet us, and after running to a functional bathroom we dragged ourselves to the car and loaded up.



We exited the parking lot and drove directly to - another parking lot, but this time it was a roadway.



The storm had apparently flooded most of the roadways in the area, and traffic was at a complete standstill. We could see all around that people were out of their cars and walking around. Some folks had taken out a soccer ball and were kicking it around in a soggy grassy area. People were climbing out of their taxis and walking back to the airport along the roadway. It was surreal. All this was happening at 11pm on Sunday night.

We finally started moving around midnight, and by 12:40 we had open road in front of us. Finally got to my brother's at 2am and hit the sack.

Next day, picked up dog and drove home.

That brings us to now!

Thanks for reading the blog of our trip to Japan.

I hope to see many of you soon, my friends and family!

Much love - Aaron and the gang.

Parting Shots of Kyoto

Last full day. Can't believe it.
Did some packing this morning, then we all headed out for a final bike ride.



All around, people had spruced up their family shrines or neighborhood shrines for O-Bon. They had set up tables and lanterns, set out fresh flowers and candles, and folks sat around and talked and drank. Lots of people were out and about.



We went to the "hundred yen" store at Hyakumanben one last time.



I was taking pictures of the streets, the buildings, the houses.





We passed by the "Looks cute, but I don't know what they sell there" store, the "lots of bikes parked outside but no idea what's inside" building.



I tried to capture some of the familiar views that we have come to love.



I noticed the shops with fresh food and tried to soak in the smells - rice cakes, bento, curry and fried rice.





Benna and I split off from Jana and Aleeza. We rode along big streets and small streets. We saw sweet old fashioned buildings, and ugly modern buildings.





We crossed the imperial Palace grounds with its ancient landscaping, and drove along a river that had been turned into a modern urban park.





We rode past the Kyoto International School.



We saw taxi drivers in their uniforms wearing white gloves, with white seat covers on the seats. We saw gas station attendants waiting for customers to serve. We saw the vertical parking garage next to the pachinko parlor.





I find it hard to imagine leaving this place and never returning. it has become so familiar. I know that it is very possible that I will never see these places again. But I hope it doesn't work out that way.

Sayonara for now, Kyoto!

Goin' Up the Country

Just returned from two nights in the mountains. Wow!
This was a very different experience for us. We stayed at the home of an old friend of Jana's.

We arrived after a beautiful but very curvy ride up and up from Kyoto. Hairpin turns led to windy roads, the last half hour was along a single-lane road where you had to pull over to let cars or trucks go by in the other direction. I was dizzy by the time we arrived!



Harufumi, Yumie and family live in a tiny village, most of the houses are traditional "gassho" style. Their kids met us in the driveway. From their house, we could see the whole village, about a dozen dwellings spread along a narrow road in a deep valley high in the mountains. Wow.



Haru showed us his rice paddies and his vegetable garden. We picked some cukes and hot peppers for dinner.





We returned and had some delicious "Shiso" iced tea, made from leaves of a plant called "beefsteak plant." I have seen this plant in the US and never realized that it is a member of the mint family and it is used for pickling.

The house was cozy, we felt bad that the kids (three boys) had to sleep outside in a tent so that we could sleep in their room! But they enjoyed it, and they invited their neighbors along too. There were two tatami rooms in the house for sleeping, a small kitchen, and a common room for everything else. The room we stayed in was also used as a music room. Benna has now found her instrument!



In the kitchen they had jars of all kinds of vegetables pickling and curing in different ways.



An incredible meal was presented, and we ate in traditional way - sitting on the floor. Amazingly, it was about the first time we did this on the entire trip.



On Wednesday we packed ourselves and their family and the neighbor's kids into the car (11 people in total!) and drove a little way down stream to a nice swimming hole.



It felt so much like Vermont or western Mass! The cool shade, the hot sun, the icy water, the little fishies and salamanders.....OK, maybe there are more salamanders in Japan. The girls had fun playing with them, which was nice, but we felt sad that they could not really engage with the Japanese kids who were having a ball splashing around.

After all the fun in the sun, kids played and parents worked or read or napped. I took the girls and two of the new friends out to a rice paddy to catch more salamanders. We got a big one right away, and he had leeches on him. I had never seen leeches on a salamander, and it turned the girls off pretty fast, so we ran back to the house.



The girls slowly but surely eased in to play with the locals. Benna in particular overcame some of her shyness in order to get involved with the activity of the moment - playing with the bucket of eels in the yard! These poor little guys will be dinner for another neighbor soon, but for the moment they serve as entertainment for the kids.



And when they get bored with the eels, they have fun chasing the chickens.



The making of dinner was a group effort. The Udon dough had been started in the morning, kneaded more in the afternoon, and then rolled out and cut up. Benna took all the credit, but everyone helped.





In order to boil up the big pot of water, they had to drag out a woodstove. The kitchen has one burner and it is too small for such a large pot. The water boiled and the noodles cooked. Tempura had been prepared in the kitchen, and several types of pickled vegetables were set out. A feast!

After the amazing dinner and lots of great conversation, the kids were treated once again to do-it-yourself fireworks. Such fun, and all the smoke helped keep the mosquitoes at bay.

Today, thursday, we had to pack up and drive back down the hill, but not before another delicious meal. Benna once again played a big role, grinding the roasted sesame seeds in a mortar and pestle. Miso paste was added, along with plum-pickling extract and ice water. Add fresh cilantro and sliced cucumbers and you have a cold soup to blog about. Served with salad, rice and stir-fried tofu and veggies, it was a summer meal to remember.



We drove a short way, then stopped at a friend's house. This friend lives in a traditional house which is in the process of remodeling.







I don't really have the right words at the moment to describe the house, but it is really really different from western style houses. The woodwork all around is beautiful and precise. The roof is thatched grass. In many cases it is covered with tin, but this house was not covered. Inside, the new wood was blonde and unfinished, but the older wood was shiny black.



The main room has a fire pit in the center, and a small shrine built into one wall. The fire must be kept going every day to keep the roof dry, so there is a smoky smell in the house, and the smoke turns everything black over time. The kitchen was modern, with a stove top and large sink and modern refrigerator. The bathroom and toilet room were also very modern, but wood was used extensively and the effect was very impressive. The living space had modern touches like a large screen TV and lighting, but traditional tatami floors. For our visit, they served iced tea and she made a fire and roasted some fresh corn over the coals. It was another very memorable and totally unexpected treat.

After a while we said goodbye and loaded ourselves again into the car for the roller-coaster ride down the hill. We were sad to leave the village, we had come to appreciate the close-knit community. If only we spoke better Japanese!



As we drew closer to Kyoto it was amazing to me that the city has come to feel so familiar. I realized where we were so quickly and could have easily found my way back to the apartment, on foot or by bike or using the bus system.

Of course, our kind hosts drove us back so that was not necessary. A heartfelt "Domo Arigatou Gozaimashita" and "sayonara" to Harufumi and family!