We have been meeting sea-anemones, condors, crabs, sea lions and seals. It brings back fond memories of some of our other coastal excursions and adventures, all over the U.S. and elsewhere. … Read More Going Coastal – 13 Unique Seaside Adventures
Last Tuesday we were discussing rivers and lakes on Twitter. Every Tuesday we join an international group of globe trotters who like to discuss various topics related to travel. Rivers and lakes remind us to pause, take a moment and reflect. As human beings made of 98% water we are naturally drawn to bodies of… Read More Favorite Rivers around the World
We reluctantly take our leave of Japan.… Read More D, K and Z in Japan, Day 15
Aug. 28, 2006: Tea and Shaolin Okay, we know. This is the 15th day of our trip, and also a Monday; so technically, we should be starting another week, right? Aha, gotcha! If you’ll look back to Day 1 and Day 2, you’ll see that for all practical purposes, they were the same day. And… Read More D, K and Z in Japan, Day 14
Aug. 27, 2006: Tokyo and Ghibli And now back, as promised, to Hayao Miyazaki. This was our day to tour the Ghibli Museum, dedicated to Miyazaki’s animation studio, Studio Ghibli. Since there is no parking available at the museum in the Tokyo suburb of Mitaka, it’s necessary to go by public transit, tour bus, bicycle,… Read More D, K and Z in Japan, Day 13
Aug. 26, 2006: Five Hundred Buddhas and a Hundred Caves This morning at breakfast we had nashi, or Japanese pears, which actually had the taste and texture of a pear masquerading as a jicama. We’d had something similar in the States, although never this good. Once again we all piled into the van and headed out for a field trip.… Read More D, K and Z in Japan, Day 12
August 25, 2006: Kumagaya City (and “Japanese pancakes”) Our long day at Disney is now behind us, although that doesn’t stop Zephyr and Kimberly from making everyone crack up with their spot-on imitations of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck respectively. We all slept in a bit late today, except that Toshihide was, as usual up… Read More D, K and Z in Japan, Day 11
Aug. 24, 2006: Tokyo Disney You know something’s really afoot when our teenage son Zephyr gets up at 6:00 a.m. (Tokyo time, New York time, Los Angeles time or Timbuktu time), especially without someone dousing him with cold water and dragging him out of bed by his big toe. This morning was obviously special, because… Read More D, K and Z in Japan, Day 10
Aug. 23, 2006: Obon Bread is something that the Japanese seem to eat very little of. Aside from pastry-type goods, we see few loaves in stores, and they’re rather small. Until this morning, we’d never eaten bread here at all. But this morning, we were served a rather American-style breakfast of toast, jam, peanut butter… Read More D, K and Z in Japan, Day 9
Aug. 22, 2006: Kumagaya City The Big Event of the day was a performance in Japan by Act!vated Story Theatre. No, we’re not kidding. Yukari, at our request, arranged for us to present a story to a group of her English students and some of their parents, an audience of about 40 people in all.… Read More D, K and Z in Japan, Day 8
Aug. 21, 2006: Tokyo A long day with an early start. Accompanied only by Yukari this time, we caught a train to spend a day in Tokyo. We had considered using the famous Shinkansen, known as “The Bullet Train”, but we learned that the fare would be 4500 yen (over 40 dollars) per person EACH… Read More D, K and Z in Japan, Day 7
Aug. 20, 2006: Arakawa and Nagatoro We all (minus Keisuke) piled into the van and headed for the hills, not very far away, to spend a Sunday at the Ara River (Arakawa). On the way, we spotted a line of about 75 people on the sidewalk in front of a small restaurant, waiting patiently in… Read More D, K and Z in Japan, Day 6
August 19, 2006: Edo Wonderland Up early, because we had a two-hour drive ahead of us. Another hot day, rather smoggy, and we stopped at a convenience store so I could obtain some sunscreen. I went into the store and inquired whether they had any, had it pointed out to me, and made the transaction
… Read More D, K and Z in Japan, Day 5
Aug. 18, 2006: Kumagaya City We remained “at home” most of the day, since Yukari’s schedule included several hours of tutoring her students of English. This morning, Toshihide and Zephyr took a bicycle ride to the store, a common mode of transportation–virtually every bike you see has a basket on it. Later, Toshihide drove Kimberly… Read More D, K and Z in Japan, Day 4
Aug. 17, 2006: Saitama Prefecture Today’s expedition was to some nearby historical sites our hosts took us to, knowing of my fascination with history. [I can’t believe I didn’t bring back a ton of photos. We were probably still having trouble with our camera.] The two families, minus 13-year-old daughter Ayaka, who is spending all
… Read More D, K and Z in Japan, Day 3
August 16, 2006: Kumagaya City/ Saitama Prefecture Woke up in Nihon (the usual native name for Japan, rather than Nippon) feeling rather rested, which is surprising considering how little sleep we’ve had. We learned that we broke the law by bringing a banana into Japan, which is very strict about prohibiting plants from outside… Read More D, K and Z in Japan, Day 2
Aug. 14-15, 2006: San Francisco to Tokyo to Kumagaya City Our journey began in San Leandro, California, where some friends are babysitting our vehicle and trailer while we’re away. They also gave us a lift to the BART station this morning. BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit, if you’re unfamiliar with it) has considerably extended its… Read More D, K and Z in Japan, Day 1
