New Years Feasting

New Years Day is the most important day on the Japanese calendar. There's a lot of eating involved, starting early in the morning with a traditional sweet sake drink and big brunch (with some money gifts for the little man... he tried to eat the envelopes), then rest, then a family portrait nearby home, then some snacks Mariko's brother brought from Tokyo, then more rest, then a bike ride and a visit to the park (sorry, forgot the cam, but it was Luca's first swing ride and first time going down the slide) and then dinner at the Global Viking (buffet). We're all stuffed.

Happy New Year!

OK, so everyone got what Luca had... which he got from me and I got from Finn and so on, so forth. Hopefully the New Year keeps everyone healthy!

Little man was feeling MUCH better today. It was warm and we went for a bike ride and lost little man's green hat and later found it. All in all a good day.

Dinner was GREAT. They took salty to a new level with the appetizers and the special New Year Soup (Toshi Koshi Soba) was fantastic.

Synchronized napping, hanging with grandparents, lazy day, no social calls.

Loveeeeee the floral wallpaper.

Minobu and Shimobe Onsen Vids

First vid is just riding on the train and little man having a good time despite his cold.

I like the talking drink vending machine by Dydo.

In one vid you can see the little man trying to nap at the hotel room at Shimobe Onsen but eventually just waking up.

Fuji-san

Some pics of Fuji-san from the train ride to Minobu and Shimobe Onsen.

Shizuoka

Met up with some of Mariko's HS friends from years ago. One of them she hadn't seen in at least 10-15 years. Had a great lunch at Nakajimaya Hotel. Good Italian food in Japan. Who knew?

3 a.m. bath.

Blowout. We had to bathe.

It's cold in Japan. Most homes do not have central heating.

The family room has a kerosene heater that's turned off at night. Our room has an electric oil-filled heater.

The bathroom is chilly. We tried to turn on a little heater but it didn't seem to make a difference. Instead I just tried to keep Luca covered in warm water. Hopefully we didn't wake up the neighborhood giving him a bath at 3 a.m. Luca LOVES his bath and screams and carries on the whole time. Even before he gets in he gets amped up. He screamed and cried when we took him out.

I couldn't believe he sat in that little bowl for about 15 minutes without even trying to stand up. Maybe he realized he'd freeze if he did that. Or maybe he was just having so much fun sitting there.

Minobu (Home of delicious manju [red bean treats])

I love the train ride.

On many of the trains in Japan the seats are upholstered.
Note the windows... they are clean (at least before Luca got to them): there's no snot, no fingerprints.

Note the windowpanes... they're shiny.

People take their jobs very seriously in Japan. Here the workers move quickly while they perform their tasks and even if they don't like their jobs they pretend to enjoy their employment by acting cheerfully while giving their best (or they can be "gone"). It's a far cry from the US where work is considered a right and stores hang "Help wanted" signs out front begging people to come and work. In Japan it is shameful to not work when you are able to do so. In the US it's a challenge to cheat the system and have other people pay for you to live a certain lifestyle (welfare/corporate welfare/etc.). Annnnnnnyhow, check out the nice clean train. Look at the blue seats. Butt warmers included.

Shimobe Onsen

We took little man to Shimobe Onsen.

They had decent onsen (hot spring water bathes). The best part was a "koi pond" out in front of the hotel. Between the pond and the hotel was a balcony with a "foot onsen" for soaking just your feet. They had nice lounge chairs to sit, look at the mountaintops, the extremely peaceful/zen fish/fishpond, and soak your feet. We didn't have much time so I didn't get a picture.

So what do you get for $150 pp/per night?

Baths, robes, dinner (look at the spread... raw fish, cooked fish, soup, etc.), breakfast (again, full spread) and service in your room to set up/clean up dinner AND set up/remove bedding. It's great and relaxing. The food was excellent.

Christmas dinner