Party Animal

Concentrating hard on closing his eyes

Adding spots and whiskers

We are more or less recovered from jet lag.  Still seem to wake up at 4am with a ping, but we are able to get back off again. Tom stayed quiet in bed until 7.30 this morning which is great.

We were busy social bees today.  First of all Tom's nursery had a Summer Fete with a pirate and princess theme and then we had a BBQ to celebrate Errol's birthday at the Zielkes.

Happy tiger

Roar!

As you well know, Tom came along a lot in Japan, with confidence, talking and general development.  This is showing up in surprising ways, including for the first time ever, Tom said that he wanted his face painted.  Hurray.  There was face painting at the nursery party.  So, we got there early, hoping that if it was quiet, then he would go through with it.  We were pretty much the first people to arrive so we took him straight to the face painting table, he still wanted to go through with it and he wanted to be a tiger (Matt was very proud) and he sat still and did what he was told and became a tiger.  I won't say he enjoyed having his face painted, but he did what he was told and stuck it through.  What a beautiful tiger he became.  He was really proud of himself too.  Then he was straight outside playing on the bouncy castle without hesitation - it is so good to see him so confident and enjoying himself.  Peppa Pig came to visit as well, he ran straight over and had a cuddle and his photo taken.  Fab.

With Peppa

We ended up being there for 2 hours, it flew by.  We had burgers for lunch - Tom ate a whole one, then he just played wherever he wished.  He ended up playing with Nate one of his little friends from under ones for quite a while which meant that we had a good chat with Suzanna (Nate's mum) who is lovely.

Lollies in the cold and rain - must be a BBQ in the UK Summer!

At 2, we left the party and headed over to the Zielkes for a BBQ.  Even though we were late, we were the first to arrive (Errol and Rachel had laid bets on us being first!)  We had to explain why there was a pirate tiger in the back of the car, luckily he was allowed to stay.  Gradually everyone arrived and before too long the children were playing together (usual groups - Tom, Mae and Olly in one group and Seren and Jessica in the other)  they all played really nicely - it was really nice to see them together.  Tom did really well, playing hard, he kept going much longer than we thought he would.  He even managed to eat another burger.

Looking back, he didn't cry at all for anything today which is really good - the first cry free day since we got back.

We finally left at 6.30, Tom was asleep within minutes, once we got home we quickly cleaned his face with wipes, whilst he whimpered, and then a quick story and bed.  A good day, we are thinking of taking him swimming tomorrow morning.

Home

We made it - a little frazzled around the edges but we are here.  The trip home wasn't too bad - we got a Shinkansen from Aioi to Shin Osaka and then the Haruka limited express to Kansai airport.  Had a quick look round the shops etc and then got on our flight to Paris (full this time, but we had seats with extra leg room and a lovely old lady sitting next to me).  Tom was very well behaved - he didn't shout, cry, whinge, fidget or anything.  He did ask to go to the toilet what seemed like every 5 minutes, but apart from that he was very well behaved.  As seems the norm, he fell asleep on take off, was asleep for about an hour.  Then played quite nicely until I decided we needed to get him asleep again.  Unfortunately I couldn't get him off - but he tried really hard, so I can't complain.  I played with him again for another hour or so, and then tried again with success.  He then slept for the rest of the trip (about 4 hours), in fact I had to work quite hard to wake him up as we were descending into Paris.

Charles de Gaulle airport was horrible.  First of all we managed to get ourselves in the only security queue that wasn't moving.  We were stuck there for an hour - great fun!  Tom again was good, but he soiled his nappy and there wasn't anywhere to change him.  In the meantime all the other queues were working efficiently.  Typical.  As soon as we got through I went to the toilet with Tom - no baby change!  Had to sort him out in a tiny cubicle, and ended up putting the soiled nappy in a bin which said no nappies on it (I was not going to carry it around in my bag!)  All of this put us and particularly me in a really bad mood, which was a shame as we had arrived in a good mood.  

We then went to find something to eat - we had two choices: spend a stupid amount of money on fine dining or spend less (but still a ridiculous amount of money) on boil in the bag and microwaved mediocre food.  We went for the second option - it cost €21 for two paper plates of very average curry and rice - outrageous, and this being the country well known for good food - what about a nice French boulangarie, or a 'local' restaurant with a menu du jour?

Rant over, eventually the time for our flight to Birmingham came.  Phew, AND the pilot waved at Tom as we walked across the tarmac to it.  We actually arrived in Birmingham early: we got through security and collected our luggage before we should have landed.  This was great, except our taxi was expecting us to take 25 minutes to get through, so we had to wait quite a while for it to arrive.  However, it was a pleasant evening, so it wasn't a huge problem.  We finally got home around 11pm - so it was a 24 hour journey, door to door.  Tom went straight to bed and we followed very soon after.  Didn't do too badly for sleep except that Matt and I are used to sleeping on futons and not disturbing each other, each time one or the other of us moved the other woke up.  Not good - we are now seriously considering getting ourselves some futons for home now (except we aren't that sure if you can get them here)

Anyone got any sheep we can borrow?

No photos from the trip back, but here's a photo of the meadow that greeted us this morning - we weren't expecting such growth - Matt almost killed himself attacking it with the mower this afternoon.

So thank you Japan - not the traditional destination for a family holiday, but it should be.  We really did have a fantastic time.  

Notes to selves for next time:

+ Don't take any trousers or long sleeved tops for Tom if we go at the same time of year - he didn't wear any except on the flights (in fact Tom and I were in shorts and T-shirts every single day)

+ Matt to take a wide angle lens 

+ Make sure we take my big backpack empty to fit all shopping in on the way back

+ Matt to take pillow with him - bean filled pillows and him don't mix

+ I would like to be able to speak and read some basic Japanese before I go again

+ Take decent camping pans next time - the cheap ones we got warped the first time I used them (frying gyoza)
+ On arrival if not immediately validating the rail pass - spend the extra to use a shinkansen - the journey from Kansai Airport to Aioi was awful.  JR now take credit cards.
+ Take blow up chairs - we didn't get used to sitting on the floor!

Matt here - a big thanks to Nik for doing such a sterling job with the blog every night. Fantastic. It will be a great journal in the future when we look back on this holiday.

Last Day

Today was sadly our last day - can't believe our time is up already, it has definitely flown. We are really fortunate to be in a position where we can all take a month off so we can experience something like this. I really feel like I've gone back to my old days of travelling, except I come back to the same place every night and I don't have to stay in a dormitory with other sweaty people - huge bonus.

Lunch

Tom's lunch

It was a very hot and humid day today - the type where you are sweating within seconds of stepping outside - yuck. After an early morning game of football with Tom I left him with Matt whilst I went into Himeji to do a last 100 Yen shop (posh bento boxes are all the rage here - mums are in competition with each other to produce the best bento boxes for their children at school, this means there are loads of tools in the shops - tiny knives to sculpt faces on strawberries, cutters to turn carrots and cucumbers into flowers, tiny tweezers to place sesame seeds on rice balls to create happy faces etc) I don't plan to make posh bento boxes for Tom, but all those tools are very handy for sugar craft, last time I came to Japan I was just getting into sugar craft and I managed to get quite a number of tools from the 100 Yen shop, all of which I use a lot and have lasted the course except one pair of scissors. The plan today was to stock up again, it is almost impossible to browse with Tom so Matt had him whilst I browsed and shopped. I couldn't believe it, the 100 Yen shop in Himeji is huge - 3 floors crammed with stuff, but I couldn't find the bento tools - poo, they have been in every other store we have visited. Oh well, I still enjoyed a quiet hour to myself and managed to buy quite a few bits.

Us with Jun and Yoko

Conquering the treehouse

I then went to Himeji station to meet up with Matt and Tom who were already playing with their new friend - Jun, who Matt knows from twitter - another translator. He and his wife took us to a restaurant out in the countryside. It was a beautiful old traditional wood building, with low tables, serving traditional Japanese food beautifully presented in little 2 story wooden boxes. Tom was presented with 2 onigiris (rice balls) with a selection of veggies. It was all very nice, we had a spring roll with dip, then some tofu, egg, fish, chicken, beans and a whole host of veggies and pickles. It was one of those places where you need to be in the know to find it, I'm very glad they were in the know. All the customers were women except our table. Unfortunately Tom didn't behave very well: fidgeting, refusing to eat, shouting, putting his feet on the table etc. Matt took him out for a talking too which worked for a while. We then had dessert: pumpkin pie for me, green tea and strawberry roll for Matt and a jelly for Tom.

Frog

We then went for a look around the garden, there was a swing and a huge tree house for Tom to play in, but the most interesting thing was that we found lots of frogs. There was a little stream running through the garden which obviously attracts them, we saw about 6, all of them seemed very tame, not at all worried about us staring at them.

Swinging with Daddy

The afternoon came to an end when Tom ran to give Jun a hug, unfortunately in his haste to hug him, he didn't notice Jun's camera, and he got a bop on the head from it. Normally we would have tears for a minute or so but Tom was unable to calm down, he was obviously very tired, so we called it a day and got back in the car to go back to Himeji. Tom instantly calmed down and then fell asleep in the most awkward position in the back of the car. We said our goodbyes to Jun and Yoko, they were very generous: ferrying us around and giving us a new type of Japanese experience.

Sleeping or suffocating?

We got the train back to Aioi, then Matt took Tom home for a proper sleep whilst I went down to Aioi's 100 Yen shop on the search for bento equipment - they had it all - phew. Got back and spent the afternoon packing. It all fits, problem we have is weight, getting it equally distributed so that no one case is too heavy.

Dinner: the Last Supper

We went to our favourite local restaurant for dinner - the same restaurant we went to on our first day. Gyoza were on special again today - 88 yen for 6, so we had those with chicken karaage (the best of the trip), fried rice and a bowl of noodles. All very yummy and very reasonable - came to 1,600 yen (about £14).

Then back home, shower and bath in the dark (bulb blew today). Tom went to bed in just his nappy - it is soooooo hot and clammy today. Alarms are set for 6am tomorrow morning, ready for our mammoth trip home, wish us luck, we should arrive in Birmingham 9.15pm tomorrow assuming Air France don't stuff up (we missed our connection last time we came home with them).

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Location: Himeji

Good day on a mountain

Tom with Himeji spread out below

First of all 'Happy Father's Day' to Matt, or as Tom put it today, 'Happy Man Day'. Matt started the day off with a coloured in picture of shinkansens (not a true reflection of reality, literally every colour was used here) and a goody bag of Dr Yellow goodies (Tom couldn't help himself at the museum shop in Nagoya).

Gate amongst the green

After a very wet, soggy night it dawned grey, dry with a hint of blue sky. Our original plan was to go swimming at Aioi pool, but as the weather was looking good, we decided to go on another trip, we can go swimming at home anytime.  The trip was closer to home than of late of course, so we got the local train (humph) to Himeji and then a bus to the Mt. Shosha Ropeway. Last time Matt was here was 19 years ago with Martin.

Water dragon

Concentrating hard

It was quite a long trip on the bus - winding our way through the streets of Himeji to get to the cable car station. Luckily the buses here have air conditioning as it was very hot. We got to the Ropeway and were herded to the cable car very quickly as if it was about to leave meaning we had to shout at Tom to go up the steps quickly, only to have to hang around a while before it left! It was only a 4 minute ride to the top, but what a difference the 500 meters made, it was very green and lush on top and the view of Himeji and the Inland Sea beyond was good. It was a little cooler, but as it rained all of yesterday it was incredibly humid. Even Matt was sweating profusely! Never mind, the scenery and environment was good enough for it not to matter too much.

Temple building

Lantern

At the top of Mt Shosha is Engyoji - a Buddhist temple. We haven't done that much culture whilst here so decided to go for a look around. The path up to it was steep, but Tom was an absolute trooper and walked the whole way, despite the fact he was sweating considerably. There were lots of things to look at on the way: statues of various gods, gates, temple buildings as well as the incredible view. We ended up at Maniden, the main temple building, and very impressive it was too, a huge wooden building nestling up on the hill amongst vegetation of all shades of green. Unfortunately it wasn't the original building - that, as has happened to so many Japanese historical buildings, burned down in 1921. However, it was still very impressive. You had to climb quite steep steps to the top, once again Tom took it all in his stride, and couldn't wait to have a look in the building. I told him he could only do so if he was very quiet (there were pilgrims praying inside), and he kept his word, he was quiet. Every time he has visited a temple including when he was a baby he has been well behaved, must be something to do with the smell of incense and the chanting.

Temple doors

Matt got talking to a couple up there. Tom was wearing one of his new Japanese T-Shirts today which has two big fish on the front and lots of kanji of fish names on the back - it got a lot of attention. Tom carried on being impeccably behaved. We descended the staircase and went to the tea room for lunch - veggie udon soup (with tofu and what looked like pond algae on it) we all ate it up as we were quite hungry at this point. After he finished his noodles, Tom asked us for an ice-cream. At that point, the nice couple Matt had been talking to came up to us again with an ice-cream and pot of fish food for Tom, how generous. So Tom got his wish. He and Matt ate the ice cream, then we went to feed the fish in the pond. We then took advantage of Tom's post lunch energy and carried on up the hill towards a statue of the Buddha.

Buddha and giraffes

We told him he was going to see a big fat man which he got quite excited about, however, when we got there it was a statue of Buddha when he was a young man. He was sat down, with one palm raised up and the other in an 'OK' position (I forget the name for this position). Tom took one look at him and shouted 'Giraffe' which had us in stitches. As I've mentioned before, Tom's favourite telly programme is 'Something Special' with the silly Mr Tumble. It is primarily for handicapped children and teaches sign language, which Tom has been picking up. One episode is set in a safari park and we learnt the sign for giraffe which is very close to Buddha's pose with his raised arm. We reckon the Buddha was a cool dude and would have found Tom's observation as funny as we did.

We thought we would be pushing our luck if we made Tom walk any further from the cable car so we decided to make our way slowly back to the cable car station. The complex provides bamboo walking sticks for anyone who wants to use them, we thought the introduction of one would keep Tom's interest going for the walk home. It worked, he was as happy as Larry all the way back.

3 people with sticks

We got the cable car back down the mountain and then had a little play in the park down there - a perfect place to cool your feet after a hard walking day - Tom thought so anyway and I think he was right.

Cooling down

We got the bus back to Himeji station, picked up some buns for breakfast tomorrow and then got the local train home (humph!). Tom fell asleep on me in the train, can't really blame him, he walked a long way up and down hills and steps today. He stayed asleep for the whole journey home, then I carried him home still asleep and we put him down on some cushions in the living room and snuck upstairs. We woke him up at 4.30 as he had an important date to keep at Aioi Station. Oh yes, Dr Yellow came zooming through the station again. Matt took him up to see him whilst I made dinner: gyudon.

Then Tom did a poo in the toilet - hurray so we were all very very happy. Then, bath and bed. A really lovely day was had by all.

I have just started packing (no mean feat when there are no lights in the bedrooms). I think we will get it all home (just!). Will find out for sure tomorrow.

Oh and here's a video of me and Tom trying to ring a bell (not very successfully) and Tom getting a wave from a Hikari guard.

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Location: Himeji

Shopping and poo

We decided that we should have a quiet day today - we've done a lot recently and we all needed a break. We woke up to a grey, rainy morning (still hot though). Went through our usual routine of breakfast, then Matt did some work and Tom and I ran off to play some football when the rain stopped for a while.

We then donned our rain coats and headed down to the Co-Op for a spot of shopping. First purchase - a pair of Trainers for Tom. There is a line of train trainers here - you can get Dr Yellow ones, Rail Star ones, Blue Train ones and White Train ones. We've seen quite a few little boys in the Dr Yellow ones. However, as you can guess, the yellow ones are quite garish so we went for Rail Star ones instead. They are far too big for him, so they will be something for him to grow into. We then did another 100 Yen shop before heading down to the restaurant for lunch - it was closed, what restaurant closes on a Saturday?

Food

So we hunted out the local restaurants, found an Okonomiyaki one, which was full, but then found one in the covered shopping street, I had yakisoba and Matt hamburger and curry whilst Tom had a bit of both. Very nice they were too. We headed back to Co-Op to do our big food shop of the day - this is for bringing home, the mark up on Japanese food in the UK is tremendous eg a pack of panko bread crumbs here is about 60p, The same weight pack in the UK is about £4.00, also of course there are many things you can't get in the UK. We brought my backpack with us from the UK empty so we could bring back as much 'stuff' as we wanted, in fact we can bring back 40 more kilos than we came with here as we packed very light.

I paid for the items with my credit card. Now Japan is largely a cash society and it is the norm for shops not to accept credit cards, but the Co-Op did which was good. And their system for credit cards? You give the shop assistant your credit card, she swipes it and hands it back to you. No signature or pin code required. This has happened both times I have used a credit card here. This must be the only country in the world where you aren't asked for any security or ID.

By now it was raining quite hard. Tom and I went to get the bus home, whilst Matt went to the post office to get some more cash out - we are running a little low. We had to wait quite a while for the bus to arrive. In the meantime about 80 meters up the road from us a motorist knocked down a cyclist, we didn't see it happen, but heard it and saw the commotion afterwards, an ambulance arrived after about 3 minutes and the police after about 10. The cyclist, an old man, was OK, he was able to shift himself away from the car and his bike as far as I could see was relatively undamaged. It made me reflect on the standard of driving and cycling here though. Lots of people use bicycles here, I've seen people cycle whilst holding an umbrella, texting and talking on the phone (although not all 3 at the same time - yet!). I've even seen one old man cycle on the wrong side of the road wobbling towards the traffic coming at him - I couldn't believe my eyes. The standard of driving here isn't that much better either, I've seen one man driving with his toddler sat on his lap, people ignoring red lights, mounting the kerb, and zebra crossings - well they are a nightmare. If you are standing by a zebra crossing there is very little chance a car will stop for you as it is still their right of way (which begs the question why they have them). Sometimes a car will slow down, but I think that is because they think that maybe as a foreigner we will cross the road, we of course are hesitating because the 10 previous cars have speed through the crossing. It is then a 50:50 chance that the car will speed up again when they see you hesitating, or stop. Problem is they don't flash at you or gesture towards you in anyway that it is safe to cross so you have to wait until they are completely stationary before taking the chance that it is OK to cross. In short, zebra crossings are a waste of time, it is better to use pedestrian crossings with traffic lights.

Anyway, we got home, Tom went to bed for a nap and then we had a quiet afternoon before dinner. After dinner Tom did a poo in the toilet - yahoo, it has been a week since the last one. We all had a very happy evening.


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Location: Aioi

T-shirts, Trains and Poo

Meriken Park, Maritime Museum and The Port Tower

Today was the last day of our rail pass (boo!). We didn't have anything planned, thinking we would wait to see what Tom wanted to do and see how the weather was. It dawned grey, but hot and no rain. We asked Tom what he wanted to do: answer was drive the blue train and play football.

We formulated a plan, go to Kobe, play football in Meriken Park, visit Kawasaki World (Asami told us about Kawasaki World when we met up with her) and then hop to Shin Osaka for an early evening curry and come home on the blue train. Another full day for us all then.

Nice old bus

We got our regular east bound Shinkansen (9.51) to Shin Kobe, then got a very nice old green bus called the City Loop to Meriken Park, had look at the Earthquake Memorial which showed pictures of the damage: expressways collapsed, parts of bridges missing etc and then focused on the port area - this was badly hit during the earthquake, in fact walking around it today, Matt hardly recognised any of it. Then on to a green area to play football (Tom's football really has come on during this holiday, with some good confident kicking, although he hasn't really had much chance to do anything else this holiday).

Takoyaki Burger

We then had a quick lunch at a cafe: a Takoyaki burger, some chicken Karaage and a couple of hash browns - cheap and cheerful. We then went to the museum. Matt had been there previously and remembered it being OK but no more than OK. However, when he last went it was just a Maritime museum, this time it was a Maritime museum with Kawasaki Good Times World attached to it. Kawasaki have a huge plant in Kobe Port where they make ships and trains and another plant in Akashi (just down the road where they make motorcycles - including my old one). I guess in the UK they are known for motorcycles - but they make pretty much everything: shinkansen, huge cargo boats of all kinds, aeroplanes, helicopters, big digger machines, huge drills (the kind that make road and train tunnels), rockets, robots - you name it, they make it.

Speaking to Mae whilst driving the Shinkansen!

It was a fantastic museum, a couple of cinema experiences (Tom was scared at first but got more settled the more he saw them), and explanation of the history of the company (didn't get to read much of that) then a load of machines to marvel at: plenty of bikes, a zero series bullet train, a new battery operated tram, a robot solving Rubik's cubes, a model railway (of course), plenty of games to play on and buttons to press. In short, it excited all three of us, especially as it was the kind of museum that allowed you to clamber all over the machines - you could sit on a few of the bikes (including Matt's old ZRX1200), a jet ski and, best of all, sit in the driver's cab of the bullet train and the electric tram (which had a James Bond style driving cab - you felt as if you needed a white cat to stroke in the chair whilst driving).

Futuristic electric tram cab

We were all having a fab time, and then Tom announced that he had pooed in his pants!! Talk about destroying a day, especially as, for the first time in Tom's life, I had forgotten baby wipes. Matt came into the lady's disabled toilet with me to help clear up the mess and then Tom got a very stern talking too and was told he would not now be able to drive the blue train home - that set off the tears and howling even more, but we had to show him just how naughty pooing in his pants is. We know he knows how to poo in the toilet, so we have to instil in him now just how bad it is by withdrawing treats - we just don't know what else to do.

Me in a bubble

It took a while for all of us to calm down to carry on enjoying the museum. There were two really good films on how to build a ship and how to build a train - more interesting for Matt and I, but Tom was contrite and sat reasonably still during them.

We went for a wander upstairs, which had more displays about the port and the earthquake before having one last play on the trains. We then went to the Port Tower and rode the lift to the top (included with the museum ticket). We looked at the view (quite good even though it was a hazy day) and shunned the selection of terrible souvenir shops (if you don't like red bean paste cookies or cutesy plastic junk then there is very little to interest you in souvenir shops in Japan)

He looks a natural don't you think?

We decided to head to Osaka via Kobe station and went via the Ha-Re shopping mall. I noticed a shop with the sign "Baby Plaza", so we decided to go inside - we found a selection of very Japanese t-shirts (full of kanji and Japanese style art) in Tom's size at a reasonable price - yahoo, we bought two - still no Shinkansens though. We then noticed a Uniqlo was in the building, so we went to look and bingo we found a selection of Shinkansen t-Shirts. We bought one of each in various sizes. The ironic thing is that we were in the same store 2 days into our holiday but didn't see them - I guess we weren't looking hard enough, were jet-lagged or something. Anyway the quest is now over, we have what we were looking for. Tom hit a brick wall in Uniqlo - it was obvious he needed a sleep. We remembered from our visit 2 years ago that there was a vending area with seats upstairs (Tom fell asleep there in his baby rucksack last time), so we went looking for it.  It was still there with some comfy sofas as well, so Tom and I snuggled down and in a couple of minutes he was fast asleep.

Blue Train - a Kawasaki

He was in a very deep sleep, after 45 mins we couldn't wake him, so I carried him to Kobe train station - he woke up just as we arrived and sat very still on the train to Osaka. He perked up when he saw curry was coming our way. Our waitress got our order wrong though, so we got two types of pork Katsu and no ebi fry (poo) I was really looking forward to the ebi fries as well. Anyhow, the curries were demolished and then we got the blue train home (we didn't sit in the coach with the children's play area though)

Then home, yoghurt, bath and bed for Tom. We put our stinky sandals in the washing machine to see if we could get rid of their hideous odour. It worked, they smelt OK - it's only taken the whole holiday for us to work that out!



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Location: Kobe

A break

On the little train

So on Wednesday we headed South to Kyushu for a little break (it's hard work this being on holiday for so long!). We got the white train to Hiroshima and then the Sakura to Hakata on Kyushu (the southernmost of the 4 main islands of Japan). This took 2 hours, not bad for a journey of 510 Kms. Tom was feeling the effects of his late night on Tuesday as he fell asleep on me on the way down for an hour. Great timing, meant it was a very easy journey and he was in good spirits when we arrived in Hakata.

Good pedaling

First thing on the agenda was to find some shops - still on the hunt for clothes for Tom. Hakata being a big station (a mini city) it had a department store above it. Once we had found our bearings we set off for it - managed to get free use of a buggy for Tom, meaning he could be lazy and we didn't have to worry about him pulling things of shelves, running amok etc. we had a quick look round a couple of floors and then felt our tummies growling so went up to the restaurant floor on the search for Tonkotsu Ramen (the local speciality for Fukuoka - the city we were in), one of Matt's favourite foodstuffs. Bingo, we found a place serving it, so we sat down to a steaming bowl of it each - not the best thing to eat on a very hot day - as if we weren't sweating enough already! Despite that, all 3 of us enjoyed our lunch.

Minnie Mouse Ears on The Sonic

After lunch we carried on up the building to the roof garden which once again was very child friendly. Up here was a little train taking children for rides round a circuit, and 2 decking areas with trikes and cars for little ones to play on. Fab, Tom had his fill of everything. Once he was done we carried on looking in the department store - found a shop selling Studio Ghibli stuff much cheaper than the store in Kobe. We couldn't resist and a couple items were bought. Still no Shinkansen goodies or clothes for Tom though.

The beach

Next we set off to Mitoma for the main purpose of our trip, to visit a translator friend of Matt's. It took us 3 trains to get there, including a ride on a rather plush train called The Sonic, which had headrests that looked like Minnie Mouse, wooden floors and airline style overhead baggage lockers - very nice, a shame that we were only on it for 7 minutes. Joel, Matt's friend, came to meet us off the train and took us to his house - yes house - he lives in a detached house. Believe me, this is quite rare in Japan. He showed us to our room - a 10 mat tatami room - it was huge and even once we laid our futons down, there was plenty of space. Tom made himself at home immediately. Joel has two children: Hannah 5 and Leo 3 and the house had many toys scattered around, perfect for a toy-starved 3 year old.

Playing in the sand

Running from the sea

At 4pm, Hannah and Leo returned home from nursery (children don't start school until 6 here) - Joel suggested we all go down to the beach (Mayu - his wife was in the middle of a translation project and needed peace and quiet). We walked down to the beach - WOW, it was beautiful - fine yellow sandy beach and warm sea. The sea had quite a strong undercurrent in it - it is popular with surfers - Joel being one of them. Immediately behind the beach is a pine forest. It was heaven on earth. We had Tom's swimmers with us, but true to form he didn't like the sea and wouldn't go near it. Leo, however loved it and spent ages in there playing with Joel in the waves. Hannah also played in the sea, but Tom was having none of it. He was however content to play with the sand, so that was a blessing. We went for a walk along the beach which was fab, and then a quick play in a park. What a place to live.

Joel and Leo playing in the sea

Tom almost in the sea...

We went back to the house, had showers etc and then headed out to an Izakya (Japanese pub) just round the corner from their house which is child-friendly and had a great meal: salad, chips, roasted peppers, onigiri (rice balls), pork and leek on sticks, ebi and a mini BBQ where we cooked chicken, tongue and beef. All very nice of course. Then back home, the children went to bed (it was about 8.30!)

Banking

We then sat and chatted with some beers (when I say we, I mean Matt and Joel. Both of them let the alcohol chat non-stop, I know it is impossible to get a word in when Matt's had a couple so don't even try!) Joel and his family relocated here last year. They were living in east Tokyo but were worried about radiation coming from Fukushima. They went to the UK for 5 months during which time Joel studied Google maps and decided on Mitoma to live. He wanted to live as far from Fukushima as possible, and as near to the sea as he could. I would say he hit the jackpot. He said it was a risk, they didn't know anything about the place, but it really is lovely, it has a great vibe, both of us felt very comfortable there. Bed came at 11.30.

Dinner

Tom woke up at 5.30 - not good! However, he was a gem in that he didn't actively disturb us. He put his music box on a couple of times, talked to Totoro, sat up, lay down, sat up, lay down etc, but didn't leave his futon and didn't shout. We eventually got up at 7.15 when Hannah and Leo came down. Tom played with them and tried to eat breakfast with them (onigiri, corn on the cob, red beans and savoury egg custard) he did try everything but we didn't push him - neither Matt nor I would happily eat that for breakfast. Hannah and Leo left for nursery at 8.30. Mayu had to make them a bento box each for lunch - what a palava, I wouldn't like to do that - it took her ages - so many little things had to be prepared and cooked. Sandwiches are way easier. I was hoping to get a nice photo of Tom with Hannah and Leo, but it didn't happen - the morning was very rushed. They were lovely kids and are growing up bilingual - both could switch from one to the other language within a blink of an eye and they both spoke English with a faultless English accent.

Sleeping on a futon is harder than you think...

Joel took us out for the morning to show us the area. Tom got Leo's trike to help him along (one which you can push along - I refused to push him thinking it would be good exercise for him, but Joel took pity on him and pushed him. Just as well as we did as we walked quite a distance.)  First stop was a breakwater where people were fishing. We left the bike by a bush and walked through the forest to get there. We then clambered up ladders to get to it. Tom took it all in his stride which was good and a little surprising considering it was quite windy too. 

In the forest

We watched some boats at work and then continued through the forest to a Shinto Shrine where we had a little rest before walking back to where we left the trike (this being Japan, it was still there waiting for us). We then went for a play in a park before going to a restaurant 'Joyfull' for lunch: curry for Tom and ebi fry set lunches for us. All was good except that Tom hurt his thumb on the way in and thumped his head on the table at the end so we had two howling sessions.

Being purified by Daddy

We returned to Joel's had a drink then said our goodbyes and headed back to Hakata Station. We had another look round the department store - Tom had a play in the little soft play area in the toy department and then we got ourselves some bentos ready for the train. Tom was mega tired by now and fell into a deep sleep within minutes of boarding the train. He stayed asleep until we woke him up in Hiroshima, then a quick injection of juice to get him awake and dinner - he ate well. We got back to Aioi around 6.30. Tom pooed in his pants as soon as we got home! We were so disappointed, we had had such a good day with him and he hasn't pooed in his pants since we went to Tokyo last week. He couldn't tell us why he did it but I think he got the message that we were both disappointed with him, a bad ending to a really lovely day.

At the Shrine with Joel

Thanks to Joel and Mayu for a lovely time, they were so hospitable - it really did feel like a break from our holiday routine.

Oh and Matt says I have now officially gone native, I had trouble sleeping last night because I had a soft pillow.  I had to fold it in 3 and still it was too soft, very happy to have my hard beany one again tonight.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location: Mitoma

Lots of friends today

Asami, Ohta, Tom and Matt

Today we had been invited to Kobe to have an early dinner with the Moriwakis. We decided to get our usual train into Kobe and do some shopping (still on the look out for clothes for Tom and Matt) before heading up to Rokkomichi and Hiromi's apartment.

On the train

Since we have been in Japan, Asami, an old student of Matt's had got in touch via Facebook - turns out that she lives in Shin Kobe. Matt quickly got in touch with her yesterday to see if she would be free to meet up today - she was (if her baby wasn't asleep). We got there and there she was, so we had a coffee with her and her 15 month old son, Ohta. Both mother and baby were really nice. Actually Ohta was an absolute gem - he was very happy to be handled by someone else and very generous with his waves and smiles. Asami was also lovely and her English really really good, all of which lead to a very pleasant morning. We had a coffee and then Asami led us to a child friendly part of a shopping mall - complete with a train to climb on, a slide and many electronic sit-on games, including a shinkansen that moved round a track. Both boys were in their element and enjoyed themselves. They even had a go on the Shinkansen - Tom driving with Asami and Ohta behind him. It was all smiles and giggles and we were sorry when we had to say goodbye.

On board the shinkansen

We headed into Sannomiya (the central shopping district of Kobe) via the underground (it was raining today) and walked down a covered shopping street looking out for kiddies clothes shops. Other than Gap Kids (very little in his size plus we have Gap at home) and a mega expensive store where t-shirts were £50 each, we drew a blank. Oh well, we decided to go for a quick small lunch instead so headed to Osho (one of Matt's old favourite fast food restaurants) for Gyoza and tempura ebi. We then headed to Motomachi station and got the train up to Rokkomichi.

Asleep on a futon

We had a look round the station area at Rokkomichi, but once again couldn't find any children's clothes stores - where on earth do people buy their children clothes? We gave up and got the bus to Hiromi's apartment. When we got there, Tom went completely nuts - full of life and very very excited to see Hiromi and Kyoko. He was literally bouncing around. Hiromi had got out a small futon for Tom so he could have a lie down there. There was no way he was going to calm down and sleep, but when we asked him if he wanted a sleep, he said yes. We were all shocked. So we lay out the futon, got his nee-naw and music box and left him to it. He slept!  (I will never fully understand him!)

Lots of tickles

A pile of loonies

After about 1.5 hours he woke up happy and joined us round the table, and Hiromi prepared Shabu Shabu - this was at my request - she asked me what Japanese food I wanted her to cook me and I remembered she made this for us once before and loved it. Basically you have a pot of boiling water in the middle of the table and cook things in it: pork, tofu, mizuna, Chinese leaves, noodles etc. Nothing takes long to cook as it is all chopped or sliced thinly. You then dip the food in either sesame sauce or a vinegary soy sauce. It is really tasty and pretty healthy too.

The madness continues

Tom seemed to like it all as well - eating everything he was given until he got into trouble with some noodles (the noodles were made from potato and were hard to bite through) which put him off for a while, but he did get back into it and enjoyed himself.  I was so pleased as he ate really badly when we saw Hiromi last weekend. One by one we filled up until we were all bursting at the seams. Tom had another little incident where he bumped his cheek against a chair, not to worry though, he was given one of Hiromi's special ice creams and then he was fine. We were then treated to a slice of one of Kyoko's chocolate brownies before admitting defeat and calling it a day.  Oh, and during the meal Tom learnt 2 new words: delicious and oishii (same word in two different languages).  If we stayed here much longer I think he would pick up the language no problem.

Touch your nose...

Tom, fired up with food, then went completely loopy, as did Kyoko! She had been pretending she was a dog throughout dinner and now Tom wanted to play with the dog. Let's just say it was very mad for a good half hour. I'm not sure who was worse, Hiromi joined in the madness too!

Just then we noticed the time, it was 6.30! How on earth had that happened? We had been there over 4 hours - it felt like 2! We had to say hasty goodbyes and get the bus back to the station and then 2 trains to Nishi Akashi and the Shinkansen home. Tom went straight to bed.

Happy days

Thanks so much to Hiromi and Kyoko (or He-moaney and Kyo-keyo as Tom calls them) we all had a really lovely time with you, we think Tom will definitely remember you. Please do contact us next time you are in England x

Off to Kyushu for a night tomorrow, so it may be Thursday before there's another blog post.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location: Kobe