Thoughts on Japan

Accommodation

Our little house

I must say that I have really enjoyed my time in Japan, it is nice to have a space of our own to come back to at night and relax. Our little house is just that - little. Downstairs we have a bathroom and kitchen/living room and upstairs 2 bedrooms. The house is furnished, but this being Japan, it is sparsely furnished, but we have all the necessary equipment:

A washing machine (cold water only - apparently this is a common feature of Japanese washing machines. Believe me you need hot water, if you don't scrub off any stain from clothing before putting it in the machine, it will still be there when the cycle finishes - it is also a top loader, meaning all your clothes get completely tangled together - you would think that in such a technically developed country they would have fantastic washing machines not so, well not in this house anyway).

Telly (not yet been switched on)

Internet connection (what would we do without that?)

Microwave

Fridge Freezer - unfortunately not an all singing all dancing one that I get very excited about in electrical stores.

3 gas hobs (only 2 of these work) and little grill, but no oven

The biggest sink you have ever seen and the smallest work surface for a kitchen possible

No chairs / sofa etc, but a low table which we sit around (on the floor) for meals and working at night etc (we had to buy some cushions to put on the floor to make sitting on the floor more comfortable - but we still suffer from dead legs and bums and ache every night when we get up to go to bed - I guess we need longer to get used to sitting like this).

Here's a little video taken in the lounge / kitchen.  

I have done a full video tour of the house which will appear in the holiday DVD.

A single bed, Tom has this. It doesn't have a mattress - but he has the bottom part of his futon on it as a mattress and the top part of his futon acts as his quilt. Matt and I have a futon each in our bedroom. I would like to stress that a futon in Japan is very different to a futon in England, there are no uncomfortable wooden slats - just a thick sturdy quilt on the floor which acts as a mattress and a duvet on top. I must mention pillows at this stage. Pillows here are stuffed with beans, hard beans, and yes stuffed with them, meaning you can't make a hollow in them for your head. Tom and I manage to put up with them (just), Matt can't cope with them and instead uses a pillow we 'borrowed' from Air France.  Believe it or not, the futons are very comfortable and Matt and I are sleeping much better here than we do at home.  So much so that we are almost thinking that it would be a good idea to take some home with us.

Oh and there are no lights upstairs - very strange, I don't quite understand why not, it's not a huge problem we only sleep there so bought ourselves a battery operated light which suits us fine for reading in bed.

The bathroom is a basic Japanese bathroom: ie a wet room with shower and deep bath. In Japan you shower first, with soap and shampoo and then once you are clean you get in the bath. Being a wet room, water can go everywhere and Tom has loved this - he has great fun splashing like a looney and filling up bottles and cups with water from the bath and emptying them over the side of the bath. Think we may have trouble when we go home.

The toilet is in its own cubby hole. Another simple idea, when you flush the loo, water fills the tank as usual, but comes out as a fountain on top of the tank so you can wash your hands in it before it fills the tank - this negates the need for a wash basin.

There is no heating but we have an air conditioner downstairs which we haven't used - there are still electrical shortages in Japan following the tsunami last year so we are trying to use as little electricity as possible. The windows are single glazed all of them are frosted (I think to stop people looking in - people live very close to each other here - pretty much everyone is overlooked in some way)

Storage: this being a Japanese home, you take your shoes off at the door and there is a shoe cupboard to store them in. Sounds good? no messy shoe mess by the door, yes, but with this being Summer, our feet smell, which means the shoe cupboard smells. In fact it is overpowering - when you open it you are knocked back by the smell emitted by it. I guess we should have looked for a foot odour cancelling spray but feel that there no point now we are in the later stages of the holiday. The kitchenette area has cupboards but they aren't practical, they are high up on the wall - so high that I can't reach the top shelves, and I am taller than the average Japanese woman - I guess they must use steps, but I can see no need for them to be fixed so high on the wall.

Anyway, once we had paid a visit to a 100 Yen shop to buy bits and pieces to make ourselves more comfortable, we have grown to really like the place and feel very at home here.

Children

The children here have a lot more freedom than back home. Often you will see elementary school children travelling on their own in buses and trains - we are talking 7 year old children. I think I would have social services around if I let Tom do that at the same age in England but here it is seen as normal.
As you know from blog posts we regularly go to a local park to play football with Tom. We see the same children again and again. 5 and 6 year olds go to the park on their bikes by themselves - sometimes their parents will turn up, but not always.

Also I saw a 'walking bus' going to an elementary school one morning. In the UK, if that was to happy it would be manned by adults, who have all been CRB checked, here it is manned by children - older elementary school children, but still children.

I think they have it right here, everyone in the UK is so paranoid about their children that they really have very little freedom and little chance to be responsible for themselves. I do my best to give Tom freedom, but he will never enjoy the same freedom as the kids here, which I think is a shame.

Toilets

Urinal in the ladies toilet

You are never too far away from a toilet in Japan, which is good when you have a 3 year old. They have 2 types of toilets here: western style and Japanese style. Japanese style is an elongated squat loo, not a problem for me, but it took me a couple of times to work out the best way for Tom to negotiate them. If you straddle his legs across the loo they are at full stretch meaning it is then impossible to pull down his shorts and pants. This means if he is to straddle you need to take all his lower clothes off - not easy in a small cubicle. I could hover him over the basin of the loo, but then his spray could go absolutely anywhere and I wouldn't have a hand free to help direct it. My solution is to have him standing by  the side of the basin and then help him direct his stream into the basin. This isn't trouble-free - sometimes we don't direct things as well as we should but it is the only way I have found that sorts of works.

The smallest toilet I have ever seen

Most of the time though, there is a western style toilet so I don't have that problem. In some ladies' toilets I have even come across a urinal - I assume for use by little boys going to the loo with their mum. The first couple I came across, I was too shy to use it wondering if it really was a urinal, once I even dragged Matt in with me to show him and he confirmed it was definitely a urinal. I asked Michiko about them when I saw her but she hadn't seen one. Anyway I have got a bit braver now and get Tom to use it when we come across it. Makes sense, means no misfires going on in the adults toilets. I still haven't seen one being used other than by Tom yet...

And in some places we have come across toddler toilets: mini sized toilets especially for toddlers, with miniature urinals and miniature basins - these are fab, all shopping centres and supermarkets should have these in the UK - would make life much easier.

Here's the children's toilet we found in Namba Parks Shopping Mall - brilliant!

Aioi
Matt, Tom and I have really enjoyed our time in Aioi. It is a sleepy little town, population approx 30,000, most of whom seem to be old. We have only seen one other foreigner since being here and that was dragon boat racing day, so we might be the only foreigners here - we like that. Tom certainly stands out and has been called Kawaii (cute) many many times. The pace of the town is slow and as a result Matt and I have definitely slowed down, so much so that we are almost walking backwards! It has a waterfront, an onsen, a couple of parks (of the gritty sand version - no grass here) and a couple of supermarkets - so everything you need. Best of all though is that the railway station is literally 4 minutes walk away, a godsend when you return home tired from a long day out. Tom can see the train tracks (both local trains and Shinkansen tracks) and a level crossing from his bedroom window - what could be better for a train mad 3 year old, first thing he and Matt do in the morning is watch trains from his window.

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Location:Aioi

Steam trains today

Today we met up with one of Matt's friends, Dylan, who we stayed with last time we were here. He lives 3 hours away so we decided to meet half way, which was Kyoto. It dawned grey and rainy this morning, so we decided to go to a steam train museum as it was under cover. Kyoto of course is famous for temples and shrines but can you really take a shrieking 3 year old to a place of prayer? Also can you imagine taking him to a zen rock garden? His eyes would light up at the sight of all the stones, he would be straight in there collecting them, rearranging them and generally being a menace.

The Round House - the best engine shed I've ever seen

Operating the whistle

So Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum it was. Problem we had was that of course we went to the best train museum ever earlier this week, so this was never going to live up to it. However they had an impressive range of trains in a fantastic round house with the biggest turntable I have ever seen. That in itself was was worth the visit. They also had a miniature railway - although modelled on a shinkansen rather than a steam train. Tom and Matt had a ride on that. There were also toy trains and tracks to play with, but this museum being much older - most of the trains were broken - Tom didn't seem to mind though spending a good half hour with them. In the museum proper they had a driver's cab with a working whistle and a lever that made a chug chug noise when you squeezed it - Tom enjoyed that very much. Oh and at last we found a Shinkansen t-shirt for Tom which wasn't overpriced and it has all his favourite trains on it: white train, blue train, rail star and of course Dr Yellow.

Tom and a steam engine

We had a bento box each for lunch (seems to be the routine at the moment) and then went for a 10 minute ride up and down the railway tracks in a steam train. The museum is located within walking distance of Kyoto Station so you could actually see every type of train from the museum: shinkansens, thunderbirds, local trains & the airport express - a train spotters heaven.

Three boys and a ball

After a last play on the trains we left and walked to a nearby park that we saw from the train. It was a huge park by Japanese standards and it had stopped raining so we played football. Tom was in good form and exercised us all. We had a sit down to watch the trains including the steam train and then we played a bit more football. The park was directly in front of the new aquarium in Kyoto which has a dolphin show taking place on the park side so we got to see some jumping dolphins as well which was a bonus.

Hanging out in the park

We then walked back to the station, had a drink and cake in a cafe before saying goodbye to Dylan and heading back home. Tom fell asleep on me on the way home - he did play a lot of football. When we got to Aioi, we were greeted with blue sky and sunshine - so maybe rainy season isn't quite upon us yet, although it was raining hard in Kyoto when we left.  Then a home cooked dinner - chicken with stuff on it, nira (Japanese vegetable - translated in Matt's dictionary as garlic chives which is near enough but imagine giant sized chives) and rice.

Oh and Tom said he saw Dr Yellow again on the way home - Matt and I both missed him but Tom was genuinely pleased and excited, so I believe him.

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Location:Kyoto

Tom drives a train

Today, after the excitement of yesterday we decided to have a quiet day. Matt did an internet search in the area for another onsen to visit, but couldn't find any near a train station so we decided to visit our local one again. After a leisurely breakfast we got the bus down to Port Park, walked along the promenade to the Onsen.

I had Tom with me this time, which was nice as we had the ladies' side pretty much to ourselves. Tom had a shower with me during which he actually shampooed his hair and was giggling at the end wanting to play more in the water stream. It looks like we have showers cracked - big tick for this holiday, we will need to make sure we give him regular showers at home now - I so wish we had a wet room bathroom at home - would make bath time so much more fun.

We then played in the baths - Tom didn't stay for long in any of the baths, but he did play in all of them and was quite happy dipping in and out of them all. After about 40 minutes we were both red in the face and ready to come out which we did. He got to use his new Dr Yellow towel (one of the many purchases from yesterday) to dry himself, he was very excited to see it and then we had a session using the hair dryers - I wasn't allowed to use one on my hair, Tom enjoyed having it done so much, as soon as I moved the hair dryer away from him he would say that his hair was wet again and needed drying again.

My lunch - a sushi set meal

After the Onsen, our plan was to get a take away lunch from the nearby supermarket and go and eat it in the park, however it had started to rain so our plans were scuppered. Instead we went to a neighbourhood diner for lunch which was very very good - it was quite full when we arrived, always a good sign. I had a sushi set (we haven't had much sushi since getting here) which came with some udon noodles and tempora - most of which Tom ate, whilst Matt had ebi fry, Japanese hamburger and croquette set - all of which was delicious. We then headed out into the rain across the car park to the supermarket to buy some provisions and then got the bus home.

When we got home, Tom had his afternoon nap. Tom has been napping every day since getting here, but he is having much longer days, the weather is hot and humid and of course we have been packing each day with lots of new experiences - he has a lot to process and as a result seems to need a nap everyday - he doesn't fight it at all, in fact he is quite happy to admit he is tired (or as he says it 'towered'), which is the reverse at home.

Would you let this boy drive your train?

Once he was up again we set off for the 4.13 shinkansen to Osaka. This is the blue train in which we came back on from Iwakuni (we discovered there was a children's play area at the front of the train just as we stepped off). We promised ourselves another ride on it - but they are very few and far between making it difficult. We decided to take this one for a ride to Shin Osaka, have dinner at Shin Osaka and then get another train home. We are so glad that we did. The children's play area was brilliant - it was a mock up of the driver's cab, it had all the necessary levers, and even an electronic display showing the kilometres per hour, buttons to raise and lower the pantograph and more. It was brilliant and it wasn't just Tom that was excited, we were too. Luckily there were no other children in the carriage meaning we had it to ourselves (and of course we had an expert driver in out midst - well that's how Matt now regards himself after his simulator experience yesterday) I can't say Tom's driving was at all steady, (and we had an incident when he trapped his finger in the brake, which the other passengers in the carriage must have really enjoyed) but once again his hand signals were very good. The hour to Shin Osaka flew by.  Oh AND guess what, when we were stopped at Nishi Akashi, DR YELLOW came zooming past - we had no idea he was due. Luckily, all 3 of us saw him (we are all obsessed with him now) for the 5 or so seconds it took for him to pass by.

We've reached 300 kph and no hands on the controls!!!!

Once at Shin Osaka, we tried to hunt out a curry restaurant we visited 5 years ago. The layout of the station has changed considerably since, so we couldn't find it but we did find a restaurant that did just curry and went in. We had an ebi fry curry and a Katsu curry between the 3 of us. It was fantastic - the best ebi fry and Katsu we have had since being here. I would quite happily have had two portions - just for the ebis and katsus. It was run by one guy who was working his socks off, he cooked everything to order and you could tell - one of the best meals since we got here and I forgot to take a photo - poo!

Superb hand signals

We got the next shinkansen back - a "boring" white train and then Tom went straight to bed after his milk - no need for baths after this morning.

What a fantastic mural

We think rainy season may have arrived today. Japan has a month of rain around May/June time, we have been incredibly lucky with the weather to date - it's been pretty hot and muggy but nothing excessive. Tom and I have worn t-shirt and shorts everyday since arriving which is so nice. We will see what happens, but we have a horrible feeling it will rain now until we leave, however, it is still warm so hopefully we will carry on wearing shorts.

Oh, and Tom managed a tiny poo in the loo today which was good - he soiled his nappy during nap time which was a shame, but I guess we can't blame him for that.

Oh and we got another postcard from Granma and Pop Pop today - thanks.

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Location: Aioi & Osaka

Even More Trains

What a nice array of noses

Can you believe it - we managed to see even more trains today! How I hear you say? Well a friend of Matt's told us about a Railway Museum in Nagoya. Nagoya is only 2 hours away so we thought we would go for a look round. Wow! This place blew away our expectations big time.

The first hall

The first hall had 3 trains: a steam train, a prototype bullet train and a maglev - they were impressive enough, but then we walked into the main hall - there were loads of trains: every type of bullet train there has ever been (except those currently in service) steam trains, local trains, a lovely wooden tram, a sleeper train, a dining car, AND an old Dr Yellow. How could a small train mad boy not enjoy himself here? Not only did they have loads of trains but they were all very well presented, there were English explanations for most of them and it was good English too.

DR YELLOW!

The star of the show for Tom was Dr Yellow of course and you could go inside it - they had a video presentation of what it does and how they maintain the Shinkansen track at night (Shinkansen don't run between midnight and 6am) with English subtitles which was really interesting - although of course all that Tom cared about was that it was Dr Yellow!

They also had a couple of hands on models so you could drive a Nozomi and try not to engage the ATC brakes, which prevent trains running into each other - Tom failed big time, but his hand signals were very impressive. They had a model showing you how they relay the message to the shinkansen to stop in the event of an earthquake (all done automatically so no risk of human error). Oh and dozens of other hands on displays which I didn't get a chance to explore because we had to see Dr Yellow. 'Come on mummy' was a phrase I heard again and again today along with a small boy tugging at my arms!

The most amazing model railway

Tom seemed to think we had limited time at the museum as he ran through each train (they had some cool dining cars from the 1980s, shinkansen no longer have dining cars - I guess they don't create as much profit as bums on seats).

Next on the tour was a HUGE model railway. Beautifully done - it was a representation of Tokyo to Osaka so lots of landmarks to find, plenty of trains going round, every 30 minutes represented a day - so it went light and dark. There was a rock concert going on, a baseball match, a building on fire which was attended to by fire engines and an ambulance, a fun fair. Under the sea we found fish, a ship wreck and a temple. The attention to detail was amazing - Tom sat on my shoulders watching it for a good 30 minutes - we only stopped because my back was getting compressed under his weight!

Making tracks in the playroom

Once we got to the end we looked upstairs - there was a play room there just for pre schoolers - wow (again)! Here they had lots of displays of toy trains going round and round toy tracks - but best of all they had big boxes of track, stations, tunnels and trains all with batteries working in them and plenty of space to build your own track. Well that kept Mummy, Daddy and Tom happily quiet for quite some time.

A grinning looney

Our friends caught up with us at 12.30 so we tore Tom away from the play area. You would have thought we had physically hurt him as he had a huge fit - so much so that he was literally shaking with rage. Partly our fault, we should have given him warning that we were going to leave. Once he had calmed down we met up with our friends for lunch - a bento box lunch of course. Our friends had their 3 year old with them as well, but unfortunately he wasn't playing ball so they had a rather interrupted lunch.

We then went back to play in the pre school room as we had promised Tom but then the lure of Dr Yellow had him running downstairs again. We had to go back to him countless times - Tom was just mega excited.

In the driving simulator

The museum has a number of simulators - one for the N700 - the current Nozomi, a number for local trains and one for a crew member. To get a go, a lottery takes place with your ticket - there is always more demand than availability. We put in for all 3 simulators - we wanted the N700, but were told that there were a lot more places available for the local train. Bingo, we won the N700! Matt was mega excited and went straight up to claim his prize. We were all allowed on. Matt sat in the driver's seat whilst Tom and I sat in the co-pilot's chair. It was pretty much the same simulator as they train drivers on - it certainly felt very realistic - the screen completely surrounded us and the graphics were fab (we had a great view of Fuji) and the simulator leaned when going round corners etc. Matt loved it and we didn't crash, although his lining up on the platform wasn't perfect!  The only complaint I have is that I think they should have provided a driver's cap and white gloves to make it completely realistic.

I then had a ride on a Maglev simulator - they can do 500kph - very interesting, but doubtful they will have anything running until 2027 - a long time to wait.

One last go on Dr Yellow!

We had one last look at Dr Yellow and then went to the shop where we spent a silly amount of money - Tom is sorted now for next Christmas and birthday. Then back home on the Shinkansen which included a sleep on me and another bento box for dinner.

Oh and we have other big news - he managed 4, yes 4, poos in the toilet today. One on the Shinkansen to Nagoya, 2 at the museum (they had a toddler's toilet there - with two sizes of toilet the smallest one was too small even for Tom, and one when we got back. He was decorated with lots of stickers, hugs and kisses.


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Location: Nagoya

Two poos in the toilet!

An unexpected entrance to the shopping mall - very lovely

Today we planned a quiet day, so no alarms and no fixed plans. Typical, we all woke early. After receiving a stern e-mail from Grandpa regarding Tom's toilet habits, Tom had a good talking too - he was quite concerned that Grandpa was upset with him. He wasn't allowed any hugs, toys basically no fun until he pooed. We kept him naked in the house, but he was determined that he didn't want a poo.

We decided to go into Osaka today we found an article in an English language magazine about parks in Osaka and decided to explore one whilst also giving ourselves the chance to walk down one of our favourite streets in Osaka - Dohguyasuji (Tool Street), then we were going to go to an onsen for a soak.

Namba Parks Shopping Mall

We got our usual white train (Hikari) into Osaka and then the subway to Namba. First stop was the park which was on top of the 9th floor of a new shopping mall which is built on an old baseball ground. Now, neither Matt nor I are good shoppers, meaning that normally a shopping mall wouldn't have much appeal, however this one was fantastic, it's called Namba Parks and that's just what it was - a park on 9 levels with a shopping mall on the inside of it. It was beautifully designed with greenery and flowers everywhere. You really did feel you were in parkland rather than on a high rise building. You could walk up the 9 levels of the mall on the outside quite easily losing yourself in the gardens. We made our way to the top where we found a small playground - it had some steps and a bridge made of wood and a slide.  It was very small but Tom really enjoyed it - just goes to show that you really don't need much to amuse a toddler.

Playing on the roof

After a while we all began to get hungry so we headed down to the restaurant level and had a good look round before settling on a Japanese noodle restaurant for lunch. I had Ten-don (mixed tempura on rice) which was served with cold soba noodles in sauce and Matt had Katsu-don (pork cutlet and egg on rice) which was served with hot udon noodles. Tom had half of my noodles, half of Matt's noodles, half of one of my ebis, half my pumpkin and half my seaweed as well as some of Matt's pork and ate it all up with no fuss. Matt then took Tom to the loo. They were gone ages, but when they finally came back Tom had some good news - he had done a poo in the toilet - yahooooo. He got lots of hugs and kisses and praise - our mood certainly got lighter. As a treat, we took him to what we thought was a toy shop. It was a toy shop, a gadget shop, a book shop, a everything kind of a store really. I think the owners buy in what they like rather than buying in a certain genre of product. It was huge, a real Aladdin's cave - the more you looked, the more things you saw - we could have stayed there for hours looking at everything. Matt bought himself a Dr Yellow headphone socket insert for his iPhone - I'm beginning to think he is as excited about Dr Yellow as his son.

Lunch

Once we left the store, we had a look round that level for more interesting shops. We didn't find any but we did find a toddler toilet area which was fantastic. A mini toilet in its own cubicle which parents could look over, a mini urinal and a mini basin. Tom was very excited to find it and immediately made himself at home on the mini toilet and did another poo! Wow! Maybe we should come here every day. Unfortunately he also managed to push the 'in case of emergency button' whilst in the cubicle so we had to explain to an attendant who came up that it was a mistake, but apart from that it was great and he was very eager to tell Grandpa straight away that he had done two poos in the toilet.

We all sat down and enjoyed some chocolate ice cream as reward and then had a quick look around Toys R Us - a much more pleasant experience in Japan.  Must say we couldn't help ourselves and bought a couple of things. We then headed off to Tool Street.  Here they sell lots of kitchen stuff: bento boxes, crockery, knives, takoyaki pans, plastic food models - you name it they sell it. I could happily spend my life savings there - however, with a destructive toddler in tow, even looking in the shops is hard work (all very narrow and stacked to the ceiling with stuff). We had a sit down and drink in a restaurant there then decided it was time to call it a day - Tom was looking tired. The onsen would have to wait for another day - it was the shopping mall's fault - it was so nice that we spent too much time there.

So we got the subway and white train home. Tom decided to fall asleep on Matt today leaving me free to write some postcards. Tom slept the whole way to Aioi, Matt gently manoeuvred him so that he could get off the train. In doing this, Tom dropped his little sunfish we was holding and we left the train without him. We realised he was missing when we got back to the house, so Matt went back up to the station to report it as missing - we will see how good lost and found on the Shinkansen is - I'm hoping they don't disappoint and manage to return it.

The afternoon was spent playing football (Matt and Tom - some other boys actually joined in today which was good - we are certainly a novelty here - the only foreigners in town) whilst I went to the local grocers and got some bits to eat - curry tonight.

Anyway thanks Grandpa for writing a stern e-mail to Tom - he certainly did his best to please you today - we have warned him that it wasn't just for today, but he needs to build on what he has achieved today and then he will make you very very happy.


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Location: Osaka

Long Day

Great view of Fuji even though it was hazy

Today we went to Tokyo to see the Kurodas, some of Matt's clients, they run a high end gardening shop in Roppongi. This meant getting the 7.51am train from Aioi which took us straight to Shinagawa - the stop before Tokyo Station. This was to take just under 4 hours. We were worried about having a very fidgety boy on our hands so packed lots of extra activities for him to do and keep him quiet. We needn't have worried he was amazingly good.

We had breakfast when we got on (yummy buns we got from a Danish Bakery in Osaka yesterday) then Tom was quite happy amusing himself, watching the world go by and walking up and down the aisle. The train didn't fill up until Nagoya (half way there) - until then we were able to spread ourselves out in the carriage.

Being silly with Mr Kuroda

We got to Shinagawa on time (of course) and then took a JR line and subway to Roppongi and the Kurodas' shop. I say that Tom was good today - but he wasn't 100% good he was really bad going to the toilet today. Luckily I had some pull ups with me or I don't know what I would have done! He kept saying he needed a wee / poo but when we took him to the loo (what seemed like a hundred times) he either did nothing or a couple of drops, it was very frustrating as he asked to go to the toilet every 5 minutes once we met up with the Kurodas - not great for flow of conversation.

They took us to the same restaurant as before (apparently the inspiration for the restaurant scene in Kill Bill - having never seen it I can't tell you if it is authentic) however it seems to be the haunt of the stars as there are many pics on the wall: Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder etc, considering it is the hang out of celebraties the prices are very reasonable. I had chicken karaage and Matt ebi on rice - we both shared with Tom which he ate whilst grizzling. He was still demanding a toilet break every 5 mins which made lunch a very truncated affair.

Tom's special shinkansen bento

We returned to the Kurodas' shop for a drink - Tom demanded another wee, we went he did nothing. A minute later a poo appeared in his nappy! I had to take him into their store room to change him as their toilet was literally the size of the toilet. Mrs Kuroda lay down some bubble wrap (how sweet) and I sorted him out. he turned into a different boy once I had cleaned him up - he decided that Mr and Mrs Kuroda were fun and demanded that they play with him. He particularly liked it when Mr Kuroda lifted him up and tapped his head on the ceiling. His arms were shaking with the effort of doing it but Tom didn't care he just demanded 'really big high' again and again. Anyway there was much giggling, which was good as up until then it had all been grizzling.

My bento - not sure what all of it was, but I enjoyed it

We got the bus back to Shinagawa, where we chose our bento boxes for the journey home. Tom got a special Shinkansen one, I got one with a bit of everything and Matt went for Chinese dumplings with fried rice. We got the 16.10 back to Aioi. Tom fell asleep on me within 10 minutes and was out for the best part of an hour (I took the opportunity for a doze too). Then once past Nagoya where the train emptied considerably and we were able to spread out across 3 seats we ate our bentos. Tom ate his fine - but told us half way through that he had done a poo - he hadn't. He then said he needed a wee and started to get upset. Matt took him and he didn't, Matt was very cross but Tom really didn't seem to care. Not sure any of this toilet training is getting through to him.

Anyway we got home at 7.55 without having to get out any new activities which was good. Tom had a quick drink, bath and bed, but it was almost 9 before he went to bed. Think we will have a quiet day tomorrow.

P.S. I (Matt) took my ailing camera to a huge camera shop in Osaka yesterday, where the helpful staff managed to deduce that it was the camera, not the lens, that had failed. They then made me an offer I couldn't refuse on a new one, so I am now the proud owner of a Sony α57, which I'm already very impressed with. Great image quality, and it takes full HD video too.

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Location: Tokyo

Dressing Up

Another day another train!

We decided to have a relatively local day today as we have a trip to Tokyo tomorrow, so headed off to Osaka for the day.

We got the Shinkansen to Himeji and then the Super Hakuto Express to Osaka station.  This train has a great big nose, but best of all it isn't a shinkansen so you can watch the driver - we had reserved front seats so we could sit and watch - the hour's trip went very quickly.

Lunch - stuff on sticks

The Longest Shopping Street in Japan

When we got to Osaka station the Twilight Express was in again so we stopped for a quick look again and then got ourselves on the Osaka Loop Line to Temma Station where we walked along the longest covered shopping street in Japan (Tenjinbashisuji) I think it stretches a good 10 km. I really enjoy these streets, they are full of restaurants and independent shops, no chain stores to be found here - all little family run shops and in this case the odd pachinko parlour.  There were quite a few clothes shops here so we were hoping to find some cheap boy sized shinkansen t-shirts, but it wasn't to be - found pink girlie shops but no boy shops!  Nevermind.  We stopped at a kushikatsu restaurant (stuff on sticks) and had a selection: ebi, mochi and cheese, garlic, sausage, fish sausage, fish, potato - the usual suspects really.  Tom ate up ok.

Dressing Up

We then carried on as today our plan was to visit the Osaka Museum of Housing and Living - we had found out about this via watching NHK in the UK - and seemed like it would be a fun day out.  We weren't wrong.  It was located on the two top floors of an office block (a very unlikely place - and thank god Matt can read Japanese as there was nothing anywhere in English).  The top floor was a mock up of Osaka in the 1830s - so all wooden buildings, sliding doors, minimal furniture, dogs in the alley ways, cats on the roof etc.  There were a number of festival items on display as well.  All very interesting, but the best bit was that we could all dress up in kimonos and yukatas - for free.  Well it had to be done.  I've never managed to get Tom to dress up before, but we prepared him for this last night and told him he was going to have a chance to dress as a Japanese boy and he seemed up for it.  It was almost a disaster from the onset though.  The village has a roof which has different light projected on it so that you experience a full day in 30 minutes - including fireworks at night time.  We arrived during the fireworks and Tom wanted to leave immediately.  Very strange as we had real fireworks during the dragon boat festival in Aioi last week and they didn't bother him at all.

Almost ready

Anyway once they were over he cheered up, there was a little stall with children's games for him to play with and that got him engaged.  They were basically the same toys as you would get in a living museum in the UK - I thought they would be different considering Japan was isolated from foreign influence for so long.  They included a spinning top, catch the ball on the stick, and a flippy floppy wooden thing (I remember them from my childhood but don't know what they are called - I'll ask Matt - I can't remember either).  We had a quick look round and then found the dressing up room.  A little boy was having a yukata put on when we arrived - as soon as Tom saw him he immediately wanted a go - we had a job holding him back.  He had a huge grin on his face the whole time - he loved it.  It seems to be that  if dressing up means dressing up Japanese style he's up for it - I swear he is half Japanese!  He did look gorgeous - he had his photo taken by pretty much everyone there - was hugged by girls and took it all in his stride.  At this point I will have to apologise for the quality of the photos.  Matt's camera gave up the ghost on the train ride into Osaka today - it refused to recognise that there was a lens attached, which meant it wouldn't take photos.  This meant that we were reduced to my little point and shoot - which is OK for general photos - but not as great for indoor ones - shame.  We also took some video - which Matt may upload in the next couple of days.

Japanese Family?

We were allowed the kimonos etc for 30 minutes, and took full advantage of them - didn't want to take them off - they were very comfy as well.  Can't say I would have chosen the one I was put in, but it was good enough.

Once we were done there, we went down to the next floor, where there was a recreation of a school room - Tom really enjoyed this, he seemed very at home at school - I was made teacher and gave him some homework.  We had to drag him away from it to see the rest of the museum, but had to return for another go afterwards (since when are children supposed to like school?)

The second floor had lots of big models of Osaka at different points in its history.  They were really well thought out and interesting to look at - Tom did get into them in the end as some of these moved, had buttons, went from daylight to night time etc.

My Japanese Boys

It was getting on to 3pm when we finally left. We decided to walk back to the station, but only after purchasing Tom a pair of yukata pyjamas from the shopping street - we couldn't help ourselves after seeing him all dressed up in the museum!

Tom and I then got the Super Hakuto back to Himeji (he fell asleep on me after about 10 minutes and stayed asleep until I woke him up for our stop).  Matt stayed in Osaka as he is meeting up with a friend for drinks / dinner.  Tom was obviously tired from today's exertions as normally he would demand a game of football, but he just wanted to watch Mr Tumble on the telly, have his dinner (he ate up really well) have a bath and go to bed.

Anyway a good day, I hope you enjoy the pics.

Oh, and Matt got the post for Tom - thanks Granma and Pop Pop, Tom was delighted to receive it.

A Quiet Day

Going down the silly slide in a silly fashion

We had a lovely quiet day today - just what the Dr ordered. I didn't get up until 8, went and got Tom (monster poo in nappy) and played around upstairs for a while, including a Skype chat with Matt to try to put Tom in order for the day. Tom has been saying how much he misses Daddy and that he wants to tell Daddy what he's doing. Once he was given the chance he decided the level crossing was far more interesting!

Tom hit me in my stomach this morning - nothing new there but it really hurt - something is definitely wrong with it, although I haven't lost my appetite and don't have any other ailments.   Anyway I told Tom that I had a sore tummy and he immediately put me to bed in his bed. Tucked me up, gave me every animal to hug, put the music box on, closed the door, asked if I was ok and went to our bedroom - how sweet. He was back 30 seconds later telling me to wake up - but the sentiment was there.

We had a leisurely breakfast and then a very leisurely morning pottering about the house - I tidied up and he sort of helped me. He also did some drawing including some train tracks - his first ever. He is really beginning to think about his drawings rather than just randomly scribbling which is fab, means he actually concentrates, which is nice to see.

Eating Sushi

We finally left the house at 11.45 and got the bus down to the waterfront. We walked along the waterfront to the retail park and picked up some lunch at the supermarket - some makizushi (rolled sushi) as chosen by Tom - very good choice as it had mushrooms in it, and some potato salad - strange combination I know. Tom also got his favourite Dr Yellow carton drinks. We took everything to the park and Tom grazed and played whilst I watched. He was very happy playing by himself and I was very happy to watch. After an hour some more children turned up and Tom got a bit shy, so we headed off to play goals in the football net. Currently he is football mad and will play and play until he drops. Eventually I had to call it a day - he was red in the face and very sweaty.

We walked back over the bridge to the Co-Op (him under grizzly protest but I was able to put my foot down and win today). We got provisions for today and tomorrow. I then decided to get the bus back to the house. It's a 1km walk from the Co-Op back home which is do-able but I couldn't face forcing a grizzly child to walk it especially as I now had heavy shopping - it was 190 Yen well spent.

Serious business this - learning to swing

When we got back Tom went to bed and fell asleep immediately whilst I made dinner - chicken meatballs (I think), mushrooms and rice. I got Tom up at 5, we went to the park for football. The park was the fullest it has ever been - two sets of boys practising baseball and one set of boys dressed up as ninjas with toy guns stalking each other in the neighbourhood around the park (funny, in the UK I would steer clear of boys doing the same - here I felt completely at ease). We managed to find ourselves a corner to play football but Tom was more interested in watching the boys practising baseball, he was very upset with me when I told him we were leaving, so I dragged a grizzly child back home.

Got home, had dinner - during which we had a moment and Tom almost went to bed with no dinner. He saw it my way in the end and ate up. Matt arrived home during dinner, much earlier than expected - he'd skipped the last session of the conference so he could see Tom before he went to bed - bless. So it was shower and bath with Daddy, books and bed. A very quiet day, but one we both enjoyed.

Oh - forgot to say yesterday that when I got home there was a piece of paper on the floor with Tom's name on it.  My guess was that it was from the post office saying that they had failed to deliver something to Tom.  Matt has since seen it and yes it was.  Because we don't have our name on the front door, they were unable to post it through but they are holding it at the post office for 7 days.  So Matt will try to collect it sometime this week. Thanks to the sender.

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Location:Aioi

Playing with Hiromi

Playing football with Hiromi

No poo in nappy this morning, but then again no poo all day!

Today Matt left for his conference at silly o'clock.  Tom and I had arranged to meet up with Hiromi in Kobe so we did just that.  Got our regular 9.51 Shinkansen to Shin Kobe and met Hiromi at the ticket barriers.  We had prepared Tom as much as we could showing him photos of Hiromi and explaining who she is.  It worked, he gave her a running hug in the station.

Where's the ball?

However, after that his behaviour was pretty rubbish.  He absolutely refused to walk anywhere, which meant that I ended up picking him up and carrying him.  If I wasn't with Hiromi I would have made a scene, but I find it very difficult to do that to him in public, meaning that he then realises he can get away with it and plays up more, but how do you make a scene in front of a friend who has generously given up a day to spend with you - especially someone as lovely as Hiromi, who makes such an effort.

We got the bus down to the Daimaru department store (where Tom went to the baby restaurant last time we were here) so that I could look around the food hall.  This is basically like looking round Harrods or Selfridges - but better and with more class!  The presentation of the food is outstanding, it all looked delicious especially the cakes.  Nice to see people so proud of their products.  I could spend all day gawping at it.  However, I had a wriggly toddler who was still refusing to walk with me which didn't make things easy.

Being silly

Hiromi then took us for lunch - at the restaurant where Kyoko (her daughter) works.  However, she wasn't working there today.  Hiromi made a great effort translating the menu for me.  I ordered what I thought was the most likely thing that Tom would eat (pitta bread with egg, potato salad and salad).  Unfortunately he played up again.  This time I took him to the toilet and spoke sternly to him.  It didn't work.  I then got quite cross with him - he was fidgeting, not listening to me, saying he didn't like anything, being a right pain.  Eventually I yanked him back into his seat - he didn't like it and howled - it was as if I had cut him or struck him!  Took ages to calm him down (I felt as if the whole restaurant was glaring at me), in the mean time I got upset as well - I felt so bad.  Tom was behaving really badly and I was unable to control him and I am his mother!  All together it was a little stressful.  Eventually he calmed down but I didn't force anything else on him.  He happily ate my pudding though - a milk pudding with strawberry sauce - at least he had something in his stomach!

And again!

We then headed down to Merikan Park right next door to Kobe Port Tower.  It was a really buzzing place, lots of stalls - mainly flea market type stalls, but some food, arts and crafts and a stage where various groups put on performances etc.  Hiromi paid for Tom to do some fishing which he enjoyed.  We then got the football out and played football - suddenly his feet came to life and he was able to run - funny that.  He got Hiromi playing as well.  It was pretty hot and humid so it was thirsty work.  After about 30 mins I managed to persuade him to go down to the water's edge to watch boats - which he did quite happily even though initially he thought it a poor idea.  We then played with the football for another half hour before deciding enough was enough.  Suddenly he lost the use of his legs again so I put him on my shoulders for the walk back.  Hiromi suggested we have an ice cream to help cool down, but we didn't see any and ended up in Starbucks for a frappucino instead.  I've never had one of these (obviously because I don't like anything to do with tea or coffee) but they did a mango one.  It was good - in the description it mentioned tea but I couldn't taste any - Tom and I both enjoyed it.  Oh and during this time, Tom called Hiromi 'a lady' which she really enjoyed.  He seemed very worried that he was going to be parted from her - a very good sign that he likes her and why wouldn't he?

Hiromi got in touch with Kyoko whilst at Starbucks, who decided to come and meet up with us.  This she did and Tom had a good 30 minutes of being really silly shy with her - he cuddled into me and wouldn't look at her at all.  A mention of a train seemed to cheer him up so we headed for the station.  Hiromi and Kyoko were going to a pottery exhibition in Nishi Akashi, so we all went on the train there, during this time, Kyoko and Tom bonded (phew!)  Then I headed off to the Shinkansen after saying goodbyes and thank you.  Tom really wasn't very well behaved at all, but Hiromi was lovely, and after saying her English was really bad, it really wasn't at all - it is certainly much better than Tom's!  Despite Tom's bad behaviour we did have a good time.

We got off the shinkansen at Himeji, I did some shopping for dinner, then hopped on the next one (perfect timing one was on the platform waiting for me when I got there) then back home, quick dinner (we didn't get home until after 6pm) for Tom, which he hoovered up (very hungry I think) bath and bed.  I then made myself dinner of mushrooms, mushrooms and mushrooms, sat down, had a beer and relaxed.

I wasn't particularly well today - my stomach has been hurting big time, Tom also said this morning that his tummy was hurting, which may have been the cause of his bad behaviour - although as stated he was able to run after a football fine.  We are going to have a quieter day tomorrow, let's hope that sorts him out.

Hiroshimayaki

Another poo in the nappy this morning - we are going backwards!

The A Bomb Dome

Today we decided to go to Hiroshima - not for the obvious reasons, but because their local delicacy is Hiroshimayaki - okinomiyaki with everything on - we had it last time we were here in 2006 and it was a good fooding experience.

So we got on the white train to Hiroshima - about 150 miles away which it does in 50 minutes and then the tram to the A Bomb Dome and the Peace Park. You can't come to Hiroshima and not visit this area. The museum here is fantastic, but not a place to take a 3 year old so we hung out in the park instead. The park has various monuments commemorating various groups of people who died in the bombing. The most popular is the children's monument which is very colourful, decorated with thousands of origami cranes. A child who was dying of radiation sickness in the 1950s wanted to make 1000 cranes in the hope that they would make her better - she never got there but the children in her class carried on for her and still now school children make cranes in all colours and take them to the children's monument. The whole time we were there we couldn't get near it - school groups were waiting in line to pay their respects - some were reciting poems, some sang. It is something they take very seriously - with good reason.

Running tom

There is no point trying to explain the significance of the area to Tom so we walked around and found a nice grassy area to play football with him.

When it came to lunchtime we headed straight for an Okinomiyaki restaurant that Matt had read about in a JR flyer. When we got there it was full of salarymen and very smokey (no non smoking laws here although they have got stricter on the Shinkansen - they used to have smoking carriages, but now they have rooms where people have to go to to light up. Same is true on platforms). When we arrived some men made some room for us at a table and stubbed out their cigarettes - how kind. We ordered The Tenyawanya Special, this included noodles, pork, squid, tuna, ebi, corn, egg, bean sprouts and maybe more - I can't remember. Anyway it was the biggest one they had.

Making Okinomiyaki

We weren't disappointed - all 3 of us enjoyed them. Half way through them the restaurant completely emptied and the owners started to make friends with Tom. It didn't take long and before we knew it he was running into their arms and being silly with them. They have a grand daughter so luckily were vaguely prepared for him - certainly a different experience to serving a salaryman!

Oh whilst we were waiting for lunch to arrive Tom was drawing on his magnetic pad.  Normally we have lots of squiggles and circles but this time for the first time he drew a train and it actually looked like a train - we were stunned and very pleased.

Yummy

Once we had said our goodbyes to the restaurant owners we strolled back through the Peace Park - had another game of football and rang the Peace Bell. We then dropped into a department store for a nose - apparently in 1991 the lifts there were operated by lift girls who were dressed completely in gold. Matt wanted to see if they were still there. Unfortunately no they weren't and we had to operate the lift ourselves. However, the toy area was good - ie lots of sample toys for Tom to play with so we stayed there a good while while he got his fill.

More New Friends

We then got the tram back to the train station to find out that we had just missed a train and had to wait over an hour for the next one - poo! We sat down for a long drink - it was hot today, then went to wait in the Shinkansen area where there just happened to be a huge display case with toy trains in it. Tom was happy and wouldn't be moved on so we took it in turns to stretch our legs etc. Matt then went off to find us some bento boxes to eat on the train, in the end it didn't feel long to wait.

We got a Rail Star Kodama (stops at every station) home. Tom fell asleep on me with 10 minutes and had a good 30 mins and woke up very sweaty but happy. We then ate dinner by which time we were almost home (the Kodama takes about 2 hours as it waits at most stations to be over taken by the non stop trains).

DOCTOR YELLOW ON THE PLATFORM!!!!!!

When we got to Aioi we had to wait 9 minutes on the opposite platform for the legendary Dr Yellow to arrive (the lovely Ms Ishino who has been looking after us at Aioi Station found out he was coming and let us know). Not only did he arrive, but he stopped (it was only 45 seconds but stop he did) when we got to the platform there were a huddle of other mums & dads with boys about the same age as Tom with cameras - we knew we were in the right place. Dead on time he arrived - he stopped at the end of the platform - not where we were standing so everyone had to leg it down there. But we got video footage and photos, AND the driver waved to us. All Tom could say for a couple of minutes was "Dr Yellow on the platform". So now we have definitely ticked all the boxes and Tom should have happy dreams tonight.


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Location:Hiroshima