Hiking in Shirotori

On May 12, we went with Steve, Zelie, Yuka, and Yurie to Shirotori to climb the Dainichi Dake Mountain. The mountain area was beautiful! It took us 3 hours to hike to the top and 1 and a 1/2 hours to hike down. Here are some pictures of our day.

During the winter, the mountains are used for skiing. We took the chair lift up part of the mountain to start off the hike.

Here we all are about half way up!

The views were so beautiful...the pictures really don't do it justice!

Melissa and Zelie

The higher we got, the colder it became. We were so excited to see some snow. We couldn't resist a snowball fight.

Once we made it to the top, we could see many snow-capped mountains.

This is a view from the top of the mountain. After we finished the hike and made our way down, we went to a really beautiful onsen (public bath) that had baths outside with views of the mountains. It was extremely relaxing!

Going to the Movies

A few weeks ago, we went to our first movie in Japan, and have been to 2 more since then (Spiderman 3, Shooter, and 300). The theaters have all had stadium seating and are very modern. American movies are really popular here, so they either have subtitles or are dubbed in Japanese. This is a picture of Malera Mall, where the movie theater is located.

These are pictures of the lobby and corridor at the movie theater.

The experience is basically the same as in America, with a few differences!

1. The movies during the day are $18.00 a person!

2. It is cheaper to go after 8pm; $10.00 a person.

3. When you buy your tickets, you choose an assigned seat.

4. On the back of each seat, they provide a hook for your purse and an umbrella holder.

5. It's actually warm inside.

6. They provide blankets if you get cold.

7. In the lobby, they sell booklets similar to Playbills about each movie.

8. They sell beer.

9. The food is moderately priced...it should be at $18 a person!

10. The Japanese people are absolutely silent during the entire movie and do not even laugh out loud!

Our Trip to Kyoto

During our moms visit, we took a 3 day trip to Kyoto, which is a 2 hour train ride from Gifu City. Kyoto is a really popular tourist city. Most people vacationing in Japan usually see at least 2 cities- Tokyo for more of the modern side of Japan and Kyoto to see the historical side. We went during "Golden Week," which is when most everyone in Japan has the week off from work and usually travels within the country.

Getting There: We took the local train to Kyoto, with 1 transfer along the way. Unlike our luxurious ride to Tokyo on the bullet train, the local train had no assigned seats and was EXTREMELY crowded. Unfortunately, we had to stand the entire 2 hours and were packed like sardines! The views were really pretty along the way...with many rice fields and mountains.

Once we got to Kyoto, we were once again swarmed by the Japanese crowds. About 100 taxis were all lined up outside the train station and drove up one by one to the line of people patiently waiting. We waited in the line that curved around the station for about an hour. We still can't get over how polite and patient the Japanese people are!

We stayed in a ryokan, which is a traditional Japanese-style hotel. This was definitely a shocker for our moms! We all stayed in one room and slept on futons on the tatami-mat floor. Our pillows were filled with beans and our shower was a community shower located 2 floors down from our room. You can't get more traditional than this!

Kiyomizu Temple (a Unesco World Heritage Site): Located only a block from our hotel, our first stop was to one of the most famous temples in Japan. This temple was first built in 798, but the buildings were reconstructed in 1633. We could barely walk because there were so many Japanese tourists!

The views from the temple were beautiful...many trees and mountains.

Walking the Philosopher's Path: After leaving Kiyomizu Temple, we walked down the streets of Kyoto known as the Philosopher's Path. Along this walk, we went in many gift shops and saw some really pretty temples and shrines. We also passed some old houses and saw a few women who were geisha.

The path was almost all uphill, so we were exhausted by the end of the day! We stopped to have some ice cream along the way.

Yasaka Shrine: The Philosopher's Path led us to the Yasaka Shrine. This colorful shrine is just down the street from Gion and had a beautiful Japanese park behind it.

Maruyama Park: Behind the Yasaka Shrine was the Matuyama Park. We really enjoyed this park...it was beautiful, peaceful, and very Japanese. We found a bench and sat there for about an hour just talking and people watching.

Gion: Around 6:00, we walked to Gion, which is the famous geisha district. This is where the book and movie "Memoirs of a Geisha" takes place. We found a really nice Chinese restaurant located on the 5th floor of a building overlooking Gion corner. We had a great meal and then spent the rest of the night walking around.

Nijo Castle (a Unesco World Heritage Site): The next morning we started by taking a bus to the Nijo Castle. This castle was built in 1603. The shogun who lived here had 'nightingale floors' built inside, which are floors that sing and squeak at every move, making it difficult for intruders to walk around quietly. It was fun to walk around on the floors! Before entering the castle, we had to pass over the moat.

After seeing the inside of the castle, we walked around the gardens and climbed some stairs to see a view of the castle from a distance.

Holy Spirit Catholic Church: In the middle of the 2000 temples and shrines around Kyoto, we spotted a small Catholic church. Gloria was very excited and took a few minutes to say a prayer!

Kinkakuji- The Golden Pavilion (a Unesco World Heritage Site): This temple was built in 1397, but then burned to the ground in 1950. In 1955, a full reconstruction was built following the original design. It's pretty amazing seeing such a gold building.

Ryoanji Temple Rock Garden (a Unesco World Heritage Site): This rock garden is acknowledged to be one of the masterpieces of Japanese culture. It is very simple, with only 15 rocks and white sand. It was interesting to see, but we found the floral gardens more beautiful.

The third day we spent in Kyoto was much more slow-paced and relaxing. We bought many souvenirs, then headed back to Gifu to enjoy the last few days with our moms. We really enjoyed visiting Kyoto; it turned out to be one of our favorite cities in Japan!

Our Moms Visit Japan!

On April 26, our moms Brenda and Gloria arrived in Japan to start their 12 day visit! It was really great to see each other after 8 months. We did so many great and memorable things, here are a few of the highlights from their trip!

Tea Ceremony and Dressing in Kimonos: Melissa arranged to have a tea ceremony months in advance before our moms arrived. It took a lot of planning, but it was worth it in the end! It began at 7 am on Sat. April 28 when 2 of our Japanese friends, Nobuko and Izumi, came to our apartment to dress the girls in kimonos. It takes about 45 minutes to put one person in a kimono, so we had to start several hours before the ceremony actually began to get all 5 girls dressed (Brenda, Gloria, Melissa, Chelsea, and Nikki).

Here are some pictures of us getting dressed.

When we were all dressed at 10:00, we drove to the restaurant where we were holding the tea ceremony. We reserved a room on the second floor of the restaurant. A photographer was there to take pictures of us and send some to the local newspaper...it was quite the event!

Our moms were considered the guests of honor, so they were the first to be served the green tea. Melissa's flower arranging teacher, Misayo, made the tea and our Japanese teacher, Mami, served it.

After the tea ceremony, we all ate lunch at the restaurant and then spent the rest of the day at a Japanese village called Nihon Showa Mura, which is about an hour drive from Gifu. At the village we walked around and did some archery.

Eating a Traditional Japanese Lunch:

We ate at many different kinds of restaurants during our moms visit, including Italian, Indian, Chinese, and Japanese. On their first day in Japan, we were invited to lunch with Frank's 2 adult private students, Kyoko and Machiko, to a traditional Japanese meal. We had 3 different kinds of soba noodles, some fish, rice, and a few other small dishes. During this meal, we discovered that Melissa's mom really dislikes the taste, smell, and texture of Japanese food and that Frank's mom is unable to sit on the floor due to her knee problems. The combination of the two made for an interesting lunch!

Making Japanese Paper in Mino City:

After lunch, Kyoko and Machiko invited our moms to Mino City while we went to work. Mino City is about a 1 hour drive from Gifu City and is known for Japanese paper. Spending the day with Kyoko and Machiko was very enjoyable for our moms, especially since they are all close in age. After walking around the city's shops, Brenda and Gloria had the opportunity to make paper!

Ikebana Lesson:

Melissa's mom came to watch one of Melissa's ikebana (flower arranging) lessons. The ikebana teacher requested that Melissa wear a kimono and had a photographer come and take pictures of her and Brenda during the lesson. It's so cute how they get so excited when foreigners are around!


Frank and Melissa's English Lessons:
We had to work a couple of days while our moms were here and one day they joined us for our lessons with the kids! Brenda went to Melissa's 4 classes and Gloria went to 3 of Frank's. The kids loved meeting them and asked a ton of questions, such as their favorite color, animal, food, and sport. One kid even asked their blood type!

3 Days in Kyoto:

We spent 3 packed days of sightseeing in Kyoto...see our next blog to read about our experience!

Our Last Day:

Our last day together turned out to be perfect. We went to a small cafe and had cake and coffee. There was a pianist there playing American songs on the piano. Afterwards we went shopping and ate dinner at a great Italian restaurant. We also went on a short bike ride around our neighborhood. The goodbye was tough, but we know that each day spent in Japan is a time we will all never forget!