Mom's visit! Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Mt Fuji

My mom, Sarah's mom (Mrs. L) and Sarah's sister (Kate) came to Japan together on May 18th (Sarah's 23rd birthday!). Sarah and I worked so our roommate Katie picked them up from the bus stop. I got off early and was so happy to finally see my mommy!! Sarah and I picked up sushi from the grocery store and we had to force everyone to stay awake until about 10 so they wouldn't be too jet lagged. The next day Sarah and I had to work again so they just walked around Tamaplaza (our new cute little town). After work I had a surprise party in the park for Sarah's birthday, had a really good turnout but I was bummed because I thought that she knew about..turns out she didn't!

The next day while we were working my good buddy Brian played tour guide and along with my friends Jennelle and Aki, dragged our families around to the Imperial Palace and a Japanese festival in Asakusa. They had a great time and wanted to hire Brian as their guide for the remaining 2 weeks!!

We were finally off work the next day and met up with Wada San and his son for coffee. We had a Soba lunch then he took us to the Tokyo tower for an amazing view of the city. Afterwards we had coffee and Japanese desserts, met up with Toru and Tomoko and walked around Ginza for a bit.

The next morning we got up really early to catch a 7:36 Shinkansen to Hiroshima. We left our luggage at the Green hotel-a Ryokan (which is a Japanese style room with 5 futons and tatami mats) and we went to the peace park and the memorial.




We did a little shopping and went back to the Ryokan, put on our Yukatas and had a Sake/tea party. Dinner was of Onigidi's.

In the morning we had coffee and bread, left our luggage at the hotel and took a cab to the Hiroshima Castle which was originally built in the 1590's. It was destroyed by the A bomb in 1945 and rebuilt in 1958. The museum told all about Hiroshima's history prior to WWII.

We then jumped on the ferry to Miyajima Island to see Itsukushima Shrine. We got to the island and planned to see the Torii (gates) at 2:33-high tide. There were deer everywhere!

We shopped at some souvenir shops and had a huge fried shrimp stick for lunch. We got our luggage and got on the Shinkansen to Kyoto at 17:10. We walked 25 minutes to the Econo Inn (they told us it was 12 minutes!), picked up some Udon and a variety of things at the supermarket ad relaxed in our separate room, 2 beds for me and mom, 3 beds for the Levs. We met downstairs at 9 am and walked by the river to the Heian Shrine (a Shinto shrine with one of the largest Torii in Japan-the main building was made to imitate the Kyoto Imperial Palace) then explored the Kyoto handicraft center and passed by the Shorenin Temple. We walked to the Chionin Temple and Maruyama Park. We passed by Kodaiji temple while walking to Kiyomizu temple, which is supported by hundreds of pillars and has a great view of Kyoto. In the temple we payed 100 Yen ($1) to go into a dark basement, which was supposed to resemble a womb of a Buddha. You blindly walk through this completely dark room, while following a rope of Buddhist beads, finally you run into a big rock (which i somehow almost passed haha) and you turn the rock with your hands and make a wish. Jishu Shrine is a part of Kiyomizu Temple , dedicated to the God of Love and good matches. There are 2 love stones placed 18 meters apart and visitors attempt to walk from 1 rock to the other with their eyes closed s a test to find love (ps. I'm doomed!) All day we had Jr high school students practicing their English on us and wanting to take pictures with us. We got back to the hotel at 5:30 to rest for a bit. For dinner we had omerice ( a combo of rice and omelette) at the Kyoto train station.

We woke up the next day to rain :(. Mom, Mrs. L and Kate got up really early to go to the fish market at 5 am. It ended up being closed until 9am so they came back to pass out for a bit. We were unhappy about the rain but trekked through to the Nijo Castle, which was originally built in 1603 as the residence of the Tokugawa Shoguns.

Next, we headed to Kinkakuji Temple-The golden pavilion. The entire Pavilion is covered with pure gold leaf.

We then headed to the Ryoanji temple which houses a famous Zen Rock garden, consisting of raked gravel and 15 moss covered boulders, which are placed so that you can only see 14 at a time, no matter what angle you look from. Then on to Gion to see tea houses and Geisha (no luck) and then took the fam to Kaiten -rotating sushi-YUM! That night Kate and I fixed some TERRIBLE English in the hotel for the owners, haha.

In the morning we went to Sanjusangendo Hall, which is a Buddhist temple and the name literally means Hall with 33 spaces b/w the columns, describing the architecture of the long main hall. It contains 1001 life size statues of the thousand armed Kannon. Sarah and Kate headed back to Tokyo so Kate could get back in time for her flight and the remaining 3 of us went to Osaka. We dropped our stuff off at the Raizen south hostel. We all had individual rooms with TVs and VCR's. Downstairs they had 3 computers and Internet and free video rentals. We had lunch of Ramen and Gyoza and went to the Osaka castle and saw a dance festival. We went shopping in Dotombori and came back to the hostel to relax.

The next day we went to Nara and saw a Japanese play and the Sagi-ike pond and went to the deer park, where hundreds of deer were just chilling and posing for pictures. We saw the 5 story pagoda in Kofukui Temple and the big Buddah in Todai-ji Temple. I got my fortune told..it says "'Fair Luck' [General explanation] In the beginning, you will not be successful in bringing things to your possession due to some obstacles placed in front of them. You will solve this problem later, with the help of someone. [In case you are ill]You will have a full recovery though it may take some time [a legal case] things will come your way [Trade] you will make some profit later. [Travel] You will be happy wherever you go. [a person whom you wait for] the person will either come late or will not come. [a thing you have lost] the thing will not be found. [competition]a bad prospect in the beginning will not last long." I made the mom's try octopus and I bought a tie dye fan. (yes, I'm aware of my obsession!)

The next day, we headed back to Tokyo and met Sarah and Wada San at the station for lunch. He ended up driving us 2 hours to see Mount Fuji!!

Sarah and I had to go back to work on Wednesday so we sent the moms off to Ueno, it rained but they went to Shitomachi museum and saw a Bonsai exhibit. Thursday they went to Shinjuku and Friday we met up with Emma and Anna, 2 girls we met in Kyoto, for lunch in Shibuya then sent the moms to Odaiba. Saturday they went to the Tokyo museum and Sunday a Kabuki play. We were off again on Monday, so my mom and I went to see a Kabuki play and then we met up with Sarah and Mrs. Lev in Harajuku for some shopping and crepes.The next day mom and I got up mad early to go to Tsukiji fish market, we saw some HUGE tunas and had the most amazing, fresh sushi I've ever tasted.

Then we got back around 9:30am and Sarah and I sadly saw our mommy's off to the bus station.Me and mommy on her birthday!! So glad she was here so I could celebrate with her!This is our favorite bar, Mardi Gras, it is so American! They even play Phish and GD!

Me and Sarah with AnPanMan..some wierd cartoon guy that rips bread off of his face to give to poor people haha.