Setsubun is coming...

It really isn't even that big a holiday, but maybe it is, because when I went to my favorite park this statue of an ONI had been erected and many signs advertising the bean throwing festival to banish the evil spirits.

Seems like just yesterday I was posting a photo of the Setsubun sweet.

Who is that big guy standing there.

My Winter Holiday

Winter Holiday 2013-2014

First Max and I went to Korea. This was Christmas dinner. We had a big seafood lunch where they boiled everything alive (including octopus, mussels, sea snails, scallops, and more) in front of us. Then went to Max's grandma's house. Then we went to his aunts house and had a big steak dinner, the next day we finally went back to his parents house and had a fried and grilled chicken dinner date with gelato dessert. Little did I know I had some sort of brewing gut virus which left me spewing the next day. I don't think it was anything I ate but maybe it could have been. It was short lived, only a few hours, but I spent the last 3 days of the trip in bed. It started at the shopping center which was the biggest most crowded most incovenient place it could have started at. I made the most nobel effort to keep a street food lunch of spicy rice cakes and a corndog and sundae down, but when I could hold it no longer we got of one bus stop early and I exploded into a bag I found in a restroom, which we then stuffed into a trash can. 

Here's a picture (of the seafood stew)

 You cannot appreciate the sheer size of this from the photo. Let's just say this could serve 4-5 people or more. Probably more. There were three pots of it at the party. That's a whole chicken in the pot. But I assume very healthy.

And my chicken dinner: 

We stopped by the sea and ate some dried and slightly fermented fish

It tastes like butter.

We had a fancy tea time. That's a cute little tea bag! 

We went back to Japan, feeling sick I had to wake up at 5:00 to get to the airport, but we got back and my friend Lindsay came to visit! It was great! I struggled to go to the shrine food fair where I got a chocolate covered banana like every year in Japan. And saw so many people of my city. Surprisingly I didn't see any students, but I did see one out shopping with his dad for snacks on New Years Eve. 

Choco Banana Action

(and Choco Pineapple) 

And then, the obligatory character Castella! 

Thanks for coming Lindsay.

My camera battery was dead so I was only able to get the highlights :D

From Heike Monogatari

(From Heike Monogatari)

When did my heart learn such ways,

of late I think so longingly of

palace companions I once knew

The past, too, has vanished like a dream

My days by this brushwood door 

cannot be long in number

Kureimon-in was bathed in tears, 

overwhelmed by memories of the past and thoughts of the future

Pretty much sums up how I've been feeling these days... 

At my Favorite Sushi

Bicycle in perfect fall lighting. 

My favorite sushi restaurant.

My students laughed at me because it was expensive, because double nigiri and sushi plates are not a dollar a plate. Actually, compared to American prices its cheap. And, when I go there I spent about 10 dollars. When I went to the cheap place, I spent the same amount because the fish to rice ratio was terrible. Also, they do not have my favorites at the cheap restaurants.

Anyway, I patted my belly and told my students that everything I own is cheap, and well, at least my belly and my body is expensive. This gave them all a good laugh and they sent me messages following up asking me if I ate my fill. They are cute. Those were adults, by the way. 

Perfect Fall Days

Perfect Fall Days are Here! 

After a typhoon. There still is a blue sky underneath all that smog.

These pictures are already outdated, the rice plants are starting to yellow a bit. 

A nostalgic view. This used to be the view on my way home from work. But since we moved far away, this is no longer the road "home". 

Welcome fall in Japan! Goodbye sticky sweaty days. 

Setsubun Sweet

Setsubun Sweet from a kind student at the school. I hope everyone had a pleasant Setsubun.

Things to do in Chubu #5: Gero Hot Spring Town

Things to do in Chubu (Central Japan) #5: Gero Onsen Hot Spring Village

Acessible via train from Nagoya, or the Japan sea-board city Toyama. Also near Takyama folk village. 

This is a more expensive trip than the others I post on my blog, if you stay overnight and factor in train fare to the destination, as it's tucked in seclusion in the mountains of Gifu. Very scenic and there are lovely spas in a variety of price ranges. But I find many of them expensive as the Japanese hot spring resort experience often involves food service in your room. The food's delicious, but room service is expensive in any country! I stayed at the Miyabitei Grand Hotel. It had great views and a great rooftop bath.

I'm still looking for my perfectly natural and stinky hot spring in Japan but have yet to find one that has notes of sulfur or lithium. But for a free time trip it's a good escape.

1. The area around the station after snowfall, December 2011

More around the station.

The interior of our room, prepared for our arrival sweet snacks and hot green tea. 

The view from the room, town side.

We went with family friends and had a great time! 

Cute wares available in souvenir shops.

Hotel Miyabitei was nicely decorated. The experience may be difficult for someone who doesn't know Japanese, or may be just fine. I did all the exchanges in Japanese. Primarily they want to know what time you want your dinner, and we had complimentary use of a private bath as well for my husband and I, which the time for also had to be reserved.

More of the lovely decorations in the hotel lobby.

In Japanese, Gero is the sound that frogs make, so frog statues can be scene throughout the village. This is an Ashiyu bath where you may soak your feet for free. 

More of the foot bath.

It's a quaint town, and looks lovely in the winter and spring. Make that any season.

And we'll close with a winter view. 

Things to do in Chubu #4: Showa Village

Things to do in Central Japan (Chubu) #4 
Showa Village at Minokamo, Gifu

Showa "Village" is a little historical replication town from the same family as Meiji Village and Little World in the Gifu, Inuyama (just outside of Aichi) area. It is supposed to bring back memories of life during the Showa Era, or 1926-1989 (Apparently Godzilla and the original gameboys are already getting outdated so it's time to enshrine the memories of the time period at this park.)

Most of the replicas seem to focus on 50s/60s items such as television sets. Overall it's just a big park where you can walk around, stretch your legs, and see painted buildings. It cost money to enter but was not so expensive. Next to the park there is a Michinoeki.

They have some animals, which, perhaps it were best they didn't as the pens seemed a bit small and I can't imagine an alpaca enduring the summer in Japan, but overall it was a nice day out to stretch your legs and escape some of the smog of the big river delta that is Aichi and Mie prefecture.

Enjoy these photos, taken during springtime.

Max standing before a mock tea plantation. The tea bushes are real. It was nice.

House related to the tea plantation. Most buildings house small shops where you can pick up basic Japanese snacks like Dango (rice balls on a stick), meat on a stick, or oden fish cakes. 

Various activities are available for an additional but reasonable cost, such as ceramic pot throwing on a wheel, or simlpy painting already made pieces. 

Apprently people were really happy and really bright during the Showa Era.

There are murals throughout the park.

A schoolhouse, or building done in a traditional style.

A bus/train runs around the park and you can wait for it at little shack like stations like this.

The alpaca.

Small Animals "Encounters" Area

Look at the cute alpaca face! 

Room to roam if the city gets too tight for you!

A little house where you can watch rice pounding.

The pounding.

Things to do in Chubu #3: Swimming and Barbecue at Itadori River

Things to Do in Central Japan (Chubu) #3 

Swimming and Barbecue in Scenic Gifu! 

We went to Itadori river, which is accessible via Minokamo city. It's scenic and has a little pull off where you can drive riverside to set up your base camp to barbecue This area is not very accessible by train and I'm not sure about the bus. The train stops here and there among the villages making its way from Gifu city to the famous hot spring town Gero, and the train usually continues to Takayama. This excursion is best made with friends and locals during summer, or whenever it is warm enough to go into the river. The water is clean enough for the tasty river fish called Ayu. Restaurants which serve the fish fresh have sprung up along the highways, if you can find out where they recommend to go. It is served grilled, broiled, and fried.

 It's like a little fair, with restaurants and small snack stands along the highway that is next to the river and the pull off area. This is an octopus dumpling (Takoyaki) stand. 

That's what the pullover area looks like. Lovely!

With friends, riverside! 

On a cloudy day but in summer, still so hot you can go in anyway. 

Here are fried ayu! Delcious! Must admit that I would have been clueless how to eat this if I didn't have my Japanese friend's dad to teach me how to pull the bones up and prep them, if you will, for eating.

Things to do in Chubu #2: Ichinomiya Tower

Things to do in Central Japan (Chubu) #2

Ichinomiya 138 Tower Park

Location: Ichinomiya City:

Train/Bus Accessibility: No train access, access via Ichinomiya station and requires a bus, taxi, or ride from a friend to get there. 

Best time to travel: Any season. Escape the heat of the Nagoya 'burbs next to the nearest river. Ichinomiya tower park is right next to one and remember feeling relief there during the oppressive heat of summer. In winter the gardens are lit "winter illumination" with Christmas lights creating a romatic or family fun environment. Flower gardens are tended in late summer and early fall (we saw cosmos) 

Cost: Going to the top of the tower on a clear day will give you a view of Ichinomiya city and likely all the way to Nagoya. But trust most days are overcast and fog and pollution often obscures the view. If you go after a typhoon you can see Nagoya and beyond to the ocean, and lovely view of mountains in neighboring Gifu prefecture. 

   An adult is 500 yen; children, students, and seniors have discounted fare. 

Ichinomiya 138 Tower and Surrounding Grounds Park, Fall Season (Early October) 

Sunset at Ichinomiya 138 Tower Park

Cosmos planted, grown up in the fall season.

Another view of the tower.

View of a Ferris Wheel, Gifu Prefecture mountains. Kinka mountain is visible but Gifu castle is not in this photo.

Kiso-gawa (Kiso-River) is not for swimming. 

Exciting news! My friend Kenston from high school came to the park and liked it! "It was pretty."

With the hubby, can't you see how romatic a place Ichinomiya tower is? Its like our own little Eiffel Tower park, eons away from Paris.