Jonas and Liz's Japanese Adventures: 4月 2013

Our last post was almost 2 months ago to the day…sorry for the delay but we’ve been kinda in that boring “head down, keep plowing through” mode for a bit. We’re trying to save money for the grand Disney adventure this summer when the kids visit, so it makes for some sparse trips and fewer outings and whatnot. I’m sure you all understand. Sequestration!! ;) So here's our catching up post, at the request of a very good friend and dear reader. :0)

Let’s see…since February the cherry blossoms have come and gone and they were truly beautiful. We live right next to the street that is pictured below and as you can see it is beautifully lined on both sides with cherry blossom trees. I expected the smell to be much stronger with so many trees (and tens of thousands of blooms) but it was fairly mild. They are more lookers if ya know what I mean. But still gorgeous and we took a ton of pics. According to our Japanese students, these blossoms are one of their favorite things about Spring as well…so it’s really not a “tourist” thing at all. J here: one of my favorite parts of the cherry blossoms is the raining of petals. It is peaceful and amazingly beautiful. We tried to capture it on video but it really has to be experienced. Ohno-san told me the downside to the cherry blossoms is that if the petals get on your car and get wet, they stick like a sticker and are really hard to get off the car. I saw people throwing water on their cars and Ohno-san said they do it to soak the dried petals so they can get them off the car. But running your car through a car wash a few time is certainly worth the beauty of the season. He also said that we have some of the biggest and oldest cherry blossom trees in the area. I feel really lucky to have been able to see it.

We also recently explored the Flower Festival at nearby Showa Kinen Park and it was quite beautiful as you can see below. It was fun to be there snapping pictures of the flowers right alongside the Japanese people. Again, can’t feel like much of a tourist when all the locals are joining in. We are really lucky that this great park is only about a 15 minute drive and/or a quick bike ride away from our house. We hope you enjoy the pics. J here: I really enjoyed people watching at Showa park. The old men in full photographer regalia, replete with knee pads and huge telephoto lenses were interspersed with young couples taking self portraits at arms length with point and shoot cameras. There were also a bunch of girls all decked out in their finest getting their pictures taken. The flowers were amazing as well, but like everything here it is really about the whole experience.

Back in early February we had the chance to karaoke with some awesome friends of ours for J's birthday. We went back to the great little place in Hachioji and we had a great time. I wish karaoke was a viable job cause I love it so much that I'd love to just do that for a living. But I digress. The experience was so cool! The restaurant had a room reserved for us (Thanks Koji!) and we all sat around a japanese style table that had a dropped area for our feet and legs. So the table looked Japanese but felt western. There was a cordless touch screen menu that you selected what you wanted and they would bring everything in as it was ready. The TV and karaoke machine was in the corner and as soon as we got drinks ordered and our first round of snacks we started singing! It was a blast! Our Japanese friends were pros but we Americans had belted out a few tunes in our times so it wasn't too mismatched. My favorite was Liz and Kojis rendition of "I don't like your girlfriend" by Avril Levine. Dustins made up dirty lyrics to any song he didn't know the words to was also pretty awesome. The Stormans had a few aces up their sleeves too. I think they had been practicing. :)

We also had the chance to enjoy mochi pounding with our Japanese friends back in late February. For those of you who don't know, steamed rice is pounded over and over using wooden mallets (as you can see below it’s kind of like a giant wooden mortar & pestle) and the result is called mochi. The process is pretty simple and made more fun by it being an outside event. Kinda like an American BBQ where you have various grilled foods and snacks and everyone just hangs out. It was quite fun and J and I both got to try our hand at pounding the mochi out. They were very gracious hosts, feeding us well and making us feel at home. They all took turns chatting with us and trying out their English, which made it even more fun. I thought it was awesome when J was invited over to the “men’s circle” to hang out and do their second favorite thing to do while mochi pounding…drink sake! J tried not to drink “too much” but that didn't really happen. It was a great afternoon, though. An unexpectedly intimate Japanese experience. J here: If you really want to know step by step how they do it you can look it up on Wikipedia, but here is what we saw. They use special short grain mochi rice. It was soaked and rinsed for a full 24 hours before the party. They had big plastic tubs full of rice and water. They had a really cool three tiered outdoor rice cooker. It was woodfired and many parts were handmade with pride. The most impressive was the solid wooden pestle that was hand made by our host many years ago to pound the mochi in. He had pictures of the process of hand carving it and the repair of a large crack that developed a few years ago. The hammering method is similar to swinging an ax, so I was pretty comfortable with that part. The interesting part is that at your knee is a Japanese man grabbing and turning the mass of rice you are pounding between blows. If I moved away he would pull me closer to make it safer for him. He would make a noise every time he was ready for me to swing. They were not really words just sounds. I can't type what it sounded like, so I'll just have to tell you in person. It sounded kinda like karate sounds. It had the rhythm of a chain gang. It was really cool. He would even say things in english like "power up" and it would make everybody laugh. It would also make me swing harder and they were all very supportive and cheering. It was really fun!

In March we got the chance to support one of J's troops that was running in the Tokyo marathon. We walked part of the course to be able to see him and take some pics of him running...and by the end of the day we had walked what felt like an entire marathon ourselves. About 10 hours on our feet. And yes, I realize I am whining about walking all day when literally thousands of people ran 26 miles that day. Seriously, I was dog tired but it was a good experience. As you can see from the pics, some of the costumes were really epic! I don't know how some of them ran 26 miles with some of that stuff on their bodies (especially the guy in the full Gene Simmons Kiss regalia...complete with platform shoes!) but it was pretty entertaining to watch. It was a fun experience...minus the tired feet. Speaking of running, it is noteworthy to mention that I myself completed my first 5K back in early April. J has been running with me since I started the Couch to 5K program back in January and I couldn't have done it without him! It was a great feeling to go from "oh HELL no I could never run a 5K" to actually completing it. And not only did I complete the 5K, but I discovered I truly love running and I have made it a part of my lifestyle. J and I run at least 3 times/wk now and I am enjoying the weight loss (10.5 pounds so far) and the feeling of getting stronger by the day.

That pretty much gets us up to Saturday, which was a really fun day with some great friends of ours. Our friends rented a van and invited us to go check out some beautiful sites around Mt. Fuji. It was a really fun day and we got to just relax and have a nice guided tour experience with awesome people. We drove around blaring American music, laughing, having fun and it was nice to feel like we were not in Japan for just a few hours. It seems like such a simple thing, but the road trip feeling was something I didn't realize I had been missing so much until we were finally on one again...good, good times. And the scenery was beyond amazing; the moss phlox around the base of Mt. Fuji was gorgeous. We also took in 3 waterfalls and 5 different lakes. Then, some McD's, a stop at a Japanese truck-stop (complete with Starbucks!) and a nice ride home. Oh and we all took some wacky group pictures too...a great bonus to the day. :)

Then today (Sunday) we got the chance to return to our friend Kumiko's house where we had the mochi pounding event before. It was a gyoza/pizza party and they invited a few of us lucky Americans as well. We enjoyed the handmade wood-grilled pizza that was lovingly grilled for us on their super cool outdoor wood-fire oven. I told J to take good notes so he could make me one someday! I don't know what else you can make on it, but the pizza was delicious so that'd be enough reason for me to own one. Plus, we all know he loves to make things so I'd say everyone wins. ;) We ran out in a hurry and forgot the camera, so please forgive us...but it was a very relaxed afternoon of food and chatting. We are so blessed to know these people and to continue to be invited to what feels like a family gatherings with us being the extended family. J was invited to help prepare the gyoza and he ended up making a couple of batches from start to finish...including cooking and getting a few helpful hints.

So, that about sums up what we've been doing the last couple of months. The weather the past few days has turned gorgeous, which has been welcomed because we had a late cold snap and it seems to finally be over. Hopefully! I hope you're all doing well and enjoying your Spring. Love to all, as always!

The finished mochi balls, complete with a yummy strawberry inside! Oiishi!!!

Our friends making the mochi balls

Some of our lunch snacks

J was a mochi pro!

You had to get a rhythm going with your "helper" as they help you fold the mochi ball

They were so great to watch!

J chatting with the guys. You can also see the big rice cooker here...so cool!

Group effort!

This was the pink mochi, just food coloring though, no flavor. The pink color represents the plum blossom and the promise of Spring (as this is a New Year's tradition)...they also made green using seaweed and the green represents branches and growth. The white mochi represents the snow :)

L getting a hand from one of the experts :)

Let the karaoke begin!

Yummy pizza @ the karaoke place

Koji and J

Loved this edamame! I think it was pretty much all I ate besides cake lol

Workin' it out ;)

L walked in while they were performing and got pulled into the act

View of Hachioji right outside the train station

Ooooo purty lights!

Our group, minus Rebekah taking the pic. Thanks, Rebekah!! :)

Discussing what to order

The cake comes out! I love the inception of R taking the pic of J taking a pic of the cake! Awesome :)

Sake? Yes, please!

Our first real view of the Tokyo marathon

Yes, folks, that is a man dressed as Jesus. I wonder if he made it the whole way?

I had to pet the bunny!! He/she was adorable :)

Sigh. She's so dreamy! She'll always be my fav!! :)

The route in downtown Tokyo

Some of our crew!

DeNiro on the train

ROR

Pimpin' ain't easy!

Found him!!!!

More random runners...almost to the finish!!

Red suit guy

Normal people ran too....and then there's that guy

You know, he's a soccer ball with a reindeer on his head. Pretty much the definition of random!

Bumblebee roll out!

Cap'n Jack!

Not a great pic because of so many people on the sidelines, but that's Gene Simmons....and yes, he was a white guy!! Hilarious!

I woulda passed out wearing this for 26 miles!!

Authentic Japanese character guy

He made it!! Pretty amazing stuff!

Beautiful street on base

Thousands of heavenly cherry blossoms! They only last about 10-12 days so this is really special!

Gorgeous!

Some of the lovely tulips @ Showa park

Close up of one of the multi-colored ones!

As you can see behind me, it was very busy!

These were some of my favs! I love the shape of them

"vivid" setting...wasn't even really necessary, they were so bright already! But I like how it came out :)

Aww :)

Love this one!

The poppy field

We fell in love with that giant tree back there...

So pretty!

The crew from the Fuji trip 4/27/13

Bein super silly

J's idea was for it to look like my superhero shock-wave was throwing everyone backwards. Pretty convincing, except when we practiced it, I was trying to have a super serious face and I failed when we took the actual pic.