Japan 2013 (Day 5 - 16th July)

Hello everyone!

I'm sorry for the lack of posts but I'll try to keep up with them in one way or another!

If you were a reader back when i went to Japan the last time you probably remember me talking about sausages... it sounds silly but these japanese sausages make me drool... its like eating toro (now japanese people will laugh at me even more for the ridiculous comparison haha)... you put a bit of some food and you start chewing and this sense of happiness appear from the deliciousness? That's how i feel when i eat these sausages that just click when you take a bite. haha And this post starts with something silly, go me.

In the morning we rushed a bit because my husband was so busy that day.

I cannot believe how much effort that man puts into his work, always going around with books from place to place (did you know we carried books from Portugal because of his work? crazy huh?), trying to spend time with me, his parents, our daughter and trying to find spots in his schedule to take me to some places... anyway even with all that we went by car to some far away spot in the prefecture (i mean really, they only have one place for that in all of Nara?!) just to renew his japanese drivers licence. Apparently since the renovation period expired people are forced to have a 1 hour and something class on safe driving. As if that is going to make the difference haha. But we went anyway. Instead of waiting for him we got some fast lunch from a convenience store and went home where I changed to some special clothes because we were going to do something i'll call (even though it isn't really that) tourism-ish for a change.

Take out food from a convenience store. They are everywhere and you can eat a lot of different sort of dishes.

We finally got to the place and my husband got in the car so we could get to a train station. The streets we got in were so narrow, i am always surprised at how cars can circulate so smoothly in what seem to be tiny roads. Well the cars aren't very big either.
The train station was located in the middle or an area that had a festival (matsuri) of some sort because the decorations were still up and it made it look rather pretty.

My husband getting us our tickets. For some reason he always got our tickets when we visit so i'm not the best with doing this sort of thing here and have yet to reach a stage where i'm 100% independant which is bad. 

 My husband poiting at the nice paper lanters on display in the train platform.

We saw a grown up girl in yukata for the first time during our stay in Japan. Since we are in a residencial area unless there's a festival going on they are nowhere to be seen which is a shame if you ask me. 

We were going to Kyoto, to check out an actual famous matsuri (traditional festival) in Japan, the Gion Matsuri which in that particular day (night time) is called Yoiyama 宵山. Obviously because of that we were bond to see a lot more people wearing yukata.

This is the Kyoto station. It's huge and like most big stations, there's tunels everywhere and shopping malls and stores. It's huge and a big mess so you can get lost if you are distracted. I always kind of do. 

HA! Fooled you (some of you?), that was me all along. I bought another yukata set just to attend this. I figured I wanted to try new things and its no fun to be there in the summer and not wear a yukata. Of course I wanted to feel confortable and respectful so I wore it traditionally even though i did want to wear my all stars with it if i could. My mother in law said I shouldn't even wear sandals even though I can do anything because I'm foreign. When i got to the actual matsuri japanese girls were breaking all the rules, i even saw one wearing a yukata with crocs! I am not kidding you. You can clearly see the generation gap happening here hehe. (i am open minded but crocs???) 

I borrowed this bag from my mother in law, i had my tote bag but this is much nicer! ^_^;

When we got there it was still day time and it was rather empty as you can see. We were glad to feel a bit of the wind blow and not be under intense heat as well because it had been super hot the previous day. We spotted people in yukata everywhere from kyoto station to the subway to our last destination, kyoto's main shopping street. 

To cool themselves off, japanese eat this thing... its not really ice cream, its not just ice... its ice with a topping that gives it flavor. It is called kakigori and you can read about it if you would like. I picked lemon because its more refreshing but there were 6 o7 different flavours to choose from.

Men in Yukata. I love how men look in their yukatas, more than girls I guess but that's maybe because men in my country would very hardly be caught wearing anything that resembles a skirt out in a serious manner. I must say it is kind of charming.

After an hour or so it started getting a lot more crowded. The streets had food stalls and other interesting festival sort of stalls in both sides for kms!

Women in Yukata. Being slimm is a plus because that belt is not flattering on anyone although they have accessories and tricks to make it more so (like some sort of thick ruller looking things that they wear on the inside for the obi not to have a folded look like mine did after a while ha.) 

Balloon stall for kids. Always a must in every festival anywhere I suppose.

A game stall. You have a sort of tiny raquet with a white paper to catch a fish. If you catch it you can take it home with you. 

One of my favorites, a Takoyaki stall. I haven't had any this time though but i plan to. Anyway they are a snack with a ball shape that are made from octopus, some sort of batter and other things for taste. They are then coated with sauce. It's really good, i like it a lot.

The main attractione were not the people (although for me it always is), the food, the open houses showing their treasures for the only time of the year (people open their homes for visitors to check old relics or familly treasures!) but of course the yamaboko floats which are a sort of cart that is stopped during this event but with their "staff" in playing music, showing off a special float detail or doing something else. The floats are decorated with lanters and are divided in two types, bigger ones and smaller ones. Of corse the bigger ones need more people to make it advance and are heavier. 

I must admit that after all the walking, loads and loads of people, photo taking and geta walking I was beat. So we decided it was time to start thinking about getting back and so we left the alleys and went back to the main street where we saw...

...something slightly disturbing. A marketing strategy that made me feel sad to be a woman in this world. They got this girl, told her to wear a skimpy outfit in public and dance on a plastic box with a monkey in between her breasts. And there were kids around which eliminates that whole idea they nothing negative can be done/shown at x time. I admit i was not expecting that there... and by the look on everyone else's face, nor were they. I just hope they are paying her enough... if there's such a thing.

We were also a bit tired so we stopped by a coffee shop, ate half a sandwich each and drank very strong "dutch coffee". It was pretty damn good. 

See? I am now in charge of buying all the tickets so i get used to it. I also got that tea for the ride home, there's nothing like drinking something cold when facing japan's heat. We also walked a lot but ended up still taking the subway because i was on the verge of just sleeping on the street, those damn geta!

And this is what a regular train looks like. An interesting thing is you can turn the seats around to face the other side and not be forced to ride backwards. 

When we arrived at the local station we went in Lawson and bought a couple of onigiri because we had only eaten half a sandwich and started heading home which is about 10min by foot from the station.

This is where my inlaws live, its a big appartment building a bit in the middle of nowhere, its really peacefull and rather pretty with all the trees and the river.

I'm going to post this one for my older brother. It's not new that in Japan people are not very often stealing other people's things but the faith they put into that is for me something that I can only dream of having in Portugal. Here's an example: In the entrance of the appartment building there's a "garage" for bikes and it is open, with no gate... and the bikes are only locked to prevent people from riding out of there with one. Nothing is done to prevent them from being carried out of that place and they just stay there and in reality they do not disappear. Amazing, I know. 

The main difference besides the location obviously of this house from the other one is that now there's an elevator, no more carrying heavy things up the stairs for my inlaws. I think everyone's very happy about that!

We finally arrived and of course kisses our daughter to death because she is the cutest thing ever and we miss her! The second thing was, eating. I ended up being able to eat both because my husband found something else that he would rather eat, score! hehe

And that was it for the day. A very different busy day. I hope you liked reading!

Kisses,

Jo

Japan 2013 (Day 3 - 14th July)

Hello everyone. Posting daily as promised!

On the 14th (sunday) I woke up at a normal time, not too early nor late and relaxed a bit.
Of course every day here starts with a complete breakfast (and usually different daily which is quite the opposite of what i do in Portugal).

Breakfast included: japanese rice, furikake, miso soup, kimchi and umeboshi which is something I'm not keen on so I passed on it. 

Both these nori were new to me. The first is wasabi nori (yes o.o) and the second is Korean nori. 

They are both pretty good, the first does have a strong wasabi and therefore a bit of a kick to it and the second is my favorite, i dare way i even like it more than the traditional japanese nori. It's thinner and therefore lighter and easier to eat. I am a fan now. <3

Mari got this present the day before but i forgot to take a photo so i'm posting it on the day i took the said photo. It's a box made of paper and other things made of paper. This art is called origami as most of you know. Mari visited a neighbor and the lady said she had nothing to offer so she made these. I would say that's one heck of a gift, isn't it? It's amazing what one can do with just pieces of paper.

We spent the morning chatting, watching tv and just hanging out as a familly and before leaving we discussed if we should have lunch or not. We decided to have a mini ramen just in case we would happen to feel hungry.

Instant ramen in japan nowadays is so much better than ordinary noodles... 

So where were we off to you might ask? Well my father in law is active in the community, he is now the president of the neighborwood association and is in charge of a lot of things which is good since he has retired and that keeps him busy and active i suppose. Being active and knowing a lot of people makes him want to get engaged in other things and that day he was going to help with the local area Children's Day Festival (Kodomo matsuri). Since we have one in the familly we decided it would be the perfect occasion for Mari to experience her first japanese festival (and actually mine - summer - as strange as that might sound).

Dad carrying Mari. You can see the entrance of the residential building my inlaws have moved into.

  Mari wondering what would happen next and looking adorable in her kingyo jinbei (Goldfish jinbei).

When we arrived the venue looked like this in the parking area. It is a community building where activities take place etc and the matsuri was indoors which is funny. You can see my father in law carrying things in the white cap. 

I didn't bring a lot of clothes so my mother in law gave me this tshirt, its very... grown up lady style but its actually flattering and i like looking "society acceptable" (is that even proper english?) when going to places where people they are are going to. I think I owe them that since they respect everything I am into. They are fantastic people and I love them very much and want nothing more than make them proud.  

People were still decorating and preparing everything. The stage would be used for a taiko performance. There is a club for kids to learn this art as well so they were going to show their skills. 

This stall was pretty much the only one that was ready. The lady had several toys and also some golfish on display. I thought they were for sale but she gave one to Mari and when we asked how much it was she said it was a gift so I still have no idea if she was selling them or not.

Me and my husband playing the "you're taking a photo of me? Then i'll take a photo of you!!!" - having fun like two kids. :P

Mari is very popular in Japan, everyone keeps telling us how kawaii she is. It is partly because its polite to do so but also because she actually is pretty damn cute haha.

There was also an origami stall, multiple article stalls, sales, food, games, a lot of different things inside (all floors) and outside. 

Since everyone was setting up shop we decided to go visit the library. My husband used to come here as a kid because they had lived in this area before. 

 When we went down the place was crowded! I don't get it its like japanese people have a timer that will force them to be on time for everything, they are impressive!

  Some of the games kids were playing (and look! A mini wa lolita - might be the only occasion when it looks cute, because its a kid wearing it :P)

My inlaws were in this stand. Kids would head over, get a white fan and personalize it as they wish. Mari did one side and dad did the other!

Then we got a warning it was time for the Taiko performance and because Mari's just a baby we ran away. We went to one of the entrances where they had a tiny library for kids. You had to take your shoes off and sit on a sort of improvised tatami floor. We sat there and instantly someone came over, got a book and started reading to her. It was an odd moment i must say.. there were awkward silent moments but everyone was super nice and I have learned that what is an awkward silent moment for me is in fact just a normal social situation for japanese people. I am not sure i can get used to that (inside i feel like laughing out loud for some reason) but I do see it.

Mari liked one of the books best, it was called "Kutsuita" which means "to be together". It is adorable actually so we plan to buy it for her.

There were also policeman teaching kids about safety especially when riding a bike. So there was a display made by kids of the area and where they had encountered issues when riding a bike. It made me think of my older brother so much I just had to take photos.

      

This one had "places where we found weird people" which is both really scary and funny at the same time. :X

Remember the parking area? It looked like this when we left.

After this we got in the car and went to the supermarket to get groceries for dinner. In Portugal we have the habit to buy in bulk to avoid trips to the supermarket but japanese people would go every single meal if they could so i find us going to a super very often which is fun. I love browsing through what they have... and kind of wish my mother in law and husband would take longer at the supermarket.

We arrived and it looked rather... old. Usually they are very new and modern looking but it was completely normal on the inside and the prices were very affordable!

We are not allowed to take photos inside at least i think so, they had no sign because i suppose nobody tries to take photos in there haha but I took some anyway, enjoy some japanese goods:

Sashimi packages. Everything is so tidy and well packed in Japan, its amazing. I find myself wondering how much packing everything like that adds to the final cost.

Sausages... and gyoza and I don't remember what else.  

Vegetables are stunning in Japan but also kind of expensive. But fruit is a lot worse.. i don't think i'd eat fruit if i lived here very often because of the price. This is daikon.

We then got back home and my mother in law started cooking. I helped with the groceries and gave Mari a bath and that's why she looks so cute in her new piyo piyo babygrow. 

All the yummy things that are not so good for us that were bought, chocolate, caramel, potato chips, cheese cake, calpis... you name it. 

After a while we got called for dinner: me, my husband, my inlaws and my sister in law. She came to spend the holiday home and was amazing with Mari (she should have kids soon too!).

Salad with no dressing (because my inlaws always give us several differnt options as you know).

Home fresh cut sashimi, how stunning is that? Salmon, Tuna (nor really tuna but a sort of tuna ... can't explain better, squid... etc.)

Fried fish in bread crumbles, it was excellent.

And last but not least one of my favorite things in japanese cuisine: Ginger (gari) which we bought but are available for free in sushi restaurantes where i eat a bit too much of it. haha 

My inlaws really find it funny that i love this so much, they say its a strong taste and that they wouldn't expect japanese people to like it this much let alone a foreigner. Have you tried it?

And that was it, mine and Mari's first ever summer festival in Japan! Not really one of those famous huge super crowded festivals but a festival anyway. I was of course the only foreigner to be seen in the area. :P

That's it for today, I hope you liked reading!

Love always,

Jo