Family Road Trip 1 - Izu and Suruga Bay

In the Oct 10-12 long-weekend we went on a family roadtrip with Baba, Majoji-chan any Ya-chan. I was very tired from work and the weekend seems to fly past before I knew it.

We took the train down to Shimoda at the bottom of the Izu peninsular where Makoji-chan is currently living. Shimoda is a seaside resort with lots of good beaches. So Hannah was able to visit a beach and play in the sand and sea for the first time.





After that we drive up the west coast of the peninsular to the town of Matsuzaki where we stayed at the Hotel Izu Matsuzaki-so overlooking the beach.


This is the dinner we had at the hotel. As you can see, it was huge.






Hannah showing how old she is. 'Ni-sai!' ('Iam 2 years old')


The beach outside the hotel. I think this may be damage from the recent typhoon.


The next day we drove further up the coast. The west side of Izu is very rocky and has dramatic scenery with lots of headlands, inlets and coves and small beaches. The main road is also dramatic with lots of tunnels.





About lunchtime we got to the port of Toi and took a ferry across Suruga Bay to Shimizu. It was a lovely day and we had a good view of Mt Fuji on the north coast of the bay.


Panorama: starting from north-west, the panning to Mt Fugi to the north, then west back towards Izu peninsular and the port of Toi.




"Suruga Bay is a place of contrasts. Japan's loftiest peak, Mount Fuji at 3,776 m (12,388 ft), rises from the 2,500-m depth of the Suruga Trough running up the middle of the bay, which makes it Japan's deepest

Suruga Bay was formed by tectonic subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate at the Suruga Trough, making it a source of considerable seismic activity, [2][3] and giving the bay its extreme depth

Panorama starting looking south-west to Shizuoka coast, then panning north to Mt Fuji and finally east towards the Izu peninsular.


Looking south-east towards the southern Izu peninsular.


This is Shimizu bay which is the port of Shizuoka.






And this is a Hiroshige wood-block print of Suruga Bay.

Toast

In early October I showed Hannah how to make toast and butter it. So we now do this together some days as part of our morning routine.


This is one of our earliest tries. Hannah takes the bread from its package and puts it in the toaster.









As you can see, Hannah likes to try things herself rather than being shown what to do.

October

Hannah fishing in the bath.


One of the unwritten rules in Japan is that every home should have koi carp if possible. We bought this mechanical one at Asakusa.


We went to an interesting event on 2-Oct. The neighboring ward Minato-ku has a school / arts centre which stages arts events for toddlers. Throughout the day different musical or dance events are held for toddlers and their parents.




No thankyou. For a while Hannah's favourite word was "dame!" (no good!). So we have encouraged her to say "no thank you" instead.



From October the weather has been wintery at times. Beauterful sunny but cold days intersperced with rainy days. This is Hannah with her coat and umbrella.




This is an unusual sight. Mount Fuji in the late afternoon taken from the window of my office in Akasaha.

The weather was especially clear because of a storm? (8-Oct-09)



Hannah took this photo of us.

Akasugu Sep - Oct 2009

September

One wekend we went to Aksakusa, and visited the small amusement park there for the first time. One of the rides is to be pulled high up into the arir on a sort of 'mobile'. You can see the pagoda of Asakusa shrine in the background.


The amusement park is fun for all ages.


Then we wnet for a beer at a famous old pub.

Hannah took this picture of Rika.


Hannah now lokes wearing her sunglasses and putting them on herself to get the right 'look'


Sometimes in the weekend I take Hannah to the park to give Rika some time off. Hannah loves playing with small stones, so she really enjoys









We had a brioef visit from Ya-chan and Makoji-chan.





Trying to encourage Hannah to copy the dance along to her favourate video.




Shopping at Takeshimiya


I was amazed how well Hannah handled this puppet.


Rika made Hannah a new desk in the living-room.

Manners

We have been having campaign to teach Hannah manners.

It been quite successful. Hannah's favourte phrase has changed from "dame!" (no good!) to "No, thank-you!"

Yoyogi Hachi-man Matsuri

The mikoshi for most of the other chomes are adult sized and much heavier so it takes lots of people and teamwork to carry them around. So its a good boinding experience for the neighbours.

In the afternoon we went down to watch about 5 miokoshi converge at Yoyogi Hachiman shopping street, and then went up to the shrine.


Lookin down Yoyohi Hachiman shopping street.








In Yamate-dori outside Yoyogi Hachiman shrine. Yamate-dori is a major road but traffic had to stop for the shrines.




Traditional festival attire.


At Hachiman shrine. A mihoshi being presented to the shrine to be blessed by the shinto priest. In the ground o fthe shrine were lots of stalls selling differnet kind of food.