Hakone: Part 2

    The rain made our cabin-like room feel cozy, but it also made traveling with two little kids tricky, so I was glad for the blue skies on day two. The kids, being in an unfamiliar environment and sleeping in one bed, roused each other awake early. The timing and weather was perfect for riding the Hakone Ropeway to see Owakudani, whose active sulfur vents were created by a volcanic eruption some thousands of years ago.

    First, we ate breakfast. Our hotel had a modern Japanese breakfast full of salads, sausages, eggs, fish, fruits, and some bread. Compared to western breakfasts, Japanese ones could pass for lunch, or even dinner. Then, on to Owakudani. 

    The ropeway is basically a gondola lift. We arrived about half an hour after opening time, and there was no line. The lift is suitable for kids, as it moves slowly - it is about a ten minute ride to the viewing site. On the way, we got a magnificent view of Mount Fuji. As we approached the area of the sulfur vents, we could smell the sulfur from inside the lift. It didn't bother me too much but gave my husband a headache. 

Very dramatic volcanic steam. 

Mount Fuji

    At the main viewing site are several souvenir shops and eateries. There you can buy black sulphur egg called "kuro tamago," literally, black eggs. These are just eggs that have been hardboiled in the sulphury hot springs, which is what turns them black. I wanted to try one, but they came in sets of six, and I could not commit to six of of these black eggs. 

Main viewing site.

Back at our starting point, there are more souvenir shops and a foot bath bar where you can soak your feet in thermal water whilst soaking in the mountain views. 

For lunch, we went near Lake Ashi to a cafe/restaurant called Bakery & Table. They have delicious baked goods, desserts, and sandwiches. My kids loved the curry pan (fried bread with curry filling inside - this place puts an egg inside too). You can order from a sit-down menu upstairs, or you can buy items from their cafe/bakery selection downstairs and eat on their terrace. The front terraced, pictured below, actually has a foot bath. Hakone seems to have lots of foot baths. We bought our lunch from the cafe/bakery and ate it on a bench overlooking Lake Ashi. 

The drink selection was interesting.

    On the shores of Lake Ashi is the Hakone Shrine. I didn't get a photo, but its red Torii rises out of the lake and is one of the famous landmarks of Hakone. 

    As is typical of any other day, the afternoon passes by in a blur with the kids' naps. The important thing was for them to be well-rested for our seven course dinner - our hotel's prix fixe dinner. The food came at a good pace. E made it through the dinner while M got a bit restless close to dessert but survived. It helped that they were served juice, which they don't usually get. The not-so-impressive kids meal was in stark contrast to our beautifully prepared courses. In the end, the kids ate a good amount of our food as well, so we were all able to enjoy it. 

Pork loin with Japanese leek and shiitake sauce.

Dessert was a standout: sakura mousse with candied ume. 

    Before we knew it, day three, the final day, was before us. The plan was to take our time and visit the Hakone Open Air Museum, one of my favorites, before heading home to Tokyo in the early afternoon. 

A last look at our hotel. 

The Hakone Open Air Museum is as much a garden as it is a museum. It displays a lot of sculptures outdoors. The mountainous setting and beautiful gardens make for a dramatic backdrop for the art. Its outdoor setting and numerous interactive exhibits make for a great place for both adults and children to visit. For instance, the Woods of Net is exclusively for children. It is a netted play structure were kids can swing from pendulums and scurry around in a web of nets. There is also a large Picasso exhibit, including an exhibit of Picasso's ceramic artwork, which he apparently did not embark on until he was 65. There is, also, another foot bath. 

Picasso

    We could have spent all day at the Open Air Museum, but alas our kids were sleep deprived, as kids get during vacation. So we hurried back to Bakery & Table for one last hurrah. If you visit the cafe, be sure to do it before noon. The second time we went, it was only a little past noon, but some sandwiches were already sold out. 

    By 3 pm, we were on the road en route back to Tokyo with two sleeping kids. Hakone was nice, but returning home felt nice too. Sometimes it feels like the whole point of going on vacation is to make you appreciate being home. Somehow the first day back home feels just as relaxing as the first day of vacation did. Until next time, Hakone. 

Hakone: Part One

    On Monday, we packed our bags, strapped the kids in, and drove towards Hakone for a little vacation. Hakone is a mountain town about an hour and a half southwest of Tokyo by car. Due to its proximity to Tokyo, it is a popular tourist destination for Tokyoites. We had actually visited once before, almost three years ago. When we arrived in Hakone then, it was raining. It's funny, because the weather was exactly the same when we arrived this time. 

    The rain was persistent, so we spent the afternoon at Hakone Crafthouse, which offers glassblowing, ceramics, and jewelry-making workshops for adults and children. It is located inside the Hakone Gora Park. Since we arrived right around noon, we parked the car next to the Crafthouse and had lunch at a soba restaurant across the street. In retrospect, we should have first made reservations for the Crafthouse workshop before eating lunch, because there turned out to be a two hour wait until the next workshop slot. Given the rain, this should not have been a surprise. 

    Hakone Gora Park is a beautifully curated garden in the French and Japanese styles. It boasts a variety of flower gardens, a rose garden, and several greenhouses. We didn't walk around the garden this time due to the rain but enjoyed exploring it when we visited three years ago.

    While E waited with her dad for the glass decorating workshop, I checked into our hotel with M, whose nap was long overdue. Our hotel, Hakone Retreat Fore, had a distinctively minimalist, woodsy, tree-housey feel. They provided amenities for children, including pajamas, toothbrush, baby bathtub, and slippers. And there were lots of families with young children. While my kids enjoyed staying here, I wouldn't say it was particularly geared towards families with children. For instance, M kept playing with the coffee beans and grinder, but there was no shelf or table high enough to keep them out of reach. Then again, low shelving and tables are pretty standard in Japan, so this was not out of the ordinary. 

Coffee beans for you to grind. Laborious but delicious. 

A stool for aesthetic purposes only. M found out the hard way after attempting to sit on it. 

    The rain only got heavier as the day wore on. Luckily, Solo Pizza, the pizza place we had in mind for dinner, was right next to the hotel. Solo Pizza had a cozy atmosphere fit for a small eatery in the mountains. Its menu was mostly Italian-style pizza (as is most pizzas in Japan), but there were also a variety of appetizers, sides, pastas, and dessert. We ordered spare ribs, roast chicken, a Genovese pizza, a Margherita pizza, and bagna cauda (also curiously ubiquitous in Japan). This sounds like a lot of food, but the portions were small and the food was very good but light. Plus, we had had a light lunch and were starving by our 6 pm reservation. 

By the time dinner ended, it was pouring outside. After a morning on the road and an afternoon in the rain, most of us were ready to go to bed. E, however, wanted to go to the onsen. Onsens are Japanese hot spring baths. The water flows directly from active volcanos and are supposedly rich in minerals good for your skin. Onsen etiquette requires you to strip down completely and thoroughly wash yourself at one of the shower stalls before entering the bath. Clothing and bathing suits are prohibited. This is to ensure that anything entering the shared bath has been cleaned. 

A hot spring bath was a nice way to end our rainy first day in Hakone. While the rain lent a nice ambience to the mountains, it wasn't the most convenient for walking around and sightseeing. So we were very glad to have good weather the following two days. Stay tuned for part two, where we go see an active volcano and visit one of my favorite museums in the world. 

Sakura Season

If you visit Japan when the sakura trees bloom, be prepared to be amazed by their beauty. Also be prepared to swim through crowds at prime locations. The good news is that these blossoms are ubiquitous around town, so you can see and appreciate them anywhere. The sakura blossom is so exalted in art, literature, culture, and tourism that it has become iconic. Its image is larger than life. So it seems both odd and remarkable that, for a couple of weeks, I am surrounded by them in my daily life. For example, today I was biking to the grocery store on a small street lined with unassuming, unattractive even, buildings. Then, out of the blue, there is a large and beautiful sakura tree that looks more like art than real life. 

Sakura season is fleeting, though there are multiple varieties that peak at different times from early March to mid-April. The flowers from early March, for instance, are a darker shade of pink. Near my home there are a few popular places for blossom-viewing: the Meguro River in the Nakamegura neighborhood and the park near the Midtown shopping plaza, though the ambience there is more curated. In fact, all the major parks will have blossoms. My favorite is Shinjuku Gyoen, which becomes unbearably crowded during these spring weekends. If you visit without a membership pass, you will need to make an online reservation at least one day in advance. 

Shinjuku Gyoen

The sakura squad studying the map to strategize crowd control.

Even though this was a weekday, there were a lot of people and picnickers.

Passing by on a morning run.

Alas, there is always a balance to things. And the balance to all this beauty is hazy air full of pollen, unleashing hay fever on its inhabitants. 

Spring haze: usually you would be able to see Mount Fuji. 

This weekend will perhaps be the last one of full blossoms. We plan to take a lot of walks, maybe have a picnic, and snap a few photos. Happy spring!

Year Two: What I Miss and Don't Miss

It was funny to re-read my old blog post about "What I Miss After Two Weeks." A year in now, I have found happy alternatives to little things and gotten over other things. When my brother-in-law visited last summer, the only thing I asked him to bring was floss and face moisturizer. A lot has changed since then. It took a year for the dust to settle, and now this is my Nora Ephronesque list of what I miss and what I don't. Of course, there are the things I like and have learned to like - love, even - here in Japan. But I think my every blog post reflects a little bit of that. So here are the two lists: 

What I Miss

Cheese, especially the stinky ones.
Butter, Kerrygold in particular.

Girl colors that are not pink.

REI.

Our pediatrician and family physician, mostly because I knew them well and they, me. 

My dog.

The Montrose Dog Beach on a cool day.

Neighborhood ice rinks.

Trees outside my window.

Snow-covered trees outside my window.

Experiencing sunshine at higher latitudes.

Uncrowded places.

Cafe Istanbul and the general abundance of Middle Eastern food. 

Organic produce. 

The bulk section at Whole Foods.

Ovens.

Autumn walks in Bucktown. 

Halloween with kids in Bucktown.

Chicago Public Library. 

Taller counters. 

Putting things into walls, like shelves. 

Mrs. Meyers and Method All-Purpose Spray. 

Generous return policies, though I realize this is a double-edged sword. 

Bagels. 

What I Don't Miss

The mind numbing stream of sales and discounts.

Online shopping.

Receiving an invoice for $1000 six months after a doctor's appointment.

Calling my health insurance for clarification. 

Big cars, though the trend is not promising here. May the narrow streets of Tokyo prevail. 

Car-centric infrastructure.

Deep dish pizza.

Gun violence.

Being afraid to go out at night. 

The news.

Shoes inside the home by default.

The CTA.

CTA elevators. 

Range hoods that are connected to nowhere. 

Public toilets. 

Tipping.

Anything that has to do with American football. 

Small talk in elevators.

Small talk whilst checking out at Trader Joe's.

The massive discrepancy in the quality of primary education.

The incessant blast of air conditioning.

Vaccination debates. 

And since sakura season is so fleeting, I leave you with a couple photos of blossoms around town. They haven't yet reached their peak, so more photos to come next week. 

Karuizawa in March

    We took a quick weekend trip to Karuizawa. It's been our go-to for skiing with the kids (or the kid, for now), because at two and a half hours away via car and an hour away via Shinkansen, it is relatively close. The slopes there are also great for beginners. Winter is shorter in this part of the world, and with the effects of global warming, there are precious few months left for skiing. With warm weather having already reached Tokyo, we packed our bags for one last ski adventure. 

    We departed in the late afternoon and aimed for a dinnertime arrival. For a small resort town, Karuizawa has an astonishing number of good restaurants and bakeries. Our favorite soba restaurant Kawakami-an also has branches in Tokyo, but their Karuizawa restaurant offers more variety and nearly double the portion size. I mean this in a good way, as this is more a blessing than a curse in Japan, particularly with my two hungry girls. The catch right now is that it is low season for visitors. Many restaurants are now closed until the summer, when people flock to the mountains to escape the city heat. The restaurants that remain open now fill up quickly with reservations. We opted for takeaway from Kastanie Rotiserrie, which makes amazing roast chicken. 

   Since we were there just for the weekend, we headed for the slopes on Saturday morning. The slopes were unexpectedly crowded. Super crowded. I thought it would peak around noon, but it just grew throughout the afternoon. The downside of a ski resort like Karuizawa is that it there are a lot of beginners. While there are a decent number of ski runs, some are quite narrow. It felt at times more like dodging people than skiing. 

    Despite this, E had a great time. We had enrolled her in a group lesson this winter. E is a cautious by nature, and I thought being around other kids would be more encouraging. The fun thing about kids is their ability to surprise you. E had no fear of the slopes. On the contrary, she preferred skiing with us to group lessons because the latter meant less action and more waiting around. Of course, skiing together was also more fun because we were doing it together. And she learned much more quickly on her feet. As my old school motto goes, discimus agere agendo - we learn to do by doing. 

    Kids, since they are small, don't lose control of their speed as easily as adults. This is one reason why E had little trepidation. I would love to introduce her to cross-country skiing, but that is harder to come by in Japan. Near my parents home in Minnesota is an amazing cross country course that winds through a national park. It makes you fall in love with winter. Maybe we will be able to return there next year. It seems cross country skiing requires a bit more coordination and strength than alpine, so waiting a year or two will be good anyways. 

For now, it's goodbye to winter and hello to spring. 

Blossoms, Ballet, and a Bowl of Ramen

As if on cue, the trees started blossoming on March 1. Just like that, from one day to the next, temperatures rose and spring began, though it feels like winter was hardly here. Spring in Tokyo is long and beautiful. Spring weather sustains from March until June. In the last week, trees and flowers have been blossoming at a frenetic speed. One day, you see one or two blooms. Two days later, the entire tree has blossomed. 

The first sign of spring: the plum blossoms.

Yoyogi Park

I went with my daughter, her friend, and her friend's mother to a viewing of the ballet Swan Lake. We had seen the Nutcracker by the same Tokyo-based ballet company a few months ago. The Nutcracker was a huge hit with E. She has a book that tells the story while playing bits of all the major pieces, and she has been reading it several times a week since November. I wasn't sure how she would like Swan Lake. The Nutcracker definitely lends itself as a children's tale more than the more melancholy Swan Lake. E ended up liking it just fine, especially the last couple of acts where all the drama unfolds. Still, the Nutcracker holds a special place in her heart. Anyways, it was a beautiful day to go to the ballet. 

Little people enjoying the park before the ballet.  

Not that winter is inhospitable here, but everything is relative, and now that it feels warmer outside, we have been spending more times outdoors. Longs walks and open patios trigger my appetite. So do the decreased number of Covid cases. All these things have pushed me to try eateries beyond my neighborhood. Last week, I went to a ramen shop in the Ebisu neighborhood that hand-pulls its own noodles. "Traditional" ramen is made with a fish base, pork base, or a combination of the two. This one specializes in a ramen bowl with a chicken base. The noodles were incredible - you can really taste the difference! The broth was salty, but I guess no one eats ramen as a part of a low sodium diet. You might think chicken offers a leaner, more one-dimensional flavor than pork, but the broth was rich and flavorful. 

Love the deep orange color of Japanese eggs

This weekend, we are off to the mountains for one last ski trip before the snow disappears. By the time we return and my next post, spring in Tokyo will be in full swing!

A Tour of Japan's Dollar Store

    Before moving to Japan, I could count the number of times I had been to an American dollar store: three. Now I have already lost track of the number of times I have visited a Japanese dollar store. The big ones are Daiso, Can Do, and Seria. They are marvels of consumer culture and innovation. I limit the number of visits I allow myself because it is too easy to walk away with things I don't actually need - in a word, junk. I made a trip yesterday to pick up craft supplies for my daughter. Some items are permanent inventory, but others are seasonal. Here are some interesting things I found at Daiso:

Insulated Lunch Bags

Note the insulated case made especially for onigiri, rice balls.

Mini Measuring Cup

Super cute and dishwasher safe. It measure in milliliters, tablespoons, and teaspoons.

Animal-shaped Sponges

Training chopsticks

The bottom row is Shinkansen-themed and attaches to any chopstick to create a training chopstick.

A Bun Cover

Possibly the most bizarre item I saw.

Baby Shoe Clips

In Japan, adults, kids, and even babies take off their shoes whenever there is the possibility of the shoe sullying a clean surface. This is the case for babies in strollers. I see these baby shoe clips everywhere - wish I discovered this a few years earlier!

Nasal Aspirator

Like Nose Frida, and just as effective, but much cheaper. I bought one for our travel bag, because vacations need not be disrupted by congestion. 

Kids & Travel Toys

Baby Drink Holder

Mask Holder

Crafts Supplies Galore

Just a fraction of the crafts supplies.

Arts Supplies

Craft Project Kits

These are the kinds of all-inclusive craft kits that I like to buy for school holidays.

Some things are 300 or 500 yen.

Origami Paper

Daiso is so large. These are a small selection of things I usually buy or find interesting. As a tourist, I could probably spend two hours here. It is the perfect place to buy souvenirs on a budget.