Traveling Fools

Sheesh! We are already leaving tomorrow. It seems like the past two weeks just flew by! Since our last blog we have done something everyday!

Day 6

We had another day in Kyoto where the girls got to try on kimono and the men got to try out pichenko. It turns out that our men are quite fantastic players and they ended up winning about 200 bucks each! Later we split up while the Jones headed to work, Kim and Jackson headed home to bed and Bill and Cynarc checked out Den Den. We’re surprised that Bill made it out of there intact as it is an area of 300 stores all dedicated to technology and electronics…

Day 7 through 10

Tokyo!

We took the Bullet Train to Tokyo today and our men are still basking in the glow of Pichenko, just seeing a parlor has their eyes glazing over in delight. (They managed to hit two more places this weekend and came out winners each time!) The girls settled in to the hotel and Jackson got to watch his first Star Wars movie with Auntie Bean while Kim and Cynth worked on the laundry (in tiny little washing machines)

We took in a tour of Tokyo on the Saturday and hit the major sights. We saw bonsai trees, had a harbour boat tour, zipped through the Ginza shopping district and ate a fancy BBQ (Japanese style of course) lunch. It was a great way to see a lot in a short time and not have to worry about finding each place.

On the Sunday we headed out on the town on our own. We found both the Sony building and the Apple building and had a ton of fun trying out all the new products. Then we walked through Ginza (and watched some of the Tokyo marathon) before heading to the Akihabara district. This is the electronics area of Tokyo – no surprise that we came here!

On our last day we traveled home to Osaka on the bullet train again. It was a very peaceful ride for us thanks to the new gameboy game that Jackson got in Tokyo!

Day 11

No trip to Osaka would be complete without a visit to the aquarium. Like everyone else we were stunned by all the different fish and sea life that we saw.

After the aquarium, we headed over to the Giant Ferris Wheel. It is apparently the largest one in the world so of course Jackson wanted to try it out. He was joined by Bill, Cynthia and Marc and they enjoyed a great view from the top. (And weren’t a bit scared right Bill?)

Then we decided to hit the marketplace for some supper and found Okonomiyaki! Yay! We stopped at some Ninja Statues to get a picture and were VERY surprised to find that one of the “statues” was a real person. We then proceeded into the house and were scared and surprised over and over by leaping ninja…

Day 12

Our last day to tour around was today and we decided to visit to an “Open Air Museum of Japanese Farmhouses”. This was a sprawling park where they have moved old houses from around Japan. It was interesting to get a glimpse of what life was like in the past. Most of the houses were from the Edo period (about 1600). The sun was shining and we had a great time taking pictures.

Jackson had a giveaway free for all as we let him give out all the rest of the Canadian coin tokens we made. We saw a couple of school groups even and they were so cute in their matching hats.

We like to pack a lot into a short visit!

Tomorrow we’re on our way home. We are sad to leave Japan and the Jones. We’ve had such a fantastic time – we couldn’t ask for better hosts!

And we want to leave the blog with the jumping pictures. Cynthia and Marc have started a tradition of taking jumping pictures in front of many major landmarks around the world and here are some of ours from Japan…

Sayonara!

More Worldly Travelers!

The Bizuks and Cynarc have landed! (AKA the “Brangelina” version of Cynthia and Marc) And we have been so busy sightseeing and enjoying Karleen and Cam’s company that we haven’t had a chance to blog. Tonight while drying out from an extremely wet and rainy day seemed to be the perfect time so here it is.

First of all our arrival wasn’t as smooth as we had hoped. Despite Cynthia’s heroic efforts running from one end of the San Francisco airport to the other –twice-- the lost coat was found but the plane was missed. Luckily the next flight was only minutes later and they arrived safe and sound only a few hours after the Bizuk clan.

Fast forward the first few jet-lagged (and for Kim, Bill and Cynth – head colds) days and we actually began to enjoy Japan on Saturday the 10th.

Day 1 (Saturday) Touring Osaka

We had two major stops today. The first was Osaka castle for the Plum Festival and the second was the Osaka Children’s Museum. The Plum Festival is the time when the plum trees begin to flower which signifies that Spring has arrived. We enjoyed looking at the plum trees but seeing the wild cats climbing the castle walls was a bigger hit. We ate takoyami for the first time and were entertained by a street performer (we found the language of jugglers to be international…)The castle was more of a museum and the highlight was when Jackson and Uncle CJ got to dress up like samurai warriors!

The Osaka Children’s Museum was Jackson’s favourite part of the day. And truth be told it might have secretly been everyone’s. (ssshhh…!) There were three floors of hands-on Japanese fun. The giant bubble area was a huge hit and the screen showing you how hot different areas of our bodies were, was almost addictive. There was lots of dressing up and trying new things and we stayed until it closed.

Day 2 -Touring Kyoto

Another great day of sightseeing! First we dragged the men to the Kyoto Handicraft Center. This was a place where they teach mini classes (of one or more) on how to make different Japanese arts and crafts. Karleen and CJ tried ‘Wood Block Printing’, Cynthia did ‘Gold Powder Drawing’, Jackson and Kim made a Japanese Spinning Top and then Jackson and Bill learned how to mix Japanese spices (and try them in noodle soup – yum!) Marc stayed in production and took pictures of all of us…

Then we grabbed a cab to the Jones’ favourite sushi place, “Cuppa”. Then a quick hop on the subway got us back to the Gion Corner for a great show. The show was an hour long and had a ‘snippet’ of various Japanese entertainment styles. There was a Tea ceremony, Bunraku (puppet show), Geisha dance, court music (with a dancer), Japanese harp music, flower arranging and a comic play. Very interesting!

Day 3- Doin’ our own thing...

The Jones duo were back to work today and Cam had to work a day shift instead of evening. So Cynth and Marc headed off to explore on their own. (Found their way to Himeji to see a famous castle and some beautiful Japanese gardens) and the Bizuks and Karleen hung out around home – yay! for going to the Japanese version of the dollar store!

Day 4 – Universal Studios

Jackson became a bit of a celebrity today. All through the trip we have been handing out little Canadian flags with a penny or a nickel attached. Usually Jackson has been giving them to other children but occasionally to adults. After being a bit shy with this at first, now he seeks out people to give them to! Today he gave them out to rave reviews! He was even given gifts in return including pins, a business card holder, a charm and an ice cream dessert. At the park he was the hit amongst the teen-aged girl set and was asked to pose with them in pictures a bunch of times. At our Hard Rock Café dinner when he approached a young man (who was celebrating a birthday) the table fairly erupted with the girls all jumping up and taking pictures! Oh and the park was a blast too… The 3D Spiderman Ride was the unanimous favourite!

Day 5 – Nara

We had originally planned a trip to Hiroshima but our funds are dwindling so we canned it. Instead we spent the day sightseeing in the rain. Yup the rain that was threatening all week but never fell came down in buckets today. Our plan was to walk around the Nara park that had pagodas, temples, the largest Budha in the world, shrines and tame deer. However, after a rough start of walking through a residential area in the rain and finding out we were a bus and a train ride away from where we wanted to be, we ended up having an awesome (albeit wet) one.

The reason it was so great was due to a young man named, “Tomo”. Tomo was a student guide that we were offered for no charge today. He took us around Nara, shared extremely interesting trivia facts all day (like Budha’s right hand symbolizes “Do not worry” and the left is “I will help”) and when the rain came down in sheets he helped us revamp our plan. We tried 6 kinds of Sake – “Kompai!”, saw a restored old house, and ate Okonomiyake (Japanese pizza) for dinner. Jackson claims it was his most favourite meal (first thing to beat out sushi) and he ate more than Cynthia and Kim!

We still have plans to check out Tokyo this weekend, more of Kyoto tomorrow and who knows what else we will fit in… Jackson has been a trouper. He loves Japanese food- especially the dessert- and is basking in all the attention of 6 adults all the time!

Comfortably Numb

The last 2 weeks since my family left have been...well...uneventful.

We really haven't been doing anything. I guess we really got used to company, and being busy everyday. We work, come home, and watch tv/movies, or play Nintendo DS. Actually, we've been playing my DS so much lately, that Karleen has completely mastered New Super Mario Bros! She can't do anything more in the game...everything is unlocked! And I've only had it for less than a month!

A reason we really aren't going out much these days is that we're running low on funds. There was a fax mishap at Karleen's work, so she didn't get paid for Dec, while I did (THANK GOD!). So we have around $400 to last us until the 15th. I think we're doing ok.

Now, we have been out with friends a couple of times. After work last Tues, we went out for Sushi with Thao, Chris and Josh, and the week before that, we had Chris and Josh over and we watched some Little Britain/The IT Crowd. I guess another thing that's happened is that Chris and Josh moved to Kyoto. That means that pretty much all of our friends live in the Kyoto area.

The biggest thing that's happened lately is that 6 Nova teachers were arrested on Drug Charges last week.

Here's the Story from Japan Today:

TOKYO — Six teachers of English at Nova Co's language schools in Saitama Prefecture were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of possessing cocaine and cannabis. According to the police, Errin Valentine, 32, another teacher at Nova and an American, who was arrested last November for possessing cocaine in Tokyo, has told investigators he bought the drug at his colleagues' request, leading to the arrest of the six.

Adam Renwick, a 36-year-old Australian living in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, and five other foreign nationals are suspected of possessing some 1.5 grams of cocaine and some 8.2 grams of cannabis on Nov. 19 in Tokyo's Roppongi area, the police said. The six were teaching English at six branch schools of Nova in Saitama Prefecture. Valentine, who is charged with drug control law violations, had been soliciting others for drug purchases through emails sent over cell phones, the police said.

What does this mean for us? Well, the CEO issued a letter to all branches saying that this has drastically hurt Nova's image and be prepared for some backlash in the form of Students quiting, new students backing out of lessions, and landlords/store owners being suspicious of you...Great. That's just what we need. So far, I haven't experienced anything to such an effect, which I guess is good. He also stated that we have to help repair Nova's image and work that much harder to regain the student's complete trust again.

That's my update for the next bit. Kim, Bill, Jackson, Cynthia, and Marc are coming in 3 days, so we're getting excited to actually have something to do again! We'll have them do some posting if they want, maybe along the same lines as my parents did.

Here's some good ole Japanese humor to hold you off until the next post. I love it!