An Ode to Rachel

Before coming home to LA, we had Shelley's youngest sister Rachel out for a month-long visit. She just graduated from high school and sacrificed some of her last summer at home with friends to be with us. To say we were ecstatic to have her here for a month is an understatement.

Anthon of course glommed onto Rachel, claiming her as his and referring to her as, "my Rachel". He'd say, "I need my Rachel" and "Where is my Rachel?"

As you can see from the pictures below and in the corresponding gallery of Rachel-centric pictures, we kept busy while she was here. We tested her food limits - she even tried sushi - and took her all around the Tokyo area. She got up close and personal with the local women, though we couldn't quite get her to buy a cosplay outfit (like the one below) to wear on the plane home. And, like Shelley, fell for the wiley charms and sugary lips of the Buddah.

Thanks for coming all the way out to see us, Rachel. Good luck at the Y.

Ice Cream Induced Coma

It gets so hot and humid in Tokyo that you really lose any will to live and all you can do to numb the pain is to work yourself into an ice cream induced coma. Ella's expression says it all...the blank stare and glazed-over look in her eyes, arms extended out motionless and melted ice cream drooling from her prused lips. Trust me, we've all been there in the Tokyo heat.

The ice cream was good, though. Base flavor in Japan isn't vanilla, it's milk flavor. It tastes like cold, thick, heavy cream with sugar. It's quite good. Ella concured.

Anyway, our little girl is growing and continues to be such a cutie pie. Click on the picture below to see more pictures of Ella from the past month.

Off 'Da Hook

It's always nice to get a little reinforcement from your kids so that you know you're doing the right things, and that they appreciate what you're doing for them.

In that vein, Anthon articulates his appreciation in his own, uh, special way.

We're back in LA...

...and Shelley and I have the following conversation.

Me: "So you're happy to be back in LA?"
Shelley: "Yes"
Me: "Happy enough that you're not going to want to come to Tokyo?"
Shelley: "no........not yet."

So while it looks like I might get my wife and family to come back with me in August, I've already been put on 12 month notice that she will more than likely revert to full ex-pat-wife status come next summer. That means as soon as school is out, I get to be in Tokyo and Shelley and family get to head home for the summer.

Let me tell you there are a lot of downcast American dudes walking the streets of Tokyo right now.

But we're glad we're back in town. We'll be here for about a month.

If you chance to meet a frown...

For those of you who are hitting the dog days of summer and are feeling down or sad...my son has a pick-me-up song dedicated to you.



The second half of the video, with Anthon singing to Ella, is something that Anthon likes to do lately when Ella cries. He says to us, "We have to get Ella to stop crying!" and he'll quickly volunteer to sing "Child of God." After shooting this little video Ella started to cry and Anthon replied, "Ohhh, Ella didn't like my singing."

Ella Rolls Over

Ella rolled over twice the other day...certainly the first time I've ever seen her do that. She was quickly frustrated with tummy time and promptly pushed herself over. Trying to do it a third time proved to be too much, however. She pushed and pushed but got too frustrated and cried. Click on the link below to see a quick video of one of her successful rollover attempts.

More Harajuku Girls...

Sundays mean church, family time and trips to Harajuku. I would have gone the last two weeks, but it's been raining. So I had to stay at home. This was Anthon and Rachel's first trip here and I think it's safe to say that Anthon wasn't too impressed. The people giving out "free hugs" were a bit too forward. They would rush after him in their make up, piercings and goth outfits. If I were his size I would freak out too. Fundamentally, Anthon hates strangers touching him...especially his face (inherited from his mother)and so the thought of getting "free hugs" pushed him over the edge and was a bit overwhelming. One of the girls in a pink little-bo-peep outfit, was actually quite gentle and nice to him...but unfortunately Anthon hadn't warmed up to the scene quite yet.

We showed up a bit late, so I think the crowds of "locals" had died down. But the girl you see in the upper left was by far the most interesting. Dread locks, bandages, tattoos yet striking features. Part of what fascinates me is thinking about what these people do in their Monday - Friday lives. I mean, the girl obviously is wearing a wig and what does she do when the bandages come off, where does she work and do her coworkers know she looks like this on Sundays? Not that it matters, but it's interesting to see how people in Japan express their individuality.

Click on any of the pictures in this post and you'll see a few more photos from the gallery of shots taken that day.

Daytrip to Nikko

While the town of Nikko houses some of Japan's most well known cultural artifacts, it in many ways is the antithesis of Japan and parts of Japanese culture. Nikko is nestled in a rural part of Japan 90 miles north of Tokyo. Nikko is cool and crisp to Tokyo's hot and muggy. Nikko looks like an alpine village to Tokyo's concrete jungles. Tokyo is modern while Nikko is steeped in cultural tradition. Nikko is home to a spectucular array of colorful temples and shrines that one would argue are a better in China than in Japan. It's one of my favorites places in the area.

Nikko was founded more than 1200 years ago, but didn't become a draw until after one of Japan's most famous rulers - Tokugawa Ieyasu - commissioned a shrine and his final resting place as a legacy to his rule. If you've read the book Shogun, it's based on this guy. He is credited for unifying Japan's feudal Lords under one regime with the samurai class at the top of the food chain. His rule sparked more than 200 years of Tokugawa rule that was eventually toppled in the Meiji Restoration, which restored the Emporer as sovereign of Japan.



When you come upon Nikko you first pass over Shinkyo Bridge, which spans a small river. Before modern roads, this was the only "legal" way one could cross the river to the shrines. Only samurai, other top government officials and religious leaders were allowed to cross the bridge and enter the holy shrines and temples of Nikko.

It's quite a breathtaking site for a few reasons - one it's sheer beauty, and two the elevation. Not only are you in the mountains, but there is a fair amount of step climbing that's done throughout the course of the day. Ella was so overwhelmed in her Baby Bjorn that she promptly pooped all over me. That felt nice. Anthon did an admiral job considering he wasn't interested in one thing we saw. He was interested in throwing rocks, touching important artifacts that you're not supposed to touch and wandering in directions we as a group weren't intending to go.

But as far as highlights go, you have to see the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys (Anthon does his impression in the picture gallery). There's the carving of an elephant done by someone who had never seen an elephant before. You have to try yuba in soba noodles, which is the skim of tofu in warm noodle soup. Go into the Futarasan Shrine (circa 800 AD), and try throwing rocks onto the lower bar of the torii gate (for good luck!) and drink from the sacred spring water for longevity. Listen to the dragon cry at Yakushido Hall. See the hundreds of stone lanterns covered in moss. Though we didn't have time, definitely go up to Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Falls.

We did this in one day, and each of my now five times I've done one-day trips. But this would be an easy overnight trip, especially if you're going to do some hiking and spend time at an onse (natural hot spring).

Hakone - Part 2: Eating Black Sulfur Eggs

Hakone was the gateway into the Edo (now Tokyo) during the Shogun rule. A road linking Edo and Kyoto (the old Capital of Japan), called the Tokaido road, was a primitive version of the interstate. A check point was set up here in Hakone to filter who came into Edo.

Hakone is mountainous. It's an extremely volcanic area, which is why there are so many hot springs here. Our course for the morning was to see Lake Ashiko where a Shinto torii gate seemingly floats in the water. Then we take a pirate boat (doesn't quite blend into the scenery) to a ropeway (gondola) that takes us up to where they mine the sulfur. Here at the mountain tops you can do some hiking up to where they actually boil eggs into the sulfur hot springs. It's quite an operation. There's pulley system that transports many loads of white eggs to the top of the mountain where they place them into the sulfur hot springs. The eggs then turn black cooking in the sulfur. They sell a half dozen for 500 yen and then ship down the valley via the pulley system the remaining black eggs.

The eggs certainly don't look appetizing, especially if you're not a big lover of the hard boiled eggs. But I guess for novelty's sake you have to try them just to say you've eaten a sulfur egg. Plus there's a sign that says if you eat one of these eggs, you tack on 7 years to your life. Hmm. Once you crack them open they don't taste any different, but they sure are hot! Anthon, not the best eater in the world, downed a full egg all by himself. Maybe we need to start cooking things in sulfur now.

The funniest part, and probably the greatest proof point that Ella has an immature father, was getting Ella to suck on the sulfur egg. She won't take a bottle, and she won't take a binky. Yet she'll take a sulfur egg. At least she's a good eater otherwise.

It's an interesting environment because you can smell the sulfur, which has a rotten egg quality. And as you're hiking around you see plums of steam rising up everywhere from the hot springs. It's almost like you're in a wildfire without the fire.



I think if I were to do this again, I would include in our trip an overnight stay with a trip to the Open Air Museum with a large collection of paintings and a huge sculpture garden. Further, I think a trip to the Gyoza Center (potstickers / dumplings) is in order.

Lastly, here is a video of our black sulfur egg eating exploits.

Hakone - Part 1: Bathing in Coffee, Tea, Wine, Sake and Rose Petals

Japan is a country that loves its natural hot springs. It being a volcanic island - you'll find hot springs EVERYWHERE. In college in Utah, I did a fair amount of hiking and when we would happen upon a natural hot spring it would usually be inhabited by a few naked hippies. So we moved on. And when I was a missionary in Japan, we were not allowed to enter into the hot springs...so I am a relative late-comer to the hot spring (called onsen in Japanese) party.

Hakone is a resort town close to Mt. Fuji, two plus hours south and west of Tokyo. And there are tons of onsen in the region. Onsen are typically segregated into mens baths and womens baths. You strip down, shower off and then soak in the various pools they have. Being onsen newbies we felt a conservative approach was in order here! So we elected to try the family onsen, where everyone was in bathing suits. Think Raging Waters but for hot tubs. It was awesome.

There are seemingly dozens of different kinds of pools you can get into. One outdoor pools has a water slide and a waterfall. An indoor pool is shallow and has balls and toys that kids can throw and play with. One was a salt pool where you could float. Then they get to be a bit more outrageous. One pool is bright pink and has tons of flower petals floating around and smells like a rose garden. Still other pools have coffee in it, or wine, or green tea, or Japanese sake, or charcoal...or my personal favorite fish...yes, those fish that will come up to your legs and feet and eat away the dead skin. That pool was aptly named Dr. Fish and was the most popular pool by far. It was gimmicky, but it was fun. We found ourselves hopping from one pool to the next. Anthon got into it. Ella even got into it. She was so calm and relaxed wading around in our arms in these various pools.

The funniest part was in the wine pool. Three times a day an onsen worker trots out with a huge bottle of wine and like a rock concert the crowd (in their swimsuits) starts crowding the man. Kids were crying, wine was flowing everywhere. We threw our hands in there to get our hands on the wine and upon having some poured into our hands we just looked at it and thought, "Ok, we're not going to drink it...now what?" If you're familiar with the Mormon religion, then by now you're catching on to the irony of the situation - we don't drink coffee, tea, or alcohol, yet we're soaking in it. I think that increased the novelty of it for us. They say it helps to soften the skin. But the only difference in my skin was that it smelled like coffee after the coffee pool, wine after the wine pool and so on. This leads me to the question, can one get drunk via osmosis? :)

Ok, so I'm a full fledged convert and love this place, Yunessun. I'm already thinking about when we can come back.

If you haven't seen it already, Shelley posted about our trip to Hakone as well. Click any of the pictures or this link to see more pictures from Yunessun Hot Springs.

Daytrip to Odaiba

Before jumping into this post, first some background. a few months ago, Anthon choked on a chocolate covered ice cream bon bon. The babysitter knew the Heimlich maneuvre and got him to cough it up...thankfully. Anthon's love for this babysitter has reached saint-like status. Every Sunday at church Anthon, without fail, will go up to her and say something along the lines of, "I was chocking and you saved my life." It's really cute.

Anthon had another brush with danger this weekend at Odaiba - a beach and resort area in the Tokyo Bay. He was stripped down to his diaper, throwing rocks, shells and wet sand into the water, while walking among dead jellyfish and sand crabs. As he walked into the water to wash himself off, he went in a bit too far, lost his footing and tumbled into deeper water. Had he realized it, he could have stood up and been fine, but the water kept him off balance and he struggled to keep his head above water. We were right there and it took a second for both my and Shelley's brain to register that what we were seeing was our boy drowning. He was no more than a few feet from me so I walked into the water and pulled him out. So now at home Anthon will come up to me from time to time and say, "I couldn't get out of the water and Dad saved my life!"

So if Anthon were a cat, 2 of his 9 lives would be gone by the time he's 3 years old. Here's a video.





I've done this once before with my Dog, Lexie. She was hounding my little niece who was walking with a plate of french bread outside. One piece fell off and the dog choked on the french bread. One of you (not naming names or anything) mocked my dog for not knowing how to chew. But I did the doggie heimlich and out popped the french bread.

Anyway, Odaiba is kind of a cool place. It's built on reclaimed land, so you're pretty sure where it's going to end up when the big one hits Tokyo (read: underwater). But in the mean time, there's a replica Statue of Liberty, a giant Ferris Wheel, lots of restaurants, shopping and even a Toyota store where you can test drive cars around the showroom. We took the family there, including Shelley's sister, Rachel, and spent a nice afternoon. Click on the picture below for more pictures.