And we're off!

The comfortable seats...

When I first heard we might be moving to Japan, I mentally started a list of places we would vacation while we were on this side of the world.  New Zealand topped the list!  So it was with lots of excitement that we embarked on our 16 day trip.

We started in Christchurch, with connections in Shanghai & Auckland.  The Shanghai airport didn't really impress me, though walking through the terminal was incredibly interesting - I've never heard so many different languages spoken at one time.

Once in Christchurch we rented a car, and Steve drove for the first time in 5 months.  And he had to drive on the left side!  But he did great, other than turning on the wipers instead of the turn signal (I was just impressed he was trying to use the turn signal).  We pull up to our hotel, and the office is dark.  I remark that I told them we were coming in on a late flight....  Luckily, a man comes to answer my knock on the door (I think their living area was connected to the office).  I said I had a reservation, and he says he hopes not, because they are full and everyone has arrived.  This is not a good beginning to our trip!  Luckily, I have a printout of the reservation information, and he agrees we should have a room reservation.  After a few phone calls he's able to find us a spot at another hotel for the night, which they pay for.  It's only a few minutes away, and we're able to get settled.  The "replacement" hotel treats us well - we don't have to pay for parking and we don't have to pay a delivery fee for room service (it's after 11pm by the time we arrive at the replacement hotel, but after traveling over 24 hours, our stomachs are out of whack).  I discover something I haven't felt in a long time - air conditioning!  It's still my favorite invention after the printing press.  Japan (and Shanghai airport, too) seem to feel like all indoor rooms need to be heated to 80 degrees in the wintertime...and I prefer it to be on the cool side.  We're down in the southern hemisphere, so it's early autumn for them (and in the 60s at night in Christchurch) but I take advantage of the A/C to chill the room (though I was to find that was not a normal occurrence...).

Bike tour selfie!  No riders were harmed when taking this picture!

The next morning we have a bike tour around Christchurch.  We like to get a feel for a city (then Steve is usually an expert at making his way around), learn a little history, and get our blood flowing after sitting in planes for hours.  We're lucky - the day is sunny and 75 degrees (it feels just like all the pictures in the guide books).

Christchurch Cathedral

The Christchurch Cathedral is still being debated (argued?) about, and hasn't been repaired/replaced since the 2011 earthquake.  Unfortunately, an earthquake they had a couple weeks before we arrived caused more damage.  Apparently the framework that had been built to help support the remaining structure acted as a battering ram, and knocked down more of the walls.

Re:Start Mall

They've had fun with some of the rebuilding process - someone had the bright idea of turning the shipping containers into "temporary" shops, and it's grown since then (and may become permanent).  They've created an outdoor mall, and there are even restaurants and offices in some of them now.

Bridge viewed while on the bike tour - I see a quilting pattern here!

Steve's arm span is over 6 feet...

It's such a beautiful day we decide to walk around the world-famous botanical gardens.  They are gorgeous, and many flowers are in bloom.  They imported different plants & trees from around the world, and we're happy to see a piece of home with the redwood. 
 

Steve doesn't understand why our hydrangea at home aren't bigger than my head, like these.

After going back to some of the places we saw on the bike tour we decide to have a picnic dinner in the Botanical Gardens.

Our spread (don't worry, there's wine, too).

Across the street from the Botanical Gardens, the Arts Centre of Christchurch reminds me of Berry College...

 

 

Tokyo Marathon

Does the cape make him run faster?

I've never watched a race or a marathon (other than the bits they show on the TV during the Olympics), but we had a friend running in the Tokyo Marathon and we went out to support him.  I thought it would be pretty boring, but it was actually a lot of fun!  I enjoyed the 90 minutes we spent watching the race.  We were near the 35 km mark (21 miles). 

I don't know if it's just Tokyo, but many runners wear costumes.  From my experience here, Japanese people seem to love to dress up for any reason, but maybe it's a running tradition.  I'll have to pay more attention when they show shots of some of the US marathons.  Anyway, I got some pictures...

 
Some people went all out:

Pennywise from Stephen King's It?

Super Ninja

This is the Japanese baseball team I was told I had to be a fan of - costume or uniform??

I have no idea who he is.

There's a cop a few meters behind him...

How long until I can take this off and get a real beer?

Luigi from Super Mario Brothers

I think the snowman is melting.

Mt. Fuji was a theme:

Some thought just something on their head was enough:

I guess it's a good place to store your extra water!

It wasn't just men...a few women dressed up, too.  They leaned towards tutus and princesses:

Jasmine from Alladin?

Another Jasmine?

I think this is my favorite

She got lost from the Color Run

I also saw quite a few people wearing "saran wrap" like in the picture below.  It was unusually warm and sunny, so I don't know if they wanted to sweat extra amounts??

You can see hundreds of people running in the background.

There were a LOT of people participating.  I had to restrain my inner cheerleader - I wanted to call out "you can do it" or "strong legs" or whatever the right term is to encourage them on, especially when I could see they were struggling.



Afterwards, we went to the Farmers Market where they were having a little chocolate festival.  We could try chocolates from around the world.  I think our favorite was from Belize.

What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Kuramae Tour

I go on a tour of the Kuramae area, led by Kit.  She's full of information about the area and the shops.  Kura means "storage house," and this spot along the Sumida River used to hold rice before being shipped out.  Over time it has morphed to an area that encourages multi-generational craftsmen to set up shop.

Kakimoki store front

My custom notebook & Japan pen

Our first shop is Kakimoki, a specialist stationary shop.  It's run by the third generation of the family, though they just moved to this spot around six years ago.  We get to create our own custom notebooks - we choose everything from the type of paper we want inside, inserts, the covers, the color and type of spiral binding, and the type/color/style of clasp.  My husband has gotten me away from writing on paper (electronics!) but it's still fun and I'm sure I'll come up with something worthwhile for it.  They also have gorgeous pens and inks - in fact, just down the block they have their own ink blending shop.  I end up giving in to temptation and buy a beautifully-writing ball point pen that is made in Japan.  Only $10 (and one of the least expensive ones they have)!  If you like calligraphy, this is the store for you!

Next we stop in Maito Design Works, where Maito (did you figure out where the name of the store comes from?) sells items using the traditional kusakizome (natural) dyeing technique.  Everything is dyed using natural materials, such as liquids extracted from flowers, leaves, roots...and bugs!  (Side note - I knew the cochineal bugs formed a red dye, because I had read they are used to give strawberry yogurt its coloring.  I don't think my tour group appreciated it when I shared this information.)

I believe this is bug larve.  I forget what color it makes.

He is kind enough to show off some of the items he is currently extracting dye from.  My favorite is the cherry blossom branches.  It produces a yellow to orange to pink dye.  The first color to come out of the branches is yellow, but he doesn't usually want that, so he dumps the first few batches.  It takes a few weeks for the pink dye to be "harvested."  He also tells us he has to get the branches before the buds start to form, or the color goes to the flowers.  He prefers to pick up branches he finds on the ground because he doesn't like to cut them off the live trees.  He said the bucket above will create enough to dye 3-4 items. 

turmeric

I forgot what this was (originally), but it's a pretty dye color.

Another question a group member asked was how the dye industry had changed since his family first started to dye.  He is a second generation dyer, but his family were weavers for the previous 10 generations.  Originally, the thread was dyed and then it was woven, and it was only more recently that fabric bolts were dyed themselves.  Otherwise, the natural dying technique has stayed the same.

This is the ash he uses to set the dye in the fabric, so it won't wash out.

 Most of the items in his shop are scarves, cardigans, and some knit items.  The colors are lovely (I didn't feel right taking a picture of the merchandise).  I only wear scarves when I'm cold (which isn't very often) otherwise I would have purchased one of the beautiful $100-200 silk scarves.

We then wander on to some leather shops.  At M+ I'm tempted by some masculine looking business card holders - Steve could probably use one, and I've been looking for something to store my (growing) pile of cards.  I've marked this store as worth a return trip.

At Ren, they have some nice purses, but the leather is too soft for me - it would be scuffed and scratched before I walked out the door.  They also have some pretty spring colors with a baby blue, spring green, and a nice light sand color.

We then stop at lunch Cielo y Rio.  As we walk past the tables everyone's meals look tasty, but we've had a large salad pre-ordered for us.  It's good.  We also salivate over the dessert selection, but we don't have time for it.  I've made a note so I can return to this restaurant, too.

I think Kit feels bad about us not getting dessert, so we stop at Dandelion Chocolate.  For some reason I decide not to get anything - I was full from lunch?  My brain was temporarily taken over by aliens?  Anyway, they are a coffee bar and have some baked chocolate snacks (not candy).  I didn't want to carry it??  Really, I can't figure out why I didn't get something to bring home.  When looking up the store information, I discover Dandelion Chocolate is based in San Francisco.


Our last stop was to a basket shop.  Some of the items are mass produced (and very low in price) but they did have some hand woven purses available.  Of course, I look at the weaving patterns and think "quilting designs!"

Casita Dinner

Valentine's Day in Japan is a little different.  When a holiday is not

Store display advertising White Day - no marshmallows here!

Japanese in origin, they tend to pick & choose the parts they like the best and that's how the celebrate.  So for Valentine's Day women give men chocolate - that's the extent of the holiday.  Finally, in 1978, the women realized how lopsided this was, and White Day was created, to be celebrated on March 14.  On White Day men are supposed to return the earlier favor by giving gifts to women, but they're not limited to chocolate - cookies, jewelry, lingerie, and marshmallows (marshmallows??) are given as gifts.  Seriously, don't give me marshmallows, no matter how prettily they are wrapped.

We decide to go out for dinner, since there won't be a huge number of reservations like there are in the US (usually at home we take advantage of the fact that we can celebrate out at a restaurant any night we want, so for Valentine's Day we usually stay in and make a nice dinner - lobster tails on the grill is one of our favorites).  I discover a restaurant we ate at in 2011, Casita, is having a special multi-course meal for February.  When I make the reservations they ask for our names (and make sure to get the correct spellings) and if there is a special occasion.
 
As part of the meal we receive champagne when we arrive, and we're charmed to see they printed a label for us.  After our drink at the bar we are brought to our table, where we see our custom made napkins.  No wonder they wanted to make they had the correct spelling of our names!

I wonder if I can do this when guests come to visit...

The meal and service is very good.  I'm not a huge foie gras fan, but we have some that has been caramelized, and it's the best I've had.

Yummy caramelized fois gras

 


Steve was excited to see a Gaia wine on the wine list and we enjoy that with dinner (Gaia was the winery for the winemaker dinner we attended on Thanksgiving).

Good to the last drop!

 

A little apple sorbet to clean our palate! 

I love when restaurants serve sorbet between courses.

Happy Valentine's Day!

For dessert, we're brought out to their balcony.  This is what we remember so well from 2011 - they did the same thing then, but it was cold, so we had electric blankets available so we could sit outside.  We took the idea home so we could be on our own balcony in the wintertime.  We didn't need the blankets this night though - it was unseasonably warm.     

It's hard to see in the photo, but we have a tart and some fruit, along with a sparkler decorating our plate.  I'm detecting a pattern - fire keeps occurring around me at meal times...

The remains of the dessert plate