Biggest Buddha

We visited the largest Buddha in all of Japan! He resides in the Nihon-ji Temple, and he is carved into the side of a mountain. He is 102ft tall, which is more than double the height of the Great Buddha of Kamakura. This Buddha is quite young, though. He was sculpted by a team of 28 men in 1783.

The hike to get to this Buddha is an awesome one. You trek all over the side of a mountain and there are several vista points with stunning views. Most of the trail is through shady, mossy woods surrounded by a lot of rock. There are other figures carved in rock as well, and many nooks and rocky ledges are filled with stone figures called arhats. In Buddhism, an arhat is an enlightened person who is well on their way to obtaining nirvana.

There are many Buddha statues and temples all over Japan, but it was great to see the biggest one in the country.

Shopping

The other night we went to a store that is kind of like Home Depot crossed with Walmart crossed with Dick's sporting goods, with a McDonald's and a pet store thrown in. It was a very large, eclectic store! I can't think of anything you can't buy here.

The pet section was very large and had a wide variety of fish, insects (meant as pets, not lizard food), birds, dogs, and rabbits. They even had a 6ft iguana and chickens for sale!

We looked at the bikes a bit since we do want to purchase a couple soon. We found the best prices there. Independent bike shops are so expensive, with a regular bicycle starting at $600. While you could get some higher end bikes at this store, too, there were plenty that were Walmart-esque prices. Bikes are a major mode of transportation here, unlike in the US where they are seen more as toys and for leisure. Because there is a larger, more serious demand for them here, they are made by companies you wouldn't have expected. Some popular bike brands include Hummer and Bridgestone. They even come with a dashboard with gauges!

Some other interesting items include every type of toilet paper you could ever think of. Hello Kitty, fruit scented, flower scented, a rainbow of colors and designs... the paper has to be just as interesting as the toilet seats! Speaking of toilet seats, most here are electronic and can do everything but your taxes for you. They are heated, have bidets, and play music and spritz air freshener.

My favorite toilet related option here is the sink built into the tank. When you flush, the water that flows in to fill the tank back up comes through a faucet and you can wash your hands. The dirty water from your hands drains down into the toilet tank to be used when you flush next time. I think all toilets everywhere should do this. It saves space and resources and is better for the environment.

We didn't even scratch the surface of this store. It's so huge. We can't wait to go back and explore some more.

Groceries

This evening we decided to check out the local meat market. 99% of the goods there are locally grown and raised and brought there every morning. The prices are great, too, considering most everything is local and organic. They have fresh fruit and veggies, quite a few we had never heard of.

Around the cases of beef, they have pictures and documentation of the cattle with their owners. You know exactly where your food came from. Although they do not sell kobe beef, the marbling in the meat there is unlike anything I've ever seen.

The eggs are sold in the usual containers, however I found eggs being sold in little bowls! We found local, organic, hand-made ketchup and tomato juice in glass jars, local honey, various kinds of seafood (both dead and alive), fresh seaweed, and a slew of other things. I'm very happy that I now know where to buy fresh seaweed. I do not like it dried, like you usually find wrapped around sushi and the like, so I'm very interested in fixing it in a fresh state.

One interesting green we picked up is ashitaba. Neither of us had ever seen it before, and it had flowers on it, so that was really neat. After some research, we found out this plant is extremely nutritious. Ashitaba is nicknamed the longevity herb and contains 13 minerals, 11 vitamins, and is high in fiber and protein. We will have to find a really good recipe since it is supposed to be more on the bitter side. We will let you know how that goes!

Public Service Announcement

Black kites are everywhere. Don't eat outside! They will swoop down and snatch your food out of your hand before you even know what hit you.

Shoe Locker

At restaurants where shoes need to be removed, they have a very neat storing system. They will have a wall of little lockers with a character and/or number on each door. There is a metal pocket on each door that holds a piece of wood. The character on the piece of wood correlates with the one on the door. Somehow the piece of wood, although they are all the same, only unlocks the locker it goes to. When the wood is in the pocket, the door is unlocked. When removed, it is locked. And if you try to place the wood in the wrong locker, it won't insert. I've tried researching this, and I cannot get any answers. It's just magic I suppose.

Local Eats

The food scene here in Japan has proven  to be mind-blowing. We've had some of the best food here, and the other day I ate the best fish ever. It was simply cooked with little seasoning. It fell off the bones and the flavor was on point. We have eaten familiar (Americanized) food very little here. We make it a point to try as many new and different things as we can, and stay clear of prepackaged and processed food. The seafood here is super fresh, and everything is delicious.

It is common to be served a tiny dish with a raw egg in it with certain meals as a dip. You stir the egg up with your chopsticks and dip each bite of your meal in it. I haven't tried this yet, but Jonathan says it's great.

While in Kamakura, we tried okonomiyaki, which is like a cross between a pancake and an omelet. You can choose to have anything you want in it, like seafood, pork, chicken, etc. There are cut up veggies in it as well as egg and batter. At your table, there will be a griddle that it will cook on, and you can top it with soy sauce, bonito flakes, seaweed, mayo, pickled ginger, or okonomiyaki sauce (it's like a thicker, sweeter Worcestershire sauce).


We also had taiyaki, which is addictive! Taiyaki are little fish-shaped cakes that have various fillings such as chocolate, custard, caramel, jam, or sweet bean paste. They are sooooo good!

We have a few guide books and maps which we keep on us, but for us the best way to find a meal is to randomly pop in a building. We walk until we see ads for an eatery in our price range, and we just go for it. It doesn't matter if they have an English menu or not, or if the server is not bilingual. You can always point to yummy looking pictures and we know how to ask for water and beer. Bases are covered.

Dining this way makes you learn as you go. Sometimes you are seated at a table like you would find in America. And you're able to keep your shoes on. Other times you must remove your shoes and eat barefoot while sitting on the floor. There will even be times where you will remove your shoes, but instead of being barefoot, you must wear sandals provided by the establishment. How you'll eat and what you'll eat is never known when you're adventuring, but it's always delicious and a great experience.

Night Birds

We spent a day in Kamakura, which is an amazing city. Lots of things to see and do, and there is something for everyone. Down a little street, on the third floor of a building, there is a place where you can do something not very many people get to do: pet owls. They have almost 20 different species of owls, and you can pet all of them. They have a large room set up as a forest, and each owl is tethered to a tree, so you can walk tree to tree in this forest and visit the owls. It's a lot of fun. They are incredibly soft and have the most amazing expressions.

That same day, we took a local guided tour of the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shinto Shrine. Before you enter any shrine or temple, you must cleanse your hands and mouth with water. Our guide showed us how to do this, and we bowed and cleansed ourselves before climbing the tall stairs to the shrine.

A short jaunt from Kamakura is the Kotoku-in Temple where the Great Buddha lives. This statue of Buddha is the second largest in all of Japan. He is 43ft tall and made of bronze. He was once coated in gold, but over the centuries that has slowly disappeared.

 

Sushi!

So, of course, being in Japan we have to try the best of the best sushi. Our first weekend here, we were introduced by friends to Sushiro. Sushiro is a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, and the food is to die for! It is here that I tried sushi for the very first time ever, and I'm glad I held out for this place! I was not disappointed! We also tried green tea ice cream and wasabi ice cream. Very oishii!

The first time we hit the town, we learned very quickly that Japan is big on music - good music. Jazz and big band are all the rage here, and you hear it everywhere; it's fabulous!! You'll also often see statues of people playing the saxophone and other music related art. Even the storm drains in the streets are decorated with trumpets!

One thing that really caught our attention were the arcades along the streets. They are large and VERY noisy, but they have wild, interesting games. We found a game that's just like Guitar Hero, but you play taiko drums instead!

We're Here!

Our long awaited journey has finally started! We arrived safely in Japan and hopped a bus to our hotel. It was a very interesting bus ride - it was my first time witnessing driving on the opposite side of the road. We got to see the native countryside right off the bat. So many tall hills, and the forests are beautiful. They are a lot like the forests back in Kentucky, but with a lot of moss and bamboo.

We have only been here 24 hours, but already we are in love with this place. Everyone is so nice and helpful. We aren't suffering too much from jet lag and are adjusting well.

For those of you back home in Kentucky, we are 14 hours ahead of you. They do not recognize time change here, so pretty soon you will only be 13 hours behind us.

Washington Birthday

We got to spend Jonathan's birthday in Seattle, Washington! It was pretty awesome. We arrived Sunday evening and hit the town for dinner.

Our hotel was just a block from the University of Washington, so it had a husky theme which I found beyond cool! They even had dog art in the lobby. Every room came with a plush husky which you could buy. The proceeds went to the Humane Society. There were statues of huskies right outside the hotel doors, too. Our room had a nice view of the city and we could see the Space Needle from our bed. Unfortunately we did not go up in it because it was $30 per person - no thanks!

Being Seattle, every room also came with umbrellas, which we used every time we left the hotel. It rained most of our time there, but on Monday it eventually cleared up and became a beautiful, sunny day.

Monday morning we woke up early and went to a wonderful local coffee shop for breakfast. Our waitress was a native of Idaho and was very helpful in suggestions of what to do that day. We hit up the Burke Museum of Natural History which I highly recommend. They have a fantastic collection of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals as well as artifacts and art from the cultures of the Pacific northwest.

Afterward, we strolled across town to Ravenna Park which is a great place to hike and nature watch. The woods there are thick and filled with moss.

We hopped around to a few different pubs, eateries, and coffee shops and walked all over the city chatting with locals. The state of Washington is enchanting, and Mt. Rainier is phenomenal. Despite the rain, Seattle was great, and we can't wait to see the rest of Washington someday!