Matt Family, Food, Japanese, Travel

A HOT SPRINGS JAPANESE BATH

Every time we go visit Aya’s parents, we always do an overnight trip to the hot springs. This is a very popular activity in Japan. What are the hot springs? Well, the Japanese love their baths, and they love fancy food, and scenic views. A hot springs hotel is a place where you can take a bath, eat a fancy meal, and take in a scenic view while you’re at it too. These places pipe in the natural hot springs water (they have some sort of medicinal effect) for you to soak in a big public bath… nude… with strangers. When this was explained to me on my first trip to Japan, I started to worry what I got myself into.

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Matt Japanese, Travel

AN AFTERNOON IN SHIBUYA!

We managed to get another half day out on the town by ourselves and decided to go to Shibuya.  Shibuya is like Japan’s time square.  There are tons and tons and tons of people, flashy lights, TVs as big as buildings, shopping shopping shopping, weirdos and tourists.  There’s an energy in the air in Shibuya that’s very exciting.  There is so much to look at it makes you feel like you have ADD.  We saw TVs show being filmed and magazine shoots taking place on the streets.  Aya was there to shop, and I was there, well, just to look around.  While she shopped, I roamed the streets and then listened to music at a CD store.  And when Aya was over 20 minutes late in meeting me, I made her buy me a dessert crepe.

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Matt Japanese, Recipes

Conveyer Belt Sushi

Conveyer belt sushi!  We went to meet Aya’s friend and her husband for the day, and they took us to a conveyer belt sushi place.  This was our first time at a place like this.  There was a conveyer belt looping around and you could just grab whatever you wanted to eat.  And if you wanted something different, you used the touch screen to order.  And then a little race car or bullet train would zoom out right to your booth for you to pick up your food.  Once you removed the food, you hit a button and it zoomed back to the kitchen.  When you are done eating, they come count the plates and that’s how you are charged.  We had a lot of plates!


Matt Japanese, Outings, Travel

JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE PARK

Our morning routine can be a bit challenging for Ellie.  She normally just has to wait for me to get ready which doesn’t take long, especially if I don’t shower, which may or may not be frequent.  But now she has to wait for four adults to get ready making her feel antsy.  She’s not used to being confined to one room with the same three toys, so I’ve decided to take her to the local park after breakfast so she could shake her sillies out.  Plus, getting out for some fresh air would do me good too.

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Matt Fall, Family, Halloween, Holidays, Japanese, Travel

HALLOWEEN PARADE!

Halloween is a big deal in my family. It just is. And with us being away on Halloween, I felt the need to find some sort of Halloween activity to get Ellie involved in. Even if it was Japan, there had to be something we could take her to. And while we were out one day at the local mall, I found just the thing. A Halloween Parade!

We had no idea what to expect with it being in Japan, but it would be another excuse to get Ellie in her costume. But what would a Japanese Halloween Parade be like?

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