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 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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Matt Dad Stuff, Japanese, Poop

WHERE’S THE TOILET?

Bathrooms in Japan are pretty interesting. First of all, the toilet is in it’s own room. You open a door to a room about the size of a linen closet and you’ll find a toilet… and that’s it. I found this troubling on my first trip to Japan to meet Aya’s parents. Not only was I meeting them for the first time, but I’d be living with them for ten days. The bathroom situation can always be tricky when you’re meeting people for the first time. After you meet your girlfriend’s parents, you don’t want to be that guy who kills the bathroom. This was a major concern as I knew I’d be eating all kinds of food I’d never had before, some of which were raw. I had no idea how my stomach would handle that situation. I was really counting on the “shower mist” maneuver. You know, when you “go” right before you take a shower. No matter what happened in there, the shower mist would cover it all up. But with the toilet being in it’s own room the size of a closet located far away from the shower, operation “shower mist” wouldn’t work. We all got to know each other really well.

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