Coming home!

And now for the part that Elle has been most excited about from day one, coming home. Our next destination is the best place on Earth, no matter where that may be, HOME.

We are in the final hours of our journey and I have a mixture of feelings. We are exhausted, mentally and physically worn down. I am beginning to look and feel like the bedraggled European backpacker I was 16 years ago, with a few greys added to the mix. (First stop, hair salon!) Justin's worn out, Elle misses friends and school terribly and poor Liam just needs his own bed. We need to get home for so many reasons. But, I feel a tremendous sadness that our adventure is over. We have all come together in so many ways. Travel does that to you. The trials, the stress, the adventure, the excitement, the new-ness, the closeness, the foreign-ness ensure that you must come together. We four share these last four months in a way that no one outside our small group ever really can. And that's something special. That's what a family is, no matter whether they are traveling or just doing the normal things of daily life. We are creating a shared experience, a shared life.

Justin and I feel so fortunate that we have been able to make this trip and include our children. They have enriched our trip tremendously. Seeing things through Elle's eyes has enabled us to feel like kids again and see things as she must. Having Liam along broke down many walls with people and opened up conversations in every country. Of course we had our frustrations, but we would have had those at home too. Traveling with kids is an entirely different kind of travel, and we had to adapt to that. We didn't get to see or do everything that we wanted to, but it is astonishing how much we WERE able to do. As a result, Elle has seen things that she will remember for the rest of her life, we all have. And Liam has become the most easily adapatable baby I've yet seen.

Being away for so long has also made us remember how great home is, our home and the US in general. For all it's faults, the US is pretty amazing. We are undeniably fortunate to have clean air to breathe (relatively), blue skies to see, clean drinking water, free speech, and choice in all matters important and trivial, amongst many other advantages. Add to that, we personally live in a gorgeous locale, where it's almost always sunny and 70. Coming home is a good thing indeed.

We are sitting in our Tokyo hotel room just killing the last few hours before we leave for the airport. We have time to go out into Tokyo, but frankly, we are just done. We are watching movies and pondering the Japanese obsession with space age toilets. (in our hotel toilet stall the light turns on as you approach, the seat lid lifts, the seat is warm, it senses when and how much to flush and then you can choose from numerous bidet options, including "massage") This, in stark contrast to the majority of the countries public toilets being squat style. Try that with a 5 year old. Not fun.

We and our 11 bags are ready to come home. We bought a bag in Hong Kong to hold our overflow and somehow managed to lose it between Kyoto and Tokyo. Someone found ALL of our shoes and our dirty clothes, I think they will be disappointed. Now, the only shoes we have left are the ones on our feet. Another casualty of our travels.

Elle just yelled "mommy!! Liam said Kon ban wah!!" (means Good Evening in Japanese) It sure sounded like he did anyway;) The funny things she has said along the way could make for a whole other blog. Like the time she reprimanded me in China because I told her that it was cold and she should put her coat on. She turned to me and said very, very sternly "We have different color hair, we like to eat different things, we're different mom!" That's it. And she turned to run off. I was to gather from that the fact that she was not cold and did not need to put her coat on, after all we're different. Well said Elle. Or the time she screeched in the shower in New Zealand..., actually, I think I'll keep that one to ourselves;)

We won't ever forget this amazing trip and the experiences we have shared. We will never forget the people we have met along the way, each one of them enhanced our experience in their own special way. I started this blog as a record for ourselves and to keep family and friends apprised of our whereabouts. I know now that we four will forever treasure it and I hope from time to time, along the way, I have entertained some of you as well.

In 24 hours we will be home, and the trip will be just memories. We will certainly feel wonderment that we went anywhere at all.

Last Day in Kyoto

Liam eating pickled radish

*****Kyoto*****

We have fallen in love with Kyoto! What a cool city. This week has been a highlight of our trip. This city is absolutely beautiful, pristine, historical, welcoming, authentic, spiritual, serene, exciting, cosmopolitan, sedate and happening, all at the same time. It's surrounded on 3 sides by mountains and has streams, canals, and rivers running though it. You don't walk very far without having to cross a bridge over some sort of water. Just outside our house on our teeny tiny lane we have a small canal with constant rushing water. It's beautiful to hear at night. The city is full of tiny lanes each with different character, all of them interesting to explore. Kyoto is completely charming and we have loved our stay here.

This afternoon we visited Kiyomizu Temple, a buddhist temple built mostly in 1633. Not one single nail was used in it's entire construction, absolutely unbelievable when you see the size of this place, it's enormous. Liam and I wandered the grounds for a long time marvelling at all the different buildings and shrines. Elle and Justin bowed out and waiting for me below, unfortunately this meant that they missed the most interesting temple we've yet visited. Fortunately, I took many pictures to show them what they missed;)

We then headed to Gion to wander the alleyways and canals a bit before dinner. We found quaint street after street, each lovelier than the next.

Justin has wanted to have Kobe beef in Japan and when I researched where to go, everything I found online pointed to Grill Miyata in Gion. In fact, the place and the proprietor have an incredible web following. The restaurant is a bit of a hole and probably a bit hard to find (we got lucky and stumbled upon it quite easily). If you hadn't read about it first you would likely not visit. And if you don't eat meat, there isn't much on offer. The menu pretty much read - big steak, bigger steak, huge steak, chicken, salmon, rice/pickles. Hmmm, I guess I was having rice with pickles.

The owner wasn't present and the staff didn't really speak English. I had resigned myself to not eating much when the owner appeared. And what a character he was! He sloshed his way to our table and fell into a chair at our table (the only table in the whole place-- otherwise, just bar service). I still don't know if he was drunk, or just old. He wanted to know where we were from and what we had ordered. When he heard I was vegetarian he started giving orders to the staff and promptly a salad, and a few other small dishes appeared. After some more small talk he left to make me his famous garlic rice. It was delicious. He brought out an article about his steak and a map to show Justin where the cows were bred, and then he brought out the raw meat to show. Mr. Hiroshi obviously takes pride in his business. He and his wife have owned it for over 43 years. He's 83 now. He says he can't afford to retire and since they never had children they have no one to take care of them. It was sad, and he said "it's a problem". He's a darling old man and likes to tell his stories. He never left our table during our entire meal, he sat and talked and watched us eat. Even directed us how to eat.

He spoke about WWII and said that in fact, the US did bomb Kyoto. On April 27, 1945, he remembers. And he insists that the US was going to drop a third atomic bomb, on Kyoto, on August 18th. But, they got lucky as the war ended on August 16th. He loves his city, but he likes America too, and Americans. He took care of us throughout the meal and then insisted on walking us out and up to street level and out to the main street to clearly point the way to our next destination, Pontocho. It wasn't necessary, but we got the feeling that he didn't really want to say goodbye to us just yet. We will remember Mr. Hiroshi.

Pontocho is a very narrow lane that comes to life at night with popular restaurants, bars and geisha tea houses. It's one of the few places where you may catch a glimpse of a geisha on her way to an appointment. We didn't, but it still made for a lively after dinner walk. The lanterns were all lit up and the residents of Kyoto were clearly out to enjoy themselves.

It's our last day in Kyoto and we are sad to go, this is an incredible city. It's everything you would want Japan to be and more. Tomorrow, bullet train back to Tokyo. Almost home now.

Miyako Odori

Geisha's in Gion

Catching a glimpse of a Geisha or Maiko (apprentice Geisha) in Kyoto is a huge draw for many tourists. The numbers of true geisha are dwindling and most estimates put the number remaining in Kyoto at around 230. Most people will never catch more than a brief glimpse of a geisha as she shuffles down the street at dusk in Gion (the main Geisha district) to an appointment. However, once a year, the public can see the Geisha perform during Miyaki Odori. It's held during the month of April to coincide with the Cherry Blossoms. By pure coincidence we are here and were able to secure tickets. And what a show it was!

The kimono's were amongst the most beautiful gowns I've ever seen, so intricately detailed. The dance and music so authentic, precise, and lovely. It was truely a special performance. Unfortunately, taking pictures was strongly forbidden. We did get to take part in a tea ceremony before the performance where we were able to snap a couple of pictures, however. Elle was entranced watching the geisha perform, as were we all.

I've avoided saying this before, as I don't want to discriminate against all the other lovely ladies in the world, but Liam has developed a serious thing for Asian ladies. He goes nuts waving at them, grinning and performing. When the gorgeous geisha all came on stage dancing, singing and seemingly waving at him, Liam was beside himself. He couldn't stop grinning and waving. It was just about the cutest thing I have ever seen.

Geisha literally means "arts person" and as such they are trained for 5 years in the arts of song, dance, performance and conversation. Training (only in Kyoto) is provided at the cost of $500,000 per year! It's no wonder that the numbers are dwindling. Geisha are not prostitutes, but that's not to say that liasons don't often occur. They are hired by very wealthy businessmen to entertain them and often become supported by these men. The single most important art form for geisha to perfect is the art of conversation, listening and soothing. Japanese men, as all men, delight in the attention the women lavish upon them.

It's a secret world and very exclusive, and seeing the performance was a huge treat for us all.

Kinkaju-ji and Ryoan-ji

We were slow starting out yesterday as Liam decided to catch up on some much needed sleep. Elle got to meet some locals and their pups. The local families in the area are all so kind and curious about us. The fact that we don't speak Japanese doesn't stop them from talking to us and peppering us with questions. Half the time we just guess at what they are asking and offer random answers like "she's 5, or we're from California."

When we finally headed out we went to see Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, and Ryoan-ji, famous for it's rock garden. Kinkaku-ji was over-run with tourists, but Ryoan-ji was beautiful and serene. The rock garden is surprisingly small for being as renowned as it is, but if you stared long enough, a sense of peace was certainly imbued.

We hopped in a taxi to take us to dinner and once again have been struck by how different the taxi experience is here in Japan. The taxi seats are all covered in a white lacey fabric, and the fabric is spotlessly clean, as is the entire taxi. The drivers are usually formally dressed in a suit with gloves and a hat. They are overly accomodating, loading and unloading everything into and out of the taxi. They are sweetly mannered, appreciative and try to speak with us in their limited English. They take great pride in their jobs and drive very carefully. (so different than China, and the US as well!)

We were heading toward an okonomiyaki place for dinner. I used to eat this a lot when I lived in Osaka, it's a specialty of the area, and I had many fond memories of eating this with friends. Okonamiyaki is a mix of cabbage, egg and flour batter grilled on the table in front of you. You then add any meats or veggies that you would like. It's very popular, almost the way pizza is in the US. I'll just say that my opinion of okonamiyaki has significantly declined in the past 20 years, it was borderline disgusting.

Arashiyama/Monkey Mountain

There IS more to Kyoto than temples and shrines. Today, we went to a sweet small town outside of Kyoto called Arashiyama. 20 years ago, I came here to visit Monkey Mountain and I knew Elle and Liam would love to see the monkeys. It's been commercialized and developed now, before the monkeys were completely wild on the mountain, but it still made for a fun day out. We took two trains, walked through town and then had a 20 minute mountain hike to get to the monkeys. Just when I was beginning to question our adventure, a monkey popped out along the path. They were everywhere and completely adorable. Tourists are able to feed them by hand behind a wire fence, but otherwise you can interact with them freely in the wild. The only advice was "do not stare them in the eye". Elle and Liam were both a bit freaked out at first, but after the first monkeys greedily took peanuts from their hands they were greatly amused.

The children were out in full force Sunday in Arashiyama. It's the first time we have seen many children at all in Japan. Japan's birth rate is so low and the decline in births has been so dramatic over recent years that the Japanese have invented a word for it - "shoshika" meaning, childless society. The reasons for such decline are many, but include discrimination in the workplace towards women who bear children and various government policies. The population is expected to shrink by 20% by mid century unless the trend reverses. Recently, a former prime minister urged Japanese women to "stay home and breed". Predictably, woman weren't motivated by this command and in record numbers are choosing to not get married and breed, and instead to stay in the workforce. But yesterday, in Arashiyama, there were children.

Why Kyoto?

Kyoto served as the capital of Japan from the 700's until 1868 when it moved to Tokyo. As such, there are many important historical and religious sites to see here. Furthermore, during WWII when we pretty much obliterated much of Japan, we graciously left Kyoto untouched. It has an enormous amount of quality original temples, shrines, villas, etc. In fact, Elle and Justin were delighted to hear that there are over 2000 temples/shrines in Kyoto! Today, we visited just two.

We took the bus, remarkably easy, to Ginkakuji Temple. We then took a leisurely stroll down the Philosopher's Path to Nanzenji, about a mile away. I won't bore any of us with information about the temples, except to say they were both gorgeous buildings with amazing peaceful gardens. The Philosopher's Path is a great pedestrian only walk along a canal with quaint shops and cafes lining one side. All the trees and flowers were in bloom. Tourists and locals alike were out for afternoon strolls in the beautiful weather, finally!

Two sidenotes:

I remarked in Tokyo that the countries government sponsored recycling program was the most extensive I've ever seen. In our apartment, in all homes, there were 6 bins in which to separate your garbage. Each day of the week a different container is picked up. It's incredible. Makoto, our host, said "well it's a small country with a lot of people. We have to do this." It's true, Japan has nearly 130 million people, they have nearly half our population all squeezed into a country smaller than California. In Kyoto, I have noticed the same advanced recyling programs, even on the street there are separate receptacles for your trash.

And, the night before we left Tokyo, Justin was up late working and felt jolted by an earthquake. Makoto was unfazed when Justin told him, and why wouldn't he be? Japan has an enormous amount of seismic activity. An earthquake that is big enough to be felt happens on average every 3 days in Tokyo. It's enough to make LA feel downright stable.