Kumamoto

We’ve been spending most weekends exploring Sasebo and escaping the heat at the pool or the beach. Last weekend, Nathan took Wilson on an afternoon movie theater date just to be someplace cool! (In case you're wondering, Wilson highly recommends Ice Age 3, Nathan – not so much) This weekend we decided to hit the road for a day trip. Nathan’s co-workers recommended Kumamoto Castle.

Kumamoto is on our island to the south and east of Sasebo. Sasebo is kind of in a poor location for taking driving trips on Kyushu Island because it’s on a peninsula. It takes about an hour to drive off of our peninsula to mainland Kyushu. Driving in Japan is very slow moving. There aren’t many direct expressways anywhere, and when there are they are pretty expensive. Kumamoto is a little over 100 miles from Sasebo and it took us more than 4 hours each direction! We couldn’t help thinking that the drive in the U.S. would probably have taken an hour and a half or so. That was a little discouraging, since Nathan and I love to just take off and drive places. The boys were troopers for the long drive.

Kumamoto Castle is pretty great! We learned that it is officially one of Japan’s top 3 castles. We’re trying to read up on our Japanese history, but it’s really so vast and foreign to our American and European history upbringings, that we’re kind of embarrassed about how little we know. Apparently this was built for the Kiyomasa family in the 1400s and was known for being a great defensive castle because of it's massive fortifying walls and position on a hill. I thought it was pretty good looking, too!

 

 

 

Here are some of the grounds, including some smaller buildings and the massive walls.

The main tower has been rebuilt and now houses a museum. So, as you're climbing the stairs to the top, you can browse the exhibits on each floor. We climbed the smaller tower as well, which gives you a great view of the taller tower. The tallest tower has great views of the castle grounds, the city of Kumamoto and beautiful land for miles and miles!

Towers conquered. Wilson climbed every step!

The boys pose in their first face cut-outs. I'm assuming they were trying to capture the scary samurai look?

Group effort to get Wilson in this one.

Next door to the castle was a beautiful traditional Japanese palace from the Edo period. We were surprised that it was a lot like our tatami rooms, except the walls were just a little bit nicer.

It was really, really hot out. There was a resting room on the grounds that was air-conditioned. We certainly needed the break from the heat.

Overall, it was a great day. We learned a lot about road-tripping in Japan and saw an amazing castle. Thanks Kumamoto Castle - over 400 years old and looking good!

Neighborhood festival

Our neighborhood hosted a small festival in the park across from our house this weekend. It seems that Japan is always celebrating with small festivals, especially in the summer. We tried to figure out what it was for, but I think it was just to have some fun with the neighbors. It did also fall on the last official day of rainy season, so that’d be a good reason to celebrate!

 Everyone was in great spirits and there was lots of food and games organized for the kids. Most things were free, but you could also use coupons to buy special BBQ’d meats and some of the drinks. The game everyone was most excited for was called Suikawari, or watermelon splitting. There were three teams each trying to break their watermelon. Each kid takes a turn being blindfolded and spun around 3 times. Then their teammates yell at them where to walk and they get one chance to hit the watermelon. The kids concentrated really hard and took their time since they only had one whack at it. It was fun to watch and Wilson had fun trying it!

 The next game was a drinking race.

(Can you spot Leo in this pic?)

Wilson didn’t really get the idea, but really enjoyed his juice!

The bigger kids raced with soda.

And the adults raced with beer. Nathan held me back when I offered to show them some U of Iowa tricks! Our neighbor from across the street, Yoshi, was the winner.

Nathan was asking this man about what the adults were drinking during their race and he bought Nathan a beer. They said cheers - kanpai!

This was a fishing game where the kids had sharp edged hooks and they tried to pick up the balloons by their strings without popping them.

The food was fabulous! There were rice balls with different fishy fillings and rolled in things like seaweed and sesame seeds. Yum!

Here is a tree where you could hang your wishes written on special paper.

The boys were given small presents to take home.

Our neighbors are so nice! They were very sweet and welcoming. The few that speak English were eager to chat and everyone loves the boys. We feel really happy to have found such a great neighborhood!

Bio Park

Would you like to hand feed hippos? Be hugged by a kangaroo? Have monkeys ride around on your shoulder? Come to Bio Park!

Bio Park is the best zoo we've ever been to. It's built in to the side of a mountain and it's beautiful.  The habitats for the animals are great and you get to go in to many of the areas and interact with the animals. Here's a look at our fun day, and we got season passes so we're excited to go back!

Leo chasing a butterfly in the flower garden.

Nathan got a little homesick at this next stop.

 

 

Feeding the small animals at the 'pet shop.'

Enjoying the beautiful views!

 

 

Petting the capybaras. They were super friendly.

What a great day! We'll be back, Bio Park!

Flooding in Kyushu

Some of you may have heard about the serious flooding that our island of Kyushu is getting. We don't really know how much rain the rainy season normally gets, but apparently this last week was really heavy. The rains certainly aren't just overcast and drizzly - it can come down really hard and for days at a time.  The really badly flooded areas are about 2 hours north of us. Our area hasn't been affected by flooding yet, and we live up on a hill. So even if it gets bad here, I think we'll be okay. We haven't had any warnings or anything yet, but will keep you posted if anything happens here.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/07/15/japan-floods-army.html?cmp=rss

Can't wait for this rainy season to be over!

Fast food

My new obsession is Japanese fast food! Here is our favorite, Hotto Motto. We don't see many McDonald's or other American fast food that much, except on base of course. There are a few McDonald's in the downtown area and we've seen a few in Nagasaki, but other than that they're pretty scarce. We do see tons of these Hotto Motto places, though.

There aren't any tables inside and there's no drive through, so you just order at the counter and then wait to pick it up. Most meals are about $5.00 to $6.00. It takes a little longer than most fast food, but the extra wait is worth it!  One of the best things for us is that the menu is all pictures.  So the first time we ate there, Nathan got his meal and I asked him what he got. He laughed and said he had no idea whether it was fish, chicken or pork, but the picture looked good.  I'm glad we're not too picky of eaters!

  Here are a few of the menu options.

I love that even Japanese fast food is healthy!  I think they do sell french fries, but most meals come with rice.

Here is what we ordered.

Nathan got some kind of fried pork on rice with a really tasty gravy sauce. We were unsure on what the smallest side was, but he guessed potato and I guessed some kind of root vegetable.

We got the boys some sesame chicken and then added some more veggies when we got home. Wilson was a big fan.

I got a dish that had a lot of rice, seaweed, bamboo, bean sprouts, 2 other unknown veggies, some tasty pork and my favorite - spicy kimchi! There is a sauce attached to the side that was really good. The first time I ordered it, I got it without the egg. This time I decided to be brave and go for it.

Here is how it came packaged.

Here is how it looks without the egg. Yum!

And here is the final product. I was expecting a raw egg and was kind of surprised when it came out soft boiled. Maybe it cooked a little on the way home sitting next to the hot meals?  I don't know, but it was pretty good. I don't think I'll go for the egg next time and I've got to figure out how to order extra kimchi.

  

Overall, Nathan and I have really enjoyed the Japanese food over here - even their fast food!