This country is quiet. Everyone is quiet in public. I assume in private as well. Walking down the street in broad daylight, airports, buses, restaurants, trains, it is as quiet as a U.S. library or funeral. The loudest children in Japan are mine. And I am doing everything I can to help them learn the “when in Rome” … but I am 7 years too late teaching my children to whisper and be quiet, especially when they they are excited, upset, or hurt (they are at least one of these things about 80% of the time, -Jem). The best we can do is tell them, and we have, is “shush – don’t yell; you can sob quietly.”
My favorite city (so far) — Nagano
Of the various cities we visited during week 2, Nagano was my favorite. It is one of the top two places we want to go back to the next time we come to Japan. (We haven’t finished our summer here and already we are planning our return! The other place we want to come back to are the Kerama Islands, these remote, teeny islands off Okinawa, which will be the subject of another post)
Nagano was the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics, but it has a total Japanese vibe today. There is some English, but it is not as pronounced as other cities, so there are various parts of Nagano that feel much more Japanese and less cosmopolitan than other cities.
Of course, since this is Japan, we love it almost anywhere and there were lovely other cities and train rides in the west coast/Alps regions, including a scenic coastal train ride, and a nice couple of days in Kanazawa, but I still liked Nagano a lot more.
Pocket parks along the main drag. Really wide sidewalks. A gorgeous temple.
Nice city surrounded by alpine mountains, with great views even from the local bus stop.
We also found a couple of places for the kids to hang out with other kids as well.
Nagano is known for lots of snow, rain and cold and I do recognize that we had one of the 50 days or so a year of sunshine, but I enjoyed Nagano even with the variable weather. It had various layers/facets to it. Besides the parks, views, temples and Japanese vibe, it had some unexpected finds as well. Like a quirky restaurant/bar with like a zillion clocks on the walls that kept the girls entertained while we had some pub food.
On our way to this clock pub (named Indian Spice) we also found a precious, and quite upscale, liquor store that carried this excellent, yet heretofore only found at Total Wine in Pasadena, tequila:
Yes, indeed, we really liked Nagano. We plan to return here and stay longer than 3 days in a future trip. Nagano was also our first of a few nights in traditional Japanese hotel room, a Ryokan, which the girls at first found very odd, but got used to sleeping on the ground on tatami pretty quickly.
Nagano was a definite winner!
Japan musings (beverages)
I don’t really drink caffeine. Unless I have a super early morning meeting, I don’t need it — and I spend a lot of my life making sure meetings start later than early morning. I am very sensitive to it and one serving of caffeine, even before noon, has the potential to keep me up all night. I love diet soda, so I drink a lot of “diet caffeine-free anything.” In the U.S. that is easy. In Japan, this is very, very hard. Besides plain water or alcohol, there are mostly two options for beverages — sugar or caffeine. They have lots of variations of sugar milk tea, sugar coffee milk, sugar soda, and an obligatory Coke Zero (which is “diet” but has caffeine). But not much in the sugar free, caffeine free group.
With one notable exception — Asahi Zero.
It is beer, without calories and without alcohol. It tastes just like beer. And fits into my “diet caffeine-free anything” category. It is also fairly ubiquitous. Every time I order it in Japan, someone always wants to make sure I know it has no alcohol. I tell them I do. They look at my oddly. Like why would anyone order this. They don’t realize I am desperate for bubbles that has no caffeine, no sugar and tastes like something besides water. But I wonder, given their reaction, who does order this in Japan? Me and Japanese recovering alcoholics?
Japan, week 2
After a week at Tokyo Disney Resort (a luxury since in prior trips we are usually trying to squeeze in 2-3 Disney days in a 10-day visit to the whole country), we set out for the west coast of Japan to visit Kanazawa, Niigata and Nagano. We have never been to these cities before. In our prior trips, we have traveled the well worn paths of Tokyo => Kyoto => Osaka => Hiroshima (and places around there such as Nara, Miyajima, Matsuyama etc), so this trip, with weeks at our disposal, we are hitting areas that we cannot get to in a “normal” trip to Japan and areas we have never visited in six trips.
For week 2, we used our first of two Japan rail 7-day passes. The J-rail pass is a deal. For basically the cost of one ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto, you can travel all over the country for 7 days on unlimited trains (plus the ferry to Miyajima off Hiroshima). We do not drive in Japan (being illiterate makes that sort of dangerous, I feel), but the trains are so frequent, organized and take you almost anywhere you would want to go, that it does not require any Japanese to navigate.
Our first stop out of Tokyo was Kanazawa. We took the bullet train there.
We also were there June 1, which coincidentally was part of the annual festival to celebrate when a Japanese leader in the 1500s made his way to the local castle for the first time. As soon as we exited the train, we saw lots of people in costumes. Including the obligatory Japanese warriors, who were so friendly and kind and immediately began sword fighting with the girls and then posed for photos.
There was an awesome parade for a couple of hours right outside the train station,
We also were there the same day that one of my closest friends from high school, a professor of Japanese literature at Emory University, was visiting there, and so we were able to meet up with her as well.
After the parade, there was a street party. It was really something else and hard to describe. Basically the entire parade was out on the street dancing for blocks. Same dance, same music for probably a mile.
There was the amazing castle
All told, a very fun start to Japan, week 2.
Disney Devotees
Our family loves (or, is fascinated by [-Jem]) Disney. I have been a Mickey fan on and off for decades. Jem wrote his second-year graduate research paper about Disneyland and the history of Southern California, and gave a memorable presentation on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. He was the first person I ever met with an Annual Pass, back when the AP got you front row parking at Disneyland and cost $99 a year. When the girls were little, of course we gave them and bought them all things Mickey.
As Aunt Sue once said of this picture, the Mickey Apple doesn’t fall far from the Mickey tree.
So, any trip to Japan includes a stop at Disney, which is what we did for our first week in Japan. Tokyo Disney Resort, made up of two parks, Disneyland and DisneySea, has many advantages over the U.S. parks. It is cheap compared to U.S. prices. About $700 for four people for four days, which is basically the price for one day in the U.S. The difference for four days compared to U.S. prices at the park is almost the airfare. The Tokyo parks are indeed crowded (which is what happens when there is a Disney park in a metro area with 35 million people) but some days are better than others and we think the last week in May is among the least crowded, which is why we aimed for Tokyo Disney that week.
We stayed at the Sheraton Grande Hotel, literally across the street from the monorail and about as easy of a commute other than staying inside the DisneySea park at the MiraCosta Hotel (which Jem and I did at great expense for our honeymoon in 2010 and discovered that it was not worth the money, so we aren’t doing that again). The girls were super-excited to go to Disney, and skipped and held hands on our way to the monorail and the park.
We bought a 4-day multi day ticket, which is the max. You have to pick either Disneyland or DisneySea for each of the first two days and then you can park hop days 3 and 4. So even though Disneyland in Tokyo is not that different from Disneylands everywhere else, we still hit it at least once. It has a ride that is only available here, Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, which is a truly world-class (and unique) ride. You travel in a four-person honey pot through Pooh’s honey-induced coma/nightmare/dream, and because the ride vehicle is not constrained to a track (it roves around semi-autonomously), you get a different ride every time.
The other TDL rides are comparable to the U.S. parks so we don’t really spend much time on them. With one exception: Country Bear Jamboree! That was an animatronic show that used to be in Disneyland but they took it out years ago. So, we definitely hit that show. (Lil also feels a certain nostalgic patriotism toward the ride, having grown up in rural Tennessee. [-Jem].)
We learned later that photography was supposedly prohibited. They made no such announcement in English, which is very unusual (if there is something they want non-Japanese speakers to know, they generally announce it very clearly in English), and since there is no way we would have caught the restriction in Japanese, we snapped a few pictures before someone came to tell us we were breaking the rules. So, we have these quasi-illicit pictures now. The advantages of being “gaijin.”
This time we also did the Tiki Room, which is like the Florida version — a Hawaiian themed animal audio animatronic show featuring Stitch. Of course, the version here is in Japanese. I learned that I speak more Hawaiian than I do Japanese in so far as I recognized and understood “aloha,” “ohana,” “e komo mai,” but nothing of the Japanese.
The rest of our three park days we spent at Tokyo DisneySea. This time we finally made it to the high end restaurant there called Magellan’s. Of the 10 times or so we have come, we have never been able to get in. Until this trip. What an amazing restaurant. I guess a random Wednesday in May at 4 pm is they way to do it. The girls had their first fine dining experience and they did great!
Our favorite part of DisneySea is the Sindbad ride, which only exists at Tokyo DisneySea. It is a slow boat ride that features Sindbad the Sailor, going on adventures with pirates and whales, bringing home exotic treasures, such as bananas, with his trusty sidekick tiger, Chandu.
We had purchased a stuffed Chandu last November when we were here last, and Sophie instantly became so attached that he traveled and slept with her every day for the past six months. As her constant companion, he was looking a little worn, so we were looking to pick up an extra one this trip. Luckily, there were plenty in the store!
And of course everyone wanted one now, so we are inundated with Chandus. (The original is now “Grandpa Chandu,” according to Sophie.) We will need to buy a new suitcase.
Journey to Japan (First Stop, Disney)
This is our third time to Japan as a family. (Jem and I have been here six times, including our Honeymoon, Babymoon, and a random Lil’s 43rd Birthday Trip in 2013.) We were most recently here 6 months ago in November 2018, with Grandma Rise and Papa. Of course we had a stop at Disney then as well.
We do not speak Japanese beyond a few essential words and phrases (we are trying to improve on that!), but we just enjoy the country so much. Friendly. Organized. Clean. Everything works the way it is supposed to. That just makes the country instantly relaxing. The trains will run on time, the bus will be where you need it to be. And most basic things are in English and most people speak basic English, or are graciously willing to work with our gesturing and pointing and abundant thank you’s, so we get by.
Last year when we were here in November 2018 neither Jem nor I wanted to go back home. We said to each other “if we were different people we just wouldn’t get on that plane home.” Of course we did get on the plane (no doubt to the great pleasure of Japan’s immigration authorities! [-Jem]) but a couple of months later when the opportunity to come to Japan for the summer came up we jumped at the chance. That said, there are of course sacrifices that come along with such a choice, like leaving my job of 10 years and moving back into private practice.
Still, this seemed like a perfect way to mark a major life change. After all, we love Japan! And, as anyone who knows us will quickly guess, our first stop in Japan would inevitably be Disney amazing park(s) there!
But there is a lot more to Japan than just Disney. Here is an example of what I love about Japan. Even the dogs are clean, organized and treated with respect.
I Quit My Job and Moved To…Version 2.0
Approximately 12 years ago, I hit a career wall and decided to quit my job and move to Hawaii. I chose the Big Island because it was remote, rural and the opposite of living in the big city like Los Angeles. I was going to chuck in the practice of law and open a coffee shop. Maybe. Or run a coffee cart. Or, I was just going to snorkel and swim with whales and dolphins and stare at the ocean.
I did most of that. The moving to Hawaii, swimming with whales and dolphins and staring at the ocean part at least — never did get to the coffee shop and coffee cart. Within a couple of months of moving to Hawaii, I realized that the practice of law was not something I was ready to chuck in, I was mostly burned out and needed a break, and that primarily it was just where I had been practicing that was the problem. I sat for the Hawaii bar and became a Hawaii licensed attorney as well as a California one. A couple of clients kept hiring me for projects from Hawaii. It was great. I spent two years working from wherever, part-time, including a memorable trip to Central America with my high school friend Paige who was writing for Lonely Planet at the time. My law practice was wherever my cell phone and laptop were. I was newly single and traveling around the world.
About two years into this semi-retirement, an opportunity of a career opened up and I was offered an in-house position at USC that I could not turn down. My close friend and mentor who was working at USC said she could really use my skills and needed me and that sealed the deal. But I knew my wings were getting clipped. The job was full-time, which was not ideal, in so far as I wasn’t quite ready to leave semi-retirement, and I knew that I would eventually chafe and need another break from the full-time, work-in-one-country job. I never thought it would last 10 years, but it did! An amazing 10-year run, but last year I started hitting that wall. I was burning out again. I could feel it. This February, I was ill for a few weeks and knew that for my mental and physical health, it was time to reprise the semi-retirement. But this time, instead of quitting my job and moving to Hawaii…I quit my job and moved to Japan! Just for the summer. Of course, as you already know, we stopped in Hawaii first for the birthday celebration of our friends Len and Sue, Hawaii 5-0. For version 2.0 of quitting my job and moving further west (“go west, burned out lawyer”) I had the great fortune of having an adventurous husband and kids along for the family — Axelrod — adventures. These adventures you are reading about now.
First stop out of the U.S, our happiest place on earth, Tokyo DisneySea!
