We’re baaack. We went back to Japan for the first time in 4 years. And thus, we are now back to posting and updating our Axelrod Adventures blog. It’s hard to believe that it has been four years since we were last here. The kids were different people then. As Jem says, I have learned and forgotten Japanese in that time.
In 2023, Japan has still been in full pandemic control mode, circa 2021 in the US and Europe. Masks everywhere, chapped hands from hand sanitizer, and proof of vaccine or negative test required to enter the country. But so far, the trains are on time, everyone still nice and friendly (maybe a little wary of all the tourists), and the Family Mart still sells all our favorite convenience foods. And, of course, there is still nothing caffeine-free, diet to drink. The choice of drinks (besides water) is caffeine or sugar.
This trip we split up and three of us came with grandma early; the other one came with grandpa a couple of days later.
There is much to tell about our first few days in country. We went to the ocean near Kamakura and were dive bombed by killer hawks! Who then stole Sophie’s ice cream from her hands, literally. The bird swooped down grabbed the ice cream cone from her hands and flew off. They must have marked us as patsies because not 10 minutes later one swooped down and grabbed the last bite of Jem’s sandwich…from his hands. I screamed louder than I have in 20 years. This bird was huge.
On our first morning Sophie and I were up way too early but headed down for breakfast in our hotel. We knew it was a buffet, but did not realize it was only Japanese options, with no western choices. Sophie gamely ate her first Japanese breakfast.
We also traveled into Buddhist heights — climbing some tiny stairs into the inside of The Giant Buddha in Kamakura.
We had a lovely time in Japan, and the obligatory Tokyo DisneySea and Chandu fest because it would not be an Axelrod Del Campo trip without a disney stop. We successfully replaced our lost at sea Chandu’s (which will be the subject of a future post).
It was nice to be back on the road again! And we are now on the road for the next two years!
Representing BayMax (very popular in Japan) with a Baymax Head (left) and Sporting a New Monsters U Sweatshirt (right)
Snorkeling, diving and tropical waters is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Japan. But Japan has tropics and this trip we wanted to go visit tropical Japan, since it is pretty far away and difficult to get to during a normal “highlights of Japan” trip (especially when any Japan trip requires several Disney days). So this time, we scheduled almost a week in Okinawa. We flew ANA from Tokyo and they treated the girls very well, giving them little gifts, such as this cute ANA badge:
We landed in Okinawa (Naha) and I was instantly confused. I thought I was back in Hawaii. But with more Japanese-like structures (tall residential buildings, a monorail and of course left-hand driving cars). For the few days we were there, I did indeed often find myself thinking I was in Hawaii and I had to remind myself I was still in Japan. This disorientation made sense, once I thought about it. The obvious similarities are the weather and island living. Steamy, tropical, check. Flip flops everywhere, check. Shoes off at the door, check. But beyond that, Okinawa has a significant American influence going back to World War II. Americans have been living in Okinawa for decades. For a long time, it was an American possession, and it was returned to Japan in the early 70s. The U.S. had a large military presence there for decades, much like Oahu. Japan was a staunch U.S. ally during the Vietnam War and much of that support came at Okinawa. Hawaii is an American island that has a significant Japanese population and influence. Okinawa is a Japanese island that has a significant American population and influence. Essentially, Hawaii and Okinawa are cousins. In some ways Okinawa and Hawaii are much closer culturally than Hawaii and say, Kansas. There is a lot more English spoken in Okinawa than the rest of Japan.
One of our highlights in Okinawa, before heading out to the Kerama islands, was a nice meal in a restaurant across the street from our hotel. Our waiter had the best English, and I don’t want to stereotype or profile, but he looked half American to me. I also don’t remember much from that night, I must confess. I ordered something called an “Okinawa Mojito.” I have no idea what was in it, but it knocked me for a loop the rest of the evening. Everything is very, very vague after that. But luckily we took some pictures of the food.
The Okinawa Mojito that almost leveled meDelicious Taro ballsA fish dish we ordered that was the whole fish, bones and all, that were allegedly edible
We only had two nights in Okinawa proper (Naha city), and most of it was spent recovering from (in addition to my Mojito) our very busy four cities in seven days that was “Japan, Week 2.” The hotel had a very nice swimming pool and laundry facilities, so we spent most of our two days hotel bound, which is what we needed. On day three, we took a 45 minute ferry ride and headed to a place that, well, feels to me to be most remote place I have ever visited — the Kerama Islands. (I define remote as something that is off the beaten path, not developed, takes several modes of transport to get there, and is tiny and barely populated. 15 years ago, I would have added no cell service or wi-fi but now even the most remote places have cell service and internet.)
We spent three nights on Aka Island, the smallest of the islands with any development, though honestly at one mile across, it has almost no tourist development to speak off. There is a port, a few guesthouses, a super market, and that’s about it. I chose it because it was the island the guidebook said you could manage entirely on foot. (The other islands needed a bicycle or motorcycle, neither of which is that doable with the kids and suitcases)
Aka was essentially raw nature, with gorgeous scenery.
And very friendly locals, as usual, happy to help you out. There are some weird things, like the fact that they built a gorgeous bridge between islands that connect 200 people to the island of 50 people.
We walked across the bridge just to say we did it (since it doesn’t really go anywhere touristy, we walked over it and back)
The island also had some feral cats and deer, both of whom liked the beach (or maybe the cat was just fishing).
The scenery was stunning. We loved snorkeling just off our breach.
We saw some really good fish and coral (like this starfish), but uncannily, the first fish we saw was a humuhumunukunukuapu’aa — the Hawaii state fish! The connections between Okinawa and Hawaii are underwater as well.
Amalia and I ran into a 6-foot eel just swimming at the surface. Biggest sea snake I have seen free swimming. Previously, when snorkeling, I have seen eels safely in their caves. I was pretty freaked out. Amalia was more excited than freaked. We didn’t have the camera, and I am not sure I would have paused to take a picture anyway.
Lots to see in this area and we only hit one tiny island. Too soon, our time there was over and it was time to, finally, head to the place where we had decided to establish as “home base” for this summer — Sapporo. We really covered a lot of ground in three weeks! [Train rides in red, plane rides in purple arrows]
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.”
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.
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?
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.
My high school friend Julia with us at the Kanazawa famous outdoor gardens
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.
We also found a couple of places for the kids to hang out with other kids as well.
