Hakone trip part II: Owakudani

After our visit to the Open Air Museum, our tour bus took us to Sounzan Station, where we boarded a Cable car bound for Owakudani. The Cable cars were fairly good size, and could fit about 12 or 15 people in them. On a nice clear day, the views of Mount Fuji are supposed to be beautiful, but of course it was very overcast for us.

The ride started out very pretty. It was very green, with the colors of fall mixed in.

I thought our ride would be over once we reached the top of this mountain, but once we got over the top we kept going. The view on the otherside was very suprising. It went from very beautiful, to looking like the pits of hell. You could smell the Sulfer, and see the steam rising from the ground. All I could think of were scenes out of Lord of the Rings.

After about a 5 minute ride, we arrived in Owakudani. Here is an excerpt from the brochure we were given by our tour guide:

"Owakudani was formed roughly 3000 years ago when an explosion occurred on the hillside of Kamiyama. To this day there are still volcanic fumes of hydrogen sulfide being emitted. As a result, timber has wilted and rocks have turned to clay, exposing a bronze-colored hillside. Come experience the boiling pools, steam-spewing vents, and the many other activities of a dynamic volcano".

Strangely enough, Owakudani is most known for it's black eggs. They boil regular eggs in the Sulferic water until they turn black, and they sell them at a price of 5 for 500 yen (roughly $5.00). You can walk 10 minutes up the side of a mountain to watch them harvest the eggs.

There are tables everywhere, that you can use to crack the eggs that you can purchase at the top. Supposedly for every egg you eat, you add 7 years to your life. We each had one.

The eggs taste like normal hard-boiled eggs. They even came with a little packet of salt.

You can never pass up the chance to have a family picture taken by the smelly sulfer pits. It's not like I'm not constantly used to living with that smell anyways.

After we bought and ate our eggs, we walked back down to the bottom and got some food and hit the overpriced gift shops. At one of them I couldn't help but notice a stuffed Boar of sometype. On the sign next to it, please note that they call this a "beaver".

Hakone trip part I: Open air Museum

It's been over a week since we went on our trip to Hakone, but I've been too busy to post anything about it until now. So here's a recap of our day. The bus picked us up in Ikego at 7, and we got to Hakone within a couple of hours. Our first stop was the Hakone Open Air Museum. Unfortunatly, even though we arrived earlier than originally anticipated, we were given only a little over an hour to see everything. The Museum is so spread out over the large grounds, that we didn't get to see everything we wanted. It ended up being more stressful than anything. Some of the art was artsy "my kids can do that" stuff, but other pieces were impressive. This was one of my favorites, it's called "Man and Pegasus" by Carl Milles. It actually stands quite tall in the air, but the full shots I had of it were harder to see the actual sculpture. This is the only I actually stopped to see the name of. Here are few more that I thought were interesting:

Some seemed more like toys to play on than art

There was a Labryinth that the kids were so excited to try out. After they went down I saw a group of Teenage tourists doing rock, paper, scissors in the middle. I knew immediately what they were planning on..........Tag! I also knew that this ment one of my kids was going to get ran over in the process. Before I could pull them out, Mateo was knocked down, and dirty of course. I was irritated, but he said the girl told him she was sorry.....I'm such a pushover.

There was a Picasso exhibit on the grounds, and I spent a good portion of my time looking for it. On our way we stopped at this tower.

It was so pretty inside. It was lined with beautiful stained glass, and even though there were a billion stairs going up to the top, it was worth the view once you got there.

At the end we realized we were running out of time very quickly. There had been an area for kids to play in that we had promised Mateo he could go to. Aaron kindly volunteered to take Mateo there while Abby and I hit the Picasso Exhibit. I'm glad I went, although it was more his work on cermaics verses his crazy paintings where the facial features are all messed up.

Disney Sea

Last week we decided to take advantage of the fact that Aaron was in port, and actually had some days off. I had to work on Thanksgiving, so on Friday we decided to skip the hordes of people waiting in line at 5 a.m. for the Navy Exchange's less than desirable merchandise, and head out to Tokyo Disney Sea. We didn't tell the kids we were going just in case something came up (which is usually what happens when we plan something fun). Of course Aaron and I woke up at 5 a.m. to the sound of rain thundering down. We spent a few moments trying to decide if we wanted to attempt the hour and a half drive, and the possibility of being soaked all day. Aaron said that he would rather go and have it be bad weather, then stay home and have it clear up.....so, off we went. We told the kids we were going to Yokota Airforce base to go shopping, but once we hit the parking lot of Disney Sea they caught on, and the look on their faces was priceless. Once in line we figured out that this park opens up later than regular Disney. We waited for 45 minutes, which in the grand scheme of things isn't too bad for anything related to a Disney Theme park. As soon as the gates opened, the rain stopped.

The best part of Disney in Japan, is the over zealous enthusiasm of adults when it comes to the characters and rides. They sprint at full speed towards the ride of their choice, even when there is no wait. There are also many who seem perfectly content waiting in line for 2 hours just to get a picture taken with Chip and Dale. We however, took our time, and even stopped for some Cappuchino popcorn before heading towards the first attraction we came to.... Journey to the Center of the Earth. Once we got there, we realized that Mateo was a few cenimeters too short to go on it. I sent Aaron and Abby to go first, and Mateo and I hung out checking out the Volcano architecture, and eating our popcorn. After about 10 minutes, Aaron and Abby appeared. I asked them how it was, and Aaron said it was kind of boring. I asked Abby if she liked it, and she just said it was "ok". Abby and I got on the ride, and it did seem pretty tame. It was just a little train car going through caverns and you could see crystals, and little creatures here and there. I kept wondering why there was a height restriction on it......and I soon found out. All of a sudden a huge dragon type creature appears, there is a blast of fire, and the trains goes from a snail's pace, to very fast, and it's shooting straight up. I knew something was terribly wrong when I could see the sky, and steam. Before I knew it we were dropping straight down. I screamed of course.....and then couldn't stop laughing. My husband and little actress of a daughter pulled one over on me. They lied to me about it being tame, so I wouldn't know what to expect! If we had come into the ride from the other side, we would've seen the others coming out, and screaming on their way down.

The rest of the park was great. We only had to wait in line 1 time, for 20 minutes. Every other ride we got straight on. There were a couple of rides that Mateo was too short for, but it worked out well because he probably would've been to scary for him anyway.

The whole park has a "Sea" theme. Unlike Disneyland which has different "lands", Disney Sea has different "Ports" which divide up the park. The above picture is from the American Waterfront Area. I thought this section was very pretty. There was a lighthouse, and it had a New England fishing village vibe to it (not that I have been to a New England fishing village). In the background you can see the Volcano which houses the Journey to the Center of the Earth ride.

Can you believe it? We actually got a picture of all of us together. It's a rare occasion. Looking at it, gives me further proof that I need to stay behind the camera instead of infront of it. This was taken on a Galleon ship overlooking the Mediterranean Harbor.
Mateo riding the Genie on the Carousel in the Arabian Coast.

We took this picture on our way out. If you can't tell, this is the dashboard of a Japanese car. I told you they like their Disney characters!

Ichiban (first)

This is the first entry of my new blog. I had been randomly posting on a blog I was "supposedly" committed to when we moved to Japan almost 2 years ago. There are 7 posts, the topic of most of them is how I'm going to be really consistent about blogging. I also know two other ladies who use this site, and I love the way their blogs look, and at least this way maybe someone will read it.

So, I hope you're all excited to read about my misadventures and blunders in Japan. It's sure to be filled with creepy crawlies (mostly centipedes), competitive chocolate hunting as a sport, and my embarassing moments(which happen frequently). Stay tuned, and please ignore my poor grammar and punctuation.....I'm a lover not an English Teacher. Wait, I take that back. I am an English teacher....but only to young Japanese children who aren't yet aware that the world of English goes beyond Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and flashcards of fruits and vegetables.