Oh Travel – Page 6 – Kaori Square Feet

The New Years Eve in Ehime

Hello everyone! Hope you’re all recovering from the new years holiday.

I had a really great time in Ehime at my parents place. So much so that it’s been a struggle getting back into work-mode this week. But somehow I got through the week. I’m hoping next week will be a little bit easier because it’s a four-day work week.

Anyways, here are some photos from Ehime:

Every day started and ended with these mikan in Ehime.

Ehime is known for their delicious mikan (mandarin oranges). We buy them by the boxes because we all love eating these mikan during the winter. Our family of six ate a total of two store bought 10kg boxes in a week. Not to mention the other mikan we ate from the trees growing in the yard (pictured above).

But I did manage to pry myself away from the box of mikan and get out and about for a bit. On the last day of the year, I was still making my nengajo and in the evening I made a mad dash to the town post office to make it in time for the mail pick-up. I took a detour around the local port before heading back home to watch the Kohaku show on TV with the family.

Watching this NHK program has become kind of a tradition…my parents tell us stories and information about the older singers and my sister’s keep us up-to-date on who is who in the younger generation. Since I don’t have a TV in my apartment, I don’t have any information to offer so I usually just sing along with all the songs that I know. All the while eating mikan, of course 🙂

Do you have new years eve traditions? Did you watch Kohaku this year (if you’re in Japan)?

Tiny flowers growing in our yard.

I love these old wooden walls.

Not only do we eat mikan, we include them in our new years decorations, too!

Small boats just bobbin around in the water.

Notice the number four is missing.

We had amazing sunsets.

Toshi-koshi Soba and the NHK Kohaku show.

We rose extra early on new years day to see the first sunrise…isn’t it pretty? 😀

The Trip To Ehime Via Okayama

The Japanese word Kisei (帰省) means to travel back to our hometown or where our family is.

This new years holiday I traveled back home to Ehime by way of Okayama airport. Ehime prefecture actually has their own airport in Matsuyama, but because Ehime is only accessible by airplane, the tickets always sell out very quickly. So our other option is to fly into Takamatsu airport, which is in the prefecture next to Ehime and take the express train. But the express train actually goes from Ehime to Okayama and you need to change lines when coming from Takamatsu airport.

Thus my decision to fly in from Okayama airport. And lucky me, the tickets to Okayama were super cheap (apparently it has to do with the price competition between shinkansen and flights)! So my kisei this time ended up being a flight (1hr 15min), a bus ride (25min), a train ride (2hr 30min), and a short walk (15min), which I surprisingly enjoyed. Well, maybe not the bus ride. But the view from the airplane and train ride was fantastic!

For those of you who do not live in Japan, to put it simply, going to Ehime via Okayama is sort of like going to New York via Canada (with an emphasis on sort of) 😉

Here are some pictures of my kisei I took on my cellphone:

Getting ready to board with my book and mocha chai latte.

I always melt a little when I see the pilot in the cockpit wave to little kids in the airport.

In the bus from Okayama airport to Okayama station.

Okayama prefecture is famous for the folklore Momotaro.

The JR Kibi line from Okayama station…isn’t the train handsome?

My ticket from Okayama station to Kibitsu station.

The great thing about rural lines is that you have time to snack on dorayaki during the train ride.

Okayama has the cutest manhole covers.

Just a short walk from Kibitsu station is Kibitsu Shrine, famous for this gorgeous corridor.

The koma-inu’s silly laugh had me giggling all the way home.

After a two and a half hour train ride, I was greeted by a lovely sunset.

You know you’re in Ehime when there is an abundance of mikan to eat…good to be home. x

The Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles

Did you know that the famous Hollywood sign was first there as an outdoor ad campaign for a suburban housing development called Hollywoodland?

The history of the Hollywood sign is really interesting.

You can see it from the Griffith Observatory and because it was so close, we decided to take a drive to get a closer look. Of course we had to take the typical tourist shot with the sign in the background 😀

I was only in LA for the weekend so this was my last day there. R took me to the airport later that night and my flight took off a little past midnight, which it was perfect because I slept most of the way back to Tokyo.

Los Angeles was a beautiful city. I say this about pretty much every city I visit but it’s nonetheless true. I loved the odd weather (a mixture of hot rays and cool breeze), the creativity that seems to be around every corner of the city, and the amazing six-lane highways that everyone drives on.

I’d heard rumors about how awful the traffic in LA was but I think we were lucky and didn’t hit any traffic. Even if we did, I didn’t notice because sitting in the car in LA is kind of like sitting in a cafe in Tokyo, it gives you time to chat about everything from family to life-goals while sipping your coffee. I enjoyed every minute in R’s car and had nothing to complain about.

I think I’m hooked. x

The Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles

Ever since I saw a photo of this building, I’ve wanted to go see it.

I mean, look at it. Doesn’t it look like a great white castle on top of the hill, overlooking it’s kingdom below? I can imagine horses carrying riders on their backs, thundering down the hill. Maybe it’s just me. But it’s a beautiful building that has a power to let your imagination flow.

The Griffith Observatory was opened to the public on May 14, 1935. Since then millions of people have come to enjoy the facility and the ever famous view of the city of Los Angeles. Personally, I had no idea it was such a tourist spot. But I can understand why everyone would want to come here.

For one, the view is amazing. We went during the day and the you could see the whole city spread out in front of you. Also, we went inside the observatory and that was fascinating as well. I especially loved the ceiling mural.

I was so busy taking everything in and catching up with my friends while enjoying the view that I didn’t take as many pictures as I thought. I guess that just shows how much I liked being up there. Next time I want to go right before the sunset and enjoy the city lights at night. On a clear night, you can even get a chance to see the sky through a telescope. How awesome is that?

Here are some pictures:

The Brentwood Farmers Market in Los Angeles

I am obsessed with farmers markets.

As in, I’ve been reading about it everywhere in the blogsphere these days and I have been completely jealous. We have a few in Tokyo, like the farmers market in front of the United Nations University, but it’s still a very new (and expensive) concept here. So as you can imagine, I was in farmers market heaven when my friend R took me to the Brentwood Farmers Market!

They had everything from flowers to hummus to soups to macarons. I could go on. They really had everything. But I was doing cartwheels over how many different fruits and vegetables were being sold in the stalls. Pomegranates, berries, plums, melons, peaches. Like I said, heaven.

And you know what? You could sample literally EVERYTHING!

It was really a glorious morning. I was full by the time we finally made it down the street. I had the best time feeling like a local Californian (in my head) who enjoys the farmers market every weekend. Isn’t this the perfect way to spend Sunday morning?

All the vegetables and fruits were eye candy and I ended up taking a lot of pictures:

The Getty Villa in Los Angeles

I’m finally back on my feet and once again enjoying the glorious blue skies we’ve been having here in Tokyo. This great weather also reminds me of California and how I need to get all my posts up. So here we go.

One of the things I love about my friend R is his sense of adventure. It was his idea for us to go to The Getty Villa, which I’d never heard of before. When I asked him what was there, his answer was “I don’t know, we’ll find out when we get there!” How ’bout that?

Well, what we found was an amazing museum!

The Getty Villa was originally the home of J. Paul Getty, a very rich industrialist. He was a collector of art and antiques and in 1954, he opened part of his home as a private museum. As collections tend to be, it grew. So he built a separate museum on his 64-acre property and it officially opened to the public in 1974. But Mr. Getty, who had moved to England in the 50s, never had the chance to visit the museum for himself before passing away in 1976.

In 1997 the museum closed for renovations and reopened in 2006 as a museum and educational center dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. That means that The Getty Villa provides a variety of lectures, performances, and tours, which we definitely took advantage of. We were just in time to take the last tour of the day, and we chose (or I chose…hehe) the architecture tour. Our guide taught us about the history of the museum architecture, which was designed after a first century Roman country house, and how the ancient Romans used to live.

I personally am not a big art person. I’m the girl that goes to art galleries and thinks, what is that? Or, I could probably make that. Or even ignoring the art and think, ooh the wood floor here is gorgeous. (I know, I’m an idiot.) But when you have a tour guide explaining the meaning and history of the art piece, it suddenly becomes part of a story and I am fascinated. I loved the tour and I’m really glad we we got to visit The Getty Villa.

Here are some photos:

The Getty Villa is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust.

I love the bold colors. This was the entrance of the museum and the start of the tour.

The colorfully decorated ceiling of the gallery inside the Villa.

Various busts placed around the gallery.

I felt like my skirt matched the floor a bit.

The central courtyard, which I think was my favorite part of the museum.

We were given earpieces so we could hear the tour guide speaking while we walked around.

Even if you don’t take a tour, you can read the information displayed about each piece like this.

The statues of women with the slightly creepy eyes made from stone and glass.

These statues were replicas of statues found in Villa dei Papiri.

We learned that Greeks and Romans were all about symmetry.

R and his sister S, who also lives in LA 😀

The details in the design were mind blowing.

The art pieces were displayed in various places around the villa, this was my favorite.

The marble floor with the intricate design.

There were a lot of different plants throughout the whole estate.

Don’t worry we were still listening to the tour while we took a selfie!

A statue of a man enjoying laying out under the sun…he was beautifully naked.

The main courtyard had a long reflecting pool.

The windows along the courtyard all had different designs. Again, so much detail.

Even the fountains were fancy with faces of people or animals shooting water from their mouths.

Subtle hints of fall in the garden grape vines.

Another quirky fountain…don’t you love it?

It really was a beautiful day to take the architectural tour with these two!

Crushing hard on California with all its beauty. x

The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles

Look how pretty the streets of Los Angeles are!

I love the lights. Los Angeles is such an artistic city, there’s art every where you look. I really had no idea…although seeing as it’s such a huge city full of artists in film, music, and who knows what else, I really should have expected it.

So here’s a question. What are some things you always do when travelling?

One of the things I always love to do when I’m travelling is to poke my head into local bookstores. The smell of books, whether new or old, always has a way of making me feel at home. And I don’t think there’s ever been a bookstore that I didn’t like. But I have to say I was pretty excited to step into this particular independent bookstore in downtown LA.

The Last Bookstore is an amazing treasure house filled with a mind-blowing wide-range of books, eclectic vinyl records, and book related art around every corner.

The building itself, which was built in 1914 (in just 10 months!), was originally occupied by Citizens National Bank. In the early 1910s this location was in the heart of the financial district, which was referred to as the “Wall Street of the West.” Today this neighborhood is known as the Historic Core and is even listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I was really interested in learning about how this building evolved over time, and I could go on, but I’ll spare you!

It’s a really massive building though and The Last Bookstore occupies the ground floor and the mezzanine level, which is like a maze. There are books everywhere. I know, it’s a bookstore. But it’s not only on the shelves. It’s used as an art form on the walls, ceilings, and anywhere else you can imagine. I was so enthralled with this place.

You can pretty much forget about just stepping in here for a second to grab a book. Their choices are so deep and wide that it will take forever for you to choose (this was me). Or you’ll just end up walking out with a handful of books (this was my friend R).

But isn’t that how every bookstore should be? x

Here are some pictures:

The Last Bookstore

453 S. Spring St., Ground Floor

Los Angeles, CA 90013

213-488-0599

Mon-Thu: 10:00am-10:00pm

Fri-Sat: 10:00am-11:00pm

Sun: 10:00am-6:00pm

*Occasionally they are closed early for a wedding (!!!)

or a gorgeous pop-up dinner like this. Love love love.

The Trip to Los Angeles

You know you’re on the west coast when you see flowers like these outside! So pretty!

This was actually my first time in Los Angeles. I never really thought about it but LA is so much closer to Japan than the midwest or east coast. But this was only my second time on the west coast, the last time being a trip to Sacramento when I was in sixth grade.

It’s probably because not very many of my friends lived on this side. But now that my grade school friend R lives there, I had a reason to go visit. It was so much fun! I feel like I got to see this lovely city through his eyes and it was one full of creativity, determination, and love.

He also asked me what I wanted to do in LA and I had very specific requests. I wanted to go to the Griffith Observatory, a bookstore called The Last Bookstore, and a farmers market. We only had a weekend but R fit all my requests and even more in my short time there. I had the very best time catching up and exploring the city of angels with him! xx

(Pictures to come…)

I got to see where R works as an editor…and also got my first ever fist bump!!! x

The Goodbye to Chicago

American breakfasts are so awesome. I can only eat a third of it…but still awesome!

I insisted I don’t eat breakfast but C and T took me out anyways before heading to the airport. Also, T gave me the breakfast-is-the-most-important-meal-of-the-day-Kaori speech. He never changes.

My stay in Chicago was really short but I’m so glad I came. xx

O’hare airport is so quirky.

Good-bye Chicago…I’ll be back. x

The Breakfast in Michigan

Michigan is where I called home for nine years growing up and I feel lucky that I still get the chance to go back. This town (technically it’s a village!) is tucked in a cozy corner of Michigan where downtown is one street and you bump into people you know all the time. It’s the town that teenagers can’t wait to get out of and the town parents dream of once they have a family.

One of the greatest things about Michigan is that it has all four seasons. And fall is quite glorious here. Unfortunately I brought the rainy weather with me from DC and it was like that my whole stay here. But the leaves were just starting to change color and I thought it was beautiful anyway. I even brought back a few, pressed between my book! 😀

My other best friend from grade school currently lives here with her family and I was really excited to see her. We got our girl time together to catch up and I also got to hang out with her husband and adorable girls (she has three!). I sometimes still can’t believe she’s a mom but she’s an amazing one and I loved seeing her in her element.

On my first morning there, I also got to see one of my old friends. D and I went to school and church together when we were younger and and I hadn’t seen her in years. But (thanks to facebook) we’d kept in touch here and there over the years and I finally got to see her over breakfast!

To tell you the truth, I was nervous. I always am when I’m meet someone I haven’t seen in a while. Am I the only one? I think, what if there’s nothing to talk about and we end up having awkward pauses? What if we’re on a different page and don’t like each other anymore? What if she can’t understand my English? So many awful possibilities.

I really had nothing to worry about though. Breakfast with D was great! It certainly was kind of odd, in the sense that the last time I’d seen her we were both nine years old, and here we were catching up as adults, talking about family, work, and men. Very surreal. But we had tons of laughs and hush-hush talks. It was great.

Reconnecting with old friends always puts a smile on my face and I was beyond happy to see D during my short stay in Michigan. Can’t wait until the next time! xx