The January Link Love

Haaaaaaappy new year!!!

How did you all welcome twenty sixteen? I made it home to Ehime, just in time to watch Kohaku with the family and wake up at the crack of dawn to climb a mountain to see the first sunrise.

My sister and I huffed and puffed our way up a small mountain. I did not expect to be exercising this early in the year but it felt really good. We made good time and made it to the top with a few minutes to spare, which we spent hopping around, waiting for the sun to rise above the clouds. We watched as the tips of the clouds started to glisten like caramel. Then suddenly the first light burst above the clouds and it instantly warmed our faces. That sun, so dramatic!

I had a really fun time at home with the family. This year my sister came with her fiance and I suddenly realized that having the whole family together will come further and further apart. I guess that’s the whole point of “leaving the nest.” But that still doesn’t stop me from yearning for more time together. (Or maybe it’s just the holiday sentiment?)

This year should be very interesting, with family dynamics changing and work being more challenging than ever. But I am excited! Something about the new year that makes me optimistic! (Yes, even more than I already am…ha.)

I’m looking forward to exploring new places, even if just around the corner, and learning new things. I’m also going to continue practicing my skate boarding and maybe take up running again. I feel so much better after exercising. And more than anything, I’m going to appreciate the people around me and make sure they know that I care. I hope to make this year meaningful 🙂

What are you looking forward to this year? xx

——————————————————-Link Love——————————————————-

– My nengajo this year.

– Keep it simple.

– We’ve all experienced it, right?

– This reminds me that I need to read more often.

– Ha! Remember this song?

– A do-for-yourself-at-least-once-a-year list.

– Tokyo in these photos.

The Christmas With My DC Family

Dropped down in DC for Christmas! Whoop whoop!

I’m so glad I found a last minute ticket to see my favorite non-Japanese family! The girls had grown so much. K talks more than ever, and you know how entertaining that is. I actually have a list of funny quotes. Little J is just starting to walk around and she loves to make funny faces. They sure know how to make Auntie Kaori laugh and laugh and laugh 😉

Waking up on Christmas morning and opening presents. Boy, I hadn’t done this in YEARS. Much more exciting than my usual morning commute to work, which I would have been doing in Japan, that’s for sure. We had tons of fun oohing and ahhing over all the presents. I even found myself a present under the Christmas tree (it’s already hanging on my wall)!

Then we had yummy pancakes and stayed in PJs all day. Best. Christmas. Ever.

Here are some jolly photos:

The Christmas tree was so pretty, I couldn’t stop taking pictures!
Uh oh, santa forgot his reindeer!
Twas a fun morning full of shouts of joy and ripped wrapping paper! 
Oh wait, here’s another lost reindeer!
Full of sweet moments like this.
And giggling fun moments like this.
Someone is super excited about her new book!
First reindeers and now a Christmas angel is here!
K made me a beautiful painting of the ocean and trees!
Crazy fun Christmas day with this familia! How crazy was your holiday? x

The Merry Camellias in Tokyo

Aren’t these camellias gorgeous? They are blooming all around Tokyo and it feels like nature is celebrating the holiday season, too! 
Will you be doing something for Christmas this year? I have not officially celebrated Christmas in a while now because in Japan the 25th is a regular work day and it’s just easier for the whole family to get together on new years, which is an official holiday.
But this year, by the time you read this, I will be in the air heading to DC to see my non-Japanese family to celebrate Christmas together! I’m so excited!
It was a last minute decision but I’m so glad I’m going. Because as much as I’ve grown to love the Japanese New Year and its traditions, sometimes I like to have a bit of non-commercial Christmas as well. I’ve missed the family Christmas trees, giving gifts and singing hymns at church. 
So to those who celebrate, I wish you a very merry Christmas! x 

The camellia bushes around Tokyo look to be celebrating the holidays, too!

The Cycle to the Northern Tip of Imabari

Isn’t this a great view?

You may have heard that Imabari is promoting itself as a cycling town. And it seems to be catching on, I see more cyclists on the streets everytime I go back home.

Well, when my dad first retired a couple years ago, he bought a bike with 16 gears. My dad’s cousin had been participating in the Shimanami Kaido bike race that the city promotes and invited my dad to join her. I should mention that my daddy is the best but not really the fittest person on the planet. So we were all pretty excited when we learned that he would be cycling and getting in some exercise!

After the weekend of the race, I called home to see how he did in the race. He said, “yokatta yo (it was okay).” But he didn’t sound 100% satisfied. He also said that he’d be entering the next race and was determined to make better time and I thought, wow he’s really getting into cycling! My dad gave the phone over to my mom and I expressed how impressed I was that he was actually training and getting exercise through this race. But she says, “Nani itteru no (What are you talking about)?”

“Gear no ohii bike wo katta dake yo (He just bought another bike with more gears)!”

So as you can imagine, my daddy’s cycling career did not last, although he did get a better time in his next (and last) race, and now we just have two great bicycles sitting in the garage.

Well, this Silver Week, my sisters and I decided to make use of the bicycles. We didn’t do the Shimanami Kaido course (like Dru did!) but kept it local and went to my favorite corner of Imabari.

Osumi Kaigan Park is a very local spot at the northern tip of Imabari. We’ve been swimming here since we were younger, visiting our late grandmother, and I have a ton of great memories. What’s great for hardcore cyclists is that Osumi Kaigan also has camping grounds. So you can pitch a tent and even have a barbeque by the sea. There’s also an observatory with a great view of both the Seto Inland Sea and the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge.

We had a fun afternoon cruising the streets of Imabari. Definitely got our dose of exercise that day!

Here are some photos:

Promoting the city of cyclists! (I think this should be a poster…ha)
Imabari’s bike lanes are a pretty sea blue.
I brought my penny with me from Tokyo!
The stairs up to the observatory.

Do you see the tent below?
So…the observatory is probably better in the winter?

King of the mountain!
I never tire of this view

What do you think of this spot?


OSUMI KAIGAN PARK (大角海岸公園) 
893-1 Otsu Namikata-cho, Imabari-shi Ehime JAPAN
愛媛県今治市波方町波方乙893-1
PARKING: 80 cars
ENTRANCE FEE: free

The Silver Week in Ehime

Heading home for the holidays is always a treat.

This September, the 5-day holiday Silver Week was back on the calendar and gave us an extra long weekend.

Silver Week first became an “official term” in 2009, when the stars first perfectly aligned. It’s a combination of the weekend, Respect for the Aged Day and Autumn Equinox Day. As one holiday is always on a Monday, due to the Happy Monday System, and the other an astronomically determined holiday, depending on the year, it becomes a consecutive holiday. And with the help of a law that automatically makes the day sandwiched between public holidays a holiday of its own, it becomes a 5-day weekend.

God bless whoever made that law.

My baby sister was staying with me in September, which I loved. Living alone has its perks but having someone there to welcome you with an “Okaeri-nasai!” is pretty great, too. Not to mention, not having to do the dishes by yourself. Ha.

As Silver Week isn’t due back on the calender until 2026, my sisters and I took full advantage of it this year to head back home to Ehime. We rarely fly home together, due to schedule conflicts, but this time I got to take extra time off work and my baby sister and I both got on the same flight to Matsuyama. Other than the usual family dinners and catching each other up on everything, I’ve noticed that there are certain things our family does every time we’re back together at home.

  1. We bring out the old family albums and go through them for the millionth time. There are some photos that just crack everyone up each time. I wish I had a record of everything we remember and notice from these photos. Sometimes all six of us have different memories from the same photo, which I find fascinating.
  2. We play the piano and any other instrument lying around. Seeing how close our neighbors live, my dad rarely plays the trumpet at home. But both my parents play the ocarina, half of us play the piano, and my dad and baby sister have a great voice. Not quite the Japanese Von Trapp family, but we do appreciate music. And my brother lets us know whether it’s good music or not with his facial expression 🙂
  3. This is just us girls (mom+sisters) but we have a drawer full of manga we collected during our junior high/high school years. I have a number of Mitsuru Adachi‘s older manga. Also very old school manga like Hot Road and Tenshi Nanka Janai. My sisters also have various series such as Naruto and One Piece. When we have the time, we all just grab a manga and dive in. This time I finally read the entire series of Slam Dunk! (And yes, it was good as every one says it is!)

Wow, this ended up being a fairly long post. But then again, I do tend to be long-winded when it comes to family. Don’t we all? (What, no?)

Well, I have a few other Silver Week posts coming up, so you’ve been warned!

Here are some photos:

What are some things you always do when you’re with family? x

December Link Love　

The holidays are here! Whoop whoop!

I am welcoming December with open arms this year, bring on the Christmas songs and merry gatherings! And by merry gatherings, I mean bonenkai, of course. Just kidding, I am actually cutting back on all the bonenkai this season and going to only a selected few. Makes the few more special, don’t you think?

December is like a blur every year. My head is already filled with a long list of things I need to do. I’m sure yours is, too. But this year I’m going to take deliberate time to enjoy this season with family and friends and to just soak it all in. Or in other words, what cookie monster said.

I hope you’re all staying warm and enjoying the holidays! xx

——————————————————-Link Love——————————————————-

– Embrace winter like a Norwegian.

– A 2015 update of Ironic (has it truly been 20 years since Jagged Little Pill?).

– I never get tired of this smart kid and his tiger.

– Screw finding your passion.

– Ah this postage stamp is too delicious!

– This happens to me sometimes.

– “How will we change the world if the lady cats are always in dresses?“

– China from above is fascinating.

– Climb every mountain and get these pins!

– Interesting look into Japan.

The Turkey-less Thanksgiving Dinner

Happy Thanksgiving (to those who celebrate Thanksgiving)!!!

This is definitely one of those holidays that will probably never come into Japan, despite this country’s love for importing holidays, such as Halloween and Easter. For one, Japan never had any Native Americans that taught the pilgrims, that never came to Japan, how to grow corn and sat down together for a meal after a good harvest season. But more importantly, it’s almost impossible to roast a whole turkey in Japan’s tiny microwave ovens.

But I’v always loved this holiday from my childhood days growing up in Michigan and since my sister was heading over to my place for the weekend, I invited the girls over for an early Thanksgiving dinner, sans the turkey.

I was up and early, running back and forth to the supermarket, cooking and baking my butt off. It’s always fun putting a dinner together for family and friends, I get pretty excited about things like this. At the same time, I often get in over my head with ideas too difficult to execute by myself. This year though, I was surprisingly level headed throughout the whole process and had a great time in the kitchen, even though it was just me, my oven and reruns of Sherlock in the back ground.

The menu consisted of apple cranberry walnut salad, pumpkin soup, blooming onion bread, mashed potatoes, broccoli and macaroni casserole, green bean avocado fried rice, spinach balls, and bread stuffing. For dessert, there was pumpkin pie and apple pie, which I baked the day before.

When everyone came over, they helped set the table and then (after a quick photo session of the food, hehe) we all dug in! It was all SO GOOD!

I’ve learned that get-togethers like this are not really about the food. I mean, it kind of is…but it’s not. We could have had conbini bentos and it still would have tasted good, although not as Thanksgiving-y. For me, what makes the difference is that we were all enjoying this meal together. I personally miss my family the most around the holidays, so it was nice to have a full house (because my apartment is tiny, you know?) filled with chatter and laughter over dinner. The fact that we were all there enjoying the meal together is definitely what made it delicious!

I hope you’re enjoying time with friends and family this holiday season, too! x

Here are some photos:
 

Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? What is your favorite dish? x

The Picnic and Chrysanthemums at Shinjuku Gyoen

Slow weekends are the best.

My best friend and I walked to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden again one weekend. We found a good spot to settle and had a brunch picnic. What is it about eating outside that makes everything taste so good?

We also stopped by the chrysanthemum festival. I’d never seen so many different types of chrysanthemum and was very impressed with the dome shaped chrysanthemum art. Did you know that it is all just one chrysanthemum plant? There are over 550 flowers and each one is placed in a specific position over the course of a year as they grow. Pretty amazing.

The sun was shining from between the clouds and it was a really great morning. Then suddenly the clouds started getting heavier and we had just enough time to see the chrysanthemum festival before the sky opened and it began to rain.

We headed home, patting ourselves on the back for our perfect timing.

Here are some photos:

The Mount Takao Hike

What do you do when your head is ready to explode?

Why, you go to the mountains, of course! Or anywhere quiet really. The lake, the woods…snuggle with a book on a rainy day. But we were headed for the hills, aka Mount Takao, on this particular day and that suited me fine.

Like I said before, Mount Takao is a very popular spot, which I’ve managed to avoid all these years. I mean, if a mountain offers a beer garden at the top, you know it’s going to be packed with people. I don’t even know if a mountain with a railway is even a real mountain (it is, I checked…but still).

But that being said, it’s a very convenient mountain from the city, especially Shinjuku. Just one train ride on the Keio Line and you’re there at the foot of the mountain within an hour, and only 390 yen! And because Mount Takao only stands at 599 meters, it’s a very easy hike for people of all ages. Not to mention the lift and railway that easily takes you straight to the top.

So for some, it’s worth the crowd.

My best friend and I went on a week day, and the crowd of people getting off at the station mostly headed towards the railway, so we nearly had the trail all to ourselves! My first time there and it was exactly what I needed to relax both mind and soul.

I admit, there’s a lot of concrete on this mountain. But the cool mountain air and warm sunny rays felt wonderful. The hike wasn’t difficult at all. I just enjoyed being surrounded by nature and seeing the views as we got closer to the peak.

We took Trail 1 and Trail 3, so by the time we reached the peak I were starving. Good thing for us, we packed a lunch! But I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture. Oh well. You’ll just have to believe me when I say it was delicious, especially with that mountain air. I did remember to take a picture of our tumbler, that held hot water for coffee, and mikan. Yum!

The peak was getting quite crowded when we finished eating. And even though the kindergarten kids were adorable, we decided to escape into the quietness of the mountain.

We made our way down the mountain on Trail 6, which was a bit more wet than our hike up, due to the water running along (and sometimes on) the path. There are certain places you can stop and sit, to look out across the mountain or just to chat. We were definitely slower hiking back down but then again it’s not every day you get to discuss life with your best friend on a mountain, so you can bet we took full advantage of that. It was great 🙂

So my advice? Go on a week day and you may have the hiking trails all to yourself! x

Here are some photos:

At Shinjuku Station, ready to get away from the crowds of people.
Mount Takao is part of the Meiji no Mori Takao Quasi-National Park.
My love of moss is eternal.

Nature’s gradations are the best.
There were several different bridges along the trail.

Breathing in the greenery.
So many lush views, like this.
Aren’t the shades of blue gorgeous?

Our lunch break at the peak!

All the while, this huge spider was sitting right above us…eek!
These kids were just too cute!
Our path down from the peak began like this.
It was pretty wet in some places.
Shades of fall beginning to appear!

Taking in the mountain air by the a river.
Have you ever hiked Mount Takao?

The Takao 599 Museum

Last month, I was lucky to get a day off of work on a beautifully sunny day.
So my best friend and I decided to head for the mountains. Or THE mountain, in this case. What I mean by that is, we were headed for probably the most popular mountain in Tokyo…Mount Takao!
I heard there are crowds of people climbing it on the weekends, so we went on a weekday. It’s close (only an hour by train from Shinjuku), it’s convenient (you can hike or take the rail/lift), and it has multiple trails to choose from so I can understand its popularity. 
It also offers a beautiful museum at the foot of the mountain, Takao 599 Museum.
The museum just opened this summer. The displays are full of beautiful creatures and plants that you can find on Mount Takao. I also learned fun facts, such as Mount Takao is one of the top three insect habitats in Japan. So it’s a treasure trove of critters (which we soon found was true).
There’s also a nature wall which exhibit taxidermy animals and birds. I was surprised to learn that there were so many animals living in Mount Takao. We were also lucky and got to see the projection mapping on the nature wall. It was very cleverly made, you’ll definitely want to see how all the animals play into it 🙂
Personally, I was drawn to the insect display. Growing up next to the woods, I used to be fascinated by the lives of various critters. They really are beautiful, the more closely you look.
One of the great things about this museum is that it has a lawn. That’s right, grass humans can actually enjoy (if you live in Tokyo, you’ll know it’s a rare thing)! We stopped by to just sit and stretch for a bit after our hike back down the mountain. It felt amazing. There’s also a cafe inside the museum, which sounds perfect for the chilly days.
All in all, I think this is a great place to stop by for anyone visiting Mount Takao, especially if it’s your first time!
Here are some photos:
It’s only 390 yen from Shinjuku on the Keio Line.
The new Takao Yamaguchi station, designed by Kengo Kuma.

Love the high ceiling and natural light.
So many animals living on the mountain…even a monkey!
The projection mapping was really beautiful (you can’t really tell from these photos).

Nuts galore.
The cafe and the free-use sitting area.

Next up, photos from Mount Takao 🙂

TAKAO 599 MUSEUM
3-2435 Takao-machi Hachioji-shi, Tokyo JAPAN
東京都八王子市高尾町2435番3
TEL: 042 665 6688
HOURS: April to November 8:00am-5:00pm
               December to March 8:00am-4:00pm