Vacation Begins.

So we started our three week Japanese Vacation this weekend.  Really looking forward to having three weeks to spend with family and friends.  I am also looking forward to getting out and about in Kagoshima.  Amazingly no Jet Lag to start the trip.  Very lucky.

We had a great day on Saturday.  We got up early and were out the door before nine.  Our goal was Noma Dake.  The last interesting peak relatively close to our house.  After about and hour and 15 of pain and suffering in the car (two year olds just can't be reasoned with) we made it to the Noma Jinja, the inevitable temple most of the way up the mountain. 

We hiked for about forty five minutes from the temple to the top.  The view promised to be spectacular but then it reneged.  We were basically in the clouds.  It was muggy.  Summer has officially arrived in Kagoshima.  

 We didn't pack a lunch, just snacks, on purpose.  The plan was to get up and down before lunch and then hit a restaurant and an onsen.  Well the little guy was tuckered when we got to the bottom and promptly fell asleep in the car.  So we drove most of the way back home.  We stopped in Fukiage, known for its Onsen Baths.  It was the sage opinion of the Mrs. that to eat and then bath was foolishness.  So we drove around looking for a bath.  We stopped here.

 The place was deserted so the boys and I had our side to ourselves.  The pool was big enough for the older boy to try and swim in.  However, the water was hot and tasted of sulphur so he didn't make much head way.  The little guy, as usual, enjoyed getting in and out.  He also got a real kick out of turning the taps on and off.

Post bath I was fatally hungry.  We had a few minutes of indecision before settling on rice balls and assorted lunch stuff from a grocery store.  We stopped at a park and chowed down.  I gave the Mrs. the keys and had myself a nice big beer.  It was good.

Our last stop was a spot my Mother-in-law recommended.  It is one of her power spots.  It is a temple called Onamuchi Jinja.  The temple is your regular fare but the real reason to go is the trees.  Check out this monster the family is perched against.  It reminds us of the tree in "Tonari no Totoro" (Totoro next Door) by studio Ghibli.  It even has a little spot you could climb in and find a Totoro. 

This next picture shows how far back I had to go to get the sucker in the frame.

 After the tree we took turns drinking the magical temple water.  I got video.

Post temple we got back in the car and everyone kind of drifted off as the Mrs. drove us home.  Another fabulous Saturday and an excellent way to kick off our three weeks in Japan.  Lets hope the rest of our vacation is as exciting.

Kinpozan (the Mountain)

So today I took the two oldest to climb a mountain.  The Mrs. stayed home with the snotty little one (not his personality, he is just very mucusy [not to be mistaken with couscousy, a tendency to be a little dry and flavourless]).

So we three set off on a little winter adventure.  As we drove south grey clouds were skudding across the sky.  Trees bent and strained as I tried to keep the car on the road.  Perhaps I was too preoccupied with the weather as we missed our turn.  A pleasant gas station attendant was more than happy to point out the error in our ways.  "Way back there" would probably be the closest translation.  So after doubling back we found the right turn (it should have been a left) and started up the mountain.  One more double back later and we had reached the parking lot at the top.  Totally empty.  We walked up to the temple and passed this tree.

We call trees like this "mother trees".   It has never been overtly discussed but when hiking we are almost always on the lookout for Mother trees.  We really enjoy finding them.

The view from the top was really beautiful.  This is the sea of Japan side.  If you look way to the right that is where I do most of my fishing with the father in law. 

There were little shrines all over the place.  Some religious discussion but very muted.

This shrine had a big sign posted just before it.  The basic mythology is that a boy who loved fishing went out one day and drowned.  His mother climbed the mountain to pray for her son.  This cave was the place where she prayed.  Since that day, her tears have continued to drop from the roof of the cave. I wondered if they drop in during the dry season.  That is if there is a dry season.

Next we went to a cool lookout and managed to take a timed shot.  Yeah me, I got in the picture.  This is the Kinko wan bay side.  On a good day the crater of Sakurajima would be spewing ash from right between the kids heads. 

After much tramping around, we headed back down the mountain and went for noodles. 

Then as usual we found a cool park to play at before heading home.

Todays big win was bringing home some omiyage (treats from a trip) for mom.  It was a long adventure and there wasn't actually all that much hiking but we had fun.  Probably the last hike of 2010.  Hopefully 2011 will be full of adventure too.

Best wishes to all for an exciting, adventurous and fulfilling 2011.

Youii Otoshi wo Mukaete Kudasai.

Events.

So recently we have had a couple of family events.  The first event was a family dinner with one of Sayoko's best friends, Shan Shan.  She was at our wedding and lives about 5 minutes away by car.  Shan and her husband have three kids, the oldest being in the same grade as Kiyomi.  Her name is Kanako.  The two girls get on famously.  The also enjoy excluding the boy so he enjoys trying to annoy them.  It is a nice complement.

 

Their youngest is four months old.   Riko chan.

 

It was a really nice dinner hanging out with friends and even though I had a running practice (more later) the next morning we drank quite a bit.  The really excellent part to this dinner was the fact that this week, out of the blue, they called us up on Saturday afternoon and invited us over again.  They were having another family over for a fall barbecue night and they were sorry for the last minute invite but it was all last minute.  This party topped the first one, in that for me, hanging outside as three dads roasting meat, talking about late 80's NBA (the third dad is a huge b-ball fan) and commiserating with each other about the various trying aspects of marriage was awesome.  My Japanese has really come along and it was great to just hang out with the boys.  The dinner was excellent too and I was sad I had to limit myself to three beers (I did have a fourth but that was the end.)  

The reason I limited myself is that I had a race the next day.  I was competing in the Ijuin Eki-Den with the Myouenji team(we live in Myouenji).  When I was originally approached to be on the team I declined because the race was the same day as the Bazaar at Kiyomi's school.  As part of the fathers club (Oh Zora Kai, Big sky group) I had already signed up to help make and sell french fries and cotton candy.  However, the head of sports for our community happens to also be a member of my softball team and finagled it so that I could do both.  At the first practice when asked what I wanted to run I foolishly offered to run a longer 2.46 K leg instead of running as the over 30 competitor in a 1 km leg.  Foolishly in that they ended up putting me as the anchor leg.  The coach figured as I would be late arriving from the Bazaar it was best to put me last.  Well long story short.  We came second.  After years of dominating the event the Myouenji A team (yeah we had a b team too) came second this year.  I only lost my leg by 1 second and we lost by over a minute over all so it wasn't all my fault.  But the guy who ended up running as our over thirty competitor had a record time for that leg and if he had run the last leg with me running his shorter 6th leg we would have been much closer.  I am trying to let it go.  Of course there were two different gatherings involved with the Ekiden and I consumed lots of food and drink.  At both gatherings we settled down after the students had left and continued our revelry.  Good times.

I could talk about the drinking parties that have crept up in November but I wont.  Instead I will move on to our latest kiking trip.  This time we climbed Mt Kanmuri (Nishi Dake on most maps) near Ichiki-Kushkino.

This is us at a little shrine on the way up.

 Note me holding the youngest as we hike.  He is getting to be a good work out.  Both the Mrs. and I lamented leaving the baby hiker back in Canada.  By the time we get back we won't be able to use it much. 

 The views from the top were awesome.  The pictures don't do it justice because the contrast between sea and cloud was lost due to the haziness.  Some other hikers told us that the view on that day was amazingly clear so perhaps this is the best we could get.

Instead of climbing all 541m to the top we actually drove most of it and parked at the temple and shrine that are way up the mountain.  It was about a half hour hike from the parking lot.  Pretty reasonable and we did not run into very much whiny ness at all.  On the trip back down we took a different road and at the bottom of the hill we went to see this giant statue. 

This next picture is my favourite.  Mountain, statue and kids.  It really says it all.

After the statue we went to a park and the kids played for about an hour.  It was a good park.   No I didn't take any pictures.  Everyone was asleep by the time we arrived back home (I was only a little dozy).  To tie it all back together, we got back just in time to take the late invite phone call to the second party.  We told them we would be late as I had my last ekiden practice at 5.  Good times.

Love out.

Hiking for Four

 So we left the littlest gaffer asleep at home with the reli's and head off for a short hike.  Today's destination was the sister mountain to our first real hike.  It is called Yahazu Dake (302 m).  It is not a listed Yahazu Dake however so I cannot provide a link, darn it.  However, I do have pictures a plenty.

 The sign at the parking lot says it is a fifteen minute hike.  It took us about 25 minutes and both the kids, though at points whiny, never gave any hint of being ready to give up.  The parental conversation revolved around how starting off with easy hikes is good and there is no need to push it and then turn the kids off of hiking.  Like I will be able to stick to that.

 Of the two mountains we have hiked this was the one not recommended by Kohei's teacher as it is too steep.  However, it is clearly the better hike.  Trail is well marked and quite wide.  There are some rope railings set up in the steep stretches.  And the view at the top is panoramic taking in both the sea of Japan to the west and Kinko wan (kinko bay) and Sakurajima to the east.  It was a sort of hazy day so the pictures aren't the best but you get the idea.

 Also at the top were some killer big spiders.  We watched one in the process of taking in a fresh catch.  We saw it move in.  Grab the little bug with its pincers.  Then we saw it use its hind legs to pull out the silk and wrap the critter up.  It was cool and the kids were fascinated.  They actually wanted to take it home.  I had to explain that there are spiders like this everywhere near our house.  Kiyomi actually pet the spider a couple of times.  There are literally pet opportunities everywhere that child looks. 

Sorry about the spider picture but I am not experienced with manual focus on our little point and shoot and I didn't have a tripod.

Sunny Sunday.

 This is the view from the top of what we climbed on Sunday.  It was majestic.  I tried to find an option for creating a panoramic picture or movie but with my Japanese language OS it just didn't seem to be easy.  So here is the view one at a time.

 So yeah we were at the top of the look out tower at Kenko no Mori Park.  We played Frisbee as a family for the first time and it was awesome.  The two older kids are throwing and catching.  It is the beginning of an era my friends.  Mark my words.

You can see Sakurajima (the volcano) just over the bill of my cap.  Sunday was an awesome day. After playing Frisbee, hiking up to the tower and a little walk around the park it was time for the playground.  When that was done we played a little soccer with Kazi and then had fun at the hill.

Yup it was a pretty good weekend.  Next weekend is the Miyoenji Mairi festival.  I am going for a fitting tonight.  If they can find a samurai outfit big enough I may be marching in the parade.  Keep you fingers crossed.

Because its there.

 Monday past was Sports day in Japan.  It is a national holiday and comes at the end of the Sports day season.  With the whole day off and nothing in particular to do we decided to climb a mountain.  This is the top of Moromasa Dahke. 

 The hike up took about 15 minutes when I did it on my own.  However, with Kaz wanting to walk where ever it was flat it took us about 40 minutes on the way up.  The trail starts by going through a farmers yard and passing his piles of cow manure.  It then proceeds as a cement road running through a bamboo grove.  After the cement ends it becomes a dirt road and the forest changes to cedar.  This first part is not very steep.  After the road makes a big left turn it becomes more of a dirt track and becomes quite steep.  There is no scrambling but if it had been rainy the muddiness and fallen leaves might have made it quite treacherous.  There is a small lookout about 2 minutes from the top but the trees have grown so much you cannot see anything but sky.  The top is covered in long grass but there is one larger rocky outcrop to sit on and enjoy the view.  We forgot our mosquito spray and the youngest is looking rather splotchy as a result.  While at the top another group of climbers came up but they carried on down the back side.  I hadn't tried this on my own so we didn't follow.  We ate our onigiri and mikan and then headed back down.  The return trip, carrying the baby the whole way, took about 20 minutes.  In total we were on the mountain for about an hour and a half.  A perfect start to our Japanese mountain climbing.

I am kind of hoping that this can become a habit for us.  If we do end up making a habit of it I think I might do an English language blog about going hiking with kids in Kagoshima. It might actually be of use to someone.

In other news the daughter got a drastic hair cut last night.  I had to intervene after the first few snips were made as there was  a bit of hysteria in the bathroom.  However, by the time Mom was done slicing Kiyomi was pretty darn happy about the effect and was really excited to go to school today and have everyone be surprised.  I had to break the news that some people would not notice her hair cut.  I mean 8 year old boys.  Its a long shot.

 Common sentiment is that she looks a bit like Amuro Namie.

I think she just looks great. 

That's a Wrap.

With basically three days left in town it is time to start wrapping things up.  First off here is a picture of lovely Grand Forks from up on Observation Mountain.  I hiked up here last weekend to try and break in my feet for the hike we had planned for today.  It worked.  I got myself some wicked blisters last week that had mostly hardened up by today.

Then today I went for a hike up Mt. Gladstone with two of my work colleagues.  We also brought Duke, the part wolf part everything dog.  It was a beautiful day.  Not too hot, no rain, lots of bugs but overall just a perfect day in the woods.   

This is me trying to emulate my little sister with her candid "look where I am" solo arms length shots.  I don't think I have her skill but I am working on it.  The peak way in the background just to the right of my head is, I believe, Old Glory.  No wait, Old Glory is directly behind my big fat head.  Nice work cocheese[sic]

The next one is looking south, you can see the south end of Christina lake down in the valley below. 

Finally there is Ken Duke and Myself and John and Ken with Mt Faith up in the background to the right..  These shots are facing north.

All in all I couldn't have asked for a better day.  The blisters are bad because I didn't have gators for the legs or snow seal on the boots.  However, the company was awesome, the views amazing and the commune with nature fed the soul.  Whenever I do these kinds of trips I always wonder why I don't do them more.  When I return this is definitley on the list of things I really want to make part of my life. 

Well this is probably all from home base GF.  The next time you hear from me it will either be in Vancouver or over in Japan.  Hopefully I will be a much better correspondent in the near future.

Love, Out.