Japan Day 3: Kouichi, Chiyaki, Kamakura, and Yokohama

We awoke early to meet another relative, Kouichi, in Ofuna, which is close to Yokohama. Kouichi is a pretty tall guy for a Japanese! He is well over 6 feet tall. I guess I am not surprised though because my grandma told me her side of the family (Taira) were tall.

We then all went together to Kamakura, the first samurai capital of Japan. It is a small place with large hills on 3 sides and then on the fought side is a beach and bay. Here we also met up with Kouichi's daughter Chiyaki. Together we visited our first big Japanese buddha.

Next we went to a Japanese temple garden on the side of a hill. It was beautifully landscaped and the temples nestled among the trees looked like postcard. We even went inside a small cave shrine.

Next we had some local freshly made soba in a small tightly packed restaurant. We had a wonderful lunch with delicious food while Kouichi told us the story of our family ancestors. The abridged version of the story is that back in the day there were 2 main samurai clans. The Taira (my family) and the Minamoto. These two clans protected the emperor. Then there was a big war between the two clans and the Taira lost and so they were all killed except a few of the highest ranking Taira family who escaped to the south of Japan. These samurai who escaped are my ancestors. Cool!

After lunch we went to another large temple which had a Taira pond and a Minamoto pond. Because Minamoto won the battle, their pond was much fancied. Lol. After the temple we had our fortunes told by shaking a box and pulling out a stick with a fortune number on it. Eliza's was good, but mine was bad so I tied the fortune to this wall that was full of other fortunes.

Taira Pond

Next was a walk down one of the main streets in Kamakura, that was lined with cherry trees. Chiyaki spotted a soft cream store so we stopped and had matcha green tea and purple sweet potato twist cones. Wow so tasty and refreshingly cool.

Next was a walk down a long street filled with little stores and eateries. We tried lots of samples including mochi on a stick and fresh sukemono and fresh sembe. There was even a totoro shop!

After this we headed to Yokohama to see their sea wall/park area and then went to their Chinatown. The biggest one in the world apparently. It was so clean and nothing like the markets I'd seen in Taiwan and China. We ate a nice diner at a Chinese restaurant and said our goodbyes at the subway station.

It had been such a great day and we had a really good time getting to know Kouichi and Chiyaki. Really really funny, nice, and generous people.

Japan Day 2: Akira-san family & Eliza

We awoke early to meet our relative Akira-san and 2 other relatives for coffee at a near by cafe. We talked about our family connection and Akira-san even made family tree print outs. We exchanged gifts and I recieved a magic box and a Japanese multi purpose cloth with a nice Japanese illustration on it.

We then went up to a traditional japanese restaurant for lunch with more relatives that joined us. The food was delicious and the hospitality from our family was incredible. Very very nice people.

After lunch I was excited to pick up Eliza from the airport so I jetted off to the train for a 2 hour ride to the airport.

I arrived a little late but there she was! My liza had made it to Japan! We hoped back on the train for another 2hr ride back to Shibuya to drop off her stuff.

We then took the subway to Asakusa which is an Pps temple market area. We arrived a bit late in the evening to see anything so we had diner with my parents, Akira, and Kei.

It was a great first full day and a perfect way to start the trip.

Japan Day 1: Arrival in Tokyo, Shibuya

I'm here! In Japan. One of the places I've always wanted to visit.

My parents and I arrived at 1:15pm on a rainy Thursday afternoon. The air was much cooler and crisper than it was in Taiwan.

We took the 2hr kisei line train to Shibuya which took over 2 hours. When we arrived we walked through the rain to meet Ken, our couch surfing host. We followed him back to his place which was about a 7 min walk from Shibuya main station.

His appartment was small but cozy enough :) we unpacked our things and then ken took us and another guest out for sushi! We walked through the body downtown area to get there. It was lots of fun.

After sushi we explored the area more and visited the famous crosswalk known for its give volume of people crossing it every few minutes.

We then headed home for some sleep.

Taiwan Day 6: mao Kong, Taipei 101, Xiao instrument, diner, Ann

we slept in a bit this morning and headed out around 10am for Mao Kong Gondola. the Gondola is in the southeast of Taipei and takes 30 min to get to.

when we arrived there was no lineup. bonus! we hopped on and rode to the 2nd of 3 stations. from there we explored 2 large temples and a steep jungle garden. we saw many butterflys, dragon flies, and other bugs. we even saw a huge spider very close up! close enough to touch (but I didn't want to touch).

then we took the Gondola to the top station where we proceeded to have a nice Chinese meal with mao Kong tea served in a tray overlooking Taipei city.

once we finished lunch it started to get late so we went to Taipei 101 where we met with Anne, Ali's sister. we rode up the fastest elevator in the world up to the top in about 40 seconds. the view was great as there was not too much haze. the sun was setting so we went to the outside observation deck for some pics.

next we headed to the CKS Memorial hall via the mrt. before seeing the monument we went to a nice traditional Chinese instrument shop where my Dad bought a Xiao flute. Anne got us a great deal and was an awesome translator! thanks Anne!

after the flute purchase we went to the CKS memorial hall. unfortunately it was really dark out so it was a bit hard to see.

And so for our last activity in Taiwan, Anne took us to a bbq restaurant by our hotel. it was all u can eat and drink. the bbq meat was yummy and at the end of our meal my mom got her bbq mochi :)

we then said our goodbyes to Anne and told her to come visit us. She is such a sweet girl and was great company on our trip!