pinku

A little getaway....

So last week we went on a mini-vacation with Jake's last remaining girlfriend, Aisha and her very cool parents! We drove to Kawaguchi-ko (about an hour and a half from Tokyo) and stayed in a self contained wooden chalet type place. Perfect for the kids - lots of room to play and perfect for the adults who had plenty of space to hang out after the babes went to bed although Miss A stayed up later than I did both nights!! Much unlike J who can't stay up past 7:30pm.

Oh and our place had a view of Mt Fuji. Sorry for the blurry pic - it was like 5am when I took this.

Inside the chalet -there was a lovely little fully equipped kitchen and the floors were heated. J was immediately drawn to the stairs and climbed them VERY proficiently. It was scary to watch and we had to use a spare futon to block them off the whole time we were there. There was a very spacious bath and shower, but we used the rotenburo (outdoor hot springs) that had a view of Mt Fuji both nights.

Each place can sleep up to six people although we had one per family - there was a bedroom with western beds but we used the tatami mat loft area to sleep in and filled it with very comfy futons and they had the best warm fluffy kakebutons (the futons that you cover yourself with as opposed to the ones you sleep on)

On the way home we decided to take some detours and one led us up Mt Fuji. You can drive up to Station Five. It was very very cool!

up above the clouds

the fake fuji

it was a great little autumn getaway to escape hectic tokyo life! only problem is that i was we were still there.

Papa and baby beer

We are back from our mini-vacation at Kawaguchi-ko in Yamanashi prefecture. Our rental log house had heated floors, a view of Mt Fuji from the deck and the weather was beautiful - more on that tomorrow. Unfortunately I have finally caught J's cold and am nursing an extremely sore throat, but I'll live :P We travelled there by car with our friends who also have a babe the same age as J and anyone that lives in Japan knows that travelling by car anywhere is a treat! I was a bit worried about how J would fair in a car seat since it has been a LONG time since he had been in one, but he mostly did great - man but was I tired from spending ALL travelling time entertaining him or diverting his attention!!

We found the best baby toy for the car at the supermarket. It was cheap (70 yen), perfect size for baby hands, recyclable and best of all it kept J happy when we were strapping him into his seat.

Introducing the perfect baby toy - a mini tanrei beer (pictured alongside daddy's 500 ml tanrei)

J didn't let go of it for the longest time!

And it was also great to come back to great election news from the US! Off to watch President Obama's acceptance speech now! Yay!

Nikko

If you ever have the chance to visit Japan, you should really visit Nikko. I would say the same about Tokyo and Kyoto. Last weekend we visited Nikko with our buddies, C&J. It was my second time, C&J's 3rd time and Daz's 1st time. Our goal was to camp near Lake Yumoto, but after calling and finding out that the campground was only bare bones and that we'd have to take EVERYTHING with us in addition to bad weather conditions, we settled on staying in a small log cabin at Shobugahama Camp Village next to Lake Chuzenji. Much more comfortable for a pregnant woman now in her third trimester!!

I completely recommend staying there. Our log cabin had three tatami mats on the bottom and a loft with another three tatami mats - perfect sleeping conditions for two couples. They provide futons and blankets (except no sheets) so our night spent there was just as comfy as home. Although Claire did say that they loft attracted a multitude of bugs so don't forget your insect repellent. You can also pitch a tent there and there were a lot of choice locations next to the lake, so if you have time I would totally recommend that.

Since it was C&J's 3rd time to Nikko they skipped the shrines and headed straight to Lake Chuzenji where they head out on an epic hike from Ryuzu no Taki to Lake Yumoto with some amazing scenery. You can check out their photos here. In the meantime we headed to the shrines and the weather was really perfect - foggy and cool. It gave the shrines the most freaky kind of atmosphere and all of the heavy fog in the tall majestic cedar trees was spooky and mystical.

That being said, Lake Chuzenji looked even better in the fog. It was a horror story waiting to happen. I was tempted to hop on one of these swan boats but I kept imaging them disappearing into the fog never to be seen again.

the next day we took it easy eating a leisurely breakfast by the lake, visiting Ryuzu no Taki, Kegon waterfalls (after it being completely obliterated by fog the day before), and the shops leading up to the shrines from Nikko station.

and here's a belly pic in front of Ryuzu no Taki at 28 weeks. I'm feeling a lot bigger all of a sudden.

Japanese friends were horrified that I would travel and go camping while pregnant, but it was fine. I got some good exercise and that fresh air was desperately needed. You can see the rest of our Nikko photos here.

Again I truly recommend a trip to Nikko if you haven't been. It's one of the most affordable weekend trips from Tokyo. There are a number of travel passes including the Nikko Free Pass which entitles you to four days travel on the Tobu train to and from Asakusa in Tokyo and you can ride all of the buses in Nikko during that time to for only 4400 yen.

Budgie smugglers

This one is for the Australians out there - this hilarious article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald today.

'Budgie smuggler' stunts a boost to tourism

In knitting news, I received my copy of Twinkle's Big City Knits a week ago but haven't gotten around to taking a closer look at it. There are some really cute designs in there though. A review might be coming!!

In sad knitting news, I had nearly finished my Nora Gaughan pentagon shrug thing - only had one sleeve and the collar to go when I faced up to reality - it was monstrous in size. Seriously. I immediately cast on for the smaller size with smaller needles. We'll see how that goes. It's a fun knit but it's a weird shape that doesn't naturally fit the human body. I'm seen a few finished versions on the web, and it seems like everyone had the same problems. It would have been nice to be given some more measurements than just the pentagon size. I don't hold up high hopes for this pattern but I might post a couple of the gigantor shrug photos before I rip, rip, rip.

Um, and can you believe they killed off you-know-who on Grey's Anatomy??!!

And since I always like to include a photo with every post, here's a photo of me and my host family in front of Hirosaki castle during my visit to Aomori last week. I'm smiling in the pic but my feet and hands are FREEZING. Most host mother was horrified I wore a skirt that day.

The year of 007!

Happy New Year!

Last year we had a tropical new years on the Great Barrier Reef but this year we went to the snow. If it's gonna be cold, it might as well be snowy and pretty. That's my logic anyway. We went to Nozawa Onsen in Nagano with our friends Tyler and Sachika. We knew you could ski there but didn't realize that it's predominantly a village for skiiers, so for the first day and a half we walked around envious of all the skiiers and pondered on how the beer and katsu curry must taste so much better after a physical day of skiing. So finally on New Year's Day we took the plunge and skiied all day. Darin snowboarded for the first time and being a skateboarder, he did really well.

I really recommend a trip to Nozawa. The tiny little village has plenty of cheap accomodation and good food. It also has 13 free hot spring baths - we managed to go to four different ones. It snowed the first day we were there.

so we soaked our feet in one of the ashi-yu (hot springs for feet)

the town has a travelator that takes you directly from the town to the ski fields - very convenient!

Hikage ski slope at Nozawa

we saw crazy tyres

saw some cute dogs

we went to almost the top of the mountain - it was truly a winter wonderland

tyler and daz after a hard day on the slopes

then there were snowball fights

my new hat kept me warm - I used a Japanese knitting pattern from this book. (This hat was knit entirely on the flight from Detroit to Tokyo - Darin had to massage my hands afterwards they were so sore).

And we soaked in the best outdoor hot springs that we've all ever been to - Maguse Onsen. Tyler took a lot of great photos from the men's bath (including one of him and darin naked - don't worry it's very classy, no bits can be seen!!) and supposedly lots of other men were too, but things were much more guarded at the women's onsen and I just took a few quick photos. The scenery was amazing and sitting outside in the snow in freezing temps naked but not cold at all is a whole other experience. Highly recommended.

we also ate lots of great local food - handmade soba, tons of nozawana (nozawa style-pickled vegetables) and these baby nagaimos - they are just like mini boiled potatoes - deelicious!

You can view all of our vacation photos here!!!

I hope everyone had a great new years. I didn't really make any resolutions. I hope to join runagogo and lose some of this holiday joy around my belly. Oh and today is my last day as a 31-year old and I take the plunge into the 32s tomorrow. It's going to be a great one!!

More camping photos

I was going to write about how Cameron Diaz is now part of Softbank's new mobile phone campaign in Japan after seeing her face plastered all over Shibuya this morning, but you can just watch the YouTube video of her new commercial if you want. I must say it's a smart move by Softbank as was the promotion where you get a free ipod nano with a new Softbank phone.

I would write about knitting, but you see I have NO time to knit. It's sad. I don't even have a project on my needles. This is vexing me (watched the BBC tv version of Jane Eyre this week) as I have plenty of people that I need to knit for. Chris I promise your scarf will be coming soon, which in knitting time is about a month?? I also need to seam up my Rebecca cardigan so I can wear it to the Knit Out tomorrow (i.e. if it looks good on of course). I have quite a dilemma on my hands though - I need an outfit tomorrow that is appropriate for both the Knit Out and Peaches since the show starts at 6pm and there'll be no time for a outfit change!!!!

I would write about how it was my blog's 3rd anniversary last Saturday, but it's sad that this is the first year I haven't celebrated with some kind of swap or event. Maybe I'll do a new year's swap - perfect timing to cheer everyone up (meaning mostly me)mid winter.

But then Tyler came to the rescue and provided me with some new pictures of our camping trip in Tochigi - perfect blog material. The following photos were all taken by him.

Ok I'm off to have some Friday night drinks with an old friend. Hope you have a great weekend and I'll see you next week!

Ancient times

There's nothing like a bit of time travel back to ancient times to escape the stresses of modern life in Tokyo. A couple of years ago I read that Nicole of the former Ureshiidesu blog had visited a campground in Tochigi that had been created to replicate an ancient Japanese village. I instantly wanted to go. We finally made it this weekend and had a blast. Thanks Nicole!

In true Japanese style absolutely everything was provided - cutlery, plates, dishes, cookware, bbq set, futons, pillowcases, dishwashing liquid and best of all electricity. Our hut had a thatched roof and you could make a fire in the irori (indoor fire pit) at night time.

We also found out that for only 100 yen extra per person you could rent ancient style clothes to really authenticate the old Japanese experience. We found them surprisingly warm.

Jess's sack made him wanna dance

We ate delicious veggie kebabs (thanks Claire!)

Explored our surroundings

and climbed on an ancient (not really) fort with flying foxes (zip lines to the Americans out there). We woke up the next day wondering why we were so sore and then realized that we are all not as young as we used to be (in body but not in mind).

It was a great weekend and you can see the rest of my photos here. Hope everyone out there in the knit bloggy world had fun at Rhinebeck - I'll make it soon I swear!!

Kyosaka 2006

Tadaima.

Daz and I got back on Wednesday night from our summer trip to Kyoto and Osaka. It had been about four years since Darin had been to Kansai and a couple of years since I've visited Kyoto. We were very excited about seeing familiar places, visiting new ones and meeting up with old friends. We only had four days, so we zoomed to Kyoto on the shink - it only takes 2 hours and 20 mins on the Nozomi - I barely had time to knit!

I love Kyoto to bits - always have. It was interesting to go back this time. My main impression was 'Where are all the people?' - seriously, after Tokyo, Kyoto seemed empty (which = heaven). You don't realize how much you get caught up in the frenetic pace of the eastern capital until you take a step away from it. Our main goal on this trip was to RELAX. We have both lived in Kansai before (I lived in Kyoto for four years), so we'd seen most of the famous sightseeing spots. I think I've been to Kinkaku-ji about 10 times (as part of my former job). So we were selective in activities - most involved roaming the streets, sitting by the Kamogawa drinking beer and swimming in the hotel pool. We visited Nanzenji, walked from the hotel in Keage, past Chion-in, through Maruyama park and Yasaka Shrine and wandered around Gion. It's enchanting.

The following day we visited Sanjusangendo and Fushimi Inari Taisha. Both were just as amazing as I remember.

We also found Hanjiro in Kyoto and out of the three I have been to, this is the most spectacular.

And the Nishiki Markets - don't you think these pickles look like eyeballs?

We finished up our trip by spending the last night in Osaka at our friends' new house/shop, Spiral in the Trip. Nobu and Takako have been friends of ours for years (daz used to work for them) and have a few shops selling vintage clothes and furniture. Their specialty is vintage plastic furniture from the 60s and 70s - their stuff is awesome. This year their dream came true and they built a four storey building in Osaka (not far from Shinsaibashi) which is now their home and main furniture showroom. Congrats Nobu, Takako and their cute four-year old daughter, Rui (who sings the Ramones like a professional)! And if anyone ever tells you how much friendlier and more down to earth people from Kansai are - believe it, coz it is true!

BTW, Nobu designed and produced the DJ booth he is leaning on. Only 58 were ever made and you know who owns one - PRINCE!

Ok, that's enough for now. If you want to see all of our photos, you can see them here!!!

ps - Thanks to Yoshi, Kowhai and Tyler for taking care of our pigs while we were away!!!

Ni hei de biru

The title of this post means 'thank you' in the dialect of Okinawa - it sounds nothing like the standard Japanese 'arigato'. In the same sense, Okinawa itself didn't really feel like Japan at all. The buildings/houses were different, the food was unique (there seemed to be an inordinate number of steak restaurants), and it seemed pretty run down in general. It felt a lot like south east asia. Darin and I both liked it a lot. We were only there for four days but it felt like weeks (we were very relaxed). We didn't visit any islands and spent most of our time in the northern town of Nago (pop. 50,000) as we were there to attend a friend's wedding. We stayed at the Kise Beach Palace. We visited the Churaumi Aquarium and the wedding was at Busena Terrace. I recommend all of these places. I posted all of our photos on Flickr, but here are a few of my favourites:

kise beach palace

Ocean Expo Park

one of the millions of lucky shisas concreted on to walls and buildings all over okinawa

cute squid at the Churaumi Aquarium

happy feet

the wedding party - Kyoko wore the most elegant wedding dress and that hat was total class!!!

here's how kyoko spends her nights!!

rock on girls and it was great to see you all in Okinawa!

Six super cool things

Sometimes I have nothing to write about and then I get inspired and have about a million things to write about and get so excited that I have to do it all in one post. That's just me. Here are six super cool things I'm into right now:

Super cool thing number one

Amy has embarked on an up and down tour of Japan starting in Hokkaido and finishing in Okinawa. She's travelling in a van with a bunch of young Japanese people and you can read about her adventures on Japan Hopper. Japan Hopper is a new type of travel blog that is looking for native speakers of English living in Japan who can write about different regional areas of Japan. I just signed up because I'm going on a short holiday tomorrow and thought I could share all of my travel information(see Super Cool thing number 6).

Super cool thing number two

Isn't this an awesome exhibition poster!! While surfing the internet the other day I came across this artist/craftsperson, Rei Ricketts and her amazing bags. There are house bags, super duper handbags shaped as zebras, with trees and cherries on top, and tote bags. This is one more reason to love Tokyo and Kichijoji. For those of you lucky to live in Tokyo, you should check out the Rei Ricketts exhibition at the Niji Garo Gallery in Kichijoji (march 16-21, 12pm to 8pm) - I will SO be there.

Super cool thing number three

This free pattern on Elann! So cute and I am loving the fact that it's knit is one piece from the top down with no seaming. The recommended yarn is 100% cotton and I'm a bit worried it'll be heavy and I won't want to wear it. So I started swatching with some leftover Rowan All Seasons Cotton last night - we'll see how that goes. If I go with the recommended yarn (which is SO cheap) I'm going for GOLD!!

Super cool thing number four

This cool watch/bracelet kit, which will be available at the Shugei Cafe this Sunday (March 12) at Uplink Factory in Shibuya. Fellow Tokyo SNB member and all round crafty lady Taeko has been hard at work crocheting decorations and rallying the troops for this Sunday's event. She has also come up with a brooch kit which will also be for sale for about 300 yen. There will be music, free knitting patterns, and a vintage/new craft book library where you can browse through everyone's craft book treasures. I'm sad that I can't go.

Join us for 'Shugei Cafe' on Sunday, March 12th from 11:45am to 5pm

UPLINK FACTORY - 37-18 Udagawacho Shibuya-ku

Free admission (you have to order at least one drink).
Knit and Craft Cafe, Free Patterns, Musical Live, etc.

Super cool thing number five

Tony and the gang are back THIS SUNDAY. Love this pic of Carmela, Tony's horrible mum, and Meadow and AJ when they were so sweet.

Super cool thing number six

Darin and I leave for Okinawa in 17 hours!!!! The forecast for Tokyo tomorrow is cloudy with a MAX of 11 and MIN of 7. The forecast for Okinawa tomorrow is SUNNY with a MAX of 24 and a MIN of 16 - that's more like it. I have my denim mini, my new hanjiro tshirt, my pink Australia flag hat packed and ready to go...well actually I haven't packed at all, but I've planned my packing. We will be attending a friend's wedding on Sunday so it should be fun - we'll be back on Monday night no doubt complaining again about the cold. On a positive note, there's only 12 days until the official start of spring. Bring on the sakura - can't wait!

See you all next week!!