Grandma Jenny and Papi in Kyoto

My parents came to visit in April, and in addition to watching Will play tee ball and Clara dance, we took them to Kyoto!  We only spent a couple of days there, with the first day being repeats of places that we visited before, so I'll just give a quick recap from our first day.  

First, we went to Fushimi Inari, one of my very favorite places in all of Japan!

Then, of course, we had to show them the Golden Pavilion!

And, then, to finish off our day, we took them to Nijo Castle, or, as we like to call it: Ninja Castle.

The rest of our time in Kyoto was spent going to new places, which I'll post about soon!

A Day in Yokohama

Last year, we went down to Yokohama to visit the Cup Noodle Museum and also visit Chinatown, but we ended up spending so much time at the museum that we didn't end up having time to walk through Chinatown.  We finally found a spare day (a year later!) to drive down, explore Chinatown, and eat some dim sum.  

After walking around a bit, we found an all-you-can-eat dim sum restaurant and gorged ourselves on delicious Chinese food :)

We explored a bunch more shops in Chinatown and had fun seeing all the unique souvenirs and Chinese grocery stores.

After Chinatown, we walked over to Yamashita Park right along the water.  The kids ran around for a while and then we went and checked out a water safety (we think that's what it was about!) festival!  The kids got to try on coast guard uniforms, sit on a mini police motorcycle, touch and hold sea creatures, and we watched a helicopter water rescue demonstration.  It was pretty cool and quite entertaining for the kids!

We walked down the boardwalk a ways, relaxed on some grass for a while, happened upon an Indian Holi Festival at the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse, and then walked down to grab some malasadas from Leonard's at World Porters.  It was a packed day full of fun and delicious food!!

GPS Coordinates:

Chinatown:  35.443485, 139.646487

Yamashita Park:  35.445898, 139.649748

Red Brick Warehouse:  35.453239, 139.643139

World Porter's:  35.454264, 139.638782

Moomin Park

Have you ever heard of the Finnish character, Moomin???  Moomins are big, white hippopotamus-type animals.  And, well, before we had moved here, I hadn't ever heard of them either!  But Japanese people love Moomin and so they are everywhere!  In fact, nearby in Saitama, there is even a Moomin Park where the buildings look like the Moomin houses in the Finnish stories.  It's a free park and it is completely charming.  The houses are big with stairs, nooks and crannies for kids to explore.  We went with a bunch of friends and our kids never wanted to leave.  It would be perfect to bring a picnic lunch and a ball to kick around as well.  But, the drive is well worth the outing!

GPS Coordinates:  35.830779, 139.344180

Jigokudani Monkey Park--Checking Seeing The Nagano Snow Monkeys off our Bucket List!

After visiting Matsumoto Castle, we stayed the night in tiny little Airbnb apartment in Matsumoto (decorated interestingly in a manga theme . . . ) and woke up that morning to fresh snow!  It was perfect!  We were heading to Nagano to see the snow monkeys and we were excited to be able to see the snow monkeys actually in the snow!

It ended up being a very cold and icy hike, but it was worth it!  Seeing the snow monkeys in their natural habitat, scurrying all over the place--practically running over our feet and bumping up against us--was amazing!

The workers at the park feed the monkeys three times a day just to keep the monkeys in the area, and we arrived right as they were getting their morning meal, so right as we walked up, the monkeys came scurrying down the mountain in a big herd.  It was crazy!  And then to see them run around, splash in the river, and soak in the hot springs was so awesome.  

William had his camera with him and was totally into the whole experience.  It was almost more fun to watch Will getting excited and following the monkeys around to take pictures than it was to just watch the monkeys!

Overall, it was an unreal experience!  And one for the books--we can check it off our bucket list now!

GPS Coordinates:  36.732827, 138.462134

Matsumoto Castle

A few days after Christmas, we packed up our car and headed north to see Matsumoto Castle and the Nagano snow monkeys.  It was a quick trip; we went for two days and rented a tiny Airbnb apartment (for $50!!!) that was about a mile away from the castle to stay in for the night.

Matsumoto Castle is stunning!  As we drove up to it, I felt like we had gone back in time.  It is still in incredible condition and the grounds surrounding it are beautiful.  

We spent the afternoon touring the castle and the grounds before heading into the city center to eat dinner.  We found a delicious restaurant and then headed back to our cozy (but cold) apartment to set up our futons and get some sleep.  Then, when we woke up the next morning, we looked out our window to see fresh snow!  Since we were staying so close to the castle, we just had to drive over and take pictures of it beautifully dusted with the fresh-fallen snow.  It was picture perfect.

Next, on to the snow monkeys!!!  Stay tuned for a blog post coming soon :)

GPS Coordinates for Matsumoto Castle: 36.238908, 137.969001

Christmas Lights at Seibuen Amusement Park

On Christmas day, after opening our presents, playing with all of our new toys, and eating our Christmas dinner at the conveyer belt sushi restaurant, Hamazushi, we went to ride some rides and see the lights at Seibuen Amusement Park!  Seeing thousands of Christmas lights and making ourselves sick riding the teacups and the swings was the perfect way to end our holiday!  Our friends, the Okudas, met up with us and we really had a blast.  It was freezing, but so much fun!

GPS Coordinates for Seibuen:  35.768868, 139.442848