Hong Kong - February 2007

Hong Kong is my new favorite city.

Hong Kong is really a series of islands. Ferries, bridges and tunnels connect everything. And these islands are hilly. I kept hearing about how crowded the city was, so the amount of green space took me by surprise. From the window of our midtown hotel we could see early-risers doing their Tai Chi exercise in a beautiful botanical garden. Later we walked through the garden and admired the gorgeous plants and enjoyed the antics of the lemurs and monkeys. It’s a great pedestrian city, and if you don’t want to trek the steep street, just hop on the moving side walk, aka the world’s longest escalator, and get zipped right a long.

Britain handed Hong Kong over to China in 1997. It will operate fairly independently until 2047, then mainland China will gobble them up. (Which is ironic considering that this city’s success is due to the 1949 influx of Chinese professionals who were escaping the new Communist government.) Hong Kong is considered the most international of the Asian Pacific port/financial centers that include Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney and Shanghai. It sure was hopping.

We were in town to see our friends and residents, Patty Hudak and Matt, Carl and Nellie Kolon. We had a grand visit –we got to talk, talk, talk and the kids got to play- then we basked in the attention of our personal and knowledgeable tour guides as they whisked us to all their favorite places.

We took the famous Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour and took in the twinkling night view of the Hong Kong skyline. The ferry was founded in the 1800s and is a highly recognizable symbol of the city. As is common in Asia, they recently demolished a historical pier to make way for a land reclamation project. We’ll have to repeat all our stops in the future just to see what has been changed.

Luckily, there are a few famous establishments remaining. We had dim sum at Luk Yu Tea House. This place is old Hong Kong at its best, so we ate and drank tea while admiring the art deco atmosphere. If you go, order the bo lai and jasmine teas.

We had to work off our breakfast, so we took the ferry (of course) to Lamma Island. A half hour later, we were in a different world from the commercial area. A true artist’s community, Lamma Island prohibits automobiles and buildings over 3-stories tall. Walking paths connect the scenic sea-side villages. We ambled along, admired the ocean views and took extra time to dig in the sand at the beaches. After all this activity, we were ready to hit one of the many seafood restaurants, lined up waiting for us to peer into their outdoor tanks and select our fresh dinner. Patty expertly ordered for us, which made Eric really happy because he didn’t want to meet his fish personally.

It’s hard to believe, but the next morning we were able to eat a SECOND dim sum breakfast. I used to go to dim sum in NYC; and am happy to report that Chinatown’s steamed dumplings and egg tarts are authentically Hong Kong/Cantonese. Cantonese, a southern-Chinese dialect, is the primary language of Hong Kong, although English is widely spoken and the northern dialect of Mandarin is becoming more popular.

We then happily shopped the day away visiting street vendors. The next day, there was a grand visit, via double deck bus, to the Ocean Amusement park with yet more great vistas of the city.

The best view was yet to be had. On our final morning we took the Peak Tram, which travels up a hillside to a tower in Victoria Gap. The Peak itself, at over 1,800 feet, is the highest point on Hong Kong Island. We had a panoramic view of the city. Then the kids got to run down the hill back to our hotel. I didn’t want to leave.

Dave and I told Patty and Matt we’ve decided to retire to Hong Kong. They said they want to retire in Kyoto.

Happy travels!
Love, barbara

P.S. Alas, this was our last out-of-Japan trip. Our next adventure is to Tokyo/Kyoto where we meet the Adkisson family from Vermont. In just a few months, we start preparations to pack up and head home!!! We miss you all.

Pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink Folder called 1. Hong Kong 07.

Blog http://iversonjpn.blogspot.com/

Thailand - January 2007

Happy New Year!!

Hope you are all well. We were so enamored with southern Thailand and Bangkok in ‘04, we took this opportunity to go back and see the north.

We hung out a few days in Bangkok first, taking a cooking class, and enjoying the festive atmosphere. The Thais have the utmost reverence for their monarch. King Rama IX is the world’s longest reigning, living sovereign (he beats Elizabeth II by 6 years). His 60th anniversary was last month and the Thais are still celebrating. The royal color is yellow and it’s notably worn by everyone in every way.

A teacher in Bridget’s Vermont school was part of the English program at the Patumwan Thai School when it was founded ten years ago. She hooked us up with her friends and we spent a good part of the day touring the school, chatting with staff and sitting in on classes. It’s an impressive program with the students studying completely in English. They also learn Chinese, French and Japanese. We better start catching up!

We set off to the most northern province of Chiang Rai to meet our adventure travel guides and spent the next five days hiking, biking and riding motor scooters (and yes, elephants!) to amazing destinations.

The highlight for me was the last day of December. We rode a twisty mountain border road into an area dominated by the ethnic hilltribe groups. We trekked a path that went by their homes and beautifully maintained farms and ended up in middle of the town’s New Year’s festival. The Thai New Year is in April, but January 1st is a good excuse for a party. All the locals were enjoying rides made of rickety teak that looked scary to me, but our two dove in.

That night we launched a few khoom fay fire lanterns in honor of the new year. These are like mini-hot air balloons and you hold yours until it fills up enough to lift off. As it rises into the sky, you release 2006 ills, while making 2007 wishes. Wait, I’ve got it wrong. It’s the year 2550 according to the Thai calendar. Now I’m not sure exactly which year I’ll get my wish.

The next day we did more riding along the border. “Myanmar” is the name the locals prefer for the neighboring country, while English-speakers say “Burma”. A very poor country, it has suffered under military government’s infighting. Standing at the border, Thailand’s pruned and maintained areas were a sharp contrast to Myanmar’s unkempt terrain.

We spent the night at the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet. China creeps in there too. We visited the excellent Opium Museum run by the Queen Mother’s foundation. This region of Thailand was overrun with opium fields not too long ago. Thailand eradicated the opium by giving the people incentives to reforest the area, plant tea, fruit and coffee all while preserving the northern culture. It was heartening to see such a positive outcome.

Next we found ourselves following the Laos border as we took a long-tail boat down the Mekong River. This massive river runs through seven countries (Tibet, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam). We even got to say we were officially in Laos by stopping at an island along the way. No passport necessary.

I’m missing it all already. The scenery was like nothing else and I loved finding shrines and Buddhas in unlikely spots. It was a busy time of festivals and celebration and the Thai people are so full of life.

Best wishes for 2007/2550!

Love, barbara


Pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink Folder called 1.ThailandDec.Jan07. If you’re interested in the school see - 2.Patumwan School-Bangkok

Blog: http://iversonjpn.blogspot.com/

End of November - 12/1/06

Greetings! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Can’t believe November has drawn to a close.

No Macy’s parade for us, but we did get helium exposure at a balloon festival earlier in the month. Only one balloon braved a rather breezy day. Our friend, Angela, was disappointed and said that in previous years more than 50 balloons would be airborne. We were happy to see one. Any excuse for us to take in the festival scene!

Dave, the kids, Ian and Stuart re-visited one of their favorite amusement parks. Mitsui Greenland specializes in roller coasters with names like The Atomic and Megaton (see why I skipped it?). The park is easy to find because there is a large (helium!) Ultraman lording over it.

The next day we explored a peninsula south of Nagasaki. We took a winding road that skimmed the edge of steep-sea-plunging- cliffs that led us to beach nirvana. Lots of beaches, some sandy, some rocky. Where were these places in the summer? The best one was a green sand beach that we got to explore and enjoy at sunset.

On the way home we found Chris’ American pizza. I know that this is not so exciting to you guys, but the Japanese are not exactly world-renowned for their cheese. They also have a fondness for corn and mayonnaise toppings that we’ve never quite embraced, so Chris’ authentic ingredient pizza was a treat. We ordered a “meat lovers”. No fish in sight.

I joined Eric’s class trip and went to a Nagasaki television studio for a live taping of a talk show. The kids sat quietly behind the hosts for a full hour. They put Eric right up front and he was a little squirmier than the rest but managed pretty well. Onward to the
Mitshibushi shipyard; they seem to own half of Nagasaki. The scale is massive. These guys are building the ocean cargo freighters. Wow.

Our wonderful friend, Aya, came from Okinawa to spend Thanksgiving weekend with us. We took her to a guest house in hot spring country (ryoken onsen) and had a grand time. Our kimono-clad hostess served us tea in our tatami room and then we changed into yukatas, trotted down to the hot spring and admired the garden from our steamy seat in the natural setting stone tub. (I know I keep writing about hot springs, but it’s one of my favorite Japanese experiences). We had a great meal in our room and had to take the traditional Thanksgiving walk. Yukata-clad foreigners clomping along in our too-small wooden sandals must’ve been a funny sight. Luckily, Aya looked great.

The next day we went to the BioPark, an interactive zoo, and particularly enjoyed the monkeys. This part of Japan specializes in pottery, so we did some shopping and stopped off for Bridget and Eric to make a cup on a pottery wheel. We caught some high school students having a fashion show of their design school projects – hand-sewn, hand-dyed kimonos. I posted a too dark photo, but hopefully the creativity and beauty shows through.

Have a wonderful December -with all the festivities, fun, craziness and joy.

Love, barbara



Pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink called 2006-November.


Blog http://iversonjpn.blogspot.com/

Singapore - November 2006

Happy November!

I showed up at my J-Economics class with omiyogi (the obligatory return-from-trip gift) and as my professor bit into her cookie, she said, “Singapore, eh? Not really part of Asia”. Well, yes, it is. Southeast Asia specifically. But I know what she’s getting at because a few weeks ago she announced “Japan is not Asia”. (I was waiting for the “it’s East Asia” lecture). But, noooo. Her point was that Japan and Singapore are too westernized to belong to the Asia family. Or maybe that western feeling has something to do with Singapore’s history as a British colony and the post-war American occupation of Japan. Or maybe it’s because my professor is Filipino.

The omiyogi cookies were the shape of the Singapore Merlion; the mascot of the island nation. Yes, a merlion is a lion’s head on a mermaid tail. But it works for this port city. Country. 269 square miles makes it a really small country. My favorite aspect of Singapore is that it is a true blend of cultures. We heard Chinese, Indian and Malaysian spoken. The official language is English, so the translation corner of my brain got a vacation too.

Our primary entertainment was eating. We showed up in Little India more than once. Chinatown was another good stop. But we spent most of our time at street hawker’s booths; a row of food stalls where we could pick and chose our medley of satay’s, curries, chili crab, exotic fruit drinks and something called carrot cake which was a seafood omelet minus the carrot or cake. Singapore is a spotless city, in an uptight, controlled way. Although, I have to admit, it was nice to eat at the friendly neighborhood street vendor with an “A” rating official document hanging from their booth.

I met my Vermont friend and Singapore’s newest resident, Amy Lange, for tea. What fun to meet in, um, almost-Asia. She told me about her new place in a massive apartment complex. The skyscrapers of the city give way to miles and miles of residential buildings. Envisioning a lot of poured concrete, it was great to see that the city and surrounding areas are full of parks, tropical trees and flowers.

We used the MRT subway to cover a good bit of ground and saw the local (controlled) wildlife at a bird park and a very cool night safari. Singapore is just barely north of the equator, with the temperature steady at 85 F with 85% humidity, so the critters were all tropical and beautiful. We also spent a lot of time in the pool.

Eric has blogged the trip in great detail, and my disclaimer is that Dave and I did not buy animal parts in Chinatown. http://www.ericjapaneseexperience.blogspot.com/

Big thanks to our Isahaya-friends, the Bartlett family, Ian, Angela and Stuart, for sharing their week with us in one of their favorite places.

Hope you are all well, happy and healthy,

Love, barbara


Pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink called 2006-Singapore.


I blog on living in Japan at http://iversonjpn.blogspot.com/

Festivals and Rice - October 2006

Hello all,

Hope you are having a fabulous Autumn ~ heard we missed some nice leaf peeping. We hiked our favorite local volcano a few weeks ago and the Japanese red maples were starting to turn. The trees and leaves were like miniature versions of our Vermont red maples.

'Tis matsuri season in Japan. Matsuris are local festivals that follow the rice harvest calendar. Last time we just watched the goings-on; this time we seem to be participating more than observing.

Eric’s school held Undoukai – a school sports festival. Eric’s team scored the most points in relay races, tug of war, ball shooting and dance to claim the school trophy for the year. At lunch time, everyone pulled out their carefully wrapped bentos. These boxed lunches are packed in lacquerware trays that contain beautifully arranged rice, fish, pickles and vegetables. The families seem to compete over who has the most elaborate bento, which means the Japanese housewife got up at some ungodly hour to assemble them.
I’m sure everyone was duly impressed by our plastic bag of smooshed peanut butter sandwiches.

The following week, Bridget and Eric both rowed in the Peron or dragon boat race festival. With twenty people to a boat, there is one person in charge of the rudder and another who rings the gong while the twenty paddlers, well, paddle in sync with the gong. That’s the idea any way. They raced out in the Omura bay and had a grand time. Bridget was part of the winning team. She was smart enough not to sit by the gong.

Last weekend was one of the largest festivals in Japan and it’s right here in Nagasaki. The 370-year old Kunchi festival celebrates the God of Nagasaki’s Suwa Shrine by parading elaborate floats depicting different points in this harbor city’s history. The Dutch and Chinese influence is represented by beautifully costumed dancers acting out stories from the past. It’s all amazing and we rewarded our wanderings by sampling the great festival food.

The mountainous Japanese islands don’t allow much space for people, never mind agriculture, and everywhere we’ve gone in Japan, we’ve marveled at how rice fields are squeezed into every possible nook and cranny. Our island of Kyushu is less populated, so rice fields are every where. Rice is planted in the Spring and the strong fibrous stalks grow to be about half a meter high and support heavy heads of rice.

We helped a family yesterday thresh their crop. They had cut the stalks a week ago, using a piece of equipment that cuts and binds the stalks together. The family had constructed pole supports to hang the rice bundles to dry. We helped lift the bundles off their supports and feed the stalks through a machine that separated the grains. It spit out the stalks and blew the grains into 20-kg bags. We loaded the bags into a truck. Later they’ll bring the bags to a clever rice vending machine that hulls, polishes and repackages the rice.

We put some of the stalks into another machine that could be walked around the field while it chopped and blew out mulch. In another field, we bundled up the stalks and loaded them on pallets. We were told that they will take them into town where they’ll be made into tatami – a Japanese mat.

In the 80s and humid, it was hot, dusty work, but we had a good time and were plied with lots of snacks and drinks at break time. We were told that they appreciated how tall we are because it’s easy for us to lift the stalks off the poles (Bridget is taller than most Japanese adults). Before we left, we gave them some syrup and told them that we were maple farmers. They had a good laugh over that. I don’t think anyone taps the miniature Japanese maple trees.

We leave on the 22nd for a week in Singapore. I hope you have a wonderful October and I’ll write more soon,

Love, barbara

Pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink called 2006-SeptOct.

I blog on living in Japan at http://iversonjpn.blogspot.com/

China - September 2006

We were in China the same time as our friend, Dave Barrington. We were camera-toting tourists of Shanghai and Beijing and he was hiking the alpine tundra of a peak on the eastern fringe of the Himalaya. I think our pictures are going to be different.

Shanghai was a wonderful mix of old and new. The pre-WWII Shanghai was a product of European colonialism, with the Chinese living in the section that is today called Old Town. Cousins Yuan and Helen and Yuan’s parents gave us a grand tour. The buildings ooze history and culture with Yu Yun Garden being an oasis of greenery and scenery. Fireworks exploded just as we walked along the scenic Bund, overlooking the Huangpu River and a modern financial district that couldn’t have been more of a contrast to Old Town.

I fell in love with Shanghai just because of its sheer personality- it has grit and flash and loves to show off. The skyscrapers sported party-hat type peaks -- some looked like space ships, others just marvels of engineering with waves and wild twists. Spending too much time looking up is dangerous because of the careening stream of bicycles and cabs. Yuan’s mother had an iron grip on Eric every time we crossed the street.

We took an overnight sleeper train to Beijing and it was great to see the countryside along the way, with lots of farms, villages and folks simply walking their dogs.

Beijing is in the throes of preparing for the 2008 Olympics. These games are the raison d’etre for the day/night construction and new obedience laws – reduce spitting in the streets and ticket anyone ignoring traffic signals (how un-Shanghai-like). The city’s layout is perfectly organized, set up like a grid and recalls a China that believed the shape of the earth was square (not flat) and the universe was round. The buildings, for the most part, are low and squat, and seemed rather uptight after the gaiety of Shanghai. I guess that’s appropriate for the center of government.

Our Beijing guide, Anna, took us to Tiananmen Square, which looked unremarkable until the scale of it all hit us. Designed to accommodate a million people, it wasn’t until we compared the buildings to a car or a group or people that we appreciated the enormity of it. The Tiananmen Gate is on the north side of the square. On one side is a portrait of Mao and the other is the entrance to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City gave us another lesson in size and is a stunning homage to the imperial dynasties.

A highlight of our trip was visiting a hutong. This is a traditional but dying way for several generations to live together. A hutong is a building with several rooms clustered around a central courtyard, with each branch of the family living in one room, a combination bedroom, living and dining room. The shared kitchen was in a separate room. We were given a tour and the matriarch of the group served us a vast variety of dishes for lunch.

Squeezed into our tour we watched a Chinese acrobat show, took a rickshaw ride, enjoyed tea house selections and ate a Peking Duck dinner-- it’s touristy, but heck; it’s fun.

Everywhere we went we were pursued by vendors yelling “Hey lady, lady, I have a special price for you!” Some things were incredible inexpensive and some were not, but the Chinese expect bartering. My bid-low method didn’t work when the kids started to argue in favor of the seller – “Mom, don’t offer that price, didn’t you hear them???” Bridget soon mastered the don’t-look-interested-when-you’re-interested technique (heck, she’s a teenager), but Eric just couldn’t hide his enthusiasm. It’s not possible to haggle when your kid is drooling over something.

Speaking of drooling, the Great Wall of China is beyond impressive. It was a hazy, humid day but we could still follow the path of the wall as it hugged the ridgeline far into the distance. The Great Wall is actually a series of walls that took on import depending on the era. It was first linked as a single wall about 200 BC with a Ming empire investing 200 years improving it around 1300 AD. We hiked along the wall for a few hours and truly marveled at the wonder of it.

Another overnight sleeper train brought us to back to Shanghai and our last day with Yuan and Helen. They took us to Zhujiajiao, the Venice of China. We took a gondola through the canals and visited a preserved Buddhist temple. A few more spectacular meals later and we were waving good-bye to our cousins and wonderful family.

We’re back to the start of school and all the changes that September brings. Hope you are well and happy,


Pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink called 2006-China.

Kyushu August - August 2006

Hi all!

Hope you are having a wonderful summer.

We’ve been trying to keep cool and find water since I’ve done nothing but whine about the heat. One Saturday we took a train to Nagasaki, a ferry to an island, and then a short bus ride later ~voila~ there was beautiful Iojima Beach. The sea was lovely and there was an open air shade building where we could eat our lunch and keep our stuff. We had a grand swim and a relaxing onsen bath before heading home.

The following weekend we went to the big city of Fukuoka which is a major port and the largest city on our island of Kyushu. It has all the stuff that cities have and it’s a manageable size, on the water, with lots to see. We went to a great museum, wandered the neon-lit streets at night and spent the next day at a baseball stadium watching the Fukuoka Hawks play the Osaka Orix. Then for the big highlight of the day -- on our way home we hit one of five Costco stores in all of Japan. It was amazingly the same as every Costco I’ve ever been in. Now, if I only had US freezer and pantry space. - We still managed to make room for the essentials.

Due east of Fukuoka is Kokura, the city that was the atom bomb target on August 9, 1945. (But the skies weren't clear, so the pilot headed for Nagasaki instead). The ceremonies commemorating that day were profoundly sad. Sigh.

A few days later was Obon, a national and family-time holiday, with members gathering to honor their ancestors. On the first Obon following the death of a family member, the soul of the deceased is placed in a boat in order to send it on a voyage to paradise. Most places in Japan quietly parade their boats through the streets, but Nagasaki’s spirit boat procession incorporates firecrackers. Despite the noise, the families were quite solemn. They also carry a gong, striking it every few moments. Well, I think they did; I was wearing earplugs.

We’re pulling off a last minute trip to China next week. Cousins Yuan and Helen are going to be in Shanghai visiting Yuan’s parents. We couldn’t pass on their kind invitation to join them! We’re also going to take a train to Beijing and see the sites there. So the heck with learning Japanese, I’ve gotta work on Mandarin!

More soon,

Pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink called 2006-August.

Isahaya Return - July 2006

Konnichiwa everyone,

We moved into our home-away-from-home a week ago and have been doing all those settling things, which means Dave translated 3,600 million pages of instructions and got our Internet and wireless working.

I’ve never in my life lived in a real, honest to goodness neighborhood, so this is a new experience. The blocks aren’t in a grid, so I twist and wind my way through the streets, getting lost and back tracking. I got over the drive-on-the-left intimidation quickly but continue to get in the wrong side of the car. The really funny thing is that it’s the same, exact car we leased last year. Same license plate, same little scrape on the bumper (not that I know anything about that). The rental folks have clearly been saving it for us. Maybe no one else would rent it.

Once in the right block, we just look for the bright orange house with the aquamarine Astroturf on the stoop. We even have a few lawn gnomes to complete the picture. I’ve decided that the owners must hate their neighbors. Seriously, the house has really worked out well for us and we’re especially enjoying our traditional tatami room. I’ll have to fill it with calligraphy and flower arrangements to make it authentic. Right now we’re calling it the electronics shrine room since its outlets are accommodating the 3,600 million chargers we own.

Leaving Vermont was hectic, with the builder literally driving the last nail in the new garage as we were loading our suitcases in the car, so it was nice to spend a few days in Tokyo decompressing. We met friends one day and generally noodled around some really cool museums.

A local family, the Bartletts, have been enthusiastically championing our return and it’s been fun catching up with them. Angela and I have birthdays a day apart, so we celebrated with the families by spending a night at a ryokan; a traditional Japanese inn. This one was in the onsen community of Obama, a sea village at the foot of our favorite local volcano-- about an hour’s drive from our place. I think most people wouldn’t consider going to an onsen/hot spring during the middle of a Nagasaki summer, but we decided we needed to increase our core temperature a few hundred notches.

Happy summer!
Love, barbara

See some pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink the folder is called 2006-July.

3/27/05: Okinawa and Fire Festival

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful time in Okinawa with our friend, Aya. Okinawa prefecture is a string of subtropical islands and home to beautiful beaches and scenery. While very Japanese, it is influenced by nearby China and the U.S. military presence, but mostly it is unique because of its past independent existence as the Kingdom of Ryukyu. Viewed as the Latin America of Japan, its people are energetic, expressive and enthusiastic.

Aya took us to Shuri Castle where the king governed from the 15th century until the 1870s when the Japanese mainland began absorbing the kingdom and stifling its history. The castle was destroyed during WWII, but has been lovingly restored and is an impressive site. Okinawa was under U.S. jurisdiction until 1972 when it was returned to Japan and the islanders exchanged their dollars for yen and their passports switched from American to Japanese.

We spent a good part of the next day at Aya's beautiful home where she showed us how to play Sanshia (Okinawan guitars), a gorgeous instrument covered in snakeskin. Later on we went to Gyokusendo Kingdom Village which depicted traditional Okinawan life with its crafts, foods, dance and music. The kids got to form drinking glasses and do Bingata, a way to dye cloth with vibrant colors and designs using a rice paste stencil.

We began our Sunday with a list of places to go to, but ended up spending the entire day at the aquarium. We had been warned by an aquarium enthusiast at Sony that he had visited many of the world's aquariums and Okinawa's was the best. He was right! The collection of sea life was impressive and fascinating.

Ryukyu cuisine is a combination of Chinese and Japanese cooking styles. Aya took us to a fresh food market where we could negotiate prices with the vendors and then bring our purchases upstairs to the restaurant floor. We had our fish prepared in a Ryukyu style sweet and sour sauce. What a fun way to have a meal!

Our trip was over quickly, a few weeks later, back in Nagaski prefecture, we attended a fire festival in the town of Chijiwa. The entire village dressed in elaborate costumes and carried torches to a shrine. The festival depicted the samuri times where the coming of age was 15 and the boys began training as samuri.

School is over for Bridget and Eric. It was a good experience and they already miss their classmates. The Japanese school year ends late March and begins again two weeks later. We won't be beginning the new year and will crank up the home schooling schedule until Dave's assignment wraps up the end of April. We're squeezing in a trip to Australia and will be back in Vermont by mid-May. Time has zipped by!

Photos at: http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink Folders called March Okinawa and March Fire Festival

Blog at: http://iversonjpn.blogspot.com/

February 2005

Greetings! I don't know where February went. Hope you are all well. I heard the northeast got lots of snow. We are very jealous!

Despite our cool and rainy weather, February 3rd was the first day of spring. The Japanese tradition is to throw soy beans or peanuts around the house to chase out bad luck. The school seemed particularly interested in ridding itself of bad luck and Bridget and Eric got to throw peanuts at their classmates and particularly at the kid with a red devil mask on. I bought the supermarket kit (mask and nuts) and our two experts had a great time destroying our apartment. I don't know if they felt it was good luck or bad luck, but I had them clean the place afterwards.

The following week we celebrated the Chinese New Year in Nagasaki's Chinatown district where a beautiful Lantern Festival was held. All the streets were decked out with intricate lanterns strung overhead. The main display was in a park and featured oversized lanterns and glowing statues. It was quite a sight and the hustle and bustle was augmented by the street venders hawking their wares.

The next celebration was Valentine's Day, and here it is not a romantic day. On February 14th, women give men (co-workers, friends, etc.) dark chocolate. White Day, March 14th, is the reciprocation day when men return the favor, only they give the women white chocolate. White chocolate signifies sweetness (like the women), while the dark chocolate is supposed to be more manly.

We had a fun weekend with Underhill friends (the Exlers) visiting us and sharing a slice of home. We spent a night at a Japanese ryoken (inn/hot spring resort) and took in the local sites. The Holland theme park, Huis Ten Bosch, was awash in tulips, so I got some great photos. Later on we went to the well-done Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. It didn't take many images from August 1945 to scare the pants off of us. I'd like to think that if we had a museum like this in every country in the world, the public would ensure that there were no more nuclear weapons.

Anne and Josh also got to experience a pachinko parlor. Japan's entire landscape is being taken over by tasteless, yet creative and fantastically-built architecture. These huge buildings are cartoonish and garish on the outside and unbelievably loud and smoky on the inside. Players line up in front of vertical pinball machines and insert a stream of ball bearings. If the player is extremely lucky, they win hundreds of ball bearings and can exchange them for cigarettes or candy at the counter. These goodies are then taken to an outside window (gambling is illegal in Japan, you know) and traded for cash. I read that pachinko is now the single largest industry in Japan, outpacing cars and computers.

We are off to Okinawa this weekend. We are visiting Aya, our Vermont Japanese language tutor. She is back home after finishing her master’s degree at St. Mike's. Okinawa's climate and culture is unique and I expect will differ in many ways from the Japanese mainland. We are looking forward to seeing Aya again!

All our best,

barbara

Photos at http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink folder called February2005.

Blog at http://iversonjpn.blogspot.com

Kyoto, Tokyo

Happy January! and Happy Year of the Rooster. The Eastern zodiac signs repeat every twelve years, so if you were born in 1993, 1981, 1969, 1957, 1945 or 1933, this is your year! Apparently, you are hard-working and definite about decisions. Bridget is a Rooster; I was born the Year of the Rabbit and she is definite about her envy.

We had a good December but missed all the holiday traditions with friends and family. We drowned our sorrows by attending a traditional Bounenkei i.e. "forget-the-year-party". The Sony test team put together the weekend event and invited all of us, (no one else brought their spouse or children, so we were quite honored). After the banquet, we played games that seemed to be fixed so that Bridget and Eric would win the top prizes. Eric got the coveted, newly-introduced-in-Japan-only, Sony PlayStation Portable, so even though Dave is not a Rooster, he is definitely jealous. The next day, we stopped at a kaki (oyster) shack for lunch. We sat at a line of outdoor fire pits and were given a glove, a knife and a bucket of oysters. After gorging ourselves with grilled oysters and the provided beer, Dave & I stumbled home and slept all afternoon while Eric played on his PSP.

We spent Christmas in Kyoto and New Years in Tokyo.

Kyoto is home to so many hidden gems that we wished we had longer to spend there. We saw the Imperial Palace, the Golden Pavilion, museums and temples but our favorite part of Kyoto was attending a traditional tea ceremony. Tea ceremony blends the arts of ikebana (flower arranging) scroll making, kimono wear and Japanese gardening together as a cultural experience. It was a wonderful way to get an understanding of the beauty and harmony of the traditions.

We did find a church for Christmas Eve service and matched our English words to the Japanese for Silent Night and Come All Ye Faithful. The city was decked out in Christmas decorations despite not being a holiday/religious event for mainstream Japanese. All red and green is quickly removed on the 26th and great effort and time is spent preparing for the big holiday -- New Year's.

We loved Tokyo! So much to see and do and such high energy. We took the monorail to Oidaba- an island in Tokyo Bay with the city of the future. The next day we visited Tokyo Disney and Mickey conjured up some snow for us. Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain are fun no matter what country you are in. We also spent a shopping day in Akihabara so we could get our fill of electronic gadgets.

Everywhere we went, we noticed folks working hard to clean their home by sweeping out the old and preparing for the new. The shrines were buffed up too and new bamboo placed at their entrances. On New Years Day, the tradition is to visit a shrine and ask the gods for a fresh start to the year. We chose a shrine that was on top of a small, snow-covered mountain. The mountain and area were beautiful and the shrine mobbed and interesting. It was a good beginning to the year.

Having been to Thailand for Thanksgiving we were horrified by the tsunami news. The resort we stayed at was in Krabi, a beach down from Phuket. We can picture where people were living, working and playing along the water. Aack! We asked the gods to pay particular attention to the survivors.

We enjoyed our ride home on the shinkansen (bullet train). It zooms smoothly along the track at a neat 300/kph and we got great views of the Japanese countryside and Mt. Fuji.

Back in Isahaya, Bridget and I were invited to a "Coming of Age" ceremony. Anyone turning twenty this year attends the ceremony and the mayor and other officials lecture them on being responsible citizens of Japan. For the 20-year olds, the significance of the day has more to do with being able to legally drink and smoke. Lots of smoking was going on at the ceremony and there was a line of taxis ready to take the crowd to the bars. What was fascinating for us was that the women were all dressed in beautiful and elaborate kimono. A few of the men had on kimono, but most wore suits. Bridget thought it was an interesting contrast to see the kimono-clad women chatting away on their cell phones.

Photos at http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink Folders called Dec Kyoto, Dec Tokyo, Jan Coming of Age

12/7/04: Thailand

Happy December!

Our Thailand trip was fascinating. First we went to Bangkok, where we met up with our adventure-cultural-enthusiast travel guides. They snaked us through the labyrinth of a city via sky train, tuk-tuk, motorcycle, canal boat and, of course, on foot. They educated us on Thailand's vast history as we visited the reclining budda, the emerald budda, temples and wats. The Grand Palace was absolutely stunning.

The next day we toured the countryside just north of the city via bicycle and long tail boat and explored ancient ruins and stone palaces. It was easy to picture what it all would've looked like in 1350.

No one in Thailand seems to cook because they can easily grab a great (and cheap!) meal at one of the many street venders. We walked through the markets where the vendors buy their raw ingredients. Not a good time for the battery in the camera to die! We'll never forget the sights, sounds and smells of foods we couldn't even begin to describe, much less name. Although I did recognize the mounds of curry and chili peppers which was the foundation of most of our meals. We all felt the food was a big highlight of the trip.

We finished our Bangkok visit at the city outskirts and wound our way along the elevated khlong walkways. These walkways are similar to sidewalks, only they are between one and two meters above the water. We dodged bicycles, motorcycles and other pedestrians while keeping our eye on the canal boat traffic. It was a great way to catch a glimpse of traditional Thai life -- we loved the hand-built, wooden houses on stilts that line the waterways and seeing the people at work and play.

We ended up at a Thai elementary school and totally disrupted their day. Bridget and Eric were a huge hit as the students had never seen Western children. In one class, the students were folding the paper cranes that would be used a week later when the Thai Air Force dropped millions of them on a corner of the south as a symbol of peace to their countrymen who are living through a spate of violence.

With five days left and guide-free, we took a flight to the Andaman coast and stayed at a resort that backed into mountains and was only accessible by boat. We were surrounded by limestone cliffs that rose hundreds of feet straight from the ocean. Although it was a rock climbers mecca, we were more focused on the water for swimming, kayaking and snorkeling.

Ah, back to reality. After enjoying how far the Thai-baht could stretch we are now in Japanese-yen sticker shock. Dave said we spent more on one meal in the Osaka airport than we did on all Thai meals combined, but I'm not sure I believe him.

I hope the next few weeks are not too busy for you. We are preparing for a maple sugar presentation to Eric's class next week (and next month for Bridget's class). We'll use an interpreter, lots of pictures and plenty of syrup in our demonstration. I'm writing my paper for my comparative management class (I'm presenting that next week, too --what was I thinking?!) and will have nothing else due until classes end in late February. Dave is busy planning our Christmas/New Years adventure to Kyoto and Tokyo.

Christmas in Japan is not a holiday. It's actually treated as a romantic evening to go to dinner with a date and then -ahem- visit one of Japan's many love hotels. Celebrating New Years is THE big event, so we're looking forward to being in Tokyo for the festivities.

-barbara

November Thailand photos at http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink