Yunessun in Unison

At the tail end of our trip to Singapore, we took one last day of vacation to head back to Hakone to try out Yunessun, the fabulous spa resort. We bought half price tickets from the Navy base and drove two hours. Then after donning our gender-specific cover-ups, we enjoyed a full day of going from one hot bath to the next.














Some baths were inside with a normal pool-like atmosphere.


Except that they were really nice and warm. And more notably, some were green (I hope that's not why they called it an "Ancient" bath); purple; or full of salt like the Dead Sea (although I was alive with the pain of freshly shaved legs, so only Brian tested its flotation properties to the fullest.)

And some baths were outside in a more natural section of the resort called "Yutopia." That is, if you call bathing in coffee, wine, sake, or green tea "natural."

As you can see, we had a very enjoyable day together. The echos of many joyous (mostly Japanese) screams would've masked them anyway, but no one had any temper tantrums. Miranda didn't want a nap or need her "binky" at all. And we were moving fast enough from pool to pool so as to not bore Sydney. Thus, I think this qualifies as Yunessun in unison...even if we're not all looking good in the "quintessential Japanese bath" photo. If we could just remove Miranda's hand to reveal Sydney's face, we could take away the Y in Yutopia; it was that fun.

Celebrating Five Years Together















(And a new camera. See previous post.)

The latter three-fifths of our marriage has been spent in Japan, so it's very sentimental that Brian secretly journeyed to the Mikimoto in Ginza Tokyo (with Miranda in tow one Saturday in January) to pick out a beautiful black pearl pendant necklace as an anniversary surprise, which he gave me on our date that he arranged. I love it and it reminds me of him; it's gorgeous, brilliant, and just what I would've picked out if I'd picked it today.

Mere Memories of Singapore

For our last adventure while living in Japan, we recently decided against an all-inclusive relaxing beach vacation in Saipan (remind me to always go with my first instinct) and instead opted for a free military (AMC) flight to Singapore to experience a little more Asian culture (and English-speakers, for an easier time of things). We arrived with such ease (especially in comparison to my October AMC trip to Okinawa) and set off to enjoy our week in this tropical city full of great food, upscale shopping and fun activities.

Although note that there are no relaxing beaches in Singapore. And come to find out, their rainy season is in March (which is not advertised clearly on the city state's website).

We did notice the rain showers right away, so the first day we made our way to Orchard Road for some window shopping decked out in our rain gear. We enjoyed some local Singaporean food for lunch at a hawker stall. It was fast and delicious and the price of a full meal, S$3.80 ($2.50) was a pleasant surprise.

When we saw sun our second full day, we headed straight for the Singapore Zoo, where we started our day with a buffet breakfast alongside free-roaming orangutans--the zoo's main claim to fame. We spent a whole day watching the animals in beautiful, and what appeared to be fairly natural, habitats. Sydney had a blast at a water playground within the zoo, where she played for more than an hour and a half.

On the way out of the zoo, while Sydney took a catnap in the stroller and Brian treated Miranda to some ice cream, I stole 10 minutes for myself at a nearby spa to "try my feet" at the Turkish fish pond. These minnow-size fish literally feed on the dead skin of your feet--if you can stand the tickle/slight sting and the mere thought of the fish sinking their teeth into your feet. I had to continually stifle a little scream that welled up within me as the number of fish attached to my feet increased exponentially within seconds. The two young Asian men sitting opposite of me, with our backs to each other, were kind enough to be entertained by my squeamishness. They laughed and spoke enough English to try to encourage me to put my feet and lower legs all the way in. I simply shuddered, shook my head, nervously laughed and tried to keep my feet barely below the surface, while every 30 seconds my autonomic nervous system kicked in to send a message in the form of a jitter to the fish: back off. I think my feet were in the water for at least three of the ten minutes.

On a second sunny morning, we took in the Jurong Bird Park, where we saw two fun bird shows. Our favorite featured a parrot who sang three songs in three languages; of course, we only recognized "Happy Birthday." Then we stopped off at Little India on our way back to the city to try some great Indian food at Banana Leaf Apolo. Many dishes in Singapore were actually served on huge placemat-like banana leaves. Very green, we noticed.

We were on a roll, fitting in one sight on my list of things to do after another, so we weren't terribly upset about the full day of rain that set in the second to last day of our trip. Although we were disappointed that we couldn't use more relaxing pool time due to the weather. (This is when we most regretted not choosing Saipan.) So, we tried to make the best of it and spent some time running around (Brian, Sydney and Miranda) and shopping (me) in the Raffles City Shopping Centre attached to our hotel.

After a great Chinese dumpling lunch, while I tried on a shirt over my clothes at a kiosk in the center of the mall and Brian chased the girls around, my purse (and accompanying sweater wrap) was stolen right out from under me. It was at my feet as I looked around the cart, but then distracted, I left it out of sight for a few weak moments...and in those moments, Brian was "entertained" by an ugly woman paying false attention to the kids, whole another person rustled in the clothing near my purse, which Brian hadn't realized was there and in jeopardy.

Well, I've said it before in regards to free AMC flights, you get what you pay for. I suppose losing a purse, a few bucks and a camera was my karmic payment for saving a few bucks on a flight...and being stupid enough to take it off my body and leave myself vulnerable. But unfortunately, the universe didn't take into account that the photos in that camera were priceless. Among them, a gorgeous, sunny aerial view of snowy Fuji as we flew over it on the way to Singapore. And even more precious--at least one family photo (that I know of) in front of the Singapore Zoo orangutans, where all 4 of us were looking at the camera with pleasant expressions. It was so good, I didn't buy the photographer's photo, because Miranda wasn't looking in his photo.

Later as I needed them, I thought of all the relatively inexpensive conveniences that had been in my purse, which later turned into inconveniences, roughly in this order: chapstick, hand sanitizer, two toy cell phones for the girls, Hello Kitty pen with an okonomiyaki from Hiroshima, a plastic travel bib, sunglasses, and my jump drive.

But...it could've been worse, I realized even immediately. I noticed within 10 minutes of last checking my purse at my feet, and pulling it closer to me. (Yet another time I should've gone with my first instinct.) We canceled two credit cards and my bank card, and put a fraud alert on both our credit reports because my military ID has both our SS#s on it, which is the real identity theft fear, especially because it's a popular crime in Singapore. But I had placed most cash, both passports, both driver's licenses, and my mp3 player in the hotel safe. So, after our last and sunny day on the island of Sentosa (the last place to check off my list), at least I could return home on the military flight...a day earlier than we'd planned. Can you blame us?

You might say Singapore screwed us. But maybe this negative event only cosmically makes up for the fact that Sydney appeared to be gesturing inappropriately the whole week as she showed everyone she met her black and blue middle fingernail, which was dangling and finally fell off our last day in Singapore. Just as well; by then she'd unknowingly communicated all we needed to "say" to Singapore already.

Girls' Day in Japan

Sydney and I joined our friends Jocelyn and Mel this week for a Girls' Day outing. March 3 is Hina-matsuri (or Girl's Day) in Japan and we wanted to do something fun together, so we took the train to visit the Yokohama Doll Museum.

The museum displays hundreds of dolls from all over the world in a three-story building. But our girls mostly enjoyed playing at each of about twelve hands-on stations around the first floor. Each station had different kinds of dolls from around the world.

Sydney really got into the pretend play. She played with the wooden animals. She put the baby to sleep.

And apparently thought she was the curator. She explained to Jocelyn and me that "you see, this one has blue feathers." (Well, as we all know, she often owns the part of being "in charge," I just finally caught it on camera.)

Some of our favorite dolls were the Japanese ones like this doll in kimono given to the museum by the mayor of Yokohama, Hello Kitty, and Monchichi.

And it was great fun seeing some dolls that mean a lot to me and made me nostalgic for my childhood. These Greek dolls reminded me of some given to me by my Grandma. And there were some great American classics, like Raggedy Ann, which always reminds me of when my mom took the clothes off our Raggedy Ann and put me in them as one of my first Halloween costumes. There was also an American Girl, Star Wars figures, etc.

There were so many dolls from all over the world, my only clue I was in Japan was the special Hina-matsuri exhibit for Girls' Day (and we weren't allowed to take photos of it; here's one with just the Emperor and Empress dolls.)

And I didn't notice any Madame Alexander or original Cabbage Patch Kids. Not that I'm about to donate any of the several I have stored in my Mom's house. I do have two girls. Instead I thought I'd add to our "collection"; I bought a tiny ceramic Japanese tea set for Sydney to use one day in the dollhouse my PopPop made for my sister and me.

Kabuki-za: 2009 is a Year of Farewell Performances

Kabuki is highly stylised classical Japanese dance-drama. The word kabuki is believed to derive from the verb kabuku, meaning "to lean" or "to be out of the ordinary." So. kabuki can be interpreted to mean "avant-garde" or "bizarre" theatre.

A few friends and I ventured to the historic Kabuki-za theater in the Ginza district of Tokyo to see the short act of February's afternoon performance. Now that I've experienced it, I'd have to agree it is a tad bizarre. But I knew it would be different going into it. And I really enjoyed it. (Thanks to the English headsets, I could actually understand it.)

Kabuki-za theater opened in 1889, and sadly, the plan is to demolish it after this year and rebuild a new theater that can withstand earthquakes and provide more accessibility. I guess those are valid reasons at least.

I feel lucky to have procrastinated enough to enjoy seeing a "sayonara" performance during this historic year. And in case you were wondering, it's purely coincidental that 2009 happens to also be the year we Norwoods say "Farewell" to Japan. But I'd say it's historic nonetheless. And maybe you think we can be a little bizarre in a dramatic sort of way, too.

Blackout Period Comes to An End

We celebrated Brian's birthday this weekend in Tokyo at the New Sanno hotel. Finally, a long 3 months and 10 days have passed since my birthday, and now we are the same age again. We spent the days leisurely at a nice nearby park and at the indoor hotel pool.

We spent the evening with our good friends, Doug and Darlene, at a fun upscale Mexican restaurant called Fonda dela Madrugada in the Harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo. We enjoyed great food and guacamole (almost as good as Brian's), and a $65 pitcher of delicious margaritas.

Brian's evening was made extra special with a birthday serenade by the live mariachi band and a kodak moment with one of the band members' sombreros.




Although it looks like he is about to burst into his own rendition of "La Cucaracha," alas, he didn't. Somewhat surprising, considering the aforementioned margaritas. Not sure if that would've made the evening more or less fun anyway. It was pretty fun as it happened.

Strawberry Picking: Our Girls Are "Green"

Miranda seems to take after Brian's green-ness. We went strawberry picking on President's Day. Miranda snapped the strawberries (I love that sound) off the vines one after the other for the full 30 minutes of strawberry picking.

Then she popped them into her mouth--stems and all. Brian noticed and appreciated her green-ness. "No waste that way..." he marveled with pride.

The dietitian in me was just hoping the stems counted as a green vegetable, since she's not too fond of the typical varieties. But she does love her fruit.

Sydney might also be considered "green." But only because she picked the green strawberries. And the fact that she didn't pick (or eat) more than 5 strawberries in the whole 30 minutes. She likes them usually, but she'd just eaten a whole package of them two days before this outing. So I guess we shouldn't be surprised.

"Can I go run around outside, please?!!"

Kiki, Our Witch

If there are two things Sydney loves, they are preschool and movies. Here she combines her love of both. She's playing dressup at preschool and pretending to be her favorite character--Kiki, the young, cute witch from the animated movie Kiki's Delivery Service.

This movie is now owned by Disney and, therefore, it has been dubbed in English. But originally it was in Japanese, created by the famous Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.

My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away are our two other favorites by this animator. My Neighbor Totoro is my personal favorite since it takes place in Japan and features many traditional Japanese things in the movie. But Spirited Away was the first anime movie to win a Japanese Academy Award (2002).

Sayonara in Sight

We have our orders, so it's official that we're planning our move back to the USA. Back to Norfolk, VA actually. Brian likes to say I sealed his fate (deployment) on the USS Nassau for the next two years by requesting to be back in the States and closer to our families. This is true. But didn't he seal mine when he asked me to marry him...along with the Navy. Don't we all happily make choices that involve some level of sacrifice?

Although while I have sacrificed in the area of my career while we've lived overseas, I recognize it is because of this I have been able to: enjoy staying home with my children, get involved in the community, and learn everything I can about Japanese culture. Similarly, I imagine that while Brian is likely feeling shipboard life in the realm of adult medicine away from his family for months on end is not ideal, I'm sure he will end up personally appreciating the opportunity to provide humanitarian assistance to underprivileged parts of the world, and professionally earning recognition in his Navy career.

So, turnabout is fair play. Yes, I chose Norfolk for us. It's east coast near family, not a small town in the middle of nowhere, and it's familiar. (Although I would argue we'll both be sacrificing with him gone so much.) But Brian realizes that choosing where we live next--and only if the detailers are amenable--is all I can pretend to have control over in this nomadic Navy life. And the choices are limited, I can assure you. Ultimately it is the detailer who decides where you go, when you go and how long you stay there. This time, he happened to agree with us on the where. So, we leave in early June and will spend two years in Norfolk.

With fewer than four months left in Japan, I feel it's too soon for Sayonara just yet. I'm having trouble visualizing pack-out dates since I'm not yet finished exploring (or buying). In fact, I'm hoping it will be more like "matane" (see you later) than "sayonara" (goodbye), come early June. I would really love to live in Japan again at some point, especially if the girls are old enough to appreciate it. And I wouldn't mind that it would seem to prove I do have control over my whereabouts--because of or despite the Navy, it remains to be seen. After all, this is only move #2.

Hida Takayama

The last weekend in January, we headed back into the mountains--this time with our friends the Millers--to find some more snow and Japanese culture in the town of Hida Takayama. (Takayama means "tall mountain" and Hida distinguishes it from other Takayamas). It's known as "little Kyoto" for its quaint history and because its carpenters were thought to have constructed many buildings in Kyoto, including the Imperial Palace and many temples. No, they were not made of snow like this one pictured. (If they were, they couldn't have burnt down 10 times each, like most structures in Japan have.)

Takayama is also known for its local foods, including sansai (mountain vegetables), wasakana (river fish), Hida beef, Hida beer, and sake. After our six-hour, three-train journey, Sydney finally fell asleep in the stroller as we walked from our hotel to Suzuya, a popular restaurant recommended by my guidebook. After waking her up (Brian tried two other attempts before this, the most extreme one), we enjoyed some local specialties: Hida beer, Hida beef, and Hoba miso (fermented soybean paste grilled on a magnolia leaf on top of a unique hibachi).

Some of us enjoyed the dinner more than others. Actually, some downright needed to be contained at one point.

After dinner, again we enjoyed a very relaxing Japanese hot soak at our hotel before bed (thankfully not a futon). And the next morning we set out to see Hida No Sato, an open air museum displaying massive farmhouses with their steep, thatched roofs, which look like praying hands ("gassho-zukuri"). The houses were moved in 1971 from the nearby Shirakawa-go region to recreate a folk village, dating from the 1600-1800's. They were originally built to support large volumes of snow and ice on the roofs.

Sydney, always angling for junkfood, is likely wondering why an icicle couldn't taste more like a popsicle. But she couldn't say so since her lips were stuck to it. Alas, it was only for a moment.


While Sydney plays in the snow, Miranda, Brian and I warm ourselves by the fire. I myself wouldn't have minded a marshmallow or two, but there was no time for that...we had only until 15:30 before we were to board the train home. So, we settled for a quick can of hot cocoa.

After all, we were taken off guard--and chilled to the bone--by the 15-minute blizzard that suddenly blurred its way through the village. It was fun to see the snow in action, but we were all relieved it was short-lived.

Blue skies broke and we went to the center of town to enjoy Nijuyokka-ichi, a fair held on the 24th day of January every year since 1872. It flurried on and off while we mostly ate our way down this main street. But there were also handmade crafts such as “Shouke“ (bamboo maunds), “Amigasa”(braided hats), and “Oke”(wooden pails), which are made by nearby farmers. (This photo shows grilled rice patties on a stick that were smothered with a miso/sesame paste. Yum!)


We veered off the festival street to see some interesting, typical homes and shops. The quaint streets have tiny canals running under the front of the buildings for snow and ice drainage into the river.







A winter trip to Takayama wouldn't be complete with a visit to a sake brewery, which are only open mid-January through February for tours...or should I say tastes for English-speakers, since we weren't able to glean much else from the Japanese tour. But taste is what's important anyway. The large hanging ball above the entrance is called a sugidama and it is made of needles from the Japanese cedar. It is a symbol of sake breweries, since in years past, sake was ready in the early spring, after brewing all winter. The needles start out green and slowly turn to brown, signifying the slow maturation of sake. Thus, when the needles are brown, the sake is ready to drink.

And when the sake is drunk, it is time to go. Well, it was for us at least. It was a very unique charming town that we could've used another day to explore. But I'm not sure we could've weathered the cold any longer anyway.