Last time we were in Kamiyama, Hopper met Chinami. She was working at one of the satellite offices and had turned up to a dinner that all the resident artists were invited to. They hit it off immediately, and their bond was obvious. We've been in contact with her on facebook ever since, exchanging photos and messages, and sending each other surprise packages. Hopper would speak of her from time to time in the last year and a half, sometimes breathlessly, and though she had moved back to Chiba with her family, she promised she would come visit us on this trip.
So she came to town for Golden Week! We got to hang out with her a few days doing different things like eating soba and special deserts on a mountain top, chasing kites in the park, and eating pizza. She brought lovely gifts, and won him over all over again. In fact, the shinkansen t shirt she gave him quickly became his favorite and he refused to take if off for over 2 days. When I asked why, he said it was because he loves shinkansens but also because Chinami gave it to him.
We feel so lucky that she came to see us, and it was lovely to see her mom as well. Chinami, thank you for coming all this way to spend time with Hopper (and us), and for helping make this trip special. And for bringing fantastic gifts! We hope to see you again sometime soon!
30 min drive to mountain top, handmade soba noodle soup and warabimochi desert (Nik, Hopper, Iwamaru-san, Reiko [Chinami's mama], Chinami, Chinami's friend whose name I forget)
How's this for a rest stop?
warabimochi = gelatinous bracken rhizome starch (fern bulb, for lack of better word) + sweet toasted soybean flour powder +sweet shoyu sauce = totally effen special delicious
road leading to nature walk behind soba/warabimochi restaurant
Jack in the Pulpit
Nik standing next to shitake growing logs (I never knew. google it, quite fascinating.)
Hopper being a gentleman, giving her a hand picked flower
fields of small purple flowers, no idea what, but we were about a week too early for blooming
reed sword fight
back seat squeaky swordfight (welcome distraction from nausea inducing road)
those wooden handles have been banned from use
2nd day in shinkansen shirt, duckling slippers he insisted on getting despite being 3 sizes too small
okonomiaki night with Chinami, Neo, Yama, and Valery
Hopper loves frogs. Chinami does not. Hopper does not understand why she runs away from his new friend. But chasing is fun so it's still a win win situation.
Yusan Pizza with Chinami, her mama Reiko, Yama and my boys. Such yummy scrummy pizza!
parking lot shenanigans while waiting for our desert pizza
with pizza chef Luca and our desert pizza (with honey and dried fruit)
sounds weird, tastes great
old boats at the park
they went on a pretend journey
some good chase sequences
Is there enough wind?
Yes go go goooo!
rock garden with good puddles, removed pants and shoes for stomping, and he found a big frog so happiness abounds
a beautiful day calls for a BBQ so we got some meat and stuff and invited the gang and Chinami and mama
morning coffee meet up before they flew out, Chinami overwhelmingly happy with her small drawing
such lovely sweet people, we are so lucky to know them (Hopper has good taste!)
May 5th is Kodomo No Hi (National Children's Day) in Japan. It's part of the Golden Week celebrations, which includes 4 national holidays, and is one of Japan's longest vacation periods. So people are off work and school and ready to party or travel or spend time with family (which of course are not mutually exclusive!). This particular day is to honor and respect children's individual strengths and to wish them happiness and good health.
(Yes I say! Why do we not have this is other parts of the world? We'll celebrate a bunch of dead guys, some fabric, having jobs, and even weather predicting vermin -sorry Punxsutawney Phil- , but what about the kids, eh?! Not one fun holiday for the kids that doesn't involve religion or pretending to be someone else.)
Eri and Rufus invited us to join them to a children's festival in Anan. It's about a 45 minute drive toward the southeastern coast, a most splendid ride through narrow back lanes and country roads, rife with farms, creeks, mountain scapes and forests, and which is actually Rufus' commute to work. Anything you do repeatedly can become mundane, but if I were ever to have a route to work, I'll take this one.
It was a spectacularly gorgeous day, not a cloud to be seen, with just the right amount of breeze to take the sizzle out of the sun. Excitement was mounting as we walked down the long ramp toward the river, not sure what to expect. Hopper and Ira were already fired up chasing each other and pointing out every flying little thing they saw.
We were greeted by massive koi wind socks floating in the wind over the river. They are the emblem of the festivities, symbolizing strength, bravery, and determination and bringing luck and good fortune. The festival itself was a whole fairground of kidsplosion set up on a river bank (full of rocks I might add, this so wouldn't fly in the US, that you couldn't use a stroller or wheelchair, and some litigious mf'ers would stub a toe and bankrupt the city).
They must've asked real kids what they want to do because they totally nailed it: a fireman helping kids spray a hose, open police and military vehicles, different sized diggers operating with kids on laps, tank tractor rides, train rides, boat rides, a treasure hunt in the rocks, as well as water sprayers, shooting games, and some popular super hero/cartoon characters walking around to get your photo taken with.
Hopper had so much fun, it was a joy to see him so happy. Whining was at a minimum, smiling was at a maximum. And the snacks were top! A fantastic day!!!
the bridge got partially washed out in last year's typhoon season...
... so the military was there to escort attendees...
... by boat!!!! (AND, these vests were new, as in no gross sweat/mildew smell whatsoever!)
steady stream of koi
mama hijacked the po-lice car
my partner Hopper, with his own break pedal
holy sh!tst!cks it's Anpanman!!!
these dolls are all over this prefecture, must get more info about the who and why
cutest fire truck ever! and that is the color of the river!
one of H's fave things to do is spray anything, but he made me stay next to him due to the stranger at the helm
DIGGERS!!! (but Hopper wouldn't do it, don't think he wanted to sit on a strange lap)
you know those pervasive foam water sprayers with the drawback intake, these are made of real bamboo!
little takoyaki, little shaved ice, little popcorn, little fried chicken
Tractor tank ride, possibly Hopper's fave of the day. They set up the course with a couple ramps that the tractors tried to climb. Genius
had to include this photo, something nicely chaotic about it
ok, this is all about Ira, I mean look at that face!
sometimes my camera does interesting things all on its own
Thomas ride
fishing for the captain's hat
our boat captain, one of Rufus' English students
He popped his head down and said...
... I'm a hermit crab! And this is my house!
with Sawa looking for crabs
throwing rocks for days
why is throwing rocks into water such a relaxing activity?
playing with double exposure
This dude. Yeah he sells strawberries in his custom pimped out ride. With a tight perm.
chillin between events, with Sawa and her boys Noah and Joshua (we met them last time) and another friend of theirs with her 2 daughters
Last thing, flinging things at the crowd! Kids first! (bags of food science chips)
MOCHI! Holy moly I went up to watch since I was told it's kinda mayhem for mochi tossing. In the end I HAD to participate as these rice pucks were flying at my head. I ended up collecting a bunch of them as one kid kept winging them my way. My hands stung for half an hour afterward from catching them. Here's a short video I fired off...
treasure hunt in the rocks looking for hidden tickets, I found one and won a can of baby bamboo shoot!
fell asleep hard within 2 minutes of getting in the car
