12 Amazing Days in Australia

So, as many of you already know, Damian and I spent 12 amazing days in Australia at the beginning of this month. We were originally supposed to go in March for our anniversary but we had to postpone it due to Damian's deployment... no big deal because we still got to go and had an amazing time!!! Australia is really big... I think we sometimes forget how big it is and forget it is even down there, but it is a very large country and very spread out. We traveled to Cairns (pronounced "Cans"), Melbourne (pronounced "Melbin") and Sydney (pronounced as it is actually spelled)! For those of you not familiar with the land down under I have provided a map for your viewing pleasure to see where we were. Sydney was a 10 hour flight from Tokyo (and only 1 hour time difference for us)- not too bad. We spent a few days in each city and were able to see so much. Also, keep in mind we were there at the beginning of May which is the beginning of Autumn in Australia.... This was hard to get used to as I was ready to break out my summer clothes, pastels, white pants, etc and it's basically how the beginning of September would be for us Northern Hemisphere dwellers.... Oh and one more thing... yes the toilets flush in the opposite direction, but after the first flush it didn't phase us anymore!


Cairns

Sea Temple

We stayed at a little beach town outside of Cairns called Palm Cove. It was really cute and our resort was walking distance to all the restaurants/shops along the beach. As we were checking in they made sure to tell us we could not go swimming because it was still jellyfish season (*not so fun fact: box jellyfish are extremely venomous and a sting can be fatal), and also that we could not walk on the beach at night because of a recent crocodile sighting! What a bummer! It was a really nice resort with lots of trees and a lagoon pool that went around the entire courtyard. It was really nice. We were a little way back from the ocean, but could still hear the waves at night. We got all settled in our room and saw we had a bottle of wine compliments of our amazing Travel Coordinator from Down Under Endeavors. I have to give them a big shout out because our trip was so incredibly amazing and they booked every last detail for us. I highly recommend this to anyone wanting a custom vacation. I truly cannot say enough amazing things about this company! 

The kangaroo whisperer...

Ok, back to the fun stuff... the first day ended up being a free day for us due to a tropical storm on its way. We decided to go to a local zoo owned and operated by a family in Cairns. It as only a 15 minute walk from our hotel so we headed off to Cairns Zoo. The biggest reason we were going here was to cuddle a koala, but there was lots of other great animals to see there as well. This was actually a great first day to our trip because we got to see a lot of the native animals in the zoo before heading out in the wild to see them. 

Buster!!!

Let's talk koalas for a moment... they are marsupials, NOT bears even though they are referred to as "koala bears." They are pretty docile creatures and spend most of their day sleeping and eating eucalyptus (eucalyptus tree is also known as a gum tree) which gives them all the nutrients and water they need. There is a law that koalas cannot be cuddled for more then 30 minutes a day so they really only let you hold them for a minute. Damian and I each got our picture taken with "Buster" the koala who was very cute and very cuddly and then we got a family photo of the 3 of us. They also had a "maternity ward" at the zoo for the baby koalas and the moms- wicked cute! There was a rescue koala at the zoo named "Buttercup" and she only had 3 legs because she was hit by a car, but she lives at the zoo where she is safe and they actually breed her as well! At the zoo we also were able to feed kangaroos which came right up to you and ate out of your hand! We also saw cassowary birds (see below for description), crocodiles, snakes, lizards, wombats, wallabies, and dingos... oh my!

Daintree Rainforest

Afternoon tea by the river

The next day we were off to the Daintree Rainforest for the day. It was a few hour drive from where we were staying but we had lots of stops along the way! It was a pretty cloudy/drizzly day as the tropical storm neared, but what does it really matter if it rains when you're in the rainforest!?! We had a great tour guide who was very knowledgeable of the wildlife and also Australia history and the local area so he had lots of great stories to tell us on our ride. First stop was a riverboat ride down the Daintree River to look for all sorts of wildlife... crocodiles, birds, etc. Because it was a cool day we only saw a few baby crocodiles on the shores as the bigger ones were keeping warm below the surface. We saw some great birds... king fisher, herons, and an ibis. After the river cruise we headed into the rainforest for a little "walkabout." It was really quite beautiful and lush! We had a few other stops as well to see the beautiful scenery. We also stopped along another river and had some tropical fruit tastings... some we liked and some not so much as well as afternoon tea, which I grew quite fond of. 

Cassowary Bird

The Cassowary bird is a very interesting bird and very important bird to the rainforest. Unfortunately they are endangered mostly because they are hit by cars in Australia (see road sign to left). They are so important to the rainforest because they eat some 400+ species of plants, berries, and seeds found in the rainforest and they help to disseminate them around with their droppings. Without these birds, many different types of plants in the rainforest will also become extinct! Although we didn't see any in the wild during our time in the rainforest we knew what to look for because of the one we saw at the zoo.

On our last day in Cairns, we went out to the Outer Great Barrier Reef! We left in the morning and the seas were still very rough from the storm that came through the night before... it was a very quiet ride over on the large boat. It took about 2 hours to get from Cairns out to the Outer part of the reef and Damian and I both needed to take some medication to help calm the seasickness. There were about 60 people on the boat and it was rather large. Half the people SCUBA dived and the other half (us) snorkeled throughout the day! We went to 3 different reef locations and it was all incredible!

The afternoon was better as the sun came out and the water was clear and the coral was absolutely breathtaking. The pictures do not do it justice, but are still pretty cool.
The Great Barrier Reef is truly a natural wonder of the world. I have snorkeled a bunch of times before but never right in the middle of the ocean so I took a floaty noodle with my just in case. It was a little bit exhausting since the waves were still pushing us around, but once you got your face in the water it was all worth it! Trivia Question: What is the only animal you can see from space? Answer: Coral. I love that little tid bit of trivia!

The following day we spent the morning walking on the beach and lounging at the pool, then off to the airport to head to Melbourne which was at the southern part of Australia and much cooler weather!

Melbourne

3 hours later and we landed in Melbourne and it is about 30 degrees cooler than Cairns and raining to boot! According to Luxury Travel magazine, the Langham Hotel in Melbourne is the BEST Australian Hotel for 2013... lucky for us that's where we were staying! Not only was it an amazing hotel, but it was right in the heart of the city and walking distance to everything! We had beautiful views of the river and the riverwalk which was a nice gift from our travel agent! We were tired from traveling and went out for a quick dinner then to bed... the next day started bright and early at 0400!

Up at 0400 on a sleepy Sunday morning in Melbourne to go on a hot air ballon ride over the city. Melbourne is one of the only cities in the world that you can actually do this directly over the downtown part of the city. Silly me, I assumed we would get there, hop in and away we would go.... nope we got the FULL experience, from setting up the balloon, to filling it with air, and then afterwards getting to help break it all down as well. Sort of neat to be there for the entire process. It took quite awhile to fill the ballon and then we were airborne around 0600. It was chilly up there too, but the heat from the hot air kept us warm intermittently! It was a 60 minute flight over the city and we were flying anywhere from 800-2000 feet... it truly is a science with figuring out the winds and where to land etc... There was 10 of us in the ballon and the "driver." Depending on the weather and wind conditions they have over 35 launch sites and landing sites all over the city- pretty neat! It was incredibly to be flying over the city as the sun came up that day. We landed in an open field on the other side of the city and as we were coming down we could see people coming out of their houses in their bathrobes watching us... it was fun to wave to the kids from up there!

We were done with our hot air balloon ride and it was still early Sunday morning so we went to get some breakfast on the river then walked around downtown Melbourne. There were a bunch of street fairs with crafts etc. It reminded me a lot of Seattle with the cool rainy weather and the VERY relaxed attitudes of the people. There was also a "free trade" expo set up that we walked through which was pretty neat... Damian almost bought a pair of sneakers made from recycled plastic bottles... haha! We hung out in the Federation Square area with some coffee and enjoyed some good people watching until the afternoon when we had our next activity scheduled! Federation Square had a bunch of folding chairs that you could grab and sit in... AND free wifi!!! Looks like Damian was quite comfy...

Late afternoon we were off to Phillip Island, about 90 miles southeast of Melbourne to watch the Penguin Parade! We have NO pictures from this Penguin Parade because you are not allowed to take pictures of the penguins since the flash hurts their little penguin eyes! At sunset each night the littlest penguins in the WORLD come ashore in groups to cross the beach and head to their burrows. These little penguins are only about 1 foot tall and weigh around 2 pounds! Seriously the cutest things I have ever seen! Damian and I had VIP seats for the Penguin Parade which meant we got to go to a special bleacher section and watch them pretty close-up waddle across the beach. They cross right around sunset as this provides them protection from predators! The conservation efforts there were pretty impressive as protecting these little penguins was the highest priority. They even count them each night as they come across the beach... the night before we went there was 834 penguins crossing the beach! It was pretty funny watching them "run" across the beach! Very unique experience, once in a lifetime kind of stuff here people! On the ride home we watched a movie on the bus called "The Sapphires" which is based on a true story about a singing group of Australian Aboriginal girls who went to Vietnam to sing for the U.S. troops during the war. I highly recommend this movie!

The next morning we headed off on a food & wine tour of Yarra Valley which was about 1 hour away from Melbourne. We went to countless wineries and paired our wines with lots of cheeses, lunch, and some sweets! At the end of the day we had done 32 wine tastings!!! There were a few full glasses mixed in, but mostly just a few sips each! We had some really great wines at a few of these wineries that we wrote down so we could try to get some once we are settled back in the U.S.! Our favorite vineyard was the Debortoli Winery which is family owned (from Italy) and they also have other wines in other parts of Australia that we could taste! They had more whites than red but we were pleasantly surprised with each one. The BEST part of this winery was the cheeses. There was a delicious marinated goat cheese and then we finished off our tasting with a dessert wine paired with blue cheese, which we usually do not like, but with the wine it was divine! Remember how it is Autumn in Australia at this time of year so the vineyards were all a beautiful golden color!

After our long day of wine tasting we headed back for a quick nap at the hotel and then met up with Damian's friend Mike (from high school) who lives in Melbourne! We had dinner in Chinatown and then went to an uber trendy hipster bar that was pretty much in an alley and the seats were made from wooden pallets! Very cool!

The next day Mike and his friend picked us up and took us off the beaten path to Treefern Gully up in the mountains outside of Melbourne for a little rainforest hike adventure! This area was the inspiration for the 1992 movie "Fern Gully." Within the forest was an area known as William Ricketts Sanctuary. He was a man inspired by the aboriginal people of Australia as well as a strong connection to the earth and created these extremely unique and powerful sculptures out of clay that he incorporated into nature. There were hundreds of his sculptures that were on top of rocks and tree stumps and looked like they belonged there. We then went to the top of Mount Dandenong to see the valley below and the city in the distance.

Thanks Melbourne, it's been fun!


Sydney

The next morning we were off on a quick flight to Sydney for a few days! Once we arrived at our hotel which was in the historic "Rocks" area of the city we didn't waste anytime exploring! Sydney Harbor is absolutely massive, but we were right in the middle of it all and only a few blocks away from the iconic Sydney Harbor Bridge and Sydney Opera House. Our first night we walked down to the Syndey Opera House to explore and watch the sunset from the Opera House Bar. 

The next morning we headed off to the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The bridge is known to be like your "uncle" who get's in all your family pictures.... this is true as no matter where we were in the city you could see a little piece of the bridge sticking out. The bride is the largest steel arch bridge in the world! Built in 1932, this bridge has 6 traffic lanes, 2 rail lanes, a bike lane, and pedestrian walkway... nothing has been added since it opened in 1932.... think about that for a minute... How incredibly progressive of the designer/builders to make it so big. This bridge is truly magnificent if you think about how they built it- without all of the equipment we have today and this bridge will most likely out last the newer bridges being built now! The bridge climb took all together about 3 hours... there was safety briefings, you had to change into the jumpsuit, go through a metal detector, take a quick breathalyzer test and prepare for the climb... We all had safety harnesses and headphones so we could hear our guide as well. Everything had to be attached to you... sunglasses, hats, etc. You could not bring you own camera or anything in your pockets! Once we were up on the bridge the climb wasn't that bad at all... amazing views, a lot of stairs, and a few very steep ladders! At the top we got to make a free 10 sec video... sort of cheesy, but I had to share anyway!

If you ever make it to Sydney put this on your list for sure! After the climb we went out for lunch and beers... Damian had a Kangaroo Burger (yum?) and I stuck to a yummy veggie pumpkin and goat cheese pizza!

Later in the evening we went on a sunset dinner cruise of the harbor. It was great... champagne, wine, good food and amazing views of the city from the water...

The next day we didn't head out on our tour until late morning so we spent our morning in the Sydney Botanical Garden enjoying a nice stroll and some coffee. We wandered through these beautiful gardens for a few hours and finally made our way back to the hotel for our next and sadly our last Australian adventure. We were off on a very unique wildlife tour!

This wildlife tour was so awesome! First of all there were only 4 of us and a guide which definitely made the experience even better and personalized and it was extremely interactive! We had to drive a ways to get out into the bush at first, but then we were able to get out and walk around looking for wildlife. During the late afternoon we spotted emus, deer, wallabies, and kanagaroos... then we all got out of the vehicle and walked looking up in the trees for koalas. Our guide finally spotted one after looking for about an hour and we were able to see it clearly with binoculars! It was so high up, but it was awake and moving around a little... so cute! We also got to check out a GIANT wombat hole where they sleep during the day! I called out to Mr. & Mrs. Wombat, but no one answered... go figure!

Next we headed out to a giant field where we patiently waited for the sun to go down and all the animals to come out and play. Many of Australia's animals are nocturnal so a daytime tour would have been a waste of time! Once it got dark we all go "torches" or as we call them in America... flashlights! They were giant flashlights and we were all hanging out of the vehicle shining the lights and looking for beady little eyes to pop out at us... you wouldn't even believe how many animals came out at night! It was almost overwhelming because everywhere we shined our lights there were a bunch of animals! Damian and I spotted a mother wombat and her baby which was so cool to watch them. We were able to get pretty darn close too without scaring them away- the lights didn't bother them very much.

The kangaroos were just about everywhere we looked! And we were even able to catch 2 of them "fighting" or playing around! You can even see the one standing on his tail while he kicks the other one... such a classic kangaroo move! ha! One of the best things about being out in the wide open bush away from the rest of the world was the stars... they were so bright and the milky way was like I had never seen before. Our tour guide pointed out the southern cross and a few other constellations. We turned our lights out for a bit and just took it all in. It was an awesome ending of a great vacation and adventure together!

So many people have asked us what the best part of our trip was and honestly it is hard to say... we did so many different and unique things that you can't really compare them to each other. We went from the beach to the bush.... from above the city to below the ocean... a truly unforgettable trip!

Upon arriving back from Japan- our SIL was waiting at the airport in Tokyo to greet us... stay tuned for our adventures with her!!!

The Path to Enlightenment

Mt. Fuji is all her beauty!!!

I had to start off this blog with this picture, and it really doesn't even do it justice. In person, Mt. Fuji was much clearer... I wish you could ALL come to Japan to see for yourself!!!  On Saturday, Damian and I ventured across Tokyo Bay to Chiba. We took the train to the ferry and then boarded the "Tokyo Wan Ferry" on a 40 minute trip across Tokyo Bay into Chiba where the big medicine and healing buddha awaited. This is a trip I have been wanting to do for over a year and now that our time in Japan is coming to an end we have been trying to cross a few more things off our Japan bucket lists! It was a perfect day, not too hot, but the sun was shining and we could even sit outside on the ferry ride and enjoy the beautiful weather. We were headed to the other side to Mount Nokogiri (Nokogiri-yama) which literally means "saw mountain" as the mountain resembles a Japanese saw when you are looking at it.

Once we got over to the other side we had a short walk to the cable car and then a quick cable ride up the mountain (less than 5 minutes)... this was the easy part! Once we got to the top the views were amazing! The water looked so blue and the sun was shining down on us for  great start to the day! The mountain is only a little over 1000 feet but it is straight up with rocky cliffs. We spent about 5 hours hiking around on the mountain as there was a lot to see. The funny thing is that you take the cable car up, but then you have to hike down stairs to get to some of the amazing things and then of course back up again... a lot of stairs! My legs are still feeling it today! It felt like doing the stair-climber at the gym for hours and hours!!!

Some of the 1500 hand-carved stone Buddha statues

Scattered throughout the mountain are over 1500 small hand-carved stone statues of Buddha... some very old. Many of them were "beheaded" from an anti-buddhist movement in the 1800's... which seems sort of crazy to me as an anti-buddhist would be against peace and why would anyone be against peace... Anyway they were all different and amazing. I read somewhere that each one has a different and unique facial expression and that if you look really hard you will find one that looks like you.... I just assumed I probably looked like one of the ones that was beheaded!!! They were tucked in caves and perched high up on rocks- truly spectacular!

Next up was the big buddha (daibutsu) which I was super excited to see. It is a medicine/healing buddha and it is the largest in Japan! The picture to the left really doesn't even begin to show how big it is and beautiful! It was severely damaged due to a large earthquake here but was fully restored in the 1960's. It stands over 90 feet tall and is incredible to think it is made out of stone! There was also a goddess of mercy carved into the stone which was done as a memorial for the victims of WWII. Today, people come to it to pray for travel safety.

We had an amazing day hiking around and checking out the panoramic views from the top. That is Damian in the picture on the right looking over the edge... No thanks for hanging over the edge of a mountain... even if there are railings! I was more than happy to stand on the other side and take the picture!

That's it for our Japan adventures for now... stay tuned as Beth & Damian are taking on the outback for the next 12 days and will have lots to blog about! G'day mate!

Japanese Word of the Day:
Heiwa (hay-wah): Peace

One Night in Alcatraz...

So, Damian is officially on vacation for 3 weeks and we have already been out doing a bunch of fun stuff. So far we spent a few days up in Tokyo trying to see and do a few more things before we leave. One of the many things we wanted to do was go to one of theme restaurants they have around the city! There was so many to choose from... Alice in Wonderland theme, Ninja, Vampire, Pirates, or maybe even a cat cafe... Many of the apartments in Tokyo do not allow cats so you could go to one of these cafes and hang out with a bunch of cats and maybe even pay extra to pet them... definitely not for me, unless I brought a bunch of Benadryl for my allergies!!! Anyway, Damian and I chose to go to "Alcatraz ER" for our theme restaurant of the night! It was located in the Shibuya district of Tokyo and after winding through a bunch of alley ways and "love hotels" we found it. Alcatraz ER: A Shibuya Medical Prison... oh boy I don't think either one of us really knew what we were in for! 

Eeeeeeeeek!!!

Our cell

After getting out of the elevator we found ourselves in a very dark hallway with just this sign you see to the left... I was already totally on high alert for someone to jump out at me, but no one did... yet!!!! So we pushed one of the buttons below the sign and a door opened leading us into the restaurant... Instead of a host, we encountered a Japanese guy in scrubs, a scrub cap and mask... OK here we go... no turning back now! He had us read a sign that said "YOU ARE NOW PATIENTS IN SHIBUYA MEDICAL PRISON." Then he called for our "nurse" and she led us to our table, I mean cell. We walked down some narrow hallways with old operating tables and IV poles hanging around and imbedded into the glass floor were some of the poor prisoners who didn't make it out! She led us to our cell which was in the ICU of the prison (restaurant). Our cell was upstairs and we had to take our shoes off and climb up a few stairs to get into our tiny seating area on the floor. 

The menu was hilarious... instead of it being broken down into drinks, appetizers, meals, desserts, etc, it was: Admission, Critical Care, Emergency Surgery, Death, and Discharge. It took us a few minutes to adjust to being behind bars and we took a bunch of pictures. Our nurse came up to our table to give us an English menu and also show us how to call to order... yup, you guessed it, you bang against the metal bars to get the nurses attention! So fun!!! Also, when the nurse came up to our table, she gave us each a little white cup and told us it was our "medicine"... it was full of mini rice crackers, but so funny that she called it our medicine! We were totally loving this place already! Ok, time for drinks!!! SO many fun ones to choose it was hard to decide... Damian got a draft beer that came in a graduated cylinder that looked like it belonged in a chemistry lab somewhere and I ordered a vodka/grape drink that came in a mannequin head!!!! We also ordered some edamame and when our nurse brought it to our cell she said I had to play a game to get it... rocks, paper, scissors is apparently a universal game! So I played scissors, she went paper and I got to put on a glove and get us 2 handfuls of edamame... SCORE!!!! 

Next up was ordering our meal... they had sausages that looked like "intestines" and all sorts of other anatomical food items... I got some cheese pizza since being a vegetarian in Japan is not always easy, and Damian got some dumplings and rice... but not just any rice... "boob fried rice!" AND it came in a metal kidney basin... old school!!! Everything was pretty tasty! We didn't expect much since our trip there was mostly for entertainment not because the food was exceptionally good! We both ordered another drink, Damian had a plum wine is a normal glass and I got a mojito in a beaker... and the sugar came on the side in a tiny plastic bag that again the nurse told me was my "medicine." I'm still laughing about this whole experience... but it's not over yet!!!

We had been there about 2 hours and were about to get our check, when ALL the lights went out, and I don't mean just the main lights, I mean every single last light in the entire restaurant/prison/hospital......I could not see my hands in front of me! Then the sirens started going off... like a prisoner had escaped... then the red flashing warning lights came on overhead, which at least was a little bit of light... then the screaming started and the banging on the walls... at this point all I could do was wait as I tried to find Damian's hand in the dark cell. This went on for awhile (felt like a lot longer since we were in the dark)... Damian says it was only a few minutes. Next thing I know a psychopath with a zombie mask is outside our cell sticking its arms through and trying to grab at us... I am obviously screaming bloody murder at this point which was obviously a welcoming for this zombie to come into our cell and physically grab us!!!! My screaming continued, the other screaming continued, and finally the zombie left our cell... Eventually the lights came on and we got our check... My heart was racing but it was really a really fun and different evening! As we were walking out, there appeared to be an abandoned cell with a bunch of tables and storage in it... it was marked "Operating Room." I pointed it out to Damian and the next thing I know there is a guy grabbing my arm from the darkness! I had totally let my guard back down a little too soon! All in all a VERY unique experience! 

Just a little on edge...

Japanese Word of the Day:

Kankoshi (can-ko-she): Nurse   

Take Me Out to the Ballgame... Again

Sporting our BOSTON gear at the game!

I think I could easily write a new blog for each baseball game we go to in Japan... so you can all expect at least 1 more before we leave Japan in a few months. (Shameless plug... If you haven't read the first blog about Japanese baseball I highly suggest you refer to April 2012 "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and read about our time at the Yakult Swallows game in Tokyo.) Ok, so Damian and I went to a baseball game on Friday night with some friends. We went to Yokohama Stadium to see the Yokohama Baystars play the Chunichi Dragons

(Warning: I'm about to get WAY off topic!)

Mr. Besuburo (Baseball)... 

While at the game my amazing movie-buff husband asked if I had ever seen the movie Mr. Baseball (1992)... and to his dismay I had never even heard of it. In Mr. Baseball  Tom Selleck (who doesn't love him, right?) gets traded to Japan to play baseball for the Chunichi Dragons! The day after the game Damian and I watched this movie which unfortunately received less than stellar reviews from the critics back in '92. I, however, give it 2 thumbs up, 5 stars, 100% awesome movie! I'm not sure I would have appreciated it as much 20+ years ago, but I can assure you that after living in Japan AND going to Japanese baseball games I am now the #1 fan of this film! I highly suggest you ALL go see this movie immediately! Tom Selleck plays "Jack Elliot" who plays for the Yankees (boooooooooo) and gets traded to the Chunichi Dragons and he struggles with learning the differences in Japanese baseball and culture. He learns about "shutto" (shoo-toe) which means "fastball." And of course he also falls in love with a beautiful Japanese woman making this (in my mind) an ultimate trifecta of a great movie... baseball, comedy, and romance! Go see it!

LOVE that the beer comes to you

My new hat

Ok... back on track over here... let's talk about the game- so much to talk about! It was at 6pm on Friday night at Yokohama stadium which is a very large baseball stadium (although they all look big compared to Fenway- GO RED SOX!!!). The Yokohama Baystars were playing the Chunichi Dragons who are from Nagoya, Japan. We got there right around when the game started and got some tickets for the bleachers! I had read that they rarely sell out since they are not very good... the only times they sell out are when the really good teams are in town playing them! (I went back and saw there were only 12,000 people in attendance at this game.) If you remember from the previous baseball blog I talked about how each team sits on different sides... we sat on the Baystars side and I am now an official Baystars fan since I bought a hat! It's funny when you get up into the seats because the Baystars side was pretty full and the Dragons was almost empty! The seats are "Japanese size" which means it is hard to take a sip of your beer without elbowing your neighbor! We were pretty crowded, but after a few innings, we moved down a few rows to where there were some empty seats... probably frowned upon in Japan to do this, but at the same time I think our Japanese friends were happy to see the "big" Americans move out of their way!

Can you tell which side the home team is sitting on???

Now for some baseball trivia... In the summer of 1934 the MLB All-stars traveled to Japan to play 17 games against the Japanese Baseball teams. Among these All-stars were Babe Ruth (he was already a Yankee at this point) and Lou Gehrig... and they went on to win ALL 17 games they played throughout Japan. When they arrived in Japan, more than 30,000 fans lined the streets to see them drive down the street in open vehicles, some yelling "Ruso, Ruso, Ruso" which is "Ruth, Ruth, Ruth" and "banzai" which is equivalent to "hurray." The fans were more than 40 deep on the streets and more than 600 fans were hospitalized due to these riots. Baseball had officially overtaken Sumo as Japan's #1 sport... but really how can you not love this game!?!? In 1978, Yokohama Stadium was built (and was state-of-the-art at the time) and in the bleachers they placed a memorial plaque of Babe Ruth at the right foul pole and Lou Gehrig at the left foul pole... I was lucky enough to sit in the bleachers and be able to see one of these! It is pretty blurry, and when I go back will try to get a clearer picture.

Back to the game! It was a great game, a little slow at first, but the fans constant chanting and singing is so entertaining! In between innings, the cheerleaders came out along with the Baystars mascot which is a cat with a star shaped face (very strange looking) and of course a baseball game would not be complete without the blue Power Ranger! The game even went into extra innings, but that Baystars defeated the Dragons 4-1 at the bottom of the 10th thanks to a 3 run homerun by Tony Blanco. Blanco is Dominican and started his career playing for the farm system with the Red Sox, moving to the Nationals for his Major League debut and eventually in 2013 playing 1st base with the Yokohama Baystars. After he won the game, they interviewed him and then drove him around the stadium in a little car so all the fans could cheer him on. (None of the Baystars fans left until after this.) Then when he got out to the bleachers he got out of the car and used one of those t-shirt cannons to shoot shirts into the stands! It was quite a scene- too bad none of us caught a shirt! All in all it was another great Japanese baseball experience. I even made friends with some of the fans who were so excited after we won!!! Whoop whoop!

Japanese word of the Day:
Shutto (shoo-toe): Fastball

Mt. Minobu & Shirayuri Winery

Top of Mt. Minobu

Sooooo.... quick recap... Damian returned from deployment and I returned from a 3 weeks trip back to the U.S. to see family and friends and most importantly we are together! We have a few months left on our tour here in Japan and we will hopefully be together the whole time and plan to make the most of it before heading to our next duty station- Bethesda, Maryland! Whoop whoop!

So this past weekend we went on a day trip with the MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) here on base! We traveled about 5 hours from base to the sacred Mt. Minobu (min-oh-boo). The mountain houses the temple which is one of the "headquarters" of Nichiren Buddhism. There is a cable car you can take up to the top of the mountain, but as you can see in the picture to the right it was very overcast that day and we were literally in the clouds! On a clear day you can see Mt. Fuji from this mountain top! It was slightly eerie, but very beautiful up on the top. The tree behind us in the picture below was over 700 years old and was thought to be planted by Nichiren himself who founded Nichiren Buddhism.

700 year old tree

The really neat thing was that we were there on April 6th (Saturday) and April 8th is the day Buddha's birth is celebrated here in many Asian countries. They have a celebration at the temples for 3 days (6,7,8). At one of the large temple buildings we could hear the chanting, singing, and drums from the outside as it was all part of this celebration of Buddha's Birthday. In Japan it is not a National Holiday but some of the traditions include putting flowers around Buddha statues and drinking a beverage that is made from hydrangeas.

Weeping Cherry Blossom Tree

This mountain is also known for it's weeping cherry blossom trees... many were already past blooming, but there were a few.. and of course enough to get a quick picture. The weeping cherry blossom is even more beautiful than the traditional cherry blossom! The drive up the mountain had many beautiful trees in bloom all the way up! I wish we had more time to spend at this temple to walk around and see all of the different building and see the monks taking part in the Buddha Birthday Celebration...

Pagoda on Mt. Minobu

After the temple we got lunch and then headed to the Shirayuri Winery... it wasn't really what you would think of when you think of a winery... they took us on a quick tour to see the blossoming trees and then through the very small winery... I don't really have any pictures worth posting from this part of the tour. There was many wines to taste... none really that good, but they did have a cool Sakura Wine (Cherry Blossom Wine) that had actualy Cherry Blossoms in the bottle... the bottle itself looked so cool, but the taste wasn't all it was cracked up to be... bummer! We tasted a few other wines, but definitely did not feel compelled to buy any. Cherry Blossoms are actually edible (not all of them, but certain ones), and there was a whole stack of them that they told us we could pick and try... so of course I did! Basically, it tasted like I was eating a flower... I guess I expected it to taste like candy or something, but when it all came down, I was eating flower petals...

Buddha Statue at top of Mt. Minobu

Japanese Word of the Day:
Tanjobi (tan-joe-bee): Birthday