I think we've skipped a season

After living here a year, I am calm with the fact that there are few surprises in Japan now. I know when the Yakitori car goes in front of our supermarket (tuesdays). I know when tofu goes on sale (wednesdays) and I can plan our travels knowing when I can and can't take off work. Although I enjoy the surprises in life, there is something safe knowing that where you live, you know some secrets.

However in good ol' humorous form, the world throws us for a loop. After a sweltering summer that took a little long to come and left all too shortly. Now, I wake up in the morning and a see my breath. I leave to work wearing a scarf and mittens. At night, Ron and I bundle in our warmest clothes and thickest blanket. The heater and the electric blanket are already out. Did I mention this is September and last year we didn't feel this cold until November?

I was told that last year was a very mild winter. Apparently -15 degrees C is mild. I guess this year will be a bit rougher, starting with the short, near skipped altogether autumn.

I miss T-shirts.

Finding my name- Day 1 (Nikko)

This past weekend, I had a four day weekend, which in Japanese terms is HUGE! The only other time something like this happens is in May for Golden Week, and that is a National Festival. So anyway, to commemorate this extended weekend, Ron and I decided to make a driving trip to Nikko, the place where apparently the name "Jun Niko" was created. Finally, I could visit it. So Ron and I made the 5 hour drive and the $85 toll road to get to Utsunomiya where we met our friends Shizuka and Kunino who came from Tokyo.
Utsunomiya is famous for their gyoza, something I could not understand because of my cold, which led to no taste for the entire trip. A little bit of hell for me. But with the look on Ron's face, I knew that it must have been tasty. Utsunomiya is only a small drive to Nikko so soon we were at the Welcome gates of Nikko deciding where to sleep. We ended up parking in an empty parking lot across from a brightly lit convenience store. Kunino and Shizuka slept in the car, Ron and I slept in a tent next to the car... in the parking lot.

NIKKO







The next day we started our trip making it to the brightly colored temples of Tosho-gu. There we saw the famous monkeys, sleeping cat, and crying dragon. Each temple was astonishing and completely detailed with paintings popping out of their canvas and mutiple colors lined with gold in the temple walls. Nikko had a Chinese feel to it, but was definately a great representation of Japanese culture. My favorite was the Crying Dragon Temple. On the ceiling is a large painting of a dragon. When two sticks are hit together, there is a chilling echo sound that sounds like the cry of a ?dragon? I guess. Either way, the sound was very cool. Then, our group went to Chusenji-ko, the nearby lake. Along the way, we saw monkeys on the road, super windy roads up the mountain and at the end, a beautiful waterfall. We went to an onsen to clean up and made our way back down to sleep, yet again in the same parking lot. Trips are cheap when it's McCormick-style.

CHUSENJI-KO and KEGON FALLS

Finding my Name- Day 2 (Aizu- Wakamatsu)

After dropping off Kunino and Shizuka at the Train Station, Ron and I drove directly north, 100 kilometers to Aizu Wakamatsu, a town with a fully reconstructed castle. There aren't many in Japan. Morioka had a castle, but after if was destroyed by the war, I guess no one wanted to rebuild it. This is the case for most castles. Sometimes you'll find the ruins of a castle, but a real castle (even reconstructed) is nicer than authentic rubble. So we took a small break looking at their museum and the different parts of the castle. Then we drove 115 kilometers to Nigata City, ate their coastal sushi, and slept a wonderful sleep.

Finding my Name- Day 3 (Sado Island)

To get off our island of Japan, Ron and I took a 2 1/2 hour ferry to the smaller island of Sado. It was a bit empty when we were there, but it could be the fact that we traveled on a work day (most people didn't get the holiday that we did, LuckY!) We then took a two hour bus to Oga, the other side of the island to see their wash boat tubs, たらい舟. It was a cute ride, Ron and I got to even try steering it, with not much success. We then made our way back, stopping at Sawata to try their sushi, and then back to our drop off point of Ryotsu. All in all 9 hours of travel on this teeny island, but the wash boats and the relaxing atmosphere of the island, made it a restful part of our busy trip. This island truly has not been touch by the modernity of Japan, which was refreshing to see.

Finding my Name- Day 4 (Returning Home)

Finally, after 3 days we could say we are done with Tohoku (Northern Japan). We have passed through 6 prefectures and driven over 700 kilometers, but of course, we still need to drive the 300 kilometers back. The morning started out as a bust. We woke up on the sleepy coastal town of Sakata. Saw these interesting storehouses and drove to Tsuruoka. Didn't spend much time there in order to get a much needed bath at Yunosawa Onsen. But when we got there, we found out this onsen village had no onsen, which is just mind-boggling. There was one foot onsen in the middle of town, but besides that, there were only rickety hotels with an ocean view. Still needing a bath, we went to the temple nearby which slightly redeemed our onsen shock. From there we started our coastal drive and along the way, we did manage to find an onsen that was on the fourth floor overlooking the beach below. Beautiful sight!

After we finished our bath and started again, we came across the most amazing thing. We found OKEYA MACHI (Okeya Town). This block of 6 houses was all that was there of Okeya Town. Our trip came full circle. We found the place where my name came from and then finished the trip to find the town with my name on it. I thought that maybe the Japanese characters of my name was wrong because my students made fun of my name, but now I had proof that the characters exist. Ron's super Japanese led us to the nearby temple where we talk to the temple's monk about possibly finding my family crest. She said that the name Okeya died out in Edo period. How cool that I am what's left of the Edo period. According to her, if I want to find my Kamon (Crest), I need to find the hometown of my family. I'm a bit closer to finding it. I just need to go to Hiroshima. But this surprise was the best way to complete our long trip.