Day #4 Mito, Kairakuen Garden

It's now 12:35 AM! It's so late and I have so many photos. What do I do? Sigh...

Thank you everybody for your encouragement. I don't know how long I can keep up with just four hours of sleep.

Today's busy day began with a Skype call from Tiffany and KC. It was fantastic seeing them on our computer although they're on the other side of the world. How weird to think we're talking to them on Friday but it's Thursday in Chicago.


We had an oatmeal and fruit platter breakfast and were on our way.


The bellhop found a taxi for us right away. The taxi took us to Ebisu station. We met our friends Sam and Keiko there. Sam is Art's old Bradley University college buddy.


We noticed quite a few people wearing masks. I thought they were being very polite about not spreading their germs but that's not the case. They're wearing the masks to protect themselves from swine flu.


I've now been made aware of the different helpful facilities for the handicapped. As I was taking a photo of the private bathroom for handicapped people I noticed this fellow going into the Ladies Bathroom. He came out a moment later very shame faced.


Once again the JR train attendants were very accomodating.


Being on the train was fine. Everybody is very respectful, but it was extremely crowded.


From the Ebisu station we caught the Shinkansen bullet train to Mito.


Mom and Auntie were happy as clams, but thought we were too late to see any plum blossoms that the garden in Mito is famous for. There were other flowers also but mostly plum trees. I have no idea what this is.


We were not disappointed. There was a LOT to see.

Here's what it said in the Garden's flyer.
"Kairakuen, one of the three historically noted gardens in Japan, was built by Nariaki Tokugawa (1800-1860) the ninth Lord of Mito. The name Kairaku means to share pleasure with people.

Auntie took full responsibility for keeping her sister comfortable and pushed her the entire way.


The bamboo forest was gorgeous.


We had fun seeing different birds at the Garden.


I thought these beautiful plum trees were fake bonsai but when I went closer I discovered they were real bonsai trees!

Mom and Auntie loved seeing all the flowers and talking to everybody.

I love camelias!
I'd never seen a camelia tree this big.

I'll bet mom was dying to get up and walk on her own, but Auntie kept pointing things out to her and they loved all the flowers.

This crow had the most arrogant walk I've ever seen. He just seemed to exude attitude.
Art took this photo of the water fountain.

We were surprised to learn that this was a cherry tree.

Sam showed me this plum tree and said it was called "Full Moon because of that hole in the trunk."

We were all freezing! I have a feeling the temperature was in the 30's.

Sam and Keiko treated us to lunch. I love how the Japanese have these elaborate dishes with a little bit of many delicious and healthy things to eat. I very rarely see overly overweight people in Japan.

I had the tempura soba. We were enjoying being in a warm restaurant eating hot food.

There were a lot of shops specializing in plum products and bought a LOT. Well... let me revise that. Auntie bought a LOT!

There are over 3,000 plum trees in Kairakuen gardens and 300 varieties. The Japanese love plum blossoms because it's the first trees to blossom in spring and as delicate as it looks is able to stay beautiful after a snowfall. It symbolizes beauty and strength... according to the two sisters.

Even though it was late in the season for the plum blossoms, they were just gorgeous.

Yes, we did take a million photos of plum blossoms. I know I shouldn't post so many but I couldn't help myself.

We were truly breathless with delight... or maybe we just didn't want to breathe too much of the cold air.

It was amazing to see all the different shades of plum blossoms.

Many of the trees are extremely old and the branches have to be propped up like a crutch.

The Lord's house is well preserved but we had to remove our shoes to enter. The floors were like ice. No wonder people didn't live long in those days.

Japanese homes were built differently from the west. Here the rooka (hallways) are on the outside perimeter of the house so you don't walk through a house.

I stayed downstairs with mom while everyone else went up to the second floor and took a photo.

Another bird! I have no idea what kind it is.

When we came to Japan two years ago we ate soft serve ice cream EVERYWHERE we went. We loved trying the different flavors. Here they served plum, of course. I wanted to try it but my frozen fingers refused to allow me to get one.

As we were leaving the park these plum blossom girls in kimonos came along and posed with everyone. Look closely at this little girl. We thought it was hilarious that she held this pose with her fingers in her cheeks for such a long time.

We returned to Tokyo and grabbed a quick carry-out meal. Then Art and I did some laundry, sent a suitcase to Narita airport and got ourselves organized for tomorrow.

We'll be leaving Tokyo for Takayama.

Oh my gosh! Is it really 1:28 AM? I need to get to bed.

Day #3 Sendai

Averaging four hours of sleep a day for the past 4 days, I am not in the best of shape. I should really edit my photos. I apologize for posting so many, but my brain is fried. I'm posting these photos also to reassure my aunt's children that their mom is doing fine.

We started the morning in a bit of a rush. We had a quick oatmeal and fruit breakfast in the New Sanno Emporium. It's rather interesting because everything at this hotel is paid for in dollars and not yen.

It was cold and a bit drizzly so we opted to take a taxi. It ended up being only a few dollars more. This way we could skip the Hiroo subway station in order to get to the Ebisu Station to catch our JR train for Sendai.

Once we got there and the attendant saw the wheelchair, he insisted on taking us to all the elevators and brought a ramp with him to help us get on the train.
There was no getting lost with attendants greeting us at every connection to help us off the train and onto the next. They were calling each station to let them know we were coming and when to expect us.

Japan has a super efficient, fast and clean train system. I can't wait for Hawaii to get one.

All the attendants who helped us were as wonderfully kind as can be.

My aunt and cousin met us at Sendai station. We stored mom's wheelchair in a locker and rode a "Jumbo" taxi to their home.

It was quite a surprise to see SNOW everywhere! It's colder in Sendai because it's farther north. My aunt's garden had plum blossoms who were able to fight off the cold.

The first task my aunt had for me was to go through the albums to see what photos we might want to archive. It was a shock to find so many. I was amazed. I just wish I had these BEFORE I made our album. It will be my project to update the DVDs.

And then came lunch! I wish I could post all the photos but then I'd really be over the top. It started with different kinds of mochi (glutinous rice) and then came this azuki rice.

There was teriyaki fish with some tsukemo. Scrumptious!

Seafood skewers barbecued to perfection. Who was our chef? My uncle! He took a year long cooking school and can now cook incredible meals. I wonder if Art would like to take a course like this too.

This is Art's favorite dish... Nishime. I'm sure my uncle started this dish the night before.

Barbecued clams? Yummmm! This was super tasty.

My aunt said my uncle made this purple rice dish just for me because it was so healthy. Everybody loved it.

What a surprise to see tofu in a cut bamboo. Fabulous!

I REALLY loved this mushroom and vegetable dish. I could have eaten the whole bowl myself.

This clam soup was to die for!


Dessert was super, super sweet strawberries and a kind of orange grown in Sendai.

Here are three of the sisters going through some photos together. While they were talking, they're happy laughter and chatter allowed Art and me to doze... just a little. Poor Art could hardly understand a word anybody was saying. I understood enough to know how much love the sisters hold for each other and their only brother.

One of my cousins' wife was there with her two children. Their daughter is the same age as my granddaughter. They were both adorable. We took the photo not realizing that my cousin, Tomoko was not with us. She was busy cleaning up in the kitchen.

Here's Tomoko in the back, middle.

The time flew by and it was soon time for Tomoko and my aunt to drive us back to Sendai Station.

An attendant there made sure we got back on the train safely. It was very hard to say goodbye to my aunt, cousin and uncle again.

Here's a photo of the ramp they brought for us.

This evening we had left overs from lunch for dinner . We are so very grateful for the kindness of our relatives.

Tomorrow... a garden. I sure hope the rain stops. A little more warmth wouldn't hurt either. However, I'm not complaining. The snow was beautiful and I can't believe the services the JR line provides for their handicapped passengers. Having them show us where to go prevented us from getting lost. My mother says she doesn't feel bad about hurting her leg now.

Gracious!

Hmmm... It's 11:15. Is it possible that I'll be able to get to sleep before midnight? We have to get up at 5:15. I'll have more than 4 hours of sleep! Yae!