Thursday: Pokemon! & Friday: Ueno Zoo

Whenever Art and I traveled with the kids, we would wake early and head out to see as many things as we could possibly fit in for that day. 

This is not how our now grown kids travel. They wake late, have breakfast later and spend their day at a more leisurely pace. We decided up front that we would let them set our schedule and we would be following along. 

It took a bit of adjustment on our psyches, but I think we’ve been very good at allowing them to enjoy each day as they would like. And you know what? It’s rather nice this way too.

Thursday: Pokemon!

We took the train to Ikebukuro and since it was now lunch time, went to the TOBU department store and picked up some box lunches which we ate on the roof top dining area.

We just stood in a line with more people since we figured they knew what would be good.

June is the rainy season in Japan but we'd been lucky so far. Amazingly, it was rather unexpectedly chilly so we stopped at a UNIQLO shop where Art could buy a light jacket.

And OK... yes, we stopped at the ubiquitous DAISO and Seria stores. I don't know how we can manage to find so many things we absolutely will probably need when it's costing us only about 70 cents.

Our grandsons are into Pokémon and learned how to play Pokémon Go on a cellphone. I tried and can’t figure out what is going on. They know the names of an astonishing number of the 1,010 Pokémon creatures there are in Pokémon Land. 

The Pokémon Shop is located inside the Sunshine City Alpa Shopping Complex.  The boys could hardly contain their excitement. We’ve seen a few of the Pokémon stuffed toys in Hawaii, but it’s usually Pikachu. Here, we were amazed at the incredible assortment of toy Pokémon characters that were available. And yes, the boys did come out with Pokémon goodies. I could hardly imagine how they were going to fit everything in their luggage.

Friday: Ueno Zoo

A lot of friends and relatives from Hawaii have gone to Japan this year or are planning to in a few months. My nephew, Barry's wife, Miho who is originally from Japan coincidentally had taken our grand niece and nephew to visit her parents in Tokyo. We thought it would be fun for KC, JK and RK to spend time with their cousins.

Tiffany and KC's room were also on the 12th floor like us. Although it has a fancy name, our hotel room was very small with no closet space (merely hooks) to hold a few clothes and a tiny bathroom. Still... it is located in a very convenient place close to the train station.

As you can see, JK is loving my cellphone because he's able to spend the time on the train playing with the Pokemon Go app. Unfortunately, he kept saying, "You lost again, Grandma." 😆

We had agreed up front that we wouldn't go to see the pandas because there's always a long line to see them.

However, we discovered that the line (this time) to see the mature pandas was not long.

The long line was to see the 2 year old little pandas because it happened to be their 2nd birthday.

5 year old RK got an English map and immediately located animals and birds he just had to see. He was running here and there, wanting to take it all in.

The shoebill stork had a bill that definitely looked like a shoe.

There was something about this meerkat that really captured our attention. He kept looking up and then around and we ended up looking where he was looking until I could finally get a good shot of him.

The five cousins had fun getting used to each other and enjoying the animals they were seeing. As tiring as it had to have been for Miho to watch over her two little children, she kindly kept us company giving us lots of advice along the way.

Here, children could write notes on little cards to wish Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei a happy birthday. They were thrilled to see their notes on the bulletin board later.

On the way out of the zoo, we saw a long long line of people waiting to see the panda cubs.

We passed by a lotus field and Art took this photo of us with our little UNIQLO embroidered bags. It was so convenient for us to carry our little travel essentials. Unfortunately, with two young boys, both Keola and Sarah needed bigger backpacks to carry their necessities.

We decided to separate then. Tif and KC wanted to walk the short distance to Niki no Kashi to get (lots of) little snack gifts for friends in Chicago.

We did pass by a shrine on the way there.

Keola, Sarah and the boys went to a Shinto shrine called Nezu. The Nezu Shrine was established in 1705 and is one of the oldest places of worship in the city. Seeing Keola and Sarah's photos, I rather wish we'd gone with them to see it.

But then... there are so many places to see in Japan, we can save it for next time.

Wednesday: Yokohama’s Cup Noodle Museum

When we went down for breakfast on Wednesday, we bumped into another family from Hawaii and had a fun chat. It turned out that they lived on Oahu too!

Once done with breakfast, we went to a coin laundry just a couple of blocks away from the hotel. There was an attendant there who was a marvelous help in understanding how to operate the machines for a very reasonable price.

We then gathered the troops and took the train to Yokohama’s Cup Noodle Museum.

Tiffany had ordered tickets online for 16 year old KC and 7 year old JK to make their own noodles. KC was an absolute angel helping her little cousin decorate his package and then making their noodles from scratch.

Art and I stood outside the glass window watching them for about an hour and a half. Tif thought this noodle making class was for children but most of the participants were definitely much older and there were even some seniors (and I don't mean high school).

Meanwhile the rest of our crew had gone to World Porters next door which is a shopping mall. They’d gone to an animal petting area where they could interact with sloths, capybaras, chicks, etc. 5 year old RK had a fabulous time!

Once KC and JK were done with their noodle making workshop and came out with their own packaged (which they decorated themselves) noodle creations we all got together and decorated our own cup noodles.

We got to choose what kind of seasoning and ingredients we wanted for our own noodle creations.

The noodles were then packed in inflatable balloon bags to bring home. 

Before leaving we had fun seeing the various museum displays of Cup Noodles across the years.

Once that was done, we went across the street to World Porters’ Jonathan’s Restaurant and were served our orders by robots. That was a lot of fun.

Yup. All in all, a very fun day!

Tuesday: Disneyland

We had a late 10:00 start on Tuesday morning to go to Tokyo Disneyland. 

The breakfast at Hotel MyStays Premier Omori had a lot of choices. I liked the egg drop soup, rice with pickled veggies (not pictured here) that I often got, a little pastry, salmon and salad.

It was interesting for our young grandsons to be in Tokyo for the first time. I could show 7 (almost 8) year old JK some kanji characters which he found interesting. 

If you have just one of these characters (ki), it means tree.

If you have two of these ki characters, it would be hayashi which means woods.

Our station was called Omori which means big forest. 

The last time Keola was in Japan was 1996. He now wanted his sons to experience and learn a little about their great great grandparents' home country.

One of my favorite photos is this one of Tiffany and Keola. We love that they are so close even though they now live very far apart.

By the time we got to Tokyo Disneyland, it was time for lunch. The decision was to go to Center Street Coffee House because KC wanted to try the Baymax curry. I’ve seen the Big Hero 6 movie but forgot about Baymax, the computerized robot. Apparently, he is very popular now and there were a lot of Baymax stuffed toys everywhere in Disneyland.

And then it was time to enjoy the park.

It's been decades since Art and I have been to Disneyland and I must say Tokyo Disneyland captures that childlike spirit beautifully.

(I'm sorry I have to blur out the children's photos. Both Tif and Keola have asked me to keep them private.)

Our first adventure was the Jungle Cruise. This is 7 year old JK and 5 year old RK’s first experience at a Disneyland and they were loving it. RK thought the robotic animals on the Jungle Cruise were real at first. He could not contain his excitement at the wonder of everything around him and kept pointing at everything and telling me what animal he was seeing, just to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

Big Thunder Mountain however, was a different story. It was actually a roller coaster ride with a lot of sudden twists and turns. THAT was not helping my vertigo and RK ended up in tears but older brother JK said that was his favorite ride.

It's a Small World had a cheerful calming effect.

That Dumbo Ride had a super super long line and the ride was barely a minute long. Didn't matter. The boys loved it. 

Their first experience of Disneyland had the boys so excited, they did not want to leave.

After several more rides we had dinner at the Queen of Hearts.

On the way to the exit we stopped to see Mickey’s Philharmagic show using 3D glasses. The boys kept batting at the air because things appeared to be moving toward them. 

And yes, all the kids (and teenager) went home with stuffed animals which I know took up a lot of space.

And yes, yes… Disneyland is one of the happiest places on earth.

Sunday: Asakusa Monday: Shinagawa Aquarium

Sunday was a short day for Art and me. 

It began with a happy reunion with Keola who came down to see us along with Tif and KC at breakfast before Sarah came down with our sleepy grandsons.

When I hugged Keola, it seemed he was taller and bigger than I remembered from three years ago. It was funny that Art told me the same thing later.

But no, Keola said he was just the same.

After breakfast we took the train together to Asakusa, but I was too exhausted with too little sleep and too much anxiety for two days to stay for the entire day. 

However, while in Asakusa, we stopped at the UNIQLO store where Tiffany bought little shoulder bags for herself, KC and me. 

I'd told her earlier that I needed to find a small bag since I forgot to bring a bag to carry my essentials in. This was perfect and you could order a little embroidery to personalize it. KC chose that bear. Tif chose the cherry blossom and I chose the little Mt. Fuji to commemorate this trip. 

(Correction: Tif said she and Kalani had been planning on getting these bags before they left Chicago because she'd read how wonderful they were and that it was only at this location that you could get the embroidery done in hours instead of days. 😂 )

Art and I returned to the hotel in the early afternoon. I had just been to the ER with vertigo the week before and now was still feeling some of the symptoms. The stress of mom's accident added to the exhaustion. 

Meanwhile, Tif, KC, Keola and family continued on to Asakusa's Sensoji Temple. The grandkids loved getting a fortune (omikuji) there.

Concerned about my health difficulties, Tif bought a charm (omamori) for good health and gave it to me when they returned.

That symbol on the omamori, by the way, is not a Nazi swastika which turns the other way. 

It's been a peaceful Hindu and Buddhist symbol, way before Hitler appropriated it and changed its direction.

Meanwhile: The report from my brother, Dennis was that mom was already insisting on going back out to the street the following morning to do her daily street cleaning. 😲 Dennis stayed with her to make sure she didn’t show any ill-effects. He wondered why neither of us had inherited her ability to heal. 

Monday: We met Tiffany and KC for breakfast. Sarah would then join us with 7 year old JK, followed soon after by Keola and 5 year old RK. I could hardly believe that RK, who would be entering kindergarten in September was already a wonderful reader. His brother was also an early reader. 

It was a 20 minute walk from our hotel to the Shinagawa Aquarium. We saw a fun dolphin show and had lunch at the Aquarium restaurant. 

The boys absolutely LOVED seeing all the beautiful creatures that live in the ocean. 

16 year old KC was very indulgent of her young cousins and a good sport in allowing them to have nearly all of our attention. Art and I were thrilled to see what a lovely, graceful, kind and really smart young woman she was growing to be.

We made a stop at DAISO which is a favorite 100 yen store for all of us. Japan has a lot of 100 yen stores which would make everything in the store about 70 cents. Another favorite of ours was Seria. I was glad I had lots of luggage space. (In the end, we really didn't buy very much anyway and there was lots of luggage space left.) 😄 Not so for our kids.

Dinner was at Kura Sushi. We loved that restaurant at the Omori Train Station. 

The little plates of mostly different kinds of sushi are less than $4 each, lots under $2. For the 8 of us that evening, our bill was less than $80. Absolutely incredible! 

What the boys especially loved was being able to send down our emptied little plates. For every 5 plates, you MIGHT win a tiny prize. It does encourage you to eat more than you intend, but so much fun!

It was definitely a fun day! I was taking meclizine for my vertigo which was dissipating. Thank goodness! Our sleep schedule was slowly adjusting to the time difference.

Shock and Scare Before our Trip to Tokyo

Our 50th Wedding Anniversary was originally tentatively imagined as meeting up with our children and grandchildren at California’s Disneyland. And then the COVID pandemic happened. And then our son moved overseas with his family about a year ago. 

Sigh…

So we decided to meet sort of half way in Tokyo. For our daughter, Tiffany, it was a much greater distance to travel from Chicago.

But then our son-in-law got a new job which prevented him from joining us. 

However, we went ahead with our plans since we hadn’t seen our son and his family in almost 3 years.

The day of our departure finally came. It was Friday, June 16th. My brother, Dennis was scheduled to take us to the airport and then come to stay with mom for our two week anniversary trip. 

Art was busy doing a little last minute vacuuming before we would be leaving for the airport in 3 hours. We therefore didn’t hear neighbors calling us at first. 

When I went down, frantic neighbors told us they saw mom had fallen outside while raking up leaves from the roadway. Mom insists on doing this to keep the neighborhood clean and says it’s also her exercise. 

I was shocked to see Mom’s blouse and undershirt soaked with blood. She’d fallen on her back and hit her head. There was so much blood. (The photo only shows her undershirt and hat because Art had taken her blouse to soak in soapy water.)

I’d never seen this much blood on any of us. When I checked her head, I could see there wasn’t a horrendous injury for the amount of blood she lost. She wasn’t disoriented and was coherent. I called my brother to take her to the ER.

A friend (and neighbors) offered to take us to the airport once I got mom cleaned up, applied an ice pack and had Dennis taking over to drive her to the ER. Dennis kept up a steady report by text while we waited at the airport. Our flight was delayed again a little over an hour and by the time we actually took off, we could know that mom was fine. CT scans of her head, neck and chest showed no abnormal signs of injury. She didn’t even need stitches but was given an IV for hydration and a tetanus shot. It was absolutely amazing!

However, it was a stressful, anxiety filled time and an awful way to start our 50th Anniversary trip.

Still… we looked forward to seeing our children and their families…

And kept trying to smile…

Our friend, Dave dropped everything to take us to the airport. We really need to learn how to use Uber.

Arriving at the very crowded Honolulu International Airport, we found almost no one wearing a mask! 😬 

The Hawaiian Airlines flight to Haneda Airport was 8 hours 11 minutes long. 

We left Honolulu on Hawaiian Airlines at around 3:30 PM on a Friday and we arrived in Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Saturday at 6:49 PM. We caught the hotel shuttle to Hotel MyStays Premier Omori at 8:30 and were last to arrive.

We checked in at the hotel around 9:00 PM on Saturday. Japan is a day ahead of us so the time change was disorienting.

Tiffany, KC, Keola, Sarah and grandsons were already in their hotel rooms having arrived earlier in the day. Our little grandsons were sleeping along with their tired parents, but Tiffany and KC came down to greet us. They came with us to our room and filled us in while we prepared for bed.

It had been a difficult day.

Mysterious Flowers

Last month, Art went out around 6:00 AM get the morning paper and saw this at our front door.

Tulips, lilies, baby's breath and chrysanthemums were in a large, very beautiful vase. 

And no card or tag as to who sent it. 

No one rang the bell to insure we'd find it.

I sent text messages to friends and relatives, but they said it wasn't from them.

It was perplexing and disconcerting for us not being able to thank someone for such a beautiful gift.

It sure is pretty though and I'm loving the color and cheer it brings to our kitchen table.

Still...

I'm wondering...

Would you like to get flowers without knowing who sent them?

Defrosting a Mini-Fridge

After a few years of curbing my wanting to put a mini fridge upstairs (which he thought was unnecessary) Art relented last November and we bought it at Home Depot.

I was quite pleased with it. It's warm upstairs in our bedroom and office. I can now keep a jug of cold water in it along with sugar-free peppermint patties and snacks. 😁

However, eventually I was noticing it turning on to cool more often. When I looked in, there was a thick sheet of ice coating the back of the fridge. Apparently, Hawaii's humidity was causing the problem. 

I looked online and it said that the fridge needed to be defrosted or it could eventually be damaged and not work properly.

I turned it off, pulled the plug and left the door open. 

Art was going to use a hair dryer like we used to do with our very big freezer in Illinois, but the fellow on YouTube said you should absolutely not do this. Really? Oops! Granted that Illinois freezer is still going strong after almost 40 years according to my daughter.

Within a couple of hours, the thick sheet of frosted iced could be pried off easily.  That was very satisfying. 

And you know what? 

There's a huge difference. I now have to turn the cooling dial to between the 3 and 4 and it's perfect. I was having to go to #6 before and it was still a little too warm. The highest number is 7.

OK... So it looks like we'll have to defrost the mini-fridge 2-3 times a year.

But the nice thing is that Art did not complain or say, "I told you so."

Stella, the Sleepy Bat

A month or two ago, my daughter, Tiffany in Chicago sent this photo of something attached near her front door.

I had no idea what it could be. From the small photo she texted me, it looked like a brown blob.

Fungus? I thought.

Art enlarged it and immediately said, "A bat?"

OK, in my defense, I've fixed the photo so you can see it better. Also, I wasn't wearing my glasses. 😕

Tiffany named the bat, Stella.

It's a children's book I once had on my bookshelf called, Stellaluna by Janell Cannon.

Here's a YouTube about the baby bat who is adopted by a bird family and has to learn their ways.

Could you tell it was a bat from that photo? If not here's a close up.

My son immediately texted from across the ocean, "Do not touch or get close to the bat. It could have rabies. Stay AWAY!"

Art texted, "Get away! Don't get close to take any more photos!"

It stayed at Tif's front doorway for about a week or more and didn't move.

We started to get attached to it. Then we started thinking that Stella might have died and was stuck there. How the heck was she holding on to that smooth surface anyway? This is what happens when you give names to wild animals. You start to care, rabies or no rabies.

I told Tif she needed call the city wildlife control or whoever, to come and take it away.

I assumed she did and forgot about this because we were going on our trip, etc.

And then I remembered recently and asked her about it.

"I thought I told you guys," Tif said. "We had animal control come. Using a long claw, they pried Stella loose and she came out of hibernation. The guy then picked her up and moved her to a bush in the backyard. We couldn't find her later. Fingers crossed Stella is thriving in the backyard."

"What?!? They put her in YOUR backyard?"

Tiffany said her husband has seen other bats in the area and was glad they're probably keeping the mosquito population down.

I'm glad too.

But bats? Really? In the 35+ years we lived in Illinois, we have NEVER seen a bat. Never. 

Well, I hope Stella is OK and eating to her hearts content. And I hope she learns that spring is a time to come out of hibernation.

Cleaning My Sneakers the Easy Way

Whenever I get back from a trip, I like to wash my sneakers. This time, I really wanted to wash my shoes because I'd walked in rain and mud on a couple of days.

I first considered throwing it in the washer and changed my mind. I just washed it in a bucket of soapy water and it worked just fine. So now how to dry it which is more of the problem.

There have been times that Art has used a hotel hair dryer to dry his shoes. Instructions on the web warned against this since it's not good for the glue holding the shoes together or the rubber.

I just found a Nike website called The Manual which gave some clear directions on cleaning your (all kinds of) shoes.

As for my sneakers, it said to just air dry it. 

Well, that could take forever and even allow mold or something to grow here in humid Hawaii.

I found another website that said to stuff the shoes with newsprint.

And by golly, it really works. I stuffed it with newsprint paper and put it where it would get some shaded sun and a good breeze.

It did the trick. My shoes are definitely clean and ready for our next trip.

Doggone It!

I wrote the last time about our problem with the burnt out extension cord and being grateful that the microwave and toaster oven were not goners. 

Well... the following evening, Art was warming up some vegetables and the microwave just stopped. So he restarted it. And it stopped again. This was goofy. He did it one more time and suddenly there was a LOT of smoke coming from the microwave. The microwave oven was now plugged into the outlet (without an extension cord) so we thought everything was OK. 

Nope.

It was now totally, completely, forever broken.

We've gotten so dependent on having a microwave that I immediately searched the web and decided on a LG microwave oven from Best  Buy.

Art read the directions carefully so we wouldn't run into any problems again. According to the LG instruction book, it said that the microwave should have its own dedicated outlet. 

Art stared at the counter space and decided to move the toaster oven to the other side of the stove so it could have its own outlet.

Nope. He moved it again. Mom's radio/tape player is now next to the microwave and Alexa will have to wait for directions from the other side of the room.

I hope he's satisfied now.

The GE Profile was bought in 2009. I hope this LG will last at least as long as that. 🤞

Uh oh... I'm waiting for mom to ask me where her tape player is.

Oops! Almost Frying the Microwave and Toaster Oven

We were preparing dinner the other night in the microwave and toaster oven.

And then I heard a fizzle. 

The microwave had stopped working. I had this vision of having to now buy a new microwave and toaster oven. 

Art checked the electrical breaker but nothing was tripped. 

Oh nooo.... We have to buy a new toaster oven, a new microwave oven AND hire an electrician because obviously, something was wrong with the electrical wiring behind the walls. I'm racking up the cost in my head. 

Arrrghhhh!

Art pulled out the toaster oven and then saw the blackened extension cord. Luckily the GFCI (ground-fault circuit interrupter) wall outlet had tripped. 

Uh oh...

I must have used this wrong cord to plug in the two appliances when we bought them. 😳

Oops!

That was maybe 15 years ago.

OK, after resetting the GFCI outlet we plugged both appliances into the wall.  

Phew! 

Everything is working again. 

We didn't have to buy a new microwave or toaster oven. We didn't have to hire an electrician.

And I learned a valuable lesson. 😅