Apr 11 2019

Day 5: Traveling to Kyoto

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Karin

I remembered to take a picture of our breakfast at the hotel in Tokyo. The pastries were delicious. You can see how much I liked them by the amount of them I had on my plate. Actually I probably could have eaten more but I didn’t want to look like a pig. The salad is a cabbage salad with some dressing. That was good too. Also they had some eggs. They were a weird texture that I didn’t really enjoy but Corey seemed to like them.

After breakfast we checked out of our hotel and headed to the train station to catch the shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. The train we were on travels at about 278 km/h or 165 mph! I think my sister Krystal would have gotten sick because she gets car sick so easily. The train goes so fast that when you look out the window all the stuff like trees and bridges become an extreme strobe. I just sat with my head down until there was a small town with fields or something that wasn’t so close to the train.

After a quick train transfer we walked about 1km to our hotel. It’s not actually a hotel but it’s a bed and breakfast. It’s pretty cool. There is a common kitchen and dinning area that we share with everyone else. We have our own room and we sleep on futons ontop of tatami mats. Our room feels bigger than our last hotel but we also don’t have our own bathroom we have to share like you would at a hostel.

After getting situated here we decided to explore a little by walking to the local grocery store and then getting something to eat at an okonomiyaki place. The store was fun to see. It reminds me of the china town market in Salt Lake City that we like to stalk up on our Japanese sauces. We had a really yummy dinner at a little place just up the rode. Corey had Osaka style pork Okonomiyaki. I ate pork Yaki soba. It was really good but I didn’t really care for the Bonito flakes they put on top. Bonito flakes are thin fish flakes that will wave and kind of melt with the heat of the food. It has a fishy flavoring that I didn’t really like. Tomorrow we will explore more of the sites in Kyoto and I’m super excited.

American style breakfast buffet at our hotel in Tokyo

Me with the Shinkansen arriving at the station behind me

Corey liked that it says Puncake instead of Pancake on the menu

Waiting for our food with his Ginger Ale. They turn the griddle on and set your food on it.

Corey’s Okonomiyaki. I’m not a fan of it but he loves the stuff. It’s a pancake with pork and cabbage.

I thought this bag was hilarious. I think I need a sweat tote. I may have to go back and buy it.

Apr 10 2019

Day 4 Tokyo Japan

Posted on April 10, 2019 by Karin

This morning we woke up to a lot of rain. We had a complementary breakfast in the hotel cafe. There were these croissants that were so buttery and flaky. I forgot to get a picture of them but I will try tomorrow if they have them. Our plan for today was to go to a Shinto shrine and the Imperial Palace gardens. First we had to stop at the local convenient store to pick up some umbrellas. It was just our luck that this is one of the coldest days they’ve had this time of year. Many places in Japan are seeing snow so we are lucky that we just had rain. I guess we had to bring the cold with us from Idaho.

Once we got our umbrellas we headed to the train station and then on foot to the shrine. The cherry blossoms are finishing up here and they are beautiful. There is a war museum at the shrine. We spent a few hours there. It was a good use of our time to get warm and out of the rain. It’s interesting to see the war history of Japan. Even more interesting was getting a different perspective on WWII.

After the shrine we were pretty hungry and walked to a restaurant. We both ate Mabodofu. It’s something that I’ve learned to make at home but I really wanted to taste what an authentic one was like. It was delicious. They gave us a big bowl of it. It’s about as much as I normally make for my whole family. As we look around it seems like everyone was finishing all that they ordered and I don’t know if it is unkind to not eat everything. So I ate all of it and was so stuffed by the end.

After that we walked through the Imperial Palace Gardens. On the way there we stopped at a public toilet and yes I took a picture of the public toilets in the women’s bathroom. It is definitely an adventure. The gardens are beautiful and we took our time walking around. I wish it hadn’t been so cold and wet because I know we would have spent the rest of the day there if we could. However, our shoes were squishy with water and we were freezing so after a couple of hours we made our way back to the hotel to dry off and get warm. Even though it was rainy and cold we had a good experience. Tomorrow we head for Kyoto

Toilet in women’s bathroom. It’s a workout for your quads

Standing in front of the Old Edo Castle walls

War museum. Plane behind us was what they used as the suicide planes

Apr 9 2019

Day 2 and 3

Posted on April 9, 2019 by Karin

Day 2: This day started before the sun was up. We had to catch a flight from SLC to Seattle at 7am. That means getting up and being to the airport by 5am. Once we landed in Seattle we had a couple of hours to kill before our flight to Tokyo took off. Corey was hungry so we walked around the airport and found Beechers Handmade cheese. I remember from Preston’s choir trip that there was a place in Pike’s Place Market that Preston said the mac and cheese was the best thing about his trip. It’s the same place only they have a shop in the airport too! So Corey ordered a mac and cheese and we waited for our next flight.

Once our plane took off for Tokyo they pretty much started serving us food from the time we got in the air until we landed. It’s an over nine hour flight so I was feeling pretty stuffed by the time we landed. It’s funny how much they offer you to drink and then you watch as the line for the bathroom would get super long. I wasn’t falling for that trick and only had a drink when I needed one. I only had to use the small bathroom on the plane once!

Day 3: At some point, because of the international date line, day 2 morphed into day 3. All I know is we took off on Monday at 11:30am and landed on Tuesday at 12:30pm. I was only able to sleep for about an hour on the plane. This means when I normally would be going to bed at home it’s the middle of the next day in Tokyo. Even though all I wanted to do was sleep Corey and I made sure we stayed awake until 9:00pm in Tokyo. My brain has stopped working and I feel like I’m in a hazy fog. Hopefully by staying awake we can sleep through the night and feel great tomorrow. It’s been a long day. I’ve had some really yummy ramen and we rode the Big O in Tokyo which gave us a wonderful view of the Tokyo skyline. Our hotel room is comically small. The bathroom is about as big as the one on the plane. This was expected and it doesn’t really matter to us because we don’t plan on spending too much time at the hotel. Well time to get some shut eye so we can explore more of Tokyo tomorrow.

The main meal on our long flight. Pork stir fry. It was actually pretty tasty.

Look how tall Corey looks compared with our hotel room door!

Really yummy pork ramen. Boy do I look tired or what!

The Big O behind Corey. It’s like a ferris wheel

Apr 7 2019

Day One of Our 20th Anniversary Trip

Posted on April 7, 2019 by Karin

This year my hubby and I celebrate 20 years of being married! We decided to celebrate by going on a trip to Japan. Corey served a mission there for our church back in 1996-1998. It’s been 21 years since he has been there. We are both excited for this adventure and wanted to keep our kids informed on what we have been up to. Corey’s mom, Nammy, is staying with our kids for a couple of weeks as we go on this adventure. We are so blessed to have her there with them!

Day 1: This is a short day because we have such a long lay over in Salt Lake City. We flew from Idaho Falls to Salt Lake which was a rough flight with lots of turbulence but luckily it’s a very short flight. We have a 10 hour lay over; it’s over night so Corey and I get to spend a night in SLC. We are staying at the Sheraton in downtown. We decided we wanted to try the Indian restaurant that’s a block from the hotel. I know that’s a little daring especially when we’re going to be on a plane pretty much all day tomorrow. The food was a very delicious. We hope it doesn’t come back to bite us later.