Update on Japan: The Remaining Part of the Trip

We left Fuji City and headed for Tokyo, a huge feat for the family. You see, we had to lug three pieces of luggages (two with wheels), one baby and a stroller. The journey involved a ride on the bullet train, transfer to the local train line in Tokyo, and three lost souls attempting to locate the hotel, which was supposed to be a ten-minute walk from the Shinjuku station. Derod had to lug all three pieces across not very smooth pavements for about 20-30 minutes, an act he describes as what he'd do back in the army, which he said he'll never repeat.

At the Shin Fuji station. The model is obviously not very happy. One sure can't tell how much effort it took to take this picture. The mother was lifting the near9kg boy but had to squat so as to avoid being seen.

We arrived too late to enter into the Imperial Palace Gardens in Tokyo and so had to contend with walking the perimeters of the grounds, which is still very beautiful. We were freezing... only gabe was nice and warm in his stroller with blanket and plastic shield.

Chomping huge takoyaki balls at Asakusa

At the Tsukiji wholesale fish market. Hope the "scale" is good enough to let you appreciate the size of the tuna ;p

After the trip to Tsukiji market, we found a tremendously long queue for hot char siew soba. Man, the wait was SOOOOOO worth it. It's the yummiest hot bowl of noodles I've ever tasted.

A disappointing trip. We had hoped to see the 300meter path strewn with red autumn leaves. Alas, the time has not yet come.

A shot of a night scene in Shinjuku

The "exercise" I was telling you about. Most times, we'll share the load but derod volunteered to do it on his own as I was having quite a bad backache.

First thing we did upon landing on home ground: a family dinner to celebrate derod's 31st birthday. It's his first birthday as a papa.

Update from Japan Part 5: Hakone

Derod had a two-day break in his schedule so we took a trip to nearby Hakone. Some highlights of the trip to share.

Finally arrived at Hakone Yumoto Station after a ride on the very expensive but fast Shinkansen.

At the Botanical Wetlands. Here we saw the majestic mountains backing the different types of vegetation.

So tourist. But can't help it la. Autumn is here and every street tells you so. Isn't it beautiful?

At the Glass Museum. Yes, the christmas tree is made of glass.

Family picture at the traditional ryokan.

Pictorial evidence of the eagerness of my son, when it comes to food.

We took a walk along a road of Japanese cedar trees. Lovely!

On a sight-seeing boat across Ashinoko, with full view of Mount Fuji. In fact, you can almost always catch sight of the famed volcano at major tourist areas of Hakone.

On the ropeway towards the volcano Owakudani.

Owakudani. The winds were so strong the stroller almost got blown away. I had some trouble myself.

Hakone Open Air Museum.

Foot bath in the Open Air Museum.

After two very cold days, we were heading back to Fuji City. We had to buy gloves along the way just to stay a little warmer.

And the little one? He was like a little dumpling. Half the time, he was snugly covered up in his stroller plastic sheet so the wind didn't get to him. Will get a picture of that up soon.

Update from Japan Part 4: Papa's Work Place

The World Skills Competition held in Shizuoka Japan this year is an event that is highly publicised where we are. From notices all over train stations and visitor centres, to news coverage and even blocking out underpasses for shuttle buses, this event has hit the prefecture with a blast. In fact, the competition village is erected specifically for this purpose. It is open to the public, so they can visit the halls where the competitions are held, and there are specific sections of this village dedicated to showing the culture and practices of Japan. On the last day of the competition, I visited the village with gabe.

It was so crowded. We took a stroll through the entire village and met derod near the cultural exchange section, ate some food, peeped at some of the booths, grabbed some freebies and gave gabe his milk at the lake. We didn't have the time to go through the halls to take a look at the various types of skills in action. According to derod, some of them are really interesting, ranging from hairdressing to robotics to landscaping to floral arrangement to web design (derod's specialty) to cooking to sewing to caring (nursing and emergency skills). You can check out the details here. I have the privilege of daily updates and pictures from derod though.

The excitement of this event can be felt as we walked though the premises. It's good to be here.

Had lunch at this soba shop at Mishima train station. It's the kind where you stand, slurp up your noodles (highly welcomed in the cold) and leave.

At the Japanese garden just across the street from Mishima station. They were having a chrysanthemum festival.

What's a garden without a pond? Gabe's current favourite is moving water and the ducks here just add to the appeal.

Help desk at the wrong side of the station to direct you to the shuttle bus on the other side. These Japanese, they think of everything. It's rather impossible to get lost finding the competition village.

Flags line the way to the shuttle bus.

Huge floral arrangement of the logo of the competition.

Family photo at the lake, at the competition village.

So shiok. Warm milk on a cold afternoon.

Gabe attracts. This is the expert judge from Australia. Think I should start charging fees soon.

Update from Japan Part 3: Development Process

Somehow it didn't exactly strike me that gabe's development process will continue even though we're not in sunny Singapore. And quite a lot has been happening, the good and the challenging.

My baby's first tooth has finally cut through his gum!!! The boy has been showing signs of teething since like what, the third month?!?!? But it's finally here; the little whites bits are quite cute :)

My son has been shouting and screaming whenever he detects that we adults are up for a meal. This is not at all nice, as we can be in restaurants, eateries or trains. In fact, I now have the privilege of having the very child that I'd glare at when children of other parents show such misbehaviour in public. Derod and I are really working out how to deal with the boy we have now.

So one way to shut him up is to give him the food he so wants to eat; food that he can eat of course. And to our amazement, we discovered he can eat Japanese rice well. That and tofu, small bits of vegetables and grilled fish. With processed food (cereals and jar foods) being his main diet, I decided to try giving him a fresh meal one day and guess what, he downed a small bowl of rice mixed with tofu and vegetables. My son has transited to rice!!!!

His comprehension of words, tone of voice and physical punishment has transited to another level. Back in Singapore, I'd tell him "no no and wait wait" and leave him on the sofa bed for a few seconds to turn around and grab something and he'll sit motionless until I'm done. Here in Japan, especially derod's allocated extremely-small hotel room, he is confined to the bed. When I run in to the toilet to pee or wash something, I have no choice but to leave him alone on the bed, with only the instructions and will always return to see him in exactly the same position and activity that I left him with. I'm so thankful and proud at the same time. His comprehension and response to the word "no" is also rather complete now. He'll reach for something (he reaches for everything in radius) and I'll say "no" firmly. He'll hold back, look at me and try again. We repeat this about thrice and he'll get the idea and move to something else. But if I get really fierce and give him a harsh "no!", sometimes he'll be on the verge of tears. So poor thing hor, so I sayang la. Physical punishment? Need I say more? Haha

Gabe has always been active, from the non-stop kicking and punching when he was in utero and while he was an infant is now a challenge to us. He can clamber all over you, tugging at your sleeves and body parts just to get to a standing position. Or, he'll assume the role of a tank and just barrages through human bodies to get to the edge of a bed or a chair.

Gabe's official words (those that we can comprehend at least) are:
1. papa (this started a few days prior to our departure)
2. mama
3. muum muum
Of the three, the usage of muum muum is the only one he can most obviously use to communicate to us. He'll punctuate the meal (in between mouthfuls) with "muum mmmuuuumm". He'll also act like an alarm clock: when milk or meal times near, he'll say "muum muum". Quite cute hor! Derod joked that we should tap his head to snooze the "alarm" for us to get ready.

Please continue to pray for us to be wise parents.

Update from Japan Part 2: Outwit, Outplay, Outlast

I have officially outdone myself, hence the title of this post. Shall do a short update of the last few days and you can decide if I can be given a trophy hahah.

But first, here are some photos from the trip down to the Izu Peninsular.

Me with bag, derod with gabe.

Wacha thinking?

View from the top

At Lake Ippeki. Spot the father and his son.

At the famous Jogasaki Coast. After walking past the famed suspension bridge, we took a short hike and loads of photos.

We returned to base camp and while derod was hard at work (ok... not very hard la, but he had to be at the competition site), I took gabe and wandered around the city centre (as described in the last post) and even ventured to the not-so-near vicinity, on foot. Japan is not as well connected by buses like home so it was between expensive taxi fares and my tecko legs. This particular trip to Hiromi Park took me an hour. Pity the lady who took the photo for me didn't include the whole sculpture...

At the playground in the park. Gabe's first swing experience.

Took an hour's train ride to World Tea Museum at Kanaya. Thank God for loads of help, from buying tickets, to learning how to get to platforms, change trains, etc. And not to forget how to take buses and how their system works. It's an experience like no other. Here's me grinding tea leave bits to powder at the Museum.

Us at the Shiraito Waterfalls at Fujinomiya. Train and bus ride took us but an hour.

Unfortunately, the falls are only accessible by stairs. So gabe was in the carrier in front of me, and the bag was behind. I left the stroller with a shop, and took the plunge. You can see my destination in the photo.

Mission accomplished. Now what remains is but the journey up... *pant*

Will be hitting other sites and also visit the competition site where derod is. After that, Hakone, here we come!

Update from Japan!

Gabe's taking a nap right now and I'm taking the opportunity to check my emails and provide you some updates. The journey thus far has been rather good. Some snippets here for you.

I've had to have some meals on my own (with gabe in tow of course) while derod is out for work. Japanese eateries are really not so child-friendly -- almost all of them do not have baby chairs. But where I have difficulty, somehow, God provides for very friendly obasan-staff who come over to play with gabe, carry him and entertain him while I settle in my chair and have my meal. He's made many friends thus far.

Many locals ask how old he is, and are usually surprised to learn he's only 8.5 coming to 9 months old. Declarations of "ookii" (meaning: big) to one another can be heard.

We've gone on a 1.5 day trip away from our base at Fuji-city to Ito-city on the Izu Peninsular. Took two hikes and they were most lovely. God also provided travel companions: derod's two colleagues from his department. We drove and everyone enjoyed tremendously. Local roadsigns and directions are very easy to follow. More companions means that our cost could be shared too! A great bonus :) Also great that both companions are parents to two children each, so they can tahan the nonsense from gabe.

On the two hikes we took at Izu, gabe was in a carrier which derod firmly carried like a haversack. No complains from him. He must have enjoyed the journeys too.

Because we've been taking most dinners together, 4 pax plus 1 baby means we normally get a tatami room in restaurants/ eateries versus having to sit at a table or at the counter. Cool!

We've been shuttling between the hotel allocated to derod and the hotel we have to stay in since we didnt manage to get a room upgrade to include us two. The former is a business hotel for one pax, too small to describe, but fit with typical hotel amentities. The latter is a local style tatami room, with futons as beds, and a door in the room which opens up to a large toilet area. Local breakfast and dinner are available on request. Yummy food! We have a clear view of Mt Fuji from our room too! Our room however, is located on level three and derod has to lug our luggages up and down the stairs whenever we check in/ out, which is about ... 3 times? Due to its budget nature, the cleanliness level is also not tip top, but the homey feel and great service make up for it. They even lent derod their bicycle to commute between the two hotels.

My half-past-six Japanese can actually get us somewhere! Though half the time I'm going "I don't understand" and sign language and drawings become quite helpful. Haha!

Weather is lovely, but the nights can be rather cold. We're well equipped and really enjoying the temperatures!

Some photos from the first couple of days:

Just outside of Narita Airport. Waiting for people to load luggage into the bus (in picture). First encounter with local temperatures. Shiok!

Back of Hotel Tamaya, where derod is trying out his new mode of transportation.

View from our room

Along a junction near the train station.

At the Central Park in Fuji City.

Friends at a family-run sushi restaurant. We were the only customers other than two regular customers.