Nara

The city of Nara is called a smaller version of Kyoto. It was the first permanent capital of Japan, and today is one of the country's most rewarding sights! It's known as a treasure house of Buddhist art, with numerous Japanese Buddhist temples and Buddhist statues.

There are wild deer everywhere... and they are not scared of people! They are called shika and were originally regarded as divine messengers of Shinto gods. Today they enjoy the status of National Treasures. They roam the park and surrounding areas in search of handouts from tourists, often young children who have the misfortune to be carrying food! (Yes, we did see a deer chasing a stroller because the baby was holding a cracker). Vendors also sell deer-biscuits for a couple dollars so tourists can feed the deer.

Todai-ji. This is the temple that represents Nara.This enormous temple houses Japan's largest bronze statue (see below) as well as many other Buddhist statues. It's worth the trip to this city, just to see this temple and giant Buddha!

The famous Daibutsu (Great Buddha). It stands 15 meters tall and is approximately 380 tons... it's an amazing sight to see!

Another Buddhist statue inside the temple.

Another Buddhist statue inside the temple.

Nigatsu-d0. This temple offered amazing views of the city!

Part of the view from Nigatsu-do.

Kasuga Taisha. This shrine and surrounding area is lined with thousands of bronze and stone lanterns.

Japanese wisteria bloom from late April to early May - beautiful!

Kofuku-ji temple area. 5-storey pagoda, the second tallest in Japan.

Ended our day with a Nara cappuccino...

and dinner & drinks at the Mellow Cafe.

Food (Kyoto & Osaka)

While in Kyoto and Osaka, we had quite a variety of food! Scroll below to see pictures and explanations of: conveyor belt sushi, takoyaki, and okonomiyaki.

Conveyor belt sushi. Everything you can imagine!
You just grab what you want and eat.

Raw tuna & rice, fish eggs & rice. Jenny was
brave enough to eat both of these things!!

Crab & rice, lobster tempura & rice, eel & rice

Takoyaki (octopus dumplings).
Step 1: put octopus tentacle into baking cup.

Step 2: cover in batter & green onion and cook.
Step 3: rotate to cook the bottom side.

Step 4: cover in mayonnaise and brown sauce and try to enjoy.

Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancake)
Step 1: mix cabbage, egg, meat/seafood/potato

Step 2: flip and add noodles.

Step 3: drench in mayonnaise and special brown okonomiyaki sauce.

Osaka

Maki is from Osaka, so after our trip to Kyoto we went to visit her in her hometown. :)

Glico man - the symbol of Osaka! This is the logo of a candy company... if you eat their candy, you are supposed to be able to run fast like him!

Osaka is the 3rd largest city in Japan. About 4 million people in the city, and 18 million people including the surrounding area.

Boat ride through the river and canal. A great way to see the city!

Osaka Castle.

Kyoto

My friend Jenny is visiting! So we took a weekend and went to Kyoto.... the heart of Japan. Kyoto is known for it's shrines, temples, palaces, and gardens. It was about a 45-minute train ride from Nagoya. Kyoto is what you would picture traditional Japan to look like... streets of wooden houses, geisha, temples, pagodas, cherry blossom trees, etc. We narrowed it down to 5 different temples to see: Sanjusangen-do, Kiyomizu-dera, Muruyama-koen, Kinkaku0ji, & To-ji.

Sanjusangen-do. This long temple housed over 1000 Buddha statues. Unfortunately you couldn't take pictures inside the temple... but I copied some pictures from the internet so that you can see.....

1000 Golden Buddha statues. Made out of wood and painted with gold lacquer.

Giant Buddha in the middle. He separated 500 golden Buddhas on each side.

God of Wind. It was Joe's favorite, he even bought a t-shirt :)

Kiyomizu-dera. This temple and surrounding area is one of Kyoto's defining sights. This picture is of the main entrance.

Temple bell overlooking the city.

3-story pagoda.

Maki is one of Jenny's friends. They met in Spain studying abroad, and are both fluent in Spanish. Maki is Japanese and was nice enough to take us on a tour of Kyoto. Maki would explain something to Jenny in Spanish, and then Jenny would translate to English.

Pretend Geisha. These women dressed up in Geisha outfits to take pictures with tourists.

Muruyama-koen. This temple was near our hotel downtown. This picture is of the main entrance.

The temple.

There was a wedding at the temple: groom on the left in black, bride beside him.

Kinkaku-ji. The famous temple of the Golden Pavilion. It's surrounded by Mirror Pond, which makes for an awesome picture with the reflection! This was originally built as a retirement villa in 1358 but was converted into a Zen temple after his death. The 1st floor is palace-style, the 2nd floor is samurai-style, and the 3rd floor is Zen temple style.

To-ji. This is a 5-storey pagoda, Japan's tallest! Founded in 794.

Trash

The joyful event of separating trash in Japan. Literally, there are 9 different categories of trash & recyclables that all need to go into separate bags. We have this poster on our refrigerator as a constant reminder of what needs to go into each bag.... not fun!

We've been told that if you cheat and put things into the wrong bag, your trash will be returned to you and you will have to separate it out. I have a friend that this has happened to, so it really does happen. That would be a pretty disgusting task, so let's hope that doesn't happen to us! Also, you can't put milk cartons into any of the 9 categories.... you have to cut the carton a specific way, and then return them to the store.

There is even a 19 page guide online for how to separate your trash in Nagoya: http://www.youblisher.com/p/13626-Nagoya-Trash-Separation-Guidelines/

Also, it is interesting to note that there are very few trash cans around town. People are expected to carry their trash in their bag/purse or carry it around until they get home and then dispose of the item. So if I grab a Starbucks to go or even a snack, I am stuck carrying the cup/trash around until I get home. [I should also note though, that people here don't eat or drink on the go. Meals and food in general is very important in this culture - so when they do eat, they sit and take their time. This is a major difference from the USA!]

Happy Hour!

We went to a Happy Hour gathering at Joni & Kirk's house on Saturday night. They have an amazing deck and view! A big thank you to our new friends for sharing their wonderful space :) It was a beautiful weekend here - sunny and 60's - so we rode our new bikes to their house. I guess that means we are officially residents of Nagoya... now that we have an apartment and bikes! On a side note, do you know that you can make fruit dip with kool-aid!? It's my new favorite dip - and not just because it's hot pink! One of the ladies at the happy hour introduced me to this amazing dip that you simply make with yogurt and kool-aid. Yum!

Appliances

We are still in the process of settling into our apartment.... but we're getting there! I will post pictures once everything is organized :) In the meantime, many of you are very interested in seeing our appliances - specifically, washer/dryer combo and microwave/oven combo. So here you go!

I put a water bottle inside for scale. As you can see, it's pretty small - we definitely won't be cooking a turkey for Thanksgiving. But what's interesting about this appliance is that it is a microwave, oven, grill, and steamer all in one! I've used the oven and grill functions so far - and the chicken turned out great both times!

This is washer AND dryer in one. There are different settings depending on if you just want to wash or dry, or do both in one cycle. Notice all the sticky labels on every single button!! (A big thank you to our relocation gal for writing English on all of our appliances!!) The only downfall is that if you do a combo wash and dry cycle, it takes about 4 hours to complete. So I've just been washing clothes and then hanging them in our shower room to dry. Shower rooms in Japan are pretty awesome - not only are they huge, but they have a dryer function! So you just hang your clothes up and click the dry button, and they're done within an hour! Also, people in Japan only use cold water to wash clothes. Apparently hot water is very expensive here.

I thought you would get a kick out of seeing the remotes... especially because of all the English sticky tabs. The one on the right is for the lights and the one on the left is for the heater and air-conditioner (again, both heat and air-conditioning in one unit). So we have multiple remotes for every room! It can be very confusing, but we're getting the hang of it! Hopefully someday we'll be able to remove all the stickies from all of our appliances. :)

Trip to Michigan & Texas

Here are a few highlights of my trip back to Michigan and Texas! To see all of our pictures, go to: http://emilyandjoepictures.shutterfly.com/

Seder Dinner in South Haven at my Grandparent's church.

Opening day of OBERON!

Brewster's with my family!

Roadtrip to Detroit with Kitty to see Jenny!

Cupcakes with my favorite niece :)

Spending time with my wonderful sister-in-laws!

Hanging out with Emma, Scotty & Rover

Wedding with Mom & Dad "S"

Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. VerHeul!!

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Wing Ultimate Test

Boeing completed the static ultimate wing bending test condition over the weekend on the 787. The test represents 150% of the load the airplane is ever expected to see while in service. From 0% to 150% load the wing deflection at the tip was around 25 feet...., yes, 25 feet, as in 4 times my height.