Tea Ceremony & Karaoke

One of my friends, Miyoko, who I also teach English, invited my mom and I out to experience Japanese Tea Ceremony and Karaoke.

Miyoko welcome us into her home, and allowed us to wear her kimono. She helped us dress - I never knew wearing a kimono was such a complicated process! It was very tight and a bit uncomfortable... but very fun to wear, especially to a Japanese Tea Ceremony.

The man in this photo is the teacher, apparently it takes several years to become certified in tea ceremony. The women we attended with have been practicing for many years, and are still learning! The tea ceremony is a well orchestrated series of events, each part of the ritual is symbolic. I love that the kettle is in the floor. They use a bamboo ladle to pour and serve the water.

These are the three women we attended the ceremony with, Miyoko and her friends. All learning and practicing the tea ceremony process. It was a very interesting experience, and I'm interested in learning more about the meaning behind the movements in Japanese Tea Ceremony.

After the Tea Ceremony, we headed over to a local karaoke "box" for some good ole' singing! Karaoke is one of the main social activities of Japanese people. Many karaoke bars are open 24 hours, and often feature all-you-can-drink deals. Each group has their own room with access to all karaoke paraphernalia... far more private compared to U.S. karaoke since it's just you and your friends in a room. They have a wide variety of songs to choose from - my mom enjoyed singing oldies, especially the Beatles.

Kyoto Trip & Maiko Makeover with Mom

After spending a day in Nara, we spent the following day exploring Kyoto.

This is 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.

Japanese tea house.

Nijo Castle, known for its unusually ornate interiors and nightingale floors. The floors make bird-like speaking sounds when walked upon, as a warning of possible intruders. The nightingale floors were carefully laid so that the cramps and nails below the floorboards would rub together and squeak gently when disturbed. The castle was created by Shogun Tokugawa (1543-1616), and symbolized power and riches.

Geisha are traditional female professional entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese traditional arts, such as music and dance. Apprentice geisha are called maiko, which is what we were dressed as. The white make-up and elbarote kimono and hair of a maiko is the popular image held of geisha. They wear their hair in a distinctive style and sport a unique costume featuring a long hanging obi, tall clogs, and an under-kimono. To see all our pictures, go to: http://emilyandjoepictures.shutterfly.com/

Trip to Nara with Mom

I decided to take my mom on a day-trip to Nara. It takes about an hour and half to get there from Nagoya by 2 trains. Nara 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! My mom bought deer biscuits to feed them - and they were very greedy! Butting her for more food!

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

Shrine along the path to the next temple. So many deer along the way.

We're not exactly sure what the name of this is, or what it is, but many of the temples have them. Maybe a giant gong?

A lady was selling baked Japanese sweet potatoes on the street. They were delicious!!! I love Japanese sweet potatoes - I usually slice them, grill them, and serve them with honey. But now I'll have to try baking them.

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

After spending the day in Nara, we headed over to Kyoto to spend the night in a Japanese Ryokan, a traditional Japanese Inn. The room was a tatami room (straw mat flooring), with Japanese floor futons for bedding. It was a really fun experience!

Ueda Overnight Field Trip to Osaka

My school went on an overnight field trip to Osaka. We spent the first day at Universal Studios, spent the night in a hotel, then went to Kidzania (an adult world for kids) on the second day.

We met at Nagoya Station very early in the morning, then took the Shinkansen (high speed bullet train) to Osaka. We had to take another 2 trains to get to Universal Studios. Managing 24 students with only 4 teachers through 3 train stations during rush hour was incredibly stressful! But when we finally arrived, everyone was excited.

Picture of my group at Universal Studios. Ms. Yuki and I had 12 children in our group, ages 3-5 years old. It was a very hectic and stressful day! There weren't too many rides that the kids were tall enough to ride, so we spent most of our day going to different shows. After spending the day at the park, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner - then headed over to the hotel. I had 8 kids in my hotel room that I was responsible for all evening, including bathing and getting ready for bed. There was never a dull moment! It gave me a little taste of what it would be like to have 8 children!

On the second day we headed over to a place called Kidzania. It's literally an adult world for kids. They were able to experience a variety of different jobs, get paid for their work, and spend their hard earned "money" at the end of the day. Jobs consisted of: chef, baker, police officer, fireman, doctor, dentist, banker, security guard, construction worker, fashion designer, barber, salon stylist, magician, train operator, car repair.... you name it, they had it!

A few of the students learning how to make sushi. They were very proud of their hard work.

Here the students are learning how to be a fashion designer - they were able to design their own outfits!

It was such a great learning experience for the kiddos. I think that the U.S. should have one of these parks! :)

Nagano Ski Trip

We went to Nagano for a weekend ski trip! It was a pre-planned event, organized by the Japan relocation agency that helped us find our apartment. So all we had to do was pay - and show up! It was very convenient... we didn't have to worry about finding our way, reserving a hotel, buying tickets, etc.

It snowed the ENTIRE time we were there. Which made for beautiful scenery and fresh powder snow - but it also made it a little difficult to see while skiing at times, and also very wet.

There was so much fresh powder that Joe could stick his entire pole under the snow!

Fresh snow pile outside the hotel lobby.

We had a tatami room inside our hotel room - I loved this!

Right before we boarded the bus to go home, it stopped snowing. The views were spectacular!

View while loading the bus. Wish it would have been this beautiful all weekend long.

Australia & Tasmania FAQ

What did you like best about AUS?
So much land and wildlife, and so few people. You could go anywhere along the northern coast of Queensland and have miles of beach all to yourself. Same with Tasmania - so many areas to explore, and very few people.

What did you like least?
People were rude! We're not sure if that's how they treat everyone - or just Americans - but we couldn't believe how people treated us. We were expecting laid back friendly Australian people that you see on T.V. But unfortunately, this was not the case at all. But I will say that people in Tasmania were much more friendly and helpful!

How was the food? Did you try anything unique?
The food was very similar to food in the U.S. Quite a large variety of restaurants. We tried crocodile and loved it, mudcrab and loved it, kangaroo was just ok, and hated emu.

Was it expensive?
YES. Believe it or not, it is more expensive than Japan! We purposely stayed at a few self-accommodation places with kitchens to be able to cook our own meals once in a while. But after doing this one time, we realized - it's the same price to eat out! We couldn't believe how expensive food and drinks were - $20 for a burger! $5 for a 12-oz coke! It doesn't help that the Australian dollar is at a 3 decade high.

Did you enjoy people speaking English?
This is actually a complicated question - because Australian English is NOT English! haha. We had a very difficult time understanding what people were saying. But, it was nice to be able to read everything - especially menus!

What's your favorite activity that you did?
Joe - scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef
Emily - wildlife: holding a koala, seeing the penguins, and feeding a croc

What was your favorite place?
Each place we went to was so unique and different from the others. It's impossible to choose! So... our favorite beach was in Port Douglas, our favorite city was Sydney, and our favorite outdoor adventure was Tasmania. :)

Would you do the trip again?
ABSOLUTELY! We would do it all again in a heart beat!

I've posted many of our favorite pictures throughout these Australia blog posts. But to see all of our pictures, go to our shutterfly website: http://emilyandjoepictures.shutterfly.com/

AUS Part 4: Tasmania!

For a truly extraordinary experience - go to Tasmania! The entire island only has a population of about 500,000. It has diverse and spectacular scenery, wilderness, wildlife, small historic towns, and so much more.

We arrived at Launceston airport, grabbed lunch in the historic town of Launceston - then headed over to Cradle Mountain National Park. We stayed in a cozy and cute log cabin, which even had a wood-burning heater. We walked around the popular Dove Lake - one of Tasmania's premier walks. It's a 6km track to walk around the lake.

There were many boardwalk walking trails going through the National Park. At dusk, if you walk on the boardwalks you see tons of wildlife! We saw numerous wombats (pictured above), wallabies, & kangaroos. Actually, anywhere you drive at night in Tasmania, there are tons of animals out and about to see. But unfortunately because of the high population of wildlife in Tasmania, if you drive in the morning - there is a lot of roadkill on the road. :(

The next day, we drove from Cradle Mountain to the east coast of Tasmania. We stayed in the tiny seaside town of Swansea. This picture is of Oyster Bay, which is a sheltered bay that opens to the Tasman Sea.

The town of Bicheno, on the east coast of Tasmania, is home to over 600 fairy penguins! We went on a penguin tour, and were able to see the penguins up close in their natural environment. It was spectacular! And the history we learned about the penguins was quite interesting as well. In 1992, the penguin population was reduced to 40 birds because of feral cats and local dogs. Two men noticed the decline of the penguins and decided to purchase the land that the penguins inhabit, to protect them as best as they could. Today, more than 600 penguins inhabit the area. They swim all day, and then come to shore after dark to mate and feed & raise their young. We were able to see them walking from shore, resting along the way, nesting, and even quite a few baby penguins. It was an unforgettable experience!

We spent an entire day in Freycinet National Park, on Tasmania's east coast. This park is known for its pink granite mountains, pure white beaches, coastal dunes, and dry forests. The park is most famous for the spectacular views of Wineglass Bay (pictured above). It's an all-day event to get to Wineglass Bay - you start by hiking up a mountain to this lookout point. Then you have to hike all the way down to the beach. It took us about 2.5 hours to arrive at the beach, and 2.5 hours to hike back to our car. But all of the walking was worth it - beautiful white sandy beaches and pure clear turquoise water!

After all of the hiking to Wineglass Bay, we were ready for something easy and relaxing. So we headed over to the lighthouse, Cape Tourville, which overlooks the coast and Freycinet National Park. It had amazing coastal views! We read that during peak seasons, you can even see whales from this lookout.

After staying on the east coast of Tasmania for a couple of days, we headed down to finish our vacation in the town of Hobart. Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the island. It was gorgeous - surrounded by water, historic areas, old cottages and churches, etc. We stayed in a historic home which had been converted into a bed and breakfast. On our first day, we went to a wildlife park to see Tasmanian Devils. They weren't at all what we were expecting to see - they looked like small dogs. The story of the Tasmania Devil is actually quite tragic. When European settlers arrived in Tasmania, they were scared of the animal's loud screeches, black color, and bad temper - so they named it the Tasmanian Devil and set out to kill it. For more than a century, devils were trapped and poisoned. They became very rare, and were heading towards extinction. After a law was passed in 1941 to protect the devils, their population slowly began to rise. Unfortunately today, even though they are protected, there is a devastating disease sweeping through the devil population in Tasmania. They are calling it a cancer of the mouth, and it is passed through touch. Just like humans shake hands, Tasmanian devils greet each other by mouth-to-mouth contact.... which is unfortunate for the devil, because it is killing them. Our guide said that it's being predicted that the entire population may become extinct in a short time if nothing is done to cure this deadly cancer. :( Another interesting fact about devils: they are born the size of a grain of rice and then stay in their mother's pouch for about 4 months. They are truly remarkable animals! We feel very fortunate to have been able to see them and learn about them. We hope that something will be done to help these poor animals survive.

Next we headed over to the historic picture-perfect town of Richmond. It was like stepping back in time to see a truly old town with traditional homes, cottages, and churches. The homes have mostly been turned into restaurants and shops, but they were still beautiful.

Australia's oldest bridge is in Richmond, built by convict labor between 1823 and 1825.

This post wraps up our 3 week vacation of Australia & Tasmania! Next I will do a short FAQ page to answer a few of the common questions about the country and our trip.

AUS Part 3: Sydney

After spending 10 days in northern Queensland, we headed down to New South Whales to Sydney for New Years.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast in the beachside suburb of Cronulla, just south of Sydney. It was very convenient because it was a short walk to the train station, and then a direct route into downtown Sydney. Cronulla is located on a peninsula, surrounded by colorful bays and beautiful beaches. There is a sidewalk that travels all the way around the city along the beach... it goes for miles and miles, and was perfect for running along the coast.

On our first full day, we headed downtown to Sydney. We were instantly awed by the amazing surroundings and had one of those, "I can't believe we are actually in Australia!" moments. By far the most beautiful city I have ever seen. The weather was perfect - 70's, sunny, & breezy. The first thing we did was walk across the Harbor Bridge to check out the scenery.

Picture of part of the bay from the Harbor Bridge.

Next, we walked over to the Sydney Opera House. Then we spent almost the entire day wandering around the historic "Rocks" area - the oldest part of Sydney, and home to numerous pubs, cafes, restaurants, and shopping.

Sydney had a couple breweries and many pubs. Joe enjoyed trying all the different beers! I was surprised to discover that Australia has quite a large variety of ciders, which was perfect for me.

If you have never heard of TimTams, now you have. They are delicious 'biscuit' cookies - and come in a variety of different flavors. My favorite was the cookie filled with caramel, while Joe's was a tie between mint and double chocolate. I was thrilled when I discovered that Gloria Jean's Coffee makes TimTam frappuccinos (and without coffee, so Joe even had one)!! I tried the original, Joe tried the dark. Both were amazing! :)

Near Cronulla is Royal National Park, the world's second oldest National Park (after Yellowstone). So the next day we drove around the park, and stopped at a few of the many beaches. The park had quite a wide diversity: surf beaches, cliftop views, rainforest walks, lakes, picnic areas, and much more. This picture is at Wattamolla - it's unique because on the left-hand side there are freshwater lakes and waterfalls, and on the right-hand side is a gorgeous ocean bay.

One of the cliff views while driving through Royal National Park. We stopped for ice cream here and enjoyed watching hang gliding.

On New Year's Eve, we headed back into Sydney for a cocktail & dinner harbor cruise to watch the fireworks. Sydney has two fantastic fireworks shows, the first at 9:00pm when New Zealand celebrates the New Year, and the second one at midnight.

Enjoying wine while watching the sunset over Sydney.

Happy New Year! Sydney spent over 5 million dollars on their fireworks show. They were all choreographed, and set off over multiple places along the harbor. It was spectacular! The entire sky was lit up! Definitely one of the highlights of our trip!

AUS Part 2: Trinity Beach & Cairns

After 5 days in Port Douglas, we headed down towards Cairns for another 5 days and stayed at Trinity Beach.

On the coastal road driving down to Cairns. So many vacant, beautiful beaches.

This was the view from our balcony at Trinity Beach. It doesn't get much better than that! :) We spent Christmas day on this beach, and then grilled burgers and ate on our balcony enjoying the view.

The beach and town of Palm Cove, a small touristy town located just north of Trinity Beach. It was quiet and beautiful! You can see the roped off swimming area in the picture, to keep away from marine stringers that occupy the waters during the summer months. This was a really lovely upscale town, with delicious beach cafes and coffee.


We spent a day exploring another part of the Daintree Rainforest and the village of Kuranda. We took a skyrail across 7.5km of the rainforest canopy, which was a nice and relaxing way to view the rainforest from a gondola (no mosquito bites this time!). We stopped at two stations along the way to see scenic look-outs and explore the environment from the forest floor on boardwalks. Here is a picture at one of our stops - it was rainy season, so we were able to see the rushing waters of Barron Falls.

The village of Kuranda had tons of shopping, cafes, and wild life parks. We went to a Butterfly Sanctuary, Birldworld, and Koala Gardens. The Butterfly Sanctuary was pretty boring - not a whole lot to see other than butterflies. Birdworld was a little scary, as birds were just flying around everywhere... Joe even got bit by a parrot! But Koala Gardens was great, we got to see more crocodiles, kangaroos, and of course koalas. I was even able to hold a koala! :) He was cute and cuddly - but also had sharp claws and was surprisingly heavy!

This was in the town of Cairns. Do you see all the tiny dark spots in the picture? Those are hundreds and hundreds of crabs! Overall, we were not that impressed with Cairns. It was the largest city that we visited in Northern Queensland, but we felt like it was run by tourists.

Blue Sky Brewery in Cairns. This ended up being the only brewery on our entire trip that Joe was able to find an IPA.

During this part of our trip, we also went out to the Great Barrier Reef. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from that day - it was cold and rainy, and I got extremely seasick. It was an all day event: took about an hour and half to get out to the reef, then we went to 2 different sites to snorkel/scuba dive, and then an hour and a half back to Cairns. But Joe had a fantastic time - it was the highlight of his trip! He got to go scuba diving twice - he saw Nemo, tons of colorful reef fish, giant clams, and even 3 sharks!