Ise Shrine, Mie Prefecture

We took a weekend trip to Mie Prefecture, a couple of hours drive from Nagoya, to see the famous Ise Jingu Shrine - otherwise known as the Grand Shrine of Ise.

Ise Jingu consists of two shrines: the Outer Shrine (Geku), which is dedicated to the Shinto diety of clothing, food, and housing, and the Inner Shrine (Naiku), which enshrines the most respected deity, the Sun Goddess.

The two shrines are actually quite far from one another, separated by the densely wooded forest. I read that unlike most other Shinto shrines, these Ise shrines are built in a purely Japanese architecture style, which shows no influence from the Asian mainland. The site of the Ise Shrine has long been sacred, due to its forests of sacred Japanese cypress trees.

Being so well known as one of the most extraordinary grand shrines in Japan, I was expecting... well... "grandness." But really, these shrines were amazingly simple. Set in the forest, there is really nothing but trees, gravel lanes, and wooded building.

As you already know, I like to tell about adventures with pictures, so here's a slideshow of our trip!

Day 1: Unagi lunch, Ise Outer Shrine, fireworks at the hotel

Eel lunch... delicious!

The entrance gate to Ise Outer Shrine, you walk down this path through the woods to reach the main shrine.

Walking down the path to the main shrine (do you see Joe peeking his head out?)

I love this picture of Taku and Joe.

Outer Shrine's main entrance.

Pictures are strictly forbidden inside (which I didn't know!) and managed to snap this shot before being yelled at by security.

Mie Prefecture is right on the coast. This is the view from our hotel room.

Miyoko brought some fireworks, and we lit them on the beach!

Ise Day 2: scenic drive down the coast, Ise-style udon for lunch, walking through Ise town, Ise Inner Shrine, tea and akafuku mochi dessert at a Japanese tea house.

Rest stop along the way on our scenic coastal drive.

Udon is my favorite Japanese dish. Each prefecture has their own style, so I was excited to try Ise's famous udon noodles. Ise udon = concentrated soy sauce and sweet Japanese cooking sake are used to crate a black broth, which is then poured over thick, handmade noodles. Topped with spring onion. It was really yummy, but I have to say that I prefer Nagoya udon! :)

Walking through the town of Ise to the Inner Shrine.

Entrance gate and bridge to the main shrine.

So many of these adorable lanterns everywhere throughout both the Outer and Inner shrines.

Crowds waiting their turn to enter the Inner Shrine's main gate. Sorry, no photos allowed inside.

Akafuku Mochi dessert and tea. Akafuku mochi is a pounded rice cake confection topped with a sweet bean paste. The shape symbolizes the Isuzu River which flows through the Ise Grand Shrine region, with three ridges in the sweet bean paste representing the clear water that flows through the river, and the white mochi depicting the pebbles that lie on the riverbed. Wow, Japan's attention to detail and symbolism always amazes me!!!

We had such a great trip with wonderful friends. I love traveling in Japan, especially with friends who know the culture and region well. It's like having our own personal tour guides! :)  Thank you Miyoko & Co. for a great trip.

Nagashima Spa Land

Nagashima Spa Land is a major amusement park, just a short 30-minute drive from Nagoya. I've been here 2 and a half years, why am I just now finding out about this!?

It's the second largest amusement park in Japan and also includes a water park, onsen, Anpanman museum, & HUGE outlet shopping mall.

We spent the entire day in the water park, and had SO much fun! There was an indoor kid/baby area with pools, tiny water slides, swings, play areas, and even a baby wave pool! It's by far the best baby water park I've ever seen! Elodie was not a huge fan of the slide, as it was super slippery and she wiped out. But she loved the swings and wave pool!

We spent the later part of the afternoon lounging in the lazy river and the adults taking turns going down the big water slides. Luckily, all 3 babies napped at the same time - so the Dads watched them while the Moms had some fun! We had such a great time, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! :)

The mamas and their babies :)

My sweet little peanut had such a fun day!

There was so much to do in just the water park area - and even though we spent the entire day in this part, we didn't even get to go on all of the slides. So you definitely need a couple of days to explore the whole park - the amusement park side with all of the roller coasters & rides as well as the Anpanman museum, and then a whole other day for just shopping at the outlet mall!

Luckily we'll be here for one more summer, so I'm looking forward to going back to the water park next year. In the meantime, we're planning our next trip there hopefully this fall - to take Elodie to the Anpanman Museum, and then do some shopping at the outlet mall.

Purikura

Purikura is a Japanese photo booth "vending machine." It's is a popular activity here, especially amongst Japanese school adolescents and young adults - mainly girls, women, and young couples.

The booths let you take digital pictures with your friends, and then you have a limited amount of time to decorate the photos with the modern touch-screen kiosk. You have free reign to draw or write whatever you want, put stamps/sparkles/glitter on the pics, or even do some major face "enhancement" - which you can see in our giant eyes below.

You can even rent costumes (or wear/bring your own costumes) to dress up for the photos. There are also several make-up booths where you can spend time touching up your make-up before the photo session.

Your finished product is then printed (sometimes on sticker paper), and then you can also choose to send a digital copy of one of your favorites to your phone or email.

The popular machines even have a line, and people are willing to wait to use them!

 

As my friend Anna said, "I am gonna MISS Japan. Where else can I take photos like these, surrounded by girls in maid costumes and men in pink shirts doing Dance Dance Revolution??!?"

Japan is truly one of a kind. Amazing what technology can do in just a few seconds these days. 

I read this is also becoming popular & trendy in the U.S.... is that true?

Kuma Cafe

A good friend is leaving Japan to go back to Seattle, so in honor of her last ladies lunch we headed over to Kuma Cafe to lounge with some teddy bears. :)

I always knew Japan had themed cafes, but I have never been to one before. Kuma Cafe is a 3-story restaurant downtown, literally filled with teddy bears. It was a very cute and baby-friendly cafe! The food wasn't all that great, but it had a really fun atmosphere and good dessert.

The entrance.

One of the many private booths.

There were even teddy bears hanging from the chandelier.

Bear shaped macaroons... and they were very good!

The babies enjoyed playing with the teddy bears, too!

A nice place to relax with friends in a very Japanese setting.  I'll definitely go back.

Grandma's Visit

My mom flew here for Elodie's birthday, and stayed for almost 2 weeks. We had a wonderful time with her here, and wish that she could have stayed longer!

YAY, Grandma's here!

We took Elodie to the aquarium for the first time. Turns out she doesn't like fish very much. Right after the picture below was taken, a fish swam at her and scared her terribly... she jumped and cried SO hard.

I bought a year pass to the aquarium, so we'll be going back there often, and hopefully she'll get used to the fish.

Checking out the fish... which she does NOT like.

She wasn't a huge fan of penguins, either.

We also went out to lunch with our good friends Miyoko and Akko a couple of times. We always have such a nice time visiting with them.

We stopped by Akko's new pet salon that she recently opened a few months ago. Elodie wasn't scared of the dogs at all! Instead, she crawled around the store chasing them.

Akko showing Elodie her dog.

Unfortunately we all got the flu while she was visiting, so we were incredibly sick for 2-3 days during her trip. We were beyond miserable for that time, and weren't even able to leave the house. So we missed out on doing a few things, and it put a damper on her vacation.

But it was still fun to show Grandma some of our new routines, like swimming class and going to a play room downtown. She was able to see what a good little swimmer Elodie is, and how well she does playing and interacting with others. :)

Say CHEESE!

On her last night, Miyoko prepared a special sushi dinner for us. She taught us how to make our own simple sushi - take a piece of seaweed paper, scoop a spoonful of rice and spread it out on top of the seaweed paper, pick out a few ingredients to place in the middle on top of the rice (salmon, squid, tuna, egg, cucumber, avocado, crab, etc), then fold it over, dip it in soy sauce, and eat it! SO EASY! Healthy and delicious!

Sushi spread.

Joe has been back in the U.S. for a couple of weeks for work, so it was great that my mom's trip somewhat aligned with that. It's not fun being here by myself, so luckily I only had to do that for one week.

Thanks so much for coming to visit. We miss you, Grandma!

Happy 1st Birthday, Elodie!

A year ago, we were blessed with a tiny little perfect baby girl. She has been enriching our lives ever since! It has truly been an incredible year. Happy 1st Birthday, our sweet little peanut! It's been the best year of our lives!

A special day, for a special girl. Here's a glimpse of Elodie's day....

My mom and I spent all day Friday baking cupcakes in my tiny Japanese oven. So of course we let Elodie try one, even though it wasn't quite her birthday yet. She had a strawberry flavored one, and loved it!

A pre-birthday cupcake.

She woke up on her actual birthday to this awesome indoor jungle-gym that we bought her.

Happy birthday from Mom & Dad!

For breakfast she had a Cinnabon muffin, and it was gone in seconds! I think we have a sweets-lover on our hands... which shouldn't be surprising considering who her Mom and Dad are. ;)

Cinnabon muffin.

After breakfast, Joe took Elodie to swimming class while my mom and I decorated for the big Hello Kitty birthday party. I was fortunate to find Hello Kitty table cloths, plates, cups, napkins, cupcake stands, etc. all in the U.S. So everything matched perfectly and it was super cute.

I put together a collage of photos in the shape of a 1, as well as a timeline of monthly photos from Elodie's first year. My friend Anna came over to help make the hanging flower pompoms. Everything turned out perfect.

For food we had 3 flavors of cupcakes, Hello Kitty decorated sugar cookies, and an ice cream sundae bar. Lots of sugar!

The decor!

Timeline of monthly pictures.

Smash cake for the birthday girl!

Family photo before the party.

Elodie telling you she's ONE!

The party was a huge success! We are so grateful that so many friends came to celebrate with us (and that Grandma flew all the way from Michigan to be here for it!).

Awesome friends.

Elodie's swimming buddies.

Of course the highlight of the party was of Elodie eating her cake!

Make a wish!

hmmm not sure what I think about this cake stuff...

It's pretty good stuff after-all! I think I'll have some more!

Don't forget, I'm ONE!

YUMM!

And into the hair it goes.

Do you want a piece? It's really good!

Sure, we'll have a piece with you Elodie!

After the cake, we took her right in the shower room and hosed her down! She was clean in no time. ;)  After the party, it was time for presents!! She received so many wonderful gifts.

Birthday girl wearing her tiara :)

YAY! Leap frog computer!

Cuddly puppy.

Cute pink polka-dot jacket.

Playing in her new ball pit the following morning.

Living abroad and so far away from family during important life milestones is difficult and sad at times, so it was really nice to have an awesome group of friends who understand to be a part of Elodie's special day.

We are truly grateful to ALL of you who made her day so special... both near and far. It was a fantastic day! Thank you to everyone!

I posted an album on shutterfly of all the photos from her birthday. Click here to view it. Password is the same (eidole).