Catching Up

I'm sitting in my apartment in Misawa, Japan watching TV with my husband. He's in the military and I work with kids on base. I just finished some graduate school and we spend most nights trying a new recipe and watching a movie on the couch.

But this time next year?

I'll be a civilian's wife.

2014 is our last year in the military and in Japan. It's the start of a new chapter of my life and I'm so anxious and excited to get to it. Since my time in Japan is ticking away and there are so many changes coming, I'm making a attempt to get back into blogging. To share the journey that is Japan before it's gone and share all the surprises that will come with transitioning to civilian life.

Since pictures make things more exciting, here are some of my favorites from 2013.  (One goal for 2014: more pictures!)

 

Climbing Mt. Fuji! Hardest and most memorable moment of 2013. I was all smiles at the beginning ;)

 

The ride back down after injuring my foot so badly I could barely walk. I rode in a bulldozer and then on a horse! It was awful and hilarious and we knew it would make a great story once I recovered. 

We took another trip to Tokyo to meet my brother!

We enjoyed catching up and exploring with Sean. Can't wait to do it again in Arizona!

 

I finally got Jeff in his blues for the Navy ball. We agreed on going to one ball in his enlistment and this was it. So much fun to get dressed up, laugh, and dance!

  I switched to a new job and no longer work weekends so we've begun exploring again! We took a weekend getaway in Aomori, the prefecture's capital.

The beginning of our last winter in Japan! The snow here is so beautiful, but I will not miss literally shoveling my car out of its spot. 

Hirosaki Castle Cherry Blossom Festival

We recently went on a trip to Hirosaki Castle Cherry Blossom Festival. Hirosaki is a town about two and half hours away from Misawa. It used to be the capital of our prefecture, but was replaced by Aomori because of its more centralized location.

Hirosaki has a castle originally built in 1611 although the current structure was built in the 1800's. There are over 2600 cherry blossom trees planted all around the castle grounds, making it one of the most popular cherry blossom festivals in Japan.

We signed up for a base tour so we could just hop on the bus and not have to worry about parking or directions. It turned out perfect, because parking was crazy. We were hoping for a decent day, but it was chilly and raining off and on. It wasn't terrible, but we were both wishing for bluer skies! We sucked it up through the wet with hoods, but most Japanese had umbrellas. They got a little ridiculous in the crowded sections and poor Jeff kept getting hit since he's a head taller than most Japanese. His head lines up with all of their umbrellas...

Here are the pictures!

We tried to steer clear of the crowds by sticking to the less centralized sections of the castle grounds.

He loves pictures!

Growing bamboo and trees.

One of the more crowded sections...

The oldest cherry blossom tree in Japan.

Hirosaki Castle

Best.picture.ever

The food section was the most crowded. So many delicious smells. I'll never get used to seeing an entire fish on a stick though...

The most amazing ramen after a chilly, rainy day

We had a lot of fun exploring a new town and getting out of Misawa for the day. Both of us really enjoy seeing pieces of history like an old castle in northern Japan.

Nejo Castle and Hachinohe Museum

Planning out my parents' visit was interesting. Traveling in Japan can be difficult with the lack of road signs and the language barrier. It's not like Europe where you can sometimes guestimate what that word might mean in English. Kanji is a whole different world.

Our tours place on base has a lot of directions online, so I just picked what looked interesting. Some places we'd been to before, some places I went to working with the school age kids last year, and some places were the right combination of travel time and price.

The Nejo Castle and Hachinohe Museum fit the third description. Just an hour drive away and something like 400 yen a person.

Revisiting the Gorge

I blogged about our first visit to the Oirase Gorge last July. It was so green and so beautiful. We just parked and took pictures at two waterfalls and I couldn't wait to get back and get walking.

Fast forward almost a year. (How does time go by so quickly?!) We were trying to figure out what to do with my parents one afternoon and decided it was too gorgeous to be indoors. Out here in Misawa, a sunny day is something to take advantage of because snow and rain are less than a day away.

Aomori Big Buddha: Temples, Pegodas, and Statues

Yesterday's Big Buddha was beautiful, but it's so much more than just one statue. There's temples and a gorgeous pegoda. The greenery and hills are breathtaking. The statues sprinkled throughout are interesting and beautifully carved. It's one of the most peaceful places I've found in northern Japan.

Aomori Big Buddha

I have about a million pictures from my parents' recent visit. I'm trying to break it up so you can look through our trip without having picture overkill. One place I definitely did some picture overkill was the Big Buddha in Aomori.

Aomori is the capital of our prefecture. It's a big city about two hours away. While there are any number of things you could do, one of my "must-sees" was the Big Buddha. It's just what it sounds like, a giant statue of Buddha. It's in this gorgeous hilly, forested spot just outside the main city streets with a couple of shrines and pegodas. It's beautiful and peaceful.

Who's Flying This Plane?

One of the best parts of the Misawa Aviation and Science Museum was the outdoor exhibit - planes!

Misawa Aviation and Science Museum

There's an aviation museum right next to base. I see it every day on my way to work, but we haven't gone yet. We both figured it would be a dinky little museum with one or two aircrafts and some signs about northern Japan.

We took my parents anyway.

Lake Towada Fireworks

In my previous post, we visited the Oirase Gorge and fell in love with all the lush green beauty.

After we got our fill of waterfalls and greenery, we continued on our journey to Lake Towada to see their fireworks show.



In the lower right picture, A is Misawa and B is Lake Towada. It's not too far from us. The zoomed out picture is just to situate Lake Towada in the larger image of Japan. (Geography is my worst subject, so my knowledge of where things are in relation to the rest of the world is minimal. Maps are my best friend.)


We got to Lake Towada relatively early for the show, so we set up camp and relaxed in the sunshine. It was a perfect day, with sunshine but not so hot that we were sweaty and uncomfortable. We almost nixed the plans due to rain and fog in the morning, but we were so glad we tried anyways. The weather cleared up and it was a gorgeous day.



Lake Towada also happens to be beautiful. It was a windy day so we got to sit and listen to the sound of the waves hitting the shore. It's such a relaxing sound; all my stress melts away when I'm just sitting by the water.



There was a small creek, and lots of Japanese and American children were playing in the water. The lake itself was rocky, so a little tough for little feet to play in. I walked to the edge just to put my feet in the water and quickly walked back from the wet and slippery rocks.



Even without the water play, the place was gorgeous. It looked like they had canoes and small paddle boats to rent, but it was so windy we didn't look into it. We were all amused by this hill that looked remarkably like a pyramid.



I didn't get any pictures, but there was a small festival going on as well. There were some Japanese bands and singers, and all sorts of foods available. Jeff and I tried some noodles, beef on a stick, spicy hot dogs (I think), chocolate covered bananas, and apple shortbread. (Aomori, the capital of the prefecture, is known for its apple orchards, so there were all sorts of apple products available). It was all delicious and fresh. The noodles and beef were so filling that I didn't have room to try anything more, but there were so many different kinds of food to try.



We sat, relaxed, and filled our stomachs while we watched the sunset. It started to get more crowded as the sun went down. We set up camp a little bit away from the festival, so it was much more quiet down by us. But as the sun went down, more and more people continued to come our way.



Impatiently waiting for the fireworks show!



We were generally underwhelmed by the fireworks show. It was slow. They'd set off a handful of fireworks, then there'd be a delay of 3-5 minutes until the next handful went off, and then the process repeated. It was pretty anti-climatic. We were all waiting for the deafening booms and lights filling up the sky, but it really didn't happen. The show did go on for quite some time, especially since it was moving at such a slow pace, but it just wasn't as exciting as we expected. One thing I didn't expect is fireworks on the water. They had a boat out in the middle of the lake where they were setting off fireworks, but another boat kept driving back and forth between the pier and the boat. As it went across the lake, fireworks would shoot out of the water. It looked like they were tossing the fireworks off the back of the boat. I didn't find it as appealing as the huge sparkles in the sky, but maybe I'm just picky?



Even with an anti-climatic fireworks show, it was a wonderful day full of laughter and sunshine. We had so much fun and it was just refreshing to get out and away without running nonstop or having one hundred things to accomplish.

I can't wait to get back out and explore!

Oirase Gorge

Last weekend, we went exploring with some friends. We were in search of some sunshine and fireworks and we found a lot more. We started our day with lunch and a quick stop at a Japanese thrift store. Then we made our way towards the Oirase Gorge. (For a short description, see Wikipedia's Oirase River.)

It's about an hour, hour and a half drive from base. It wasn't a bad drive at all, but I also wasn't driving! We were carpooling, so Jeff and I had the luxury of just riding along.



I was blown away by how gorgeous and GREEN everything was.



We drove through the majority of the area. I would've loved to get out of the car and walk for miles, but we had small children in tow. As we drove we'd get quick peeks of the streams and waterfalls that make it so beautiful.



It was a Saturday afternoon, so the place was somewhat crowded. Parking spots were tight and there were small crowds along the paths. Luckily, the Japanese are so respectful and considerate their crowds are nothing like a group of Americans. It was still quiet and serene.



We stopped at a couple different spots along the way. Mostly the most picturesque waterfalls. A lot of the path seemed to wind right alongside the road, which neither of us were huge fans of. It isn't all that fun to walk alongside cars when you want to get into nature. We're both assuming (and hoping) there are additional paths that wind deeper into the woods and away from the cars.



I wasn't aware of it at the time, but apparently the gorge is a piece of the Towada-Hachimantai National Park. It certainly is beautiful enough to deserve preserving for years and years.



Jeff is a nature lover completely. He loves being outdoors, especially in woods and mountains. Give him a backpack of supplies and he'll happily trek into the forest.



I'm working on my outdoors love, but it's hard not to love it when it looks like this.



It was such a unique experience. I grew up in the Midwest, and while it's certainly not the desert, the trees there aren't as lush and numerous as they are here in northern Japan. Especially in the Oirase Gorge. It was like being wrapped in green. If you looked up, you saw green instead of blue.



I can't wait to go back and explore some more. I've heard that it's beautiful in all four seasons. In the winter, the waterfalls apparently freeze in beautiful sculptures. I can only imagine how beautiful all this green will be when fall comes around and the colors start changing. Jeff and I have plans to experience every season in this little slice of beauty.