Author: hinagiku

Back in March, we decided to take the boys on a mid-week trip to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington. We had a kickstarter package to pick up, and going for a couple of nights meant that it would all be duty-free – BONUS!

We drove down after work on a Tuesday & checked in for 2 nights at a cheap motel. The first night was mainly uneventful as the boys had both fallen asleep in the car, and we managed to get them in the room without waking them up. Then the next morning we were off to the zoo!

One of the main attractions was the fact that three lion cubs were just starting to come out on exhibit there. We had excellent timing and managed to see them several times as they came out to play with their papa.

The zoo also had a pretty nice penguin area so the boys got to see some penguins close up.

And they thought this hippo statue was pretty cool too (oddly, we didn’t get any photos of the kids actually climbing on it).

We weren’t sure how they would handle the day at the zoo, so we thought of a few other things to do in case we needed to fill time. Our fears were unfounded though and they lasted the entire day. In fact, after the zoo closing announcement, as we were headed to the parking lot, both boys got quite upset that we had to leave at all and we had to stay an extra half hour or so before actually driving back to the motel.

We’d read a good recommendation for a local Italian restaurant and ordered some dinner from there. Unfortunately, they’d had a scheduling error and after nearly 40 minute wait, I phoned again to find out that the delivery driver had just gotten there after getting called in at the last minute. She was profusely apologetic when she dropped off the food in the pouring rain about a half hour after that. The food was pretty good, though difficult to eat as they hadn’t packed us any utensils for it. (Mental note, add a couple sporks and some chopsticks to the suitcase before our next trip!)

Luckily, we’d brought some digital entertainment for the boys. I think the hardest part was keeping them fairly contained in a small motel room. True to our previous travels, it just wouldn’t be right unless the boys kept us up most of the night. The rigors of walking all day proved for some pretty intense leg cramps for Locutus. Lance ended up walking him up and down the street for a while, just so his crying wouldn’t inconvenience our fellow travelers. A few of them did pack up and leave in the wee hours anyway.

We got up the next morning very tired and decided to head back to the zoo for a while and make the most of our trip (and duty-free allowance). Again, we weren’t sure how long the boys would last, but yet again, they wanted to stay all day long.

We were pretty exhausted when we got back but had an excellent time and are looking forward to making another trip down this fall now that the zoo also has 3 tigers on display.

One thing I realize I’ve never done, is written an extensive post about washrooms in Japan. First off, just like at home, public washrooms are hit or miss for their cleanliness and the facilities available. But, Japanese washrooms have many features that I’d love to see adopted in Canada. But, let’s start off with some caveats . . .

Most importantly, if you enter a Japanese washroom and they are selling pocket packs of kleenex by the entrance for 100 yen, BUY SOME! This generally indicates that the stalls do not come equipped with toilet paper so you’re on your own to supply it, or drip dry.

I’ve yet to see a paper towel dispenser in a Japanese washroom. Air dryers are sometimes present. Most Japanese people carry a washcloth or handkerchief with them at all times. It’s a good habit to get in to.

Squat toilets are quite common. Don’t fear them. They are actually fairy easy to use unless you are drunk or have a physical disability that would prevent you from balancing in a squatted position. In fact, when I am wearing Locutus on my back, they are easier to use than a sit-down toilet. Sometimes they stink. Sometimes our public washrooms stink too.

Restaurants aren’t required to have public washrooms. Neither are stores. Get used to using train stations and using whatever facilities are available before you leave places.

Some washrooms come equipped with multi-functional seats. If you don’t understand the buttons, don’t push them unless you consider yourself a stoic, brave adventurer. Just don’t squat on a sit-down toilet.

This is not a squat toilet, do not squat on it!

Now on to my wishlist . . .

1. Stall doors that fit better and go down to the floor and higher than the ceiling. Obviously, in a culture where squat toilets are normal, a normal stall door goes all the way to the floor. This prevents unexpected toddler visitors during your stay as well. A taller door also prevents people from grabbing your coat and/or purse, while you are otherwise indisposed.

2. Multipurpose rooms. Often times in train stations or department stores, we would find a room that was designated a ‘multi-purpose room.’ This means that it could accommodate someone who needed wheelchair access, it also would have a change table in it. And sometimes other things. Like a fold-out bed, essentially.

A full folding bed was handy for diaper changes

This one also had a mini-stall for other small children to use

I just think this is incredibly clever. In case you are just feeling ill, you’ve got a spot to lie down. It also works for a first aid station if someone has a cut or takes a fall. Most of them had a sink in the room. Some of them were even more posh and also would serve as a nursing room and had a bottle-warmer as well.

3. A little-boy urinal in the ladies room.

A little urinal for little boys who need to go to the washroom with their mommy

The little boy doesn’t have to wait and all the ladies don’t have to wait for him while he takes up a stall. It’s just smart!

4. A baby-seat in the stalls. This would work in either men’s or ladies’ rooms. It gives you a place to put your baby so they aren’t getting into trouble while you go to the bathroom. There technically is a falling hazard, but since the stall is so small that you should be able to grab your baby while sitting on a toilet, I don’t see why this wouldn’t work. Except that our stalls are too flimsy in construction.
Something which I would like to see change in general too.

Let’s not limit my wishlist just to public washrooms and such either. While the heated seats are nice, and the bidet functions do come in handy, they aren’t necessarily on my wish list. Let’s move on to the shower/tub section of the bathroom now.

1. On demand hot water. Move water heaters to the spot behind the water source. Then I don’t have to wait and pump out cold water for 5 minutes while waiting for the hot water from our water heater in the garage to move up to our third floor.

2. Separate the temperature and pressure control in the shower/bath. One dial controls temperature and another controls the pressure. Not the norm in every hotel bathroom, but boy was it nice when it was set up that way! There even appeared to be a safety button on the temperature control to prevent scalding. At home in my shower there is one generic pressure setting and you can’t get cold water to come out at a strong water pressure.

3. A handheld shower head with 2 brackets at different heights. This came in so handy!!! First of all, if you’ve got a kid who is a mess, you just stand them in the bathtub, take the handheld sprayer and hose them down. You get nice warm water right away if you’ve got number 1 & 2 in place already. We also used it to clean out messy diapers and easily rinse off messy towels (eating strawberry yoghurt with a 1 year old will make it look like there’s been a homicide).

4. A pause button on the sprayer. You can turn the shower on and then pause it, without having to completely reset your pressure setting to off. Also very handy, if a bit of a luxury item. It also lets you move the sprayer within reach of the toilet and sink without getting water all over the floor. Not that this is an issue, since most Japanese bathrooms have a drain built into the pre-fab washroom floor.

5. Let’s not forget the mirror with a heated panel that doesn’t fog up. Love that too!

By now, you’ll have noticed that our early efforts at souvenir shopping were quite frustrating. The places we returned to lacked anything new and unique that grabbed our attention. We’ve come to the conclusion that Japanese department stores are actually just cleverly designed traps intended to confuse and exhaust tourists until they buy things out of sheer exhaustion. Trust us, we adventured through 5 in one city and couldn’t find anything actually worth it. It was only because we are experienced adventurers that we got out unscathed.

So, while we had picked up a thing or two here and there, we hadn’t really found anything of the calibre we’d brought back on our previous trips to Japan. Nothing as stunning as a Foo Dog statue or replica musket. We have particular weaknesses for drinking vessels and had yet to find anything really indulgence worthy there. The day we were going to possibly go in search of Imari pottery we stopped because of the long travel times involved. I was also looking for some outfits for Locutus to wear to our Samurai Night Fever costume party, and had yet to find any used Kimono stores where something might be worthy. Even in the 1000 yen shop in Miyajima (it’s like a $10 store where everything is about $10) the only children’s jin bei (asian style pyjamas) they had were quite ugly and they were completely out of the men’s selection (Lance likes wearing these in the summer because they are so nice and light and comfortable).

In one of our earlier searches, we’d seen that there was the Harbour Bay Shopping Centre right next to the sumo stadium. So we thought we’d go check it out. It didn’t seem particularly large, but it was close to sumo, and the map showed a small green space where we thought we might let Locutus run around for a while and have some fun. So we went, and kind of hit the jackpot.

It’s a shopping centre and ferry terminal. Cruise ships dock behind us.

Doesn’t look like much, does it? But inside, in addition to a giant aquarium in the centre, they had an entire shop for Imari style pottery. While none of that struck our fancy, they also had a selection of pieces that were by a local artist. It. Is. Gorgeous. We don’t have any pictures, but his pieces were in earthy brown tones or blues. The earthy pieces depict forest scenes with little shrines. They are intricate and gorgeous. The blue tone pieces feature Japanese troll-type creatures. The tea mug I bought has his front on one side and his back on the other. Anyone who has an appreciation for DnD-type mythology would love these! So we . . . decided to invest.

Before we bought though, we had to discuss our purchases. So we went to the Japanese Duty Free store in the next building over (we were basically at the cruise ship port). I’d read briefly about it and it sounded like a standard duty free store featuring perfumes, makeup, etc. I didn’t think we’d actually find anything. Except in the clothing section, they had some yukata (like a casual kimono made of cotton) and some children’s ensembles. We picked up 2 in different sizes and neutral styles so they can be passed down to other kids in the future too (because I consider Foo Dogs and Dragons to be completely gender neutral).

We also picked up a few sumo souvenirs of course. The couple of times that the sumo association had a table set up they had some very good deals and we were happy to support them a bit too. Sadly, they sold out of the handkerchief I liked early so I didn’t get any additional colour variations. But that’s ok, because handkerchiefs is one thing I did stock up on in Kyoto early on.

Things we almost bought, but didn’t . . .
– Japanese patterns – we actually found a fabric shop and they had a pattern section with a few promising pieces. But since the instructions would all be in Japanese, and my Japanese isn’t that strong, I decided against it.

– a sweater dress – in the basement of the building next to Hakata station, they had a store that was selling a bunch of really cute sweater dresses. But, in the end, I can get something similar back home fairly easy, so I’m glad we didn’t pick one up.

– anything Hello Kitty or Pokemon. Don’t tell my nieces and nephews, but we did look for learning chopsticks in those themes. Aside from entire bento sets or cutlery sets, they didn’t have anything appropriate though, so we didn’t get anything. Also, they sold out of the really cute Hello Kitty Sumo figure by the time we thought to buy one. Clearly we weren’t meant to support those particular Japanese icons.

– furniture – Yes, we saw some really cool pieces. However, aside from the obvious issue of getting them back to Canada, there is also the issue of where to put them in our house. (Editorial note, this is only an issue for Jenn. Lance takes an entirely different approach to home furnishing and this did not present an issue for him at all.)

– wood carvings – there were several that were gorgeous, but again, luggage restrictions really limited us.

– booze – well, there’s still a chance we’ll pick something up at the airport duty free store. This is the first time we’ve gone to Japan and not visited a sake brewery. We thought we might visit the Asahi brewery, but the info brochure they had at the tourist centre didn’t actually tell us where it was or how to get there. In a choice between randomly wandering Fukuoka in search of a beer brewery and watching sumo while drinking beer (Lance at least), we chose sumo.

– a suitcase – this is the first time we’ve actually managed to fit everything we’re bringing back into the same bags we came with. This was partly made possible by the fact that we packed a backpack in one of our suitcases for the trip over here. The other contributing factor is the dwindling diaper supply. On the way here we had a supply that lasted about 10 days. On the way back, we only need to bring a couple of days worth. (Editorial note: if I had to do it again, I’d bring fewer diapers to start, but more diaper wipes)

“Hi! My name is Jenn and I’m adopting you into my sumo education association!”

That’s actually how I started a conversation this afternoon at the sumo tournament. You see, I like talking sumo and educating people. So I’ve been trying to find people at the sumo tournament who look like they probably need some information about sumo (i.e. other gaijin/foreigners).

It ended up going really well and Lance and I had some really good conversations with a bunch of interesting people. It started with a couple from Belgium and their 18 month old daughter (whom Locutus terrorized a bit with his brazen advances). Then we got to meet a couple of couples who were on a sumo trip up from the military base in Sasebo. The other day we really hit pay dirt when 100 JET teachers attended the tournament right next to where we were sitting. And then today there was a family, again from the military base from Sasebo. If we visit Japan again, we’re supposed to look them up. They’re into Judo quite a bit so the sumo was also very interesting to them.

The next time we come to Japan in order to see a sumo tournament we are going to further expand our sumo education association into a full-fledged tour guide operation. We’ll advertise on various travel sites and attend sumo tournaments with other foreigners, giving them info about sumo while we watch, for a modest fee (this isn’t a plan to make money, since we’d be there anyway, and we’d probably spend the money we get on snacks for the group.)

As if it isn’t bad enough that Lance’s picks are cleaning up pretty well here at the end, yet another one of my wrestlers withdrew from injury. His 2 and 10 record really showed that he wasn’t able to perform. To make it even worse, the person who got the default win against him was the one wrestler Lance picked that had withdrawn due to injury, now returned to fight again! So now Lance has 10 and I’m down to 7.

We’ve also added another aspect to our bet. Which Lance has already won. We decided that the person who had the most winning wrestlers (wrestlers who got their kachi koshi) would get to pick which leg of the long train trip back to Tokyo they watch Locutus for. As it stands right now, it’s only possible for 2 of my wrestlers to end with a winning record but Lance already has 4.

On the bright side, I’ve definitely gotten familiar with a few more wrestlers in the Juryo division!

Monday November 19th, we sprang for some box seats (you would have seen us on Sunday night in Canada). Unfortunately, they were on the same side as the internet feed camera is on, so you probably didn’t see us. You might have heard us cheering. Maybe. Probably not.

We got some great photos of the wrestlers and some video too. We’ve even tried to get some stuff particularly for our sumo loving friends. Hopefully we’ll get some time to get those posted/uploaded/emailed soon! And it was a good time to have those tickets as we saw some great sumo.

But this post isn’t really about that. It’s an update on the Sumo betting that Lance and I have going on. We realized we never actually posted which wrestlers we picked, so I thought I’d do that now quickly. So far our Locutus-wrangling time has been fairly evenly split.

Lance’s Picks (mostly based on the wrestlers he’s noticed/followed/liked, though not necessarily on those he thought might win):

• Satoyama
• Sagatsukasa
• Takamisakari
• Sotairyu
• Kotoyutaka
• Kotoyuki
• Tamaasuka
• Takanoyama
• Tenkaiho
• Tokushoryu

Since we’ve settled in to a quieter rhythm in Fukuoka, there aren’t as many sightseeing related things to share, so I thought I’d do up a quick post just about how Locutus is doing in Japan.

What some of you might not know is that Lance and Locutus caught a pretty rough cold shortly before we were supposed to go. Locutus’s cold symptoms had mostly cleared up, but since babies are susceptible to ear infections following colds, we were slightly concerned. So the Friday before we left, Grandma R took him to the doctor’s office as a walk-in. The doctor checked, saw that they were slightly red, but not enough to warrant antibiotics yet. So she instructed us to come back on Sunday (the first Sunday the clinic was open for walk-ins) to have them looked at again.

So off we went on Sunday. The doctor who saw us that day was very nice as well. He looked at his ears, saw some redness and some fluid and hemmed and hawed a bit. Locutus wasn’t cranky and hadn’t had a fever. Normally he’d tell us to wait a couple of days and come back if he seemed cranky or developed a fever. But we were about to hop on a plane to Japan. So he gave us a prescription for antibiotics that didn’t require refrigeration and instructions to use them if he seemed cranky or got feverish. Luckily Locutus has been totally fine so we haven’t had to use the medication at all – yay!

The plane ride was totally fine. We did give him a bit of Advil before taking off but totally forgot to for landing. He noticed the pressure in his ears, but we did some nursing and lots of miming of yawns and gulping to give him the idea.

He has been very good on train rides as well, though the long narrow aisle seems to be too inviting for him. He just can’t resist being on his feet and running up and down the entire time. It’s more tiring for Lance and I as we try to keep up with his energy level.

We’ve been trying to keep a mix of on the go sight-seeing activities, that keep him more-or-less confined in the carrier, and some relaxing wandering at places he can run around and explore. Japan is great for this since a lot of temples and castles have an area around them with flat wide-open spaces with little fences, stone walkways, trees, and temple stairs (we’ve been doing lots of stairs). He loves the sumo stadium too and actually claps when we go inside. I think it’s because of the many stairs he gets to climb and because there are so many people there who smile and wave at him. Even a few of the lower ranked rikishi (wrestlers) have been enchanted with him (and vice versa as well . . . he was so busy staring at one he almost walked into a wall – hehehe).

Food has been fairly easy to handle as well. I never made the connection beforehand, but we are in Japanese orange season, and guess where they come from??? Yup, Japan! Plus we’ve picked up some kiwi here. So he gets some fresh fruit every day. Yoghurt is readily available along with bread (though it’s mostly white bread). We can get cheese here but it’s either yucky processed stuff or super-expensive good stuff (like regular cheddar being $10 for a small cube). The most difficult thing for any of us is vegetables, but we try to get that at different restaurants and such. We’ve even had a bit of success with a few of the places offering a kids meal that he enjoys. Not necessarily the healthiest options, but not bad for vacation food either.

Locutus seems to have decided that he’d like the distinction of a few teeth that are ‘made in Japan.’ And boy are we glad that we brought along the Advil! We do feel a little guilty about the noise for our hotel neighbours when he does have a rough teething spell though. One neighbour in particular we gave a small peace offering to the morning following. We had heard him stumble in rather late and are pretty sure Locutus’s crying interrupted the few hours of sleep that he got.

He naturally gets lots and lots of attention from everyone everywhere we go. We’ve probably mentioned it before, but people here tend to bundle up ridiculously in colder weather. When we’re still wearing t-shirts, or a light jacket, they are parkas and wool scarves. As such, we’ve gotten lots of comments on how cold he must be. I did forget to bring along the gloves I bought for him, but I doubt that we’d have had much luck in getting him to wear them.

We didn’t bring many toys along to Japan. We had a couple of puppets, a book, and one ‘busy bag’ full of plastic lids. We haven’t really needed to break them out much at all. He manages to keep himself amply entertained playing with the hotel mugs, tea bags, various drawers, the small fridge, empty bottles, hot water kettle, and any bits of paper he can find. We also got a set of bottles from our first hotel with shampoo, conditioner, and body wash from our first hotel that I brought along and that he’s been using as bath toys. They are the perfect size for his little hands to play with and since they are partially full they float at different levels.

Yup that’s a praying mantis. We didn’t end up going into the castle grounds this time around because it became apparent pretty quickly that the castle is under restoration right now. Luckily, they put up a screen showing you what it looks like underneath. It’s pretty impressive when it isn’t covered by a building.

Hey readers, now’s your chance to ask some questions of us. What do you want to know about our trip? Post a comment with your question and we’ll do our best to answer it ASAP.