In April, we spent Spring Break in Kyoto, Japan. Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan from about 794 to 1868. We took the bullet train down to Kyoto which is located south of where we live. It was pretty neat riding on a train that fast! Our first stop was to Kyoto Studio Park to see how authentic samurai movies are made. Michael was called up on stage to participate in this sword fight. He did pretty well as a samurai!
The kids also dressed up for these really cool photos...
 |
| Michael the "Ninja" |
 |
| Nick the "Samurai" |
 |
| Ally the "Geisha" |
This was at the Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, the entrance to which is 1,000 torii gates which lead to the shrine. We were pressed for time so we didn't get to walk through the gates up to the shrine.
Our next stop on our trip was a trip to Nara. This is the temple Todaiji. The main temple building, the
Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall), is said to be the largest wooden building in the world. It actually has burnt down several times over the years and was rebuilt and is now only 2/3 it's original size. The fish tails on the top were supposed to protect the temple, but unfortunately, they also attract the lightening, hence the fire!
 |
| The Great Buddha |
Nara is also famous for their "tame" deer. There were deer everywhere, but they were very aggressive when they saw that you bought the crackers that the vendors sale to feed them. The were actually pushing into us to get the food!
The second day in Kyoto we took a tour of Kyoto. Our first stop was Nijo Castle - this castle was occupied by the Tokugawa era shoguns in about 1603. What we found most interesting here is the flooring that was used in the castle. The corridors had what was called nightingale floors, as they squeak when stepped upon as a security measure against intruders. It was said that not even a ninja could walk across the floors without being detected. When everyone was walking inside the "squeaking" was really loud.
Next stop was to the famous Golden Pavilion. The top two floors of the pavilion are covered in gold leaf. It was really pretty as the sun reflected down upon it and the reflection in the water. The grounds surrounding the pavilion were also beautiful as the cherry blossoms were in full bloom.
Next on the tour was the Kyoto Imperial Palace. This is where the emperor lived prior to moving to the current Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Security was pretty tight here - we were followed around by security agents and were not allowed to enter any of the buildings.
 |
| In the gardens of the Imperial Palace. |
After lunch, we continued our tour to the Heian Jingu Shrine which dates back to about 1895. At this point the kids were really getting tired of seeing shrines and temples, but we carried on. The gardens around the shrine had beautiful hanging cherry blossom trees and ponds full of fish.
This is Sanjusangendo - the longest wooden structure in Japan. It houses the 1001 statues of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. We were not allowed to take pictures inside - but here is one from the website...
Our last stop for the day was Kiyomizudera Temple or "Pure Water Temple". This is the entrance and just wanted to show you the enthusiasm that the kids had.
We all participated in drinking the water from the falls as it said to bring you luck in love, success in school or a long life - drinking from all three is said to be "greedy".
 |
| The best part of the day - eating ice cream at the end! |
On our last morning in Kyoto, Nick and Michael were done, so Dad, Ally and I ventured out to look at the famous 5-story pagoda called Toji. It is the tallest wooden structure in Japan and we were told that all buildings in Kyoto could not be built any taller than this pagoda. The exception was the train station that was just built because of the need for tourism.
We had to take a picture of this pizza... best pizza ever in Japan! It was your basic mozzarella basil pizza but ohhhhhhhh so yummy! We went to this restaurant twice while we were in Kyoto because it was that good!
We decided to go on a hike, they have hiking trails that lead to The Great Buddha. It was pretty warm that day, and we really didn't take into account the heat or the hike when we were dressing for the day. Needless to say, we were getting passed left and right by the Japanese people as we hiked up over the mountain. I had to go to the bathroom so bad that we stepped off the trail to get a little privacy and ended up going the wrong direction for a while before we figured it out and had to back track. We did have a nice time talking and enjoying nature without the kids!
We finally made it to The Great Buddha and he was, in fact, Great! We were able to go up inside the bottom of the statue, to get a glimpse of how it was made. It was a very tight squeeze, but we were able to see some cracks and reconstructions due to various earthquakes.
We didn't have time to go down to the beach area because we had to get back for the kids after school. We did get on the historic trains that run through the city and it was so tight that we couldn't even move. Could have something to do with the fact that we went down during a Japanese holiday - not smart!
In April, we spent Spring Break in Kyoto, Japan. Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan from about 794 to 1868. We took the bullet train down to Kyoto which is located south of where we live. It was pretty neat riding on a train that fast! Our first stop was to Kyoto Studio Park to see how authentic samurai movies are made. Michael was called up on stage to participate in this sword fight. He did pretty well as a samurai!
There is a tradition here in Japan called Hanami which means "flower viewing". It is a tradition of picnicing under the cherry blossoms and viewing the beauty of the trees and blossoms. So we had this picnic under the Cherry Blossom trees here on the base.
We were supposed to have some of Tony's family here for Cherry Blossom season - Grandma, Uncle John, Aunt Desi, Aunt Betty and Jodi. Unfortunately, the State Department decided to not allow Americans to fly into Japan during this crisis so they had to cancel their plans. Hopefully we will see you guys next year!
This is a picture of one of the slides at nearby Tsudome Site. We had a blast on these giant snow slides. We even went on a ride on a life boat that was being towed around a track by snowmobile - crazy fun! We were going so fast that I was afraid to take the camera out to get a picture - use your imagination! The kids also learned to ski on these little tiny skis - I am sure there is a name for them, but I don't know. As shown below, Ally got it no problem, but Nick thought it would be easier to ski on one.
