Dad's visit (aka Massive Update 2/3)

So firstly I'm going to link you to Dad's Deviantart account where he has a few of pictures from his visit posted.

I picked him up from the airport on Friday night after work on the 21st. It was a close thing since originally I'd miscalculated the time I had to leave for the train station but I made it in enough time to meet him when he came out of the customs gate. Both of us were a bit tired after we'd spent the hour or so riding the trains home so we just called it a night.

The next day we walked around my town and I acquainted dad with the wonders of hot, canned coffee from vending machines. We went to a Christmas party that night where he was able to meet some of my new friends and Yumiko's family. Over the rest of the long weekend we also went up the mountain to the large statues and the viewpoint over Ono-cho, got take-out from the onigiri shop (riceballs and assorted fried food) down the street, and discovered the farm-fresh egg vending machine. On Monday we celebrated an early Christmas and took a picnic drive out to a very large golden statue of a Buddha a ways up into the mountains. And of course since almost all shops are still open over the weekend and Christmas isn't a holiday we were able to do a bit of shopping here and there. I think we went to Tanigumi temple (20 minutes farther into the mountains) over the weekend, too.

Tuesday was my last day at school for the semester (I took the next day off) and dad came to one of my elementary schools as Santa for our Christmas Day. The kids loved him and had a blast! I don't have any close what I can do as follow-up next year. It was great though. And they really enjoyed the candycanes that dad brought since they don't sell those here to my knowledge.

Wednesday was mainly relaxing again although we did visit my Junior High in the morning and I took dad to meet my supervisor. During the evening we enjoyed a wonderful traditional dinner with the two gentlemen who teach me Japanese. It consisted of multiple courses one of which was a dish that cooked in small pots in front of us as we finished the previous dishes.

On the Friday we visited Inuyama castle. This is a beautiful old castle an hour and a bit away from my apartment by car and managed to escape the damage of fires and war. Actually it is often claimed to be the oldest castle in Japan, the current towers dating from 1537 and the original construction in 1440. The stairs are steep and tight but the view from the top floor is amazing. There's also a small museum to Japanese-style marionette dolls with the entrance included in that to the castle. A really nice place to visit. In the evening I had my standard Japanese lesson that Dad tagged along to and they'd brought some books in English while I practised reading and translated a bit of my current project book. Then we watched part of an opera.

The next morning we got to Gifu-city by car and train and boarded our bus to Kyoto. Kyoto is truly spectacular offering over 2000 shrines and temples within the city boundaries, all left untouched by the war although not always by fire and other acts of man and God. Just riding the city buses and listening to announcements in English and Japanese you can learn more than a dozen facts in a very short time. We visted the Pure Water Temple, the Golden Temple, the Silver temple, Ryoan-ji (the temple with the most famous Zen garden in Japan) where it was uncrowded enough for us to sit and watch the garden, and Kyoto tower. And a bunch of other, lesser but still beautiful sights and shopping areas. We ate delicious food and enjoyed the rain and the crowds and the sights in general. Dad finally found a Shogi board in the toy store at Kyoto Station.

On New Year's Eve we went back to Yumiko's mom's house for their New Years Party. Now, this was a more Japanese-style New Years so we mainly ate lots of food and watched TV until it was time to go visit temples. Then we had to wash our hands in cold water in the cold night air, lifted a rock to make a wish at the first temple, threw coins and small garlands for good luck, and lit candles. We also got to see the spectacular food and merchandise booths set up. After visiting two temples we went back to the temple near Yumiko's mom's house and rang the bell there. It was really fun but we slept in a lot the new day. Also conveniently Yumiko's mom lives close to the huge used/new anime and manga store so we were able to visit there twice during dad's visit.

New Years we decided to climb up the mountain the big statues are on. It was a beautiful climb but the was down took us a little further down than we wanted and we had to walk a ways back up the road to the car. The view was amazing though and we got to the top just in time to sit down and hear the town chimes go off. And when you're at the top of a mountain it means you hear five or more town chimes going off at the same time. It was a suprizingly beautiful sound. The entire thing must have taken two hours or so (?). We were tired after that!

I'm getting a little fuzzy on details here but I do believe that the day before dad left we visited Hikone castle with Keith and Yumiko. It's another beautiful old castle and dad and I got some pictures with the castle and town mascots (at different times). They like foreigners :) This castle also has some spectacular gardens that had a couple of cherry trees blooming even over Christmas.

On the morning of the 3rd dad finished packing up and we rode the trains back to the Nagoya airport. It was probably just about the right length but it was a really good visit. I can't wait until Mom, Luke, and Brenda come at the end of March!

(Dad if I messed things up please correct me. You're the one with the timeline XD)