Latest scenes from Hiroshima

Here is just a few pictures of life here in Hiroshima:

 

 Riding the escalator at Costco with your cart!

 

 View from the roof of the Elpida/Micron plant of the Saijo area.

 

 Pumping gas- comes from the ceiling.

 

 Village fireworks at the Obon festival- Mike called them the redneck fireworks. I thought they were really fun- perfect for kids, not too loud!

 

 It took 5 old men to set up the fireworks- we were a little nervous!

 

 Riding the streetcar to church

 

 Stake center building in Tasuka.

 

Food Mike had at a vendor dinner.

1st Day of School

August 26th, 2013= 1st Official day of school at the Hiroshima International School & Luke's 1st day of Kindergarten!

No yellow school bus for these kids- it was a super duper nice bus with air conditioning, comfortable seats, and driver, and a teacher all of the bus. Definitely not the huge yellow, window down, smelly, no seat belt bus I rode to school as a kid!



Both Julia and Luke were super excited for the 1st day of school, or really I should say the chance to ride the bus to school. Julia had her outfit picked out, her nails painted with hello kitty stickers on them, and a detailed description of what her hair was going to look like. Luke was most concerned with trying to hide all of his toys so that Cameron wouldn't play with them while he was at school and to make sure that his build-a-bear stuffed animal, spidey, had his batman costume on so that he would be ready to play as soon as he got home.

Both of them came home saying they had a great day and both super tired! It is all-day kindergarten for Luke and a 30 minute bus ride each way. Hopefully Luke survives the year- he was pretty tired today.

Sea of Japan

Two weekends ago we decided to drive the width of Japan from Hiroshima on the Pacific Ocean side to Hamada, a tiny town on the Sea of Japan side. It took us about 1 1/2 hours and was about 78 Km in distance. We visited the Aquas aquarium in Hamada and had a great time seeing the beluga whale show, the feeding of the penguins, and the 10,000 fishes and animals housed in the aquarium. It was a huge aquarium! Luke loved the beluga whale show so much that he took 25 pictures of the whales and erased all the other pictures from the aquarium. So... here is Luke's picture of the beluga whale show!

 

 

After the aquarium we went to the Iwami Seaside Park beach. The beach was beautiful with fine, white sandy beaches and waves for the big kids and a little sheltered area for Cameron. We met up with our friends, the Stewart family, who are also expats here in Japan with Micron and had a great time rounding up some sea urchins!

As I sat at the beach it was hard to really believe that we were sitting on the sea of Japan and straight across the sea from us was South Korea. Sometimes it seems unreal of all the amazing things and places we have got to experience over the last month and will get to see over the next two years!

 

Obon week

 

This past week was Obon in Japan. Obon is a Japanese tradition where it is believed that ancestors' spirits come back to their homes to be reunited with their family during Obon and pray for the spirits. It is celebrated with family gatherings and many people returning to their hometowns.

Obon is a weeklong celebration and begins with Mukea-bon. Mukea-bon entails lighting chocin lanterns and placing arrangements of flowers by the butsudan (Buddhist altar) in your home, and then visiting ancestors' graves to invite the spirits back to your home for the week. Obon ends with okuri-bon, the guiding of your ancestors' spirits back to their graves by painting the family crests on chocin lanterns and placing them in the cemeteries. Throughout the week individual towns and villages will have bon-odori (folkdance) festivals. On Saturday night we attended a bon-odori festival with another one of the American expat families in the little town of Taksura.

 

Entrance to the festival

 

Decorated shrine

 

 

Japanese taiko drum presentation

 

 

Almost all of the children were dressed in their yukatas (summer kimono). These children were siblings and so cute that I asked if I could take a picture of them. My Japanese is so bad that their father thought I wanted him to take a picture of Julia and Luke. After a little bit a hand motions I was able to communicate that I wanted to take a picture of his children, but by that time his children were a little bit confused!

 

 

Festival gathering around the yugara stage.

 

The sign was beautifully lit as we were leaving.

 

The kids and I had a great time learning and participating in some traditional Japanese folkdances, watching the fireworks, and buying lots of yummy little treats from little street vendors.

The many faces of Cameron

Cameron is a bit of a hit here in Japan. Everyone loves his blonde, blonde hair and the fact that he is so little. Where ever we go people will stare at him, say hi to him, and touch his head. At the aquarium this weekend some little old lady loved him so much she went and bought him an ice cream cone without even asking us!! Lets say he loved the old lady too! I feel like he is changing really fast too these days. He all of a sudden went from a baby to a little boy who loves batman, wants to do everything himself, loves the water, tells knock-knock jokes, and can raise as much chaos as his older siblings. He is super funny, really good at saying ohayo goziamas (good morning), loves to give mom hugs, and his favorite word is "no". Now he can put together sentences like "no mamma no", "No Julia, go away".

 

Here are few faces of Cameron:

Views of Hiroshima from a bike

One of the biggest adjustments for our family living here in Japan is the fact that we have 1 car as a family. For those of you who have lived outside of the states this not out of the ordinary. Hiroshima has great public transportation and due to limited parking at our apartment complex we chose to have 1 car. Mike and I trade off on who takes the car certain days.

 

So... we decided to bring the kids' bikes and buy me a bike with a seat on the back for Cameron once we arrived in Japan. I am SUPER PROUD to say that we are now a biking family. This might not seem like a big deal, but I was extremely nervous about trying to navigate the city streets with Cameron on the back of my bike and Luke and Julia on their bikes. Our children were not used to having to ride with cars, crossing streets with lights, and looking when crossing the street on their bikes. After we went on our home finding trip in June to Hiroshima, I came home and made the kid practice everyday on their bikes.

 

I can now say that this week, the kids and I have rode our bikes to and from the grocery store, to the park, to the train station, and to the 7-11 store. Here are some pictures we took on our bike rides.

 

 In the midst of high rise buildings you will often see a more traditional looking Japanese house or building.

 

 

 We found this alley way of tiny fish, flower, and meat stores right by the train station. Luke loved the fact that some of the Japanese lanterns had the local baseball teams logo on them.

 

A scene by one of the 7 rivers that flow through Hiroshima.

 



Julia and Luke on their bikes. The funniest thing about this picture though is that the one and only time I whipped out the camera at an intersection we were waiting to cross is the only time there was no traffic coming. Usually this intersection is super busy!

August 6th

Every year on August 6th the city of Hiroshima holds a peace memorial celebration to commemorate the lives lost in the dropping of the atomic bomb during WWII. In the morning the Prime Minister and Royal family come from Tokyo and hold a ceremony in front of thousands of spectators at the Peace Memorial Park. In the evening a celebration is held at the A-Bomb Dome Memorial. We took the kids down to the evening portion and here are some pictures from the night.

 

This first picture is us in front of the A-Bomb Dome Memorial. It is considered "ground zero" for the dropping of the atomic bomb. The building in the background was the actual target the US air force used to drop the bomb. During the war the building was the tallest building in all of Hiroshima and had a green dome roof which made easy to see. At the time it was used as government offices, however before the war it was a cultural events center where orchestra concerts, dance companies, and fairs were held. 

 

The evening celebration is centered around building peace between individuals and other nations. There were even people standing with signs that said "Free Hugs". Mike had to take a picture of this!  They had a table where children could decorate a wax lantern and then light the lantern. The lanterns were placed around the perimeter of the A-Bomb Dome Memorial.

 The A-Bomb Dome memorial is located on the Ota-gawa River and sits across the river from the Peace Memorial Park. A the Peace Memorial Park you could pay to light a paper lantern and float it on the river. It was an amazing sight to see miles of lanterns floating on the rivers out o the sea.

It was a beautiful night to celebrate the peace that currently exists between Japan and the USA. But also, a somber night that reminds us of the devastation that war brings. It was also very interesting to be an American in that setting. There is a lot of politics and history that is part of this setting, but I won't go into it here.  This year was the 68th year since the bombing.

Baseball- A Nation's Obsession

One of the fun things to do on a summer night in Japan is attend a baseball game. Baseball is the most popular sport in Japan and the Japanese people are very loyal fans. In Hiroshima we have a major league team named the "Carps". They actually pronounce the name "car-pu". The Carps have a huge beautiful stadium right by the Costco (which is my home away from home).  Last week we took the kids and met some other American expats and attended a game.

 

 I have to admit that the Japanese baseball games are a lot more fun than an American baseball game. The Japanese fans create an individual cheer for each baseball player and chant the cheer when they come up to bat. Whenever your team scores a homerun the fans have a whole cheer that is almost a song and dance routine they do. Everyone has these miniature bats and does the cheer with the bats. At the end of the cheer they scream "bonsai, bonsai, bonsai" really loud. At the game there was a young couple who sat behind us and in their broken English they taught Luke all of the cheers.

The fans are so loyal that no one ever leaves the game earlier, even it they are losing 0-8.

 



On the way to the game we passed by a whole series of picture taking scenes. The kids loved standing in front of them and pretending they were being eaten by dragons and crocodiles!

A new lifestyle!

 Living in a different country is all about experiencing a new lifestyle. Here is a picture of where we live in Hiroshima. We live smack dab in the downtown area of a big city. Our apartment complex is the building on the very right behind Julia. It is located on the river and next to a small shaded playground, which helps to feel a little bit removed from the city. Since Hiroshima is a delta the river fills and empties every day due to the changing tides of the ocean. The kids are quickly learning how to cross city streets, ride the street cars, and learn which side of the sidewalk to walk down- you guessed it-it is different than the US. The next adventure is teach the kids how to ride their bikes on  the city streets and sidewalks-forget getting ready for school and reviewing math facts. We have to learn how to survive in the city!

 

We are also trying to get use to driving on the left side of the road- so far no accidents. However, Mike did get to meet the police since he decided to go the wrong way on a 1 way street!

 

 

Yesterday we rode the streetcars all over the city and found this gem of a playground. The kids loved it!

Take Off

As we start our two year adventure in Hiroshima, Japan we decided that we needed to journal/ document all of the adventures we will have. Mike and I don't have a great track record when it comes to journaling, so we are hoping that living in Asia might kick our bottoms into gear! We are excited for our adventure and thought we should document our statuses at the beginning:

* Julia= 7 years old 2 1/2 months old, 49 inches tall, 48 lbs, entering 2nd grade, loves to sing, tease her brothers, move at all times (running, jumping, riding bikes, dancing in the middle of the airport, however her body feels like moving!) & asks a million questions!

*Luke= 5 years old 6 1/2 months old, 42 inches tall, 32 lbs (this is a guess-lets say he is super skinny), entering kindergarten, loves the Wii and staying home to play with toys, and told us he will never, ever, ever, try any new Japanese food!

*Cameron= 1 years old 10 months old, 32 inches tall, 22 lbs (even the Japanese babies are bigger than him!). Loves to copy Luke and Julia, pretends he can tell knock-knock jokes, loves batman and wants to wear his cape all day long. Super cute and mom's little buddy!

*Mike & LesliAnn= Age and weight don't need to be documented- we are just to plain old! We can hardly believe that in 12 years of marriage we have had 3 children, lived in Idaho, Virginia, Utah, and now find ourselves in Asia for 2 years.

 

Anyways- enough about us- lets talk about Japan! First off we traveled across the ocean and to Asia with 3 children and survived!!! Our flights left on Friday, July 26th from Salt Lake City and we headed to Denver, then to Tokyo, and finally to Hiroshima. The kids did great on the flights, even the 12 hour Denver to Tokyo flight. Unfortunately, our flight into Tokyo was late and we missed our connection flight to Hiroshima and ended up spending the night in Tokyo. So...... after 36 hours of traveling we finally made it to Hiroshima! The funniest thing about the whole experience though was the amount of luggage we took- my mom would appreciate my fondness for packing a lot of stuff, but I think this time I beat my own record! We had 5 pieces of carry on luggage, a stroller, 2 car seats, a pack-n-play, and 7 suitcases= 14 pieces in all. When we reached Japan everyone was astonished. The bus attendant at the Hiroshima train station couldn't stop laughing at us!!

Here are some pics to prove it!